Foam Insulation question

[Anonymous]

I'm sure this has been posted before and I just missed it so please excuse me.


I just layed a foam insulation "deck" on my plywood on a new layout and I am concerned about the gaps where the insulation sheets butt up to one another. I would like to fill the gaps up and level them off before I start painting and detailing. Any suggetions on what works as a good gap filler with extruded pink insulation board? I am new to the foam board thing and so far it is working well with the advice I read in this forum - thanks

[Anonymous]

Hello, dry wall compound, light weight spackling (red devil) these can be sanded, also liquid nails for foam board on a small line,

[Anonymous]

This is a great turotial on landscaping with foam. Same prinicples could be applied to foam-built benchwork. The author recommends stuffing the joints/cracks with paper towel.

http://www.fcsme.org/bcarl/basic_scenery.htm

Check out the "Super Trees" tutorial as well - really helpful!

Andrew

[cacole]

Latex caulking will work, but will require a couple of days to skin over and lose its stickiness. You can smooth the cualking with a wet finger. Keep a small amount of water nearby to dip a finger into and smooth the caulking, or you could use a putty knife to just spread the excess to either side as you press the caulking into the joint.

[orsonroy]

For larger gaps (1/4" wide or larger) use any of the expanding spray foams. I use "Great Stuff" sprayed into the gaps. When it's dry the next day, I use a hacksaw blade to cut off the excess, and use either coards (60 grit or so) sandpaper of my Surefoam tool to sand everything level. Once you add scenery, you'll never be able to see where the joints were.

For thin gaps, I either ignore them, carve them into scenic "microterrain", or fill using clear silicone caulk. The big problem with using silicone caulk is that you won't be able to effectively sand it. Wood putty will be sandable, as will Durham's Water Putty.

[Anonymous]

Woodland Scinics sells a foam putty.

[siberianmo]

My recently constructed layout consists of multiple sheets of the pink insulation you referred to. Thicknesses from 4 inches on down...... My layout measures 35 ft in length and 15 1/2 ft in width with lots of mountains - which the foam makes easy to construct. But I digress ......

My advice is to use the least expensive caulking you can find - color is unimportant since you will undoubtably paint and landscape it all. My experience with the more expensive stuff left me absolutely cold. The latex caulking worked best and who cares about a finished look at the point of construction? You may want to keep in mind that nature itself has many bumps, lumps and inconsistencies. Why not your pike?

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Originally posted by siberianmo

You may want to keep in mind that nature itself has many bumps, lumps and inconsistencies. Why not your pike?

I like the idea above. Turn the gap into a drain ditch. Also structures, sidewalks, streets and other construction can cover up the fault line.

G.

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