where to buy foam

Hello,

where to buy is eazy. If you are only looking for 3/4 inch thick. HD,Lowes,84 lumber,busy beaver ,all lumber supply chains, etc... All have it. I ve havnt seen it in less than 4x8 sheets. Just tell them to cut in half for you.
From my limited experience with foam ,the more important question is what kind of foam.New regulations last year has eliminated some of the foams makeup.
The nice light density foam IMHO is way easier to work with and carves and cuts very nice.
This WAS the light pink owens corning which is now purple-pink and to dense for me ,also the blue as far as ive seen is still the old good light density.
As was the pink ,the green is also changed to the dense stuff but depending on where you get it it could be either.Ive seen a thread a month or two where someone said they found some of the light pink foam at their HD, but my HD hasnt had it in a year.
So depending on what you plan to do with it, this may or may not matter to you.

I purchased my 2" thick pink foam at Home Depot. All that was available at my local Lowes was the white beaded foam insulation foam. And it was probably only like 6 or 7 months ago.

Thanks guys!

We checked our Lowe's but the biggest they had was 1" inch thick in huge pieces. We live in a smaller town and our store doesn't always carrry all items.

We want to use the foam for the base of the layout and to build up hills and mountains. Is the light density foam better for that?

Thanks!

Here locally, Home Depot has 1/2" x 4 x 8 sheets in pink[at least they did before Christmas].

Dewey--thanks. I will try HD this weekend.

Lowes will sometimes agree to cut the thinner foam, up to 1 1/2", but not always. Depends on who is working at the time, I have found cooperation at Home Depot to be a little better. Some of the thicker foam, the 2" has a pre-perforated seam at either 12" or 16" lengthwise. Two people working in tandem can usually get it to break pretty cleanly at those points.

I prefer the 2" thick 4x8 Extruded Polystyrene board (usually pink or blue), which is available locally but is not readily available in all areas. My local Lowes will not cut the board for customers; don't know whether Home Depot will or not since I haven't tried there. You probably want the dense Extruded Polystyrene boards though, and not the light/loose type of foam sheets. Certainly what I would recommend.

Again, this stuff is not available in all areas. Depends on what local codes allow and what contractors use in the insulation process.

quote:

do I need to just cut them down in the parking lot?

I take my handsaw, and cut it down in the parking lot.

Hi,
I just bought a 4 x 8 2" pink foam sheet from my local Home Depot to build a modular layout like Jim Policastro's. They cut the foam twice for me to the dimensions I wanted. No charge.
Good luck,
Artie

quote:

Originally posted by Dewey Trogdon:
Here locally, Home Depot has 1/2" x 4 x 8 sheets in pink[at least they did before Christmas].

The Home Depot had the 2" x 4 x 8 sheets. Had it cut 3 ways!

Now I probably need to get a couple more sheets, LOL
Thanks for the help.

In many major metro areas, you'll find a dealer or two specializing in roofing, siding, and insulation products. Typically, this type of wholesale/retail dealer will carry a wider variety of styrofoam or polystyrene sheet products for use as insultaion. Might be worth a try. Yellow pages under "insulation."

It's not that complicated.  Score with a utility knife and snap it.

SF VA,

 

I have seen 2X4 sheets of 1 inch thick foam for sale occasionally.  You do have to look though.  But the 4X8 sheets are more cost effective.  First, a 3/4 or 1" thick 2X4 piece would be around $8.00, but the 4X8 piece is around $20.  I think that saving $12 per 32 square feet of foam would turn most modelers towards cutting them up in the parking lot.  But if you only need 8-16 square feet of the stuff, then you could go with the 2X4 sheets.  As for where I saw it, I haven't seen it since that one time.

Thanks again everybody for steering me in the right direction.  I have totally struck out at several Lowe's but Home Depot has what we need.  Today I picked up 2" 2 x 8 sheets.  Looks like we will be working on the layout this weekend!!

Hi Dewey,

 

If you could do me a big favor, next time you go to Home Depot, see if you can get the HD SKU number for 1/2" pink foam. I haven't been able to find it here in Jersey, maybe an SKU would help.

 

Thanks!

GaryF

http://www.homedepot.com/Building-Materials-Insulation-Sheathings/h_d1/N-5yc1vZbaxx/R-100322369/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051&superSkuId=202939005

Kunde - Thanks for your reply! Have you used this material for scenery? The core material sounds like it's pretty nasty stuff to be cut with a hot knife, even if you can peel off the foil and plastic outer layer.

 

Thanks again,

GaryF

I don't use a hot knife.  I use knife like this

Those knifes are great for foam!  I did find one better, but the company doesn't sell them anymore.  Better keep track of it!

Hi Folks

 

my first post

 

Check with your local packaging companies for EPS foam.

That's expanded polystyrene... Also known as "Styrofoam".

Some packaging companies use it, some do not. Call around.

DOW blue is best.

 

The companies have large band saws to slice and cut accurately to any dimension.

Water jet cutters, etc.

 

The selection/cost should be much better than HD, etc.

 

enjoyvette

Packaging Engineer

Also... Packaging companies throw away lots of EPS foam every day.

Ask for some.

The 2" foam that I buy at Menards (save big money) usually has precut grooves and can be snapped in several pieces.  The boxcutter is a good idea and doesn't give the store employees the notion that you've gone over the edge.   You're quite right, the newer stuff is more difficult to work with.  I've been using foam for 20 years.

The 2" foam that I buy at Menards (save big money) usually has precut grooves and can be snapped in several pieces.  The boxcutter is a good idea and doesn't give the store employees the notion that you've gone over the edge.   You're quite right, the newer stuff is more difficult to work with.  I've been using foam for 20 years.

 

Once I drove a small SUV to HD to buy some 2'x8' pink foam panels. Eight-footers wouldn't fit in the car, and I didn't really need long pieces for the cliffs I was building. I drew quite a few stares as I loudly snapped each one in half over my knee in the parking lot, and tossed the pieces into the back of the SUV.

 

Jim

Our Lowe's and HD seem to only sell the white R-Tech Infulfoam here, so I bought 4 sheets of it (4'x8'x1" for $9+). I've got 2 sheets cut down using a utility knife to cover my 6'x11' benchwork grid, but I'm thinking I should try to find the pink/blue stuff somewhere for the 2nd layer and once I get to the point of adding scenery. The white stuff seems to be okay for covering the grid. Seems like the pink/blue is getting hard to find. Is it okay for the first layer or should I scrap it completely?

Also, I'm not to happy with the utility knife approach to cutting. It seems okay for these straight cuts, but not for sculpting/shaping. So, I'm looking at the Crafter's Hot Knife likethe one seen here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...youtube_gdata_player

Are these worth the $70 or are there cheaper alternatives?

Hacksaw blades, bread knives, steak knives, anything with a serrated cutting edge works well for shaping the foam. Even a stiff wire brush will shape it. Hot knives cutting foam give off potentially harmful fumes.

Okay, I'll give the hack saw blade a try. I have to cut a couple of filler pieces anyway.  I take it you had no opinion about the white vs pink vs blue foam?

The blue and pink are pretty much the same stuff, colored differently by competing companies. Neither one will do anything to quiet track noise. I know that quite well from experience. Both are good for building terrain levels though. Lowe's in my area sells a green version with their name brand on it. Seems to be more of the same stuff. I have no experience with white foam.

 

The further south you live, the less likely you are to find the thicker foam panels in any color.

I'm not so concerned with track noise as I am weight. I kind of figured living in the Southwest might be the reason they don't carry the others,  I just don't know if it's worth it to look for the others.

Finally found some of the pink stuff.  It seems like only a few Home Depots here carry it, so I had to go online to find the ones that keep it in stock, or I just had bad luck hitting the ones that didn't have it.   I think I'm going to go ahead and use the white stuff for the first layer and cover that with a layer of pink. I should mention that I only expect to use this layout for 3 years before I tear it down to build a new one in a spare bedroom. This project is mostly a learning experience.

 

Menards has pink board, often on sale and low delivery charges.

One sheet was torn and they replaced it that day.