I went to Lowes today looking for 1 inch extruded foam. They had two kinds, beadboard and brownish yellow with blue covering. They had the blue foam in 1/4 inch but not in 1 inch. I've heard of people using pink and blue foam, but never the brownish yellow. It has the same "feel" as the blue. Does anyone know of a reason I shouldn't use the brownish yellow foam?
Never heard of "brownish yellow", who makes it? Here in south Mississippi Lowe's sells blue foamboard and Home Depot sells pink, both in 1/2" and 3/4" thicknesses. One is made by Dow and the other by DuPont. I don't remember which, but it doesn't matter since both are the same. 3/4" board (both blue and pink) runs less than $7 for a 4x8 sheet
Dow makes "blue board" but like he said it is the same as the pink. I don't know where you are but I would not get the "brownish yellow" unless a qualified person tells you it is the same. Up here Lowes sells the "blue". 1/2" "blue board" is used in bathrooms with a thin film of plastic to make it waterproof. I remove the plastic which resists latex paint.
The brownish yellow is 1 inch and has the same blue film as the blue 1/4 inch on the shelf below it. Scraping it with the thumbnail on the edge feels just like the blue. I wish it was as inexpensive as Hytec says the blue and pink are. This is about $17 for a 4 x 8 sheet. The white bead board runs $12 for a 4 X 8. The Home Depot I went to had no extruded foam, but said another store in the area had it. I guess I'll check there tomorrow.
Oh, darned. 1/4" blue? 1/2" pink? The thinnest I have seen at either place on Long Island, NY is 3/4" Now, I have to look again.
I've seen the yellowish stuff to...it seemed less dense and not as sturdy as comparable thickness blue or pink extruded...and I suspected that it would be even less so if that film covering was removed. I've found that not all the big box chains are the same in an area. I'm in a larger metro area, where there are Lowe's & Home Depots about every other expressway exit...and it seemed like no two were stocked the same, when I was searching for foam. One place I did find that had a very good selection of extruded thicknesses was Menard's...but unfortunately the nearest is a couple hours away.
I didn't mention that before Lowe's I went to a Home Depot, but it was out of extruded foam. Yesterday I went to a different Home Depot in search of blue or pink foam. I found more brownish yellow. I'm going to try a smaller builder's supply chain today before I give up and buy the brownish yellow.
Don't buy the brownish-yellow stuff!! I believe that you are talking about that 1" thick insulation board that goes under brick walls. Zandoz is right. It is much less dense and not very rigid. It has a blue coating on one side and a foil coating on the other. These coatings are adhered to the foam in such a way that if you try to remove them, you will pretty much destroy the foam inside. You won't be happy with this stuff as a material for your railroad. If this is not what I am thinking it is, be careful before you make a large purchasing decision. I live in N. Texas and the only pink and blue foam in our home improvement stores is the 3/4" stuff. I looked in the Yellow Pages under "Insulation Dealers". It only took a couple of phone calls to find a place that stocked 2" extruded foamboard. Good luck!
Unless I'm wrong, the yellow-brown coated foam board is ROOFING INSULATION. Used under roofs. I wouldn't use it at all. It's a fiberglass material, when you cut it, the stuff generates a fine dust that goes everywhere, and when you get it on your skin, feels like somebody has poured itching power on you. A lot like working with Owens-Corning fiberglass insulation bats WITHOUT having long a sleeve shirt on. As MDRZCIMSKI stated go to an INSULATION DEALER and look for your foam board. LOWES, HOME DEPOT, MENARD'S are the places trying to sell an assortment of building supplies. Go to a supplier for certain products, Insulation Dealers for foamboard, Lumber Dealers for an expanded assortment of GOOD lumber. 84 Lumber is a very good example of a lumber yard.
Thanks to everyone for their input. I guess Los Angeles is just too warm to have a market for this insulation. A local lumber yard quoted me $23.50 for a 4'x8'x1" sheet of Dow blue as a special order. An insulation dealer also could special order the blue in 4'x4'x1" for $12.80 a sheet. I told the salesman someone on here said they get a 4'x8' sheet for $7 in Mississippi, and he responded "Oh wow!" without a trace of sarcasm or irritation. He also agreed with the general assessment that the brownish yellow wouldn't be good for sculpting a model railroad layout. I was going to have to buy plaster cloth anyway to cover the Woodland Scenics grading foam, so I guess I'll just go with beadboard at $12 for 4'x8'x1" and cover the whole thing with plaster cloth.
The last foam I bought was a 4x8 sheet of 2" Owens Corning Pink from Home Depot...it was around $45 for in-stock. The prices you got seem in line with that....especially for special order. If you are going to special order, I'd go for the 2".
This is why I want 1" foam. This is a small 24" by 66" N scale layout. It will run on three levels. I will be using Woodland Scenics 4% grade kits to move from level to level. I plan on covering the plywood entirely with 1", but the town will be at the 2" level. It will be a twice-around. There will be a grade outside of town that descends to the 1" level where the train goes through a tunnel. Out the other end of the tunnel the train will rise again to the 2" level. After going around the town parallel to the track that descends to the tunnel, it will rise up into the mountain at the 3" level where it will cross over the tunnel track. Then it will descend and loop around the town on the track that will descend into the tunnel. Dark Red/Brown descends to 1" Blue rises to 3" White is at 2"
I've done both (plaster cloth over beadboard and blue foam) and I'd have to say that the blue foam is ten times less hassle. I got mine here (they're in Burbank). It was pricey, but I only needed one sheet for my small layout. When I told them what it was for, they threw in a couple good-sized cutoffs for free :tb-biggrin:
Beadboard will work; it just makes an unholy mess. I used it for my last layout and just covered it with joint compound. It looks like you won't need much more than a 4 x 8 sheet of it, so I'd go with the blue or pink board. It does not have to be solid. I have many voids and gaps. If I shape into a void, I just fill it with a scrap piece. When I had a large mountain (not on the current road) I cut out profile of the first level, then cut out the interior, which could be used most likely for the third level. Yes, I had hollow mountains, but the extruded foam is pretty stiff stuff. I used it like plywood on my current road--one-inch foam is used vertically to hold up much of the Boston area. For a small layout, I'd use whatever I could readily get my hands on. Just remember you'll be cleaning up beadboard for a long time. When I used it, I just had a shop vac handy, and used it frequently.
Jim; Thanks for the info. Burbank is very close to me; in fact it's where the Lowes is that I found the other foam. I'll check their prices tomorrow (Monday). If its any cheaper than the $23.50 for special order from the lumber yard in my neighborhood, I'll go there. Pete; Thanks for your input too. I planned on making openings on the back and left side so I could extract derailed cars from the tunnel, now you have me thinking about making the entire mountain hollow.
I got a 8x4x1" pink board here for 12$ and a 8x4x.5" for 6$ CDN. Mind you, we use this stuff everywhere in Canada. They did sell 2" at Home Depot but it was only two 1" boards glued together.
Hmmm... I'm starting to wonder if I ought to call Home Depot at the foot of the mountains in San Bernardino and see if they carry it for the mountain folks. If Barstow Rick is lurking, do you happen to know if they carry it down the mountain?
Friends, Basically the farther South you get in the US the more expensive pink or blue foam is. Remember it is insulation first and a great boon to model railroading second. Here in San Diego County only one store sells blue in 2"x2'x8' sheet. He must have 200 sheets stacked up against the wall. "I can't remember when I ordered them," he says. Basically, South of the Mason-Dixon prices will rise and availability will fall. My Lowes and Home Depot will only order by the truck load. Cheers, Jim CCRR
