Thrifty Alternatives ..Building Foam Campers

[KCStudly]

Jack, for minor gouges and scratches in foam, light weight ceiling spackle works a treat. For small dents you can try the damp towel and iron method to see if you can get them to expand back out. Sort of self healing with moderate heat.

[atahoekid]

Didn't someone talk about using "block filler" as a way to coat the foam and fill in the minor imperfections? You might need to give it a light sanding after it dries but should be pretty easy. I used that vinyl spackle too and it worked well.

[jae]

I couldn't find any info after a quick forum search, so I figured I'd stick this here and see if any of you guys have heard of it, or know if it'd be worth trying. Just a tad cheaper than the pink stuff here locally, and at 1/2" thick it's still rated for structural use. This tells me that it might be a bit heavier than standard foam, but if you could get the strength of 2" thick pink (or blue, or green, etc) out of a 1/2" sheet it might be worth it.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Unbranded-Qu ... /202089176

[wagondude]

Well, compared to 2" foam. 1/4 the thickness, 1/2 of the price, but more than twice the weight. Add to that the California Prop 65 warning label, I would stick to the foam. No idea what could be outgassing from that into your small box. Others may have a different opinion. Weight wise you might as well just use plywood.

[Wolffarmer]

The stick the Prop 65 thing on every thing. I once got it on a file I down loaded. To me that sticker is now meaningless

[GPW]

It does seem an interesting material ... But Heavy ... One would “assume" ( ) it being for Home use it would be safe ... Maybe ??? Everything around here gets tested FIRST ... always the best way ...

[jae]

Being the thrifty alternative thread, I thought this would be a decent place for it. I'm sure it will be too heavy for what I want to build (thinking 1/2" foam and canvas), but the other thought was that it's inexpensive, and seems to be sturdy.

I hadn't considered the out-gassing issue... FWIW though, the last batch of untreated 2x4's I bought had a warning label that sawdust will cause cancer and warning to ALWAYS wear a respirator when I was in contact with the wood...


I feel like everything causes cancer these days.

I'll take a look at it next time I'm at HD and report on my observations.

[GPW]

It may have some useful purposes ... Can’t toss anything out without it being tested...

[jae]

Reading back through my reply, I can see where I might have sounded offended, but I was not. So perhaps poor inflection-translation-through-typing on my part.

It seems as if there are two primary reasons to use foam to build:

1) less expensive than wood
2) lighter than wood

Is this a correct assumption? If so, hitting both is best, but if you could only hit one (expense), while gaining rigidity (for those who value structural rigidity over weight), it seems like it might be a decent trade-off.

One thing I do note in going through the installation instructions on the Home Depot page, it appears that it is rated for both internal and external construction use.

Also, regarding Prop 65 (again from Home Depot):

Proposition 65 notice for wood products is as follows: WARNING: Drilling, sawing, sanding or machining wood products generates wood dust, a substance known to the State of California to cause cancer. Use a respirator or other safeguards to avoid inhaling wood dust.

So wood itself carries the Prop 65 warning label. I guess nothing is safe... oh well, something's got to kill me

[GPW]

Jae , I lived in the Big H for a while , where it gets Big HOT in the summer (gets just as HOT here) .... think I’d want the insulation factor rather saving a few bucks in the name of “structure” ... As we Foamlings' soon found out , if you need more “structure" , use more foam .. (twice as thick is 8 times as Strong) . If you’re going to line dance on the top , well then structure should be considered , but for a Foam Camper , the well tested methods here work really Great ...

[KCStudly]

3) Thermally insulates better than wood.
4) Acoustically insulates better than wood.
...and this is the big one...
5) Does not rot.

[GPW]

Does not rot. ... That’s always a Big Plus ...

[atahoekid]

Does not rot. ... That’s always a Big Plus ...

That's what made me look at Foam. Lightweight was fine but I have a big truck, I could pull a HUGE trailer. It was really the non rot issue that caught my attention!

[GPW]

Mel , this all started with us trying to prevent ROT ...!!!

[Wolffarmer]

I started looking cause it is light weight. I like small TVs. But do not like the ultra small TDs

Randy