does anyone know where insulation board for scenery is sold?
I assume you’re talking about the foam insulation board (pink or blue)? Home Depot or any other supply store like that should have it.
If you’re in California, you may find that the big-box hardware stores don’t carry it. I guess it’s just not in demand, or maybe California has determined that it causes cancer if you eat an entire 4x8 sheet covered with mercury-laced mayonaisse.
Up here in Massachusetts, you can get the pink stuff at Home Depot. I think Lowe’s sells the blue stuff. They’re the same - one is made by Dow, the other by Owens-Corning.
skiloff:
I have purchased both pink and blue foam board at Home Depot and Lowes. I notice that many use the two inch foam, that’s hard to find. In fact I asked Home Depot and Lowes; neither place could help or order it. A contractor advised me to go to an insulation business, maybe they would carry the two inch foam. For now I just stack the sheets of blue foam to change elevations or make the subroadbed thicker.
Robert Sylvester, WTRR
Availability is a regional thing. Here in Arizona nothing thicker than 1 inch is available except the white, beaded foam because our climate doesn’t need that much insulation.
Try supply houses that sell commercial roofing products. 1" to 4" foam insulation is commonly used on “flat” roofs on warehouses, factories, etc. The foam is screwed to the roof with special screws (long drywall screws) and roofing membranes are applied over the foam. This is common in California (even if it does cause cancer!!) and Arizona (as well as the rest of the USA) My [2c]
Insulation is as good at keeping heat OUT as it is at keeping heat IN.
In Atlanta, we have a zillion Home Depot and Lowes stores and they all seem to carry it. However, it is hit & miss as to what store has what thickness in stock on any given day. The one nearest my house used to only have the 1/2" thick blue stuff, now they have 3/4", 1" and 2" thickness as well. So if you don’t see what you want in the store, check with someone at the customer service counter to see if they carry it or if they can at least special order it for you. Jamie
Here in Ohio, Dayton specifically, it too is hit or miss on finding the size you want. When I built my free-mo modules, I found 2" blue at Lowe’s, but HD only went up to 1.5". Now I’m preparing to build a few more modules and neither store has anything thicker than 1.5". But I can find white board all day long in 2" either place.
This comes up pretty often. Here’s a past thread where I describe how some of my clients and friends have been able to find the foam, even in mild-winter areas – and yes, even in California.
http://cs.trains.com/forums/1270007/ShowPost.aspx
The key is to use Dow or Corning’s dealer finders and then to call first. The dealer finders will list dozens of Lowe’s and Home Depots that do not actually carry the foam. Don’t waste your time with them. Instead, try the contractor supply houses, inslulation suppliers, etc. But call first before driving!
… oh, and did I mention to call first?
Was at Home Depot in Tucker, GA this evening pricing lighting supplies for the layout. I swung by the building materials section to see what foam they have in stock. They had the following:
Pink 2" 8x4’ board: $25
Pink 3/4" 8x4’ board: price not marked
Pink 1/2" 8x4’ board: $10
Hope this helps with pricing estimates also. Jamie
So how far did you actually drive the first time you found out they didn’t have it in stock? [:)]
Lowes and Home Depot here in the midwest both sell it but I’ve only seen 1 1/2" and 1/2" - I’ve never seen 2"
WHY DOES EVERYONE KEEP QUOTING LOWES & HOME DESPOT? TRY BUILDERS SUPPLY HOUSES OR COMMERCIAL ROOFING &/OR INSULATION SUPPLIERS - THEY WILL HAVE IT!!! The Big Box places stock only what sells in quantity!! If they can’t move enough of it - they don’t carry it!! They have no desire to supply all your needs - only the desire to turn the biggest buck per square foot of retail space!! I worked in 2 diffeerent HD’s after retireing from contracting, they both carried 2x4’s and drywall, but even the sizes of these 2 commodities were different between the stores!! If there are 2 HD’s or Lowes in your area, check out 3 or 4 items in one store & try to find them in the second. My [2c]
Think I’ll stick with Homasote® and Hydrocal® which always seem to be available someplace - that may be true of that foam insulation board but I just don’t seem to ever be able to figure out just where that someplace is!
Hmmmm, maybe because Lowe’s, Home Depot, Menards and other BORG stores are actually open when most of us can get to them!!! Places that cater to contractors and the trades tend to keep the same sort of hours as contractors and tradesmen. M-F, 7-4, maybe open Saturday morning. Oh, and they’re generally squirrelled away in the midst of a light industrial/commercial district, not just down the street next to Applebee’s.
Here in California you will not be able to buy it any more. Building code police say it is a fire hazard. TOXIC smoke ect.
That’s patently untrue. The thread referenced above includes several dealers in California where the foam is readily available.
One other place you can potentially get it, if you live in an area with an active theater/movie production industry, is a scenery supply outfit. They gotta get the foam for their boulders, massive marble columns and barroom chairs that the directors always want to pummel the poor actors with from somewhere.
Theater/movie industry mostly uses gray polyurathane foam, which is easier to carve and is available in big boulder sizes and is also more expensive than the pink and blue stuff.