Where is extruded foam in California?

[Jetrock]

It seems to keep picking up from time to time...it's nice to learn that the foam is available in California, but not so nice to learn that a drive to San Jose is necessary to obtain it--no offense to folks who live in San Jose, but I get the hives driving down there--it's no fun taking the freeway.

[Anonymous]

This post is still running??........

[Anonymous]

i have located it at fiberglass hawaii in santa cruz california .they sell surfboard blanks and fiberglassing supplies .there phone # is 831 476 7464 fax #[phone] .adress 1037 17th ave santa cruz .i have just discovered it on friday and have not yet had a chance to get down there .i know it comes in 2 inch thkns by 8 ft .its the blue stuff . there hours are mon thru fri 830 -430 sat 900-430 i am not sure of the price .but i know they have it for sure as my boss at work bought some for props for his kids on broadway plays . it might be worth it to try your area for the same type of suppliers or take a road trip down here ,its a nice drive down the one this time of year .if you need more info feel free to let me know .ps you may try a local roofing supply ,and remember its a jungle out there ..............................a hobo jungle that is. yor new friend tramptrac

[ckape]

Having recently moved from Minnesota (Where pink foam grows on trees) to Sacramento, I'm glad I found this thread. When I went to Home Depot checking out the supplies they had for the Free-Mo module I'm planning I got quite the surprise.

[CharlieBedard]

An update for those of us in Northern California who have been stymied looking for extruded foam.

I FOUND SOME :-)!

After searching and calling just about every Home Depot and Lowe's in the Bay area I finally found a supply! It is not, apparently, illegal in California. I spoke with a store manager at the Home Depot in Campbell who told me that it wasn't available simply because it didn't sell as well as the Insulfoam white insulation. I guess some people actually use this stuff to insulate walls. Imagine :-)!

He was helpful enough to search the Home Depot database and, sure enough, the Home Depot in San Jose at the Blossom Hill store (across from Oakridge mall) has a ton of it. I went there this weekend to find that they had the Owens-Corning pink Formular 250 extruded foam in 3/4", 1" and 1.5" thickness in 2'x8' sheets. They did not seem to have any of the 1.5" stuff in the bin but I saw a palette of more sheets high up in the warehouse. Couldn't tell the size. But they had many sheets of the 3/4" and 1". Since my plan is to use the foam as roadbed, I bought 10 sheets of the 3/4" at about $6 a sheet. After all the searching, that seemed almost free.

So, for those of you in the Bay Area, it might be valuable for all of us to keep buying our foam at that one store so they will keep it in stock!

Good luck!

Charlie

[barclaysierra]

davekelly, right you are. This forum has been a great deal of help to me, often supplying answers to questions I hadn't even asked yet. The foam problem was a stickler but assistance from this forum ultimately got me where I wanted to be. Again, THANK YOU ALL!
JB

[davekelly]

It's kinda cool that a simple call for help gets so many responses.

[DSchmitt]

QUOTE: Originally posted by barclaysierra

EUREKA! I FOUND IT! Western MacArthur Co. on 8300 Gerber Road in Sacramento has it in all sizes. It is the blue Styrofoam extruded foam, exactly what we are all looking for. $8.11 for a 2 x 8 sheet incl. tax.

Again, thanks to all in the area and out who made suggestions and shared their experiences with the fake stuff. If you live in Sacramento area, this is the place. The salesman said they sell a lot of it for modelers taxidermy etc. They use it for pipe insulation and fabricated stuff they make.

JB

Interesting different company name but at the address I suggested.

[Jetrock]

It seems like there are a few of us in that neck of the woods--twhite is in Carmichael, just east of Sacramento. I'm in downtown Sacramento, AggroJones is in Roseville a bit farther east. I do the drive up I-5 to Redding quite a bit--lots of flatness there, but often some train-watching to be done, as there are a number of grain co-ops out that way. There's even more in 99, even a couple of old railroad stations still standing. From what I recall, the scenery going south from Sacramento is pretty flat too--the last time I rode to L.A. was 1998, mostly at night, so I don't remember much of the trip other than a near-endless series of rest stops.

[Anonymous]

twhite where do you live ! Middle CA is full of fruit & veggie growers. Believe me I've
almost everywhere in California to have seen enough. take a nice trip down the I-5
(99 alternitive) between Sacramento & Los Angles & LOOK at the view ![banghead][banghead][alien][:)][:)]

[barclaysierra]

EUREKA! I FOUND IT! Western MacArthur Co. on 8300 Gerber Road in Sacramento has it in all sizes. It is the blue Styrofoam extruded foam, exactly what we are all looking for. $8.11 for a 2 x 8 sheet incl. tax.

Again, thanks to all in the area and out who made suggestions and shared their experiences with the fake stuff. If you live in Sacramento area, this is the place. The salesman said they sell a lot of it for modelers taxidermy etc. They use it for pipe insulation and fabricated stuff they make.

JB

[barclaysierra]

Wow, guess I really lit a fire on this one. I have tried all of the Home Depots in the Sacramento area and a bunch of lumber yards. In spite of the Owens-Corning website reference, they no longer carry the product. However, one very nice clerk in the Roseville store routed me to another store who supposedly had it, and that store had a very nice clerk who said no, they hadn't carried it in some time. However, he routed me to Western Mcarther at 8300 Gerber Rd. off Power Inn in Sacramento. I called them and they said they don't carry the pink stuff, but the Dow blue stuff. I lost track of all the places I have been to or called, but this place is positive they have what I want. Only problem is they are not open weekends and close at 4:30 pm on weekdays. May be a week or so before I can get there, but it looks like I've found it. The stuff Home Depot sells looks like a nightmare to use, as some have indicated. I'm holding out for the real thing.
THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS....ULTIMATELY, I THINK I'VE FOUND IT, BUT WILL CONFIRM ONCE I PROVE IT.
JB

[Jetrock]

The stuff with the blue back is expanded foam--the white stuff. I use it, having little alternative--I peel the blue stuff off, it is just a layer of thin plastic. It crumbles and throws dust everywhere and you'll be covered with the little white things--use a face mask if using a power tool to cut it. It looks okay finished, though.

[TurboOne]

In San Diego our HD had the foam with the blue back on one side. No two inch in stock in any of the stores. 1" is $5.97 a sheet. I have two sheets but haven't put it down yet as I want to finish other benchwork. Tom let us know how it comes out for you. Sounds like you put blue side up ? or am I just tired ?

Take care

Tim

[Jetrock]

QUOTE: Originally posted by mac 4884

Too bad you dont live down south. LA has everything including's the world's
largest Model R.R. store, which carries foam specifically for model R.R.. The trip
may be worth it. Only 7 hours south.

That's okay, personally I prefer northern California. Although I may drop by there when I come down this summer for the King Tut exhibit (on the train, naturally!)

Only 7 hours...heh. Only in southern California do you find sentences like "only a seven-hour drive" spoken. I still have bad flashbacks of the one time I tried driving in Los Angeles (in an overheating rental minivan with seven smelly punks and 500 pounds of band equipment!)

[Jetrock]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Bikerdad

Try Mechanical Insulation Supply, in North Highlands, CA

Been there--they don't have it. The closest thing was this yellowish foam stuff that crumbled alarmingly when touched.

[Bikerdad]

Yeah, or he could save an hour or more and just go to http://www.foamsalesmarketing.com in Burbank. Probably save a lot of money too....

[Anonymous]

Nope, Allied model trains in culver city on sepulvda bovulard.

[Bob Hayes]

mac 4884,
Where is "the world's largest Model R.R. store" in LA? Hope you're not referring to Fred's place?
Bob Hayes

[Anonymous]

Too bad you dont live down south. LA has everything including's the world's
largest Model R.R. store, which carries foam specifically for model R.R.. The trip
may be worth it. Only 7 hours south.

[Jetrock]

I've been to the one on Franklin--they don't have it there. I used the beaded extruded stuff and it was fairly dreadful to work with...

[Bikerdad]

Try Mechanical Insulation Supply, in North Highlands, CA

[Anonymous]

Hi bodyman46,
Blue foam is available in Lowes new store in Summerlin, Las Vegas.
My son-in-law bought some last week following my 'instructions' from here in the UK.
You guys get it a lot cheaper than I pay for it here[:O]

[twhite]

Okay, latest report--no extruded foam, just Insulfoam. I have decided to use it, because I need that return loop relaid, come hell or high water! Good point #1: I don't have to remove the blue plastic coating to glue the roadbed to it, it takes Elmer's Wood Glue very well. Good point #2--the stuff has FORCED me to use stronger bracing to support it, and I think it's going to work okay. God knows my layout--or at least that portion of it, should survive a tornado--oops, we don't have tornadoes in California, I'm told by the weatherman, we have 'Funnel Clouds'. Yah, well, they STILL take off roofs! Bad point: i'm still going to have beads floating around all over the place when I cut in the canyon, but then, that's why God invented the shop-vac, right? Just e-mailed an old buddy of mine in Texas who retired from Corning last year, told him my sad story about the Corning extruded foam. He just chuckled and said that was one of the reasons he moved OUT of California! Too many PC's protecting us poor dumb yokels.
Oh well, onward and backward!
Tom[banghead]

[Anonymous]

Mark C. stated:

QUOTE: I've seen stickers on circuit boards that claim the something is "known to the State of California to cause cancer".

Here in California that would be known as a "Proposition 65" warning. Several years back an initiative was passed here that required manufacturers of products to label their products if they contained any known carcinogens. These labels can be found on all kinds of products from adhesives to solvents, electrical components to who knows what else. I guess it makes the politicians in Sacramento feel like they are protecting us to let us know that nearly everything we come into contact with may cause cancer!

[bodyman46]

I too have been looking for the blue or pink styrofoam foam insulation.I'm been looking all over the Southern Calif. area and no one has it. Not Home Depot, Lowes, etc. On my last trip to Las Vegas ,I look for some up there with no luck. I want to build a small layout using foam. I did find some, last year in Kansas but it was to big to bring on the plane.
carl

[CharlieBedard]

Brian,

Nice try. I did that ages ago and got a list of Home Depot stores that supposedly carried the stuff. I went to every one of them. Nope. Not in stores. Just piles of the Insulfoam. I'm sure I went to the Milpitas store that "prompter" referred to. I did not find any pink extruded foam. I am eager to hear if he did, in fact, find some this weekend! If so, then it has reappeared!

I may try the insulfoam. I still plan on using a 1/2" plywood subroadbed but I'd like to lay another 1/2" of foam over the plywood. So, structural strength isn't an issue. Staying together and not crumbling over time is the key.

Charlie Bedard

[twhite]

Brian--thank you, thank you THANK YOU!! I'm off tomorrow right after church and I'm going to wipe out the Meadowview store! But whatever you do, don't let the California Politically Correct know about this, or it'll be a bill in the State Senate by Wednesday, LOL!
Thanks again,
Tom [:P][:P]

[Anonymous]

in fact I just did it for you and these are a couple home depot's that carry FOAMULAR.

3611 TRUXELL RD
SACRAMENTO, CA 95833
916-928-0722

5310 FRANKLIN BLVD
SACRAMENTO, CA 95820
916-455-3057

1461 MEADOWVIEW RD
SACRAMENTO, CA 95832-1009
916-399-9905

according to the owens-corning website these all cary FOAMULAR so best of luck to you.... make sure you go and ask for the product by company and name and say it's insulation foam.

Best of luck to you in the search.