Hi everyone. This is my first post. I’m trying to find the pink or blue foam that I have read so much about. From what I understand, the official term is “extruded foam board” or “extruded foam insulation board” which is different from “expanded polystyrene” which is less durable and makes a mess when cut.
I can’t find it at any Bay Area hardware stores, and most of the people look at me like I’m making the stuff up. All that I’ve been able to find is the expanded type, which is like the material in a foam coffee cup.
No blue stuff, no pink stuff. I’ve been to 3 Home Depots, a Lowes, and a few independent stores too. I even know someone who got his at a Lowes in North Carolina, so it’s not like I’m way off in looking there.
Anyone have a suggestion on where I can get the stuff? A 4X8 sheet would work, or something similar.
Up here in frosty New England, Home Depot has the pink stuff. You might have to ask them to special-order you a sheet. Home Depot is pretty good about things like that.
As noted, it’s the Owen’s Corning Fomular stuff you probably want. I got mine at Home Depot. It was a little obscure since they didn’t stock a lot of it, but it’s over around the plywood. At the store I went to they had 2x8 sheets. You can easily mate those together to make a 4x8.
Here in snowy Pennsylvania, every Lowes, Home Depot, and local building supply place has it. HD has the largest selection in stock, but they all special order other sizes.
One caution on the on-line dealer finder listed there, it will show a lot of home depot stores that (at least in the bay area) actually don’t carry the foam. Although recently, there were 1 1/2" thick 2X8 tounge-in-groove pink sheets at the Home Depot on Camden Ave in San Jose.
Some of my bay area clients have found extruded foam at Yardbirds Home Center stores (call ahead). There is also a lumber store in San Rafael that generally has foam in stock (sorry, I have lost the reference, but it was found through one of the dealer-finder methods I posted in the thread referenced above.)
My suggestion: use the dealer-finder methods but call first to avoid unnecessary driving.
Try calling a few insulation places around your area, the guys who actually do the installation. The more expensive homes sometimes will use the Dow Corning (pink) stuff and may have it available. Here in Phoenix that’s what I ended up doing. It cost more going through a small insulation company but well worth it! I only found two places around here that had it. That R-tech stuff they have at Home Depot and Lowes isn’t very strong compared to the Dow Corning. Good Luck and welcome to the group!
Thanks everyone. I’ve been on the Owens-Corning website before, and the funny thing is they actually list the Home Depots that I went to. Anyway, I do think it has to do with the mild climate. Which is nuts cause it does dip into the 30s at night sometimes. That seems cold enough for good insulation. Anyway, if you can find it in Phoenix, I should be able to get it around here somewhere. I’ll keep looking.
I’m in the same boat in the bay area.I’m trying to find a place in the east bay before I drive all the way to San Jose. I saw today that a local hobby shop had used the blue foam in thier display window layout (Ace Hardware in Berkley, and yes they have a hobby dept in the basement [:)].). We asked where they got the foam from and they said they got thier’s at Truitt n White Lumber in Berkley. Unfortunately they were closed by the time we got there, but I will check back on Monday and see if I have any luck.
I got it today! I drove down to San Jose and got it at the Blossom Hill HD. I called ahead of time and talked to a manager, who said they would cut it for me. When I got there, the workers said they don’t do that - until I said I had talked to a manager a few hours before who told me they would cut it.
These were 2X8 sheets (Owens-Corning, pink) and I had them cut in half to fit in my very small car. I’m running a train right now. It’s just a loop with one switch, but I’ll take it for now.
Itsed65, Truitt n White Lumber is also mentioned in the thread linked by fast_ianb above. Sounds like you’re in luck. If not, you can definitely get the pink stuff in San Jose. The thicknesses I saw were 1" and 1.5".
Thanks again to everyone for your suggestions. This ended a frustrating search, and I hope I can provide some useful information for someone here in the future - but I doubt it [D)]
