I’m going nuts here.
I’ve tried locating this type of foam board in my neighborhood and had no success whatsoever. I called hardware stores and insulation contractors. Nothing. “You’re looking for what?”
If anyone in the L.A., San Fernando Valley area knows where to find this stuff, please help!
And please only concrete leads! I already tried the general “You should try this” suggestions.
If nobody replies, that’s fine. At least I know then that I’ll have to go with a different layout method.
I think about the only place is the Home Depot or Lowes catalogs. You might have to order it special.
I’d check with some of the local building contractors too. They might know, or even have some they’d be willing to part with.
Check with both of these connections in places where the climate is colder, such as in the mountains. Mabe you’ll have some luck there.
Happy hunting!
Call a building contractor, or a builder supply store. If Home Depot says 'Huh?", then try where the pros do their shopping. This is a generic answer, but it is the only way if you are having this much difficulty.
Or, ask the Home Depot ordering desk to go online for their national inventory and do a search for Dow Chem Styrospan. Surely to God they will find it…!
Persist! Place and order if necessary.
Theres a foam supply company, I cant remember its name have to look it up, right on SanFernando road near that big ugly shopping center near SF Blvd and Burbank Rd, right near where the UP main splits heading for Santa Clarita and Simi Valley. they specialize in all types of foam and I’m pretty sure they carry the stuff. Its almost impossible to find that stuff out here, it just isnt use.
edit The stuff is DOW Blue Foam , Try here:
Plastic Depot
Address: 2907 N San Fernando Blvd, Burbank, CA 91504
Phone: (818) 843-3030
this place is in SoCal also, model aircraft guys but they claim to stock the stuff:
http://www.flyingfoam.com/launch.html
Let us know if these guys carry the junk, good to know if there IS a source in SoCal
This is a common complaint, about not being able to find foam in California. I suspect that it is related to construction styles, and possibly environmental issues.
Just for the fun of a challenge, I went to the Owens Corning website. They make the pink stuff. The product you want is FOAMULAR. I threw the Beverly Hills zip code into the product locator, because that TV show made it famous. It spat back a list of Home Depot locations, but from what I’ve heard, you have to special order it. Here in the northland, it is in stock year round.
http://owenscorning.com/around/locator/SearchResultsStore.asp
Here is the link to Dow. They don’t have a product locator, but they do have a toll free number. Who knows, they may send you to the place that Vic mentioned.
With all due respect, I believe that Styro-foam is the pilled white stuff of beach cooler fame. It is useless for model railroads. Styro-span is what you need, made by Dow Chem, and it is indeed blue.
Thanks for your replys, everyone.
Prior to posting this topic, I had called Dow’s dealer locator but that didn’t help much.
The people at the 2 locations I called where almost as confused as the ones at HomeDepot,
but I might be able to special order there.
One guy at an OSH hardware store actually asked me, if I was looking for the rigid type of foam!
But - they don’t carry it…
I also called an insulation contractor, but they don’t sell their insulation material. And they have it shipped
from a dealer in large quantities. No lead there either.
vsmith,
I’ll check out your leads.
The flyingfoam guys only seem to carry expanded foam, looking at their web site.
But I’ll check out the Platic Depot tomorrow.
Thanks!
I posted a link to this info in a reply to your earlier thread on the same topic, but perhaps you did not see it. Did you ever try calling Dow’s distributors for the blue foam? My clients in warm-weather areas have so far been able to find a dealer by working with one of these.
Blue Links (888) 502-2583
Weyerhaeuser (877) 235-6873
Dow calls the stuff most people use for model railroading “Styrofoam Square Edge”.
http://www.dow.com/styrofoam/na/res-us/products/square_edge.htm
Regards,
Byron
http://www.modelrail.us
Actually Crandell, if you go to the web site, Dow shows pictures of the blue stuff and calls it STYROFOAM. That is their brand name for extruded polystyrene foam. I’m not sure what the beady white stuff is. Some things similar in nature take on the brand name of the more famous product.
Personally, I’ve never heard of Styro-span. Maybe it’s a Canadian brand name. Companies sometimes market the same product with different names in different countries.
My home is built from concrete panels, which use the blue stuff as part of their design. When the panels were cast, 1/2" blue foam was used as the bottom of the mold, and concrete was poured on top of it. It is very strong, unlike the beady white stuff.
I’m not sure if you will be able to read the print in the photo, but near the bottom there is a reference to California code.
Yes, I had called “Blue Links” to locate a dealer. I posted my experiences with that earlier.
But I might have struck gold afterall!
Thanks to vsmith, I called the “Plastic Depot”, which then pointed me to this place:
http://www.foamsalesmarketing.com/index.html in Burbank.
Just around the corner from where I work, and they do carry the Dow blue rigid foam panels!
$24 for a 2’x8’ 2" panel - but better than nothing, no?
I’ll swing by there after work next week. I’ll keep you posted.
Glad it’s looking like you’ve tracked down a source. It seems like people are having less luck when calling Blue Links … thanks for the feedback. I’ll note that the next time I provide the info. I have heard of success with Weyerhauser recently in California, so maybe they are a better bet. And if your source works out, that will be good news for folks in the Valley.
Good luck with your quest for foam.
BH
Whoo Hoo! [:D]I’ll be giving them a try also, and I know a few others who might be interested too![;)]
Big_Boy, thanks for the correction. It really is called Styro-span up here in the frigid north, but you are clearly correct on the product available to you folks down there. I’ve learned something. [:D]
By the way, does what I see on your picture mean that my layout is warranted for 15 years? Bonus!! [(-D]
If it’s any use, on this side of the pond Dow Chem markets an insulation board called Floormate Insulation and is available in 25mm up tp 60mm thicknesses. Hope this helps.
Also called extruded stryo foam. If you want to have some fun take a vacation to Idaho and pick up a chunk as a souvenir. Or if you want a bigger layout bring a U-Haul.[:D][:D]
Crandell, I don’t know about your layout, but I only have 10 years left on my house.[swg]
Vancouver, eh? It doesn’t get that cold in Vancouver, you have the ocean to keep you warm. Let me know when it gets to -40 (F or C, both the same).[;)]
Let’s play hockey!!![:p]
What do you use to cut or form it other than a knife?
Thanks!
Congrats on your first post (after a year and a half of lurking).[swg] Also congrats to Sir Peter, who may be slightly less shy, as it didn’t take him as long to speak up.[8D]
If you don’t mind the mess, you can use a saw. If you want to keep things very clean, a hot wire or hot knife. A regular utility knife is fairly clean, and not too hard to clean up after. You can also use a rasp or Sure-form, but that is rather messy, and leaves a rather rough finish.
Keep in mind the “static clingy” nature of this product.
Static clingy? Try static superbond!!
[banghead][banghead][bow][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][:P][;)]
Can’t seem to give it the old “brush off”, eh Dave.
Most 3 rail O locomotives and some of the larger cars come packaged in the white stuff. No matter what I do, little beads come off when I unpack them. The stuff gets into nooks and crannies. I try to pick it all off, but I’m sure there’s still a bunch of it riding my rails.
I would explain them away as O scale snowballs, but I don’t have a winter scene on my layout.[:p][:D][8D][;)]