Animal Welfare Professionals

We are in the development phase of building a new building. We are considering using a steel building contractor for the base structure and roof, with heavy insulation, then drywall, then fiberglass/plastic panels (like a shower surround) for the interior walls. Does anyone have any experience doing something similar?  Any thoughts on what you would/would not do if you could do it again? Thanks!

Hi Renee,

We are in the process of building our facility and have a metal building on order. Completely agree with your interior build out except the plastic or fiberglass panels on the walls. We were originally going with those as well. If this is for dogs, like our current 2 buildings are going to be for, I recommend against it. Dogs may chew and if they chew the plastic or fiberglass panels, it may cause obstructions or other digestive issues. We decided on fiberboard panels for the interior finish as we believe a fiber material may digest and/or pass with less chance of harm.

Good luck on your building,

Kathy McCloskey

Paws, Claws, and Hooves Animal Rescue & Sanctuary

We are in the development phase of building a new building. We are considering using a steel building contractor for the base structure and roof, with heavy insulation, then drywall, then fiberglass/plastic panels (like a shower surround) for the interior walls. Does anyone have any experience doing something similar?  Any thoughts on what you would/would not do if you could do it again? Thanks!

Thanks, Kathy. It's actually more of a PVC/vinyl material from Duramax, see duramaxpvcpanels.com. We're thinking this way because of the daily cleaning requirements. Not sure how fiberboard would hold up to daily power washing? I've seen some water "resistant" fiberboard but not anything waterproof. Have you found any waterproof material? Thanks again, Renee 

Hi Renee,

We are in the process of building our facility and have a metal building on order. Completely agree with your interior build out except the plastic or fiberglass panels on the walls. We were originally going with those as well. If this is for dogs, like our current 2 buildings are going to be for, I recommend against it. Dogs may chew and if they chew the plastic or fiberglass panels, it may cause obstructions or other digestive issues. We decided on fiberboard panels for the interior finish as we believe a fiber material may digest and/or pass with less chance of harm.

Good luck on your building,

Kathy McCloskey

Paws, Claws, and Hooves Animal Rescue & Sanctuary

We are in the development phase of building a new building. We are considering using a steel building contractor for the base structure and roof, with heavy insulation, then drywall, then fiberglass/plastic panels (like a shower surround) for the interior walls. Does anyone have any experience doing something similar?  Any thoughts on what you would/would not do if you could do it again? Thanks!