My local Lowes doesn’t carry the 2" blue or pink styrofoam most everybody is using now adays. They do carry the 1/2" blue styrofoam, and something called “Expanded Polystyrene” in 3/4" thickness, and it’s a little cheaper. Just wondering, does anybody know the difference between expanded polystyrene and the blue/pink foam board we all know and love? I’m guessing the expanded polystyrene is the beaded foam, I just haven’t seen it up close yet.
I used the 1/2" blue stuff. Worked out fine.
Take a look.
I’ve been planning on using the blue stuff from day one, but the other stuff is a little thicker (3/4") and about $1 cheaper. It won’t really save me much money for what I need (only saves about $20) but the extra 1/4" per sheet would help out, since I’m going to be sandwiching 2 sheets on top of one another as my foam base on top of the plywood table subbase. With the 1/2" blue stuff, I’d have 1" thick foam base, with the 3/4" white expanded polystyrene, I’d have 1.5" thick foam base. The extra .5" could come in handy when doing scenery. Just didn’t know if it was the beaded foam or not, cause I want to stay away from that.
Expanded polystyrene (of any colour) is not as strong as the EXTRUDED pink or blue foam. It also tends to make more mess when cutting, although I have made nice smooth cuts in the pink expanded stuff using my table saw. It is the “beaded stuff” as you noted.
I would recommend the EXPANDED only for landscaping/contouring. Use the EXTRUDED pink or blue for benchwork (especially if you are just laying it over a grid, rather than a full plywood top).
Andrew