Making Cardboard Waterproof?

[samadams_2006]

Hello,

I have a design made out of cardboard that I will be keeping outside in the elements. I need it to be able to hold rain water inside it, so I'm wondering if there is any way to water proof it? Here are some ideas:

1) What If I painted it with an oil based paint? 2) How about using epoxy glue and covering the entire inside? 3) What about coating the inside with Portland Cement? 4) I could coat the inside with tin foil, then use epoxy on the joints?

Is there a much better idea than these?

Thanks

[Nate Nagel]

It's not possible to waterproof cardboard. I would buy some thin sheetmetal (flashing?) and use your cardboard design as a pattern to cut the metal.

nate

[hallerb]

buy PVC tank, think used 55 gallon drums.

[Art Todesco]

If this is corrugated cardboard, they make a product which is identical except all out of plastic, trade name Coroplast .... used for signs, etc.

[John Grabowski]

Fiberglass it.

[aemeijers]

It would help a bunch if OP told us what the heck this thing he built is supposed to be. My gut impression isn't that it was a water tank, but rather some sort of sculpture or yard art that he prototyped, and now wants to avoid recreating in the proper materials.

As another poster said, painting it with fiberglass resin is the only thing that will give more than a few days of waterproofing, but that stuff is nasty and expensive. Finding a good tinsmith to recreate it in copper or something would be the traditional solution.

-- aem sends...

[Harry K]

And if he waits until after the election there are tons of political signs made from that or similar stuff.

Harry K

[jmeehan]

Are you using coragated cardboard? How long does it need to last? Why does it have to be cardboard or could you use different materials?

A couple of coats of a spar varnish would provide a waterproof layer. At one time it was used to make racing shells (rowing boats) that would last for a race or two and would be very light (fast).

[BobK207]

Checkout OP's other posts....is this guy for real or troll?

cheers Bob

[aemeijers]

Nah, just clueless. I think he is trying to make some backyard water features, of the Arty sort. Back at college, they had a whole field of art student projects like this. Most were hideous, some were interesting, but 90% of them showed utter cluelessness about basic metalworking and fabrication techniques. At the time, I remember thinking they should run these kids through a semester of vo-ed school metal shop before they started with the sculpture classes, just so they could learn the materials and metals. I've known several artists over the years who worked in metal. All of them could have paid the rent working in a machine shop if they had to.

-- aem sends....

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Tell that to the guys at Hiroshima Danboru.

[Jim Yanik]

aemeijers wrote in news:GdQwk.29824$ [e-mail]:

not really.System Three sells a trial kit for $10PPD,and RAKA sells a

1.5 Qt. kit for $25,last time I checked.

and after glassing it,it will need some sort of UV protection,like paint.

[J. Clarke]

They make waterproof cardboard, they don't make cardboard waterproof.

(hint--it's a lot easier when you do it while you're making the cardboard than it is to add it on afterwards)

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Afterwards it is either curtain coated or wax dipped, but neither is easily done by a homeowner. Seafood containers use was dipped.

[Jim Yanik]

"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in news:Pvvxk.21072$ [e-mail]:

boatbuilding epoxy will soak into cardboard surfaces well,but getting the edges or corrugations sealed is another matter. I guess that would be "water-resistant"....

try System Three,West System,or RAKA epoxies. I use RAKA.

[Nicole]

Try this... Acrylic Elastomeric Roof Coating

You can get it in clear.

[willshak]

Posted from homeowners hub posted on September 7, 2008, 6:58 am

[Nate Nagel]

I'd transfer it to plastic sheet and use that instead.

My two thoughts are that stuff that cheap shower liners are made of (and is sometimes used to line commercial kitchens etc.) or else that corrugated stuff that is used for political advertisement signs. Corro-something, I think.

nate

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