Northern California/Bay Area Extruded Foam available from Home Depot

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
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G’Day fellow Bay Area model Railroaders,

If you are reading this post then you are likely interested in where to get extruded foam in the Bay Area. There have been many previous posts on this topic including some that said it was “illegal” in California. It isn’t illegal, just rare.

A few months ago I found a batch at the Home Depot in San Jose’s Blossom Hill store. I went back there last weekend and they are out of it :-(.

However, I did learn that it can be ordered :-). That’s the good news. The bad news is that the minimum order is LARGE. For example, to get 3/4" 4x8 sheets, I would need to order 128 pieces! Since the volume of this stuff is fairly low in California, I suspect this large minimum order is why no store inventories the stuff.

However, I am putting out this post to see if there might be enough interest from Bay Area modellers to justify an order. I would be willing to front the purchase and store the stuff while you came to get it from me. If we get enough folks on board, maybe we can order a batch and spread it amongst ourselves.

Anyone interested? If so, email me directly at cbedard6@comcast.net.

Charlie

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Buy the 2 inch sheets. Heck, just get someone you know on the east coast to buy a sheet or two, cut it in half or quarters and ship it to you in shrink wrap. It’s only 13 bucks and change for something like a 3x8 sheet. It’s light as heck so won’t cost much to ship. It’s not like you’re probably not going to cut it up anyway, esp. if you’re using ply as a base. Frankly, it’s hard to really damage this stuff too much.

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Yeah! I thought of that. Find someone who can get the stuff easily and have them ship it to me. That may be my last resort :-).

Also, the reason I have been using the 3/4" stuff is that I use it for roadbed (on top of 1/2" plywood) with cork over the foam. And I can layer it up into thicker sections where I want the depth. If I could easily get both 2" and 3/4" I’d use both. But so far getting any is the real hassle!

Charlie

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Charlie, it’s not worth the trouble using the extruded foam for roadbed…buy the WS stuff for that. It’s probably best for landscape structuring and support.

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I am interested in some of the foam sheets. I have been desperatly trying to get my hands on some for almost a year. But every time I find a place that can get it, the minimum order is hugh. I have started building my new bench work, and I would love to cover it with the foam when completed. I would be down to buy some from you if you go that route. But I doubt you will get enough people interested to unload that many sheets. Maybe we should coordinate a smaller group buy from someone on the east coast and have them pallet it up and ship it. I know I would only need 8, maybe 10 sheets my self if they are 4x8. It would also depend on the thickness also. What would the cost per sheet be if you order 128 sheets?

What is the technical name for the foam sheets? What would I call it if asking for it at a building supply store?

By the way, I am in Hayward.

David

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Hey Guys, Maybe try this route:

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productList&N=0&Ntk=i_products&Ntt=insulfoam

I went through all the steps and only tax was added, “shipping is always FREE w/In-Store Pick up”.

Just Order On-Line, and Pick it up at your local Store, (You order from a server somewhere and it gets shiped in their trucks with everything else the store ordered from their warehouse!)

This is what it says if it’s considered a Special Order, (It shouldn’t be, because it’s on their website.)

1. Finding the Product on Lowes.com

Special Order merchandise is available on Lowes.com. These items display with red “Arrives in store” text, indicating how many days from order placement before your item will arrive at the store.

Search Lowes.com until you find the item(s) you want. The more information you have about the product (manufacturer, model name, etc.), the easier it will be to locate the product.

2. Making a Purchase on Lowes.com

After you have selected the product you want to order, click the Add to Cart button to place the item in your Shopping Cart. Continue through the checkout process to complete your order.

3. Receiving Your Items

When your Special Order item(s) arrives at the store, a sales associate will call and let you know your order is available for pick up or delivery. Special Order items require an average of 7 to 14 business days to arrive in store, but this timeframe may vary by product.

If you have been waiting a YEAR, what’s 2 more weeks! Anyway, It might be worth a try, I know I would. (I live in Michi

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I’d be very careful about ordering anything, sight unseen, from Lowes. The Insulfoam referred to in the Lowes website listed above is expanded foam which may be the white beady insulation that everyone says to avoid. You want the extruded foam insulation. If you’re going to try to order on line from Lowes, I’d try to get the specific Lowes stock number for the material you want to order and put this in on their website to see if it’s even available as a Internet item. I might be wrong, but I doubt that Lowes, or any other home improvement source, will sell individual sheets of this insulation on Internet without requiring a minimum order.

Lowes carries extruded insulation in thicknesses up to 2" in 4’ x 8’ and 2’ x 8’ sheets in my area of WV. Next time I go into my local Lowes store, I’ll get the Lowes item numbers on the sheets and put them in this thread.

Bob

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Indeed! DON’T get the insulfoam. Our local Home Depots have plenty of this stuff! It is the crumbly white foam (expanded foam, not extruded).

I was thinking of ordering the 3/4" sheets that I could use as subroadbed and also as layers in my scenery. So, the quote I got was for 4x8 sheets of 3/4" foam. The brand name from Owens-Corning is “Foamular”. The price was $12.70 a sheet but the minimum order was one “unit” which was 128 sheets! I would need about 12 sheets.

Dave, from Hayward (not too far from me), could use 10 sheets. So, I think he’s right that I am unlikely to get a “quorum”. I also checked at the most popular train Hobby Shop in the South Bay (The Train Shop) to see if anyone there new of a source or would be interested in joining up on an order. No luck.

However, “Shawnee” made a great suggestion. I hadn’t really considered using the Woodland Scenics foam roadbed, but I looked it up at Shawnees suggestion. It runs about .40 a linear foot and saves the hassle or carving up the foam. In that case, ordering the 2" stuff may make more sense. If so, I can get another quote but I’m sure it will still be pretty big :-(.

I’ll see if anyone else posts some interest…

Charlie

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Guys…they don’t have Insular foam (owens corning pink extruded foam) up in the Tahoe/Sierra area? Seems they’d have tons of need for insulation there…