Polypropylene Landscape Fabric?

Canvas covered foamies (Thrifty Alternatives...)

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Re: Polypropylene Landscape Fabric?

Postby westerly » Fri Oct 29, 2021 11:51 am

A few thoughts from my experimentation...
I came across a roll being discarded when I was very much interested in building a landsailer. These are typically constructed with plywood and chopped strand fiberglass with finer weave material for the top layer - I thought it might be useful for the top layer. At the time I honestly didn't know what the material was as it looked like the spun bond polyester found on the underside of a couch. It didn't take to well with wetting with polyester resin, but I found wetted first with paint thinner improved it. A little research into the manufacturing showed fibers are layed out then sprayed with a bonding agent, and as a landscape fabric this should be water insoluble.

Next I wanted to get a better understanding of a foamie construction and strength specifically because I can only get white polystyrene here. Using some (admittedly low density) foam from packaging, I put the paint and 2 side layers on the mockup. It revealed something important - in bending the surface under tension did well, but the other side under compression gave way as the foam compressed and the fabric layer offered little stiffness (say unlike fiberglass). So now I think there is little replacement for a good rigid foam when the fabric layer (like landscape fabric) is under compression.

And finally, I have a small section of a flat roof that ponds water and the henry white elastomeric coating didn't adhere well (they don't advise use where water won''t evaporate after a day). I know they sell their own fabric, and have seen 1 youtube embedding fabric in the coating and have seen something similar in cementious deck waterproofing, so so I did an experiment, weathered it for a year, before applying it to the roof. It was just applied for this winter but don't expect any problems. The fabric and coating acts together as a well bonded layer that resists the cracking one would otherwise experience like in that of a dry lake bed. A tip for this use is to coat the surface AND paint the fabric side for good bonding, apply pressure for good contact and maybe even let dry a little before applying the top coat(s).

Oh, and also the landscape fabric is rather stiff ("starchy") and doesn't accept bends too well - maybe dissolving that bonding agent again would help. Hope this helps.
westerly
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Re: Polypropylene Landscape Fabric?

Postby GPW » Sat Oct 30, 2021 2:56 am

West… Thanks for your experimentation !!! :thumbsup:
There’s no place like Foam !
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Re: Polypropylene Landscape Fabric?

Postby westerly » Tue Nov 02, 2021 1:18 pm

Glad I could contribute!
I got a lot of good ideas from this site and someday hope to post a build (kind of waiting of a vehicle to pair it with). :)
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