How can I stop my concrete bird bath leaking?

London_Town

Hi, I hope someone can help me with this.

I feel a bit daft as I've bought a concrete bird bath from a garden centre and it's dawned on me that the dish is porous. I thought about e-mailing the manufacturer to complain, but it's not faulty, they'll all be like that. I imagine they'd just say that it's mean't to be decorative only?!! I don't want to take it back for a refund either, as I really love it and have always wanted one.

Googling it suggests that the bird bath can be sealed, but I'm not quite sure with what. Has anyone done this? I need something that will be sun and frost proof, but not harm the birds once it's totally dried and in use.

Any advice would be very much appreciated!

Apodemus

I would try linseed oil. It might take a couple of coats and you would be best to give it a few days between coats. It's perfectly safe for animals so no risk of poisoning the birds (when sold for human use it changes its name to flax-seed oil).

However, my answer to nearly everything is linseed oil, so others may have better ideas! I buy the stuff that is sold for feeding to horses, as animal feed does not attract VAT, whereas DIY stuff does.

Davesnave

I would think a thin coat of fibreglass resin, without using the matting, would be OK. They make ponds with it.

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Automotive/d60/Car+Body+Repair/sd3317/Big+Boy+Fibre+Glass+Resin+Kit/p61034

But don't forget that bird baths are shallow by design and evaporation + splashing birds means a daily top-up anyway.

London_Town

Thank you both.

Linseed oil is an unlikely solution - I wouldn't have thought of trying that.

The fibre glass resin kit sounds a good idea too, so I'll look into that a bit more.

Apodemus

Davesnave wrote: »

I would think a thin coat of fibreglass resin, without using the matting, would be OK. They make ponds with it.

I once came across a couple who had filled up one of the bilge-spaces in their fibreglass yacht with cheap rum, en-route through the Caribbean. While they had developed a taste for it, the strong taste of fibreglass resin was more than I could stomach!