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Astrothumps
08-29-2009, 05:29 PM
I live on the West Coast and am having a hard time locating good foam for building terrain.

I have found some blue foam that is 4inches thick in 8X2 feet sheets for $25.00.

I want to know if thats a good price and if there is anywhere online that I could order some good stuff.

Any help would be awesome.

late

Faolain
08-29-2009, 06:59 PM
I'm in California, and I can't find the thick foam anywhere. I had my friend bring some back from Utah when he went to visit his family. Apparently, the stuff is mostly illegal to sell here (that's what the guy at Lowe's said anyway), though it's not illegal to own it.

As far as I know, the blue stuff is just as good as the pink. It it sturdy? The white styrofoam is made up of small compressed pellets. This makes it crumble. If you can see the big pellets, don't get it. The good styrofoam is denser and won't crumble.

I'm not a styrofoam expert, but that is the knowledge that I have. Hope it helps.

Astrothumps
08-29-2009, 08:53 PM
I did find it at two spots in the Bay Area but it seems really pricey. Pacific Supplies and D&J hobbies has some for train stuff.

I have been asking around a little at RV hobby shops and train places since they seem to have a lot of the same needs.

entendre_entendre
08-29-2009, 09:22 PM
nothing in the local home improvement store? can't find styrofoam insulation? what do you insulate your houses with down there anyways? (remembers insulation in California is pretty redundant) oh... <facepalms>
idk where to find foam in Cali, but if you get foam, 4 inches is going to be really thick unless you cut it down to at least half that. just a thought coming from personal experience. i prefer 1.5 inch thickness myself (don't even start w/ the jokes :mad:)

Astrothumps
08-29-2009, 10:05 PM
The Styrofoam insulation is sorta the suck. It is really flaky and just falls apart. Here in North CAL you mostly have Insulation to keep your house cool during the summer and generally it isnt really needed. I couldnt handle the weather in most other places so its great for that, just not great for Foam :(.

vman
08-29-2009, 10:28 PM
i would assume it would be easy to find considering most countries would have regulations stating that all new construction requires inbuilt insulation into the walls and such

and thats exactly what the pink/blue foam is... insulation

pagumb
08-30-2009, 11:58 AM
I live on the West Coast and am having a hard time locating good foam for building terrain.

I have found some blue foam that is 4inches thick in 8X2 feet sheets for $25.00.

I want to know if thats a good price and if there is anywhere online that I could order some good stuff.

Any help would be awesome.

late

I'd be considering making the trip over to Bob's Foam Factory (http://www.bobsfoam.com/) in Fremont for a while but hadn't ever got my plans together to warrant the trip. I did email them about prices and your blue foam price sounds about right from what I remember. They'll cut the foam into smaller sized pieces and were very responsive via email so you might want to contact them.

Might also want to check with local Home Depots. In July I went into the San Carlos Home Depot and they had 1" and 2" thick pink foam sheets. I almost fell over. I bought one 2'x8' sheet of the 2" thick pink foam for around $28 plus tax. They also had 1" thick pink 2'x8' sheets. I had asked about the foam previously at Home Depot and been told it wasn't used for insulation in CA because of the weather being so mild. Haven't been back in since buying my sheet but hopefully they're still carrying it.

Good luck with the foam hunting.

Pagumb

Astrothumps
08-30-2009, 02:25 PM
Thanks for the tips.

I did hear about the place in Fremont but I think the building actually was destroyed in an industrial fire. That's the last I heard about it. Hopefully they are up and running again, that isnt too far from where I live.

When I asked for Foam at our Home Depot at first they ran away and then later looked at me like I was insane. Sorta the typical Home Depot response but they had never even heard of it.

Astrothumps
09-03-2009, 12:28 PM
Thanks Pagumb for the top for Bob's Foam Factory got some pricing and it seems pretty reasonable:

1 x 24 x 96 $36.80 each
2 x 24 x 96 $ 73.60 each

I might have to get some soon.

thanks again