Every job site I have been to today does not have any foam. They also look at me like I am dumb and Poor!
Do any of you guys get that?
Baker
Lowe’s, Stine’s, Home Depot. Excellent places to find foam. I get mine at Lowe’s.
I am trying to keep from Paying $24.75- $31 per sheet.
I have a 6’ x 16’ lay out and I will be needing about 5 sheets. That is $125 for foam.
I can get that in scraps for less then $5.oo and I might pick up a scrap that is 4’x4’ who knows. As long as it is scrap and can be used I am all for it.
Baker
Baker,
I am not sure were you live but this is what I do. Maybe you can find a place like this.
Out here in Phoenix, I found the wholesaler that sells to the construction guys. It is much cheaper than buying them at the store. I just went in the office and asked for a couple peices. They sold it too me at a great price. Look around your area and see if you find the place. Or, next time your out, ask the constrcution guys were thye get it from.
Good luck man…
I recently purchased some foam for my new layout and was shocked at how much more expensive it was than four years ago. I was told it was because of the price of oil. Seems like most things in life, Styrofoam is a petroleum product.
Yes, but thats because I’m dumb and poor.
If you believe that price of oil excuse, go to the store, find your favorite motor oil and compare the price to what is was 6 years ago. Gauranteed, you’re going to start asking questions. I use pennzoil and it’s hardly gone up at all.
Not as much as getting the feeling of being invisible.
You said a mouthful. It seems that some people will just look right through you.
Good point. Cost of a Quicki Lube oil change for my truck is the same as it was for more than six years ago.
I’m a manager of an auto parts store (chain of over 100 stores) and I can tell you, there is no real profit in 6 quarts of oil. We pay the stockboy & cashier more in time spent than we make. But buy an oil filt with it, wax and accessories, light bulbs, wipers, washer fulid, antifreeze, and that is where the money is made (and really not that profitable - lots of competion). Also new refining, and more cars on the road to use it makes motor oil less expensive to make. Cheep oil is just to get customers into the store.
Mike Rapp
I know where all of the guys around here buy it and that is where I went first. It was $25.oo for a 4x8 and that was the lowest I have found it.
I just got a lead on a construstion group around here.
You know the one where little Johny knows Sam and Sam knows Travis kind of thing. Hope fully I will have foam tomorrow night, at lest that is what little Johny told me about an hour ago. Now let see if he can pull something together for me.
Baker
Just checked price and availability at my local Lowes store in Martinsburg, WV. A 4 x 8 sheet of 2" thick blue styrofoam insulation board is running $30-31. A 2 x 8 sheet of the same thickness is around $15-16. The price keeps going up. If anyone knows a cheaper place in the Martinsburg, WV, Hagerstown or Frederick, MD areas, I’d appreciate hearing about it.
Bob
I work construction as an electrician and make a point to ask the framers or roofers for any scraps. Occasionally they will have a whole sheet or two left over. I’ve also gotten some decent plywwod and lumber.
No sugarcoating, just how it is.
You drive up in a truck, or at the very least a beat up older car, no Mercedes, no exotic foreign cars, and you’re wearing jeans, a t-shirt or sweatshirt, and workboots.
You do not drive over any cords or hoses, you don’t do this when the builder is around (shiny truck with a magnetic sign on the door), and you don’t set up for a turnaround that will get you stuck in a puddle or force you to drive over hoses or cords. Often the street is the best parking option. Watch out for nails, and sticks with nails in them…
Afternoon guys, looks like you are really moving on this (house, barn, office building, dam, bridge).
(Whatever)
Well it sure looks good from the road.
(Whatever)
Listen, I need a few scraps of (fill in the blank), and wanted to ask before checking the scrap pile. Got a project going at home, just need a little bit and Lowe’s wants a fortune for full pieces. Can you help me out?
(Whatever)
I really appreciate that, listen, do you have a card? (Nine times out of ten you will end up, after considerable delay, with block of wood containing a pencilled phone number, treat it like gold), I’m thinking about adding a (something that looks kind of like whatever they were working on before you showed up. don’t ask plumbers about a roofing project) and want to start getting potential contractors lined up.
Foam, the kind we use, is used to line block walls, sometimes basements but usually crawlspaces, and sometimes they use 1 inch stuff to sheathe rough framed walls. If there isn’t a skid or more of block on the jobsite, or stacks of lumber, either keep driving, or else ask if you can come back later when whatever you want is in use. be sure to get a name, and be sure to claim that whatever they offer is way more than what you will need, but don’t turn it down.
See…the builder thinks that two inch by one inch scraps should be used in the
look for new homes under construction . shortly after the house is framed the stucco crew show up . they might use foam for outside insulation. it will be only 1 inch thick. they will have tons of scrap and you can glue it together with carpenters glue. Or go to the builders supply house that sells to the contractors. this of course depends on what part of the country you live in. I live in the desert and they use both methods here.
glenn
Just be glad you’re not paying $11/sheet for 1/2" foam trying to make up the 2" thickness. Here in the south (Atlanta, GA area) 2" foam is practically unheard of. I’m making due with only 1" (two sheets sandwiched together) of foam for my layout base.
While we’re at it, anybody know of a place near Atlanta that has the 2" stuff?? I’d kill for some.
Works well most of the time.
I’m a volunteer firefighter. You wouldn’t believe how many of these we get calls on. Usually, they’ll give just about anything I want just to get rid me. (Doesn’t do to have a FD safety officer to close at hand.)
I know, that foam smokes to high heaven, visible for miles.
I tell the laborers to only put on a little at a time, turn my back for two minutes and the whole pile is on there, smoking like a battlefield.
Next thing I know some guy with a gold badge is talking about the death penalty. Frankly, I’d rather not burn it, but when the guy writing my paycheck makes it a direct order…well fortunately that’s a decision I don’t have to make any more.
One good way to get foam scraps that has worked for me is look for construction sites then wait for a good wind storm to blow thru, then check the fields and ditchs across from the site. Don’t laugh I have gotten quite a few pieces this way.
bill