What do you use to attached the Homasote to the sub-road bed z(Glue, nails, other)?
Glue and 1" drywall screws. After the glue dries, I remove the drywall screws.
Dave H.
I use small track nails. You can remove them with needle nose pliers and reuse the homasote. If it is glued, it is there forever as trying to remove it will tear it up. I have used chalking to put down cork, but again it is real easy to tear it up removing it. I make too many changes to put things down permanently.
Our club uses screws and than drywall compound to hide the screwheads. If you paint it, the homosote won’t warp and can be reused. We use brown paint to simulate dirt. I think glue would damage the outer layers if it was to be pulled up. Nails would make it a little messy-might damage the homosote upon removal.
Dave had it right. Glue it to the subroadbed (I assume plywood), I use Liquid Nails. Screw it down until the glue dries, then you can remove the screws and reuse them. Gluing gives it a tight bond and the two together help prevent warping.
Homasote is not prone to expansion/contraction as much as plywood.
Glue and screw the homasoate to the plywood and then remove the screws after the glue dries. Be sure to get the corners tight or they will gap on you. “C” clamps with a 1x4 would help hold the corners tight while the glue dries.
I paint my Homasote on all edges with a dirt coloered latex paint and then I screw it down w/ drywall screws. I use a lightweight putty to cover the screwheads and to make the base for the ballast next to the track. I am very pleased with the results.
On my railroad I used 1/2-inch plywood with Homasote attached with Elmer’s White Glue and small nails. I also used as many C-clamps as I could round up. The nails were simply used to help hold things together until the glue dried. I removed the nails that were in the path of my track but left most of the others. My experience showed that glueing the plywood and Homasote made for a stronger roadbed. Some sections of my railroad included clear white pine for roadbed, upon which I handlaid track. I later switched to the Homasote and plywood combination, primarily because of cost and it also became harder to find quality clear white pine. Some early publications stressed the pine roadbed would hold spikes better and thus make for superior track. But after switching to the Homasote, I found that after applying paint and ballast, I have had no trouble with spikes coming free and my track is now 20-plus years old. Hope this helps somewhat.
20 years–wow that sounds good. My track has been down for two years with no problems to report.
My first question is, where did you find a 4x8 sheet of homasote? I used an entire sheet to roadbed my Senery & Operation in 5x8 layout, and in all of Florida, I only found it in Orlando. After I had asked every Home Depot, Lowes, and Builder’s Square, I bought and took home on my Quikrete truck one sheet, everyone I had just asked, bought a bundle of the Homosote. Made of shreded paper, supergluded, I found no fault with Homosote, and questioned the use of cork roadbed ever since! acj.
cork is a cheap and easy substitute for the mainline or spurs but me personally, I plan for large yards so homosote is easier. Sometimes homosote or cork question can be answered by asking yourself which is easier to obtain, how much track do I plan to lay and which is cheaper and is it worth driving to this certain store. It is all how you look at it.
But using cork for hand laid track doesn’t work very well. I’ve always had problems with the spikes holding the rail down when using cork, or does some one have a GOOD solution to this as it is easier to find 3/16 cork than it is to find homasote where I live.
I have to drive about 165 miles to get homasote and just 2.5 miles to get cork.
[quote]
Originally posted by Allen Jenkins
My first question is, where did you find a 4x8 sheet of homasote?