In the club I was in we were investigating alternatives to homasote, we found some board, I don't recall the exact name, Cyrotex or something, I totally forget, it had similar properties like homasote, it was fireproof, but like me I hand spike stuff and I tried hand spiking into a sample of this stuff, and it simply does not hold spikes that well, Homosate does. Homasote you spike into and the spike holds, this other stuff, you spike into it, the material spreads and stays spread, homosote it tries to compress back in and it HOLDS the spike. For flex track stuff and glueing down track, homosote might not be that necessary but I SWEAR by it for hand spiking.
Menards is about the only source I know around these parts for Homasote and thay have 2x4 cuts of it, very handy for my modular work, and can transport it in my weelte compact car...heh
A nearby lumber company I know has had stock of it but havent checked them out lately, you should poke around all your lumber yards for it.
Bruce,
As a fellow Winnipeger, I tried to find the stuff when I built my benchwork 3 years ago and couldn't find a local supplier. I tried all the smaller yards too.
CN Charlie
The company's official name for the product is "440 SoundBarrier" That may help you find it..
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I used to work for a company that built a lot of private church schools... we used it for bulletin boards! I stopped using it for subroadbed when I switched to blue foam and adhesive for mounting track.
There was a time, though, when I swore by it!
Lee
Route of the Alpha Jets www.wmrywesternlines.net
A large lumber yard in Northen Ohio sold homosote cut to size for bed boards for sagging mattresses back in the 1950s.. You placed them between the matress and the box springs.
Homasote....I'm 64 years old, my dad used it in our laundry room for the walls and ceilings, wringer wash machine's back then. I was about 9 years old. Soundboard and insulation and wallboard all in one! He even used it for the hog pen, tougher'n hell, even the hogs couldn't bust through it!
I used it when we built my first layout when I was 12, nailed it to plywood. Well like I said I'm 64 and am in the process of building probably my last layout and I'm still using it. Only for the roadbed and yard. I glued it to the plywood. Simply push the track nails with a pair of long nose pliers. Still the best sound deadening material I know of. I live in a high humidity climate and have had no problem with it expanding from moisture, some posters claim they do. Even when I was younger, never had a problem with it even in a wet basement. Up north in Canada, I don't know where you would get it! You might try a full service building supply that deals strictly with lumber and building supplies, like a builder would use as opposed to Home Depot or Lowes!
I can still get it in the Toronto area. Its called Homosote up here too. There are very few lumber yards that carry it. Home Depot near me ( Barrie Ont. ) has never heard of it. some of their people wouldnt know wood if it fell on them. Before everyone jumps on me, my son works there.
Dave
Homasote is the registered trademark name of a product made from compressed, recycled paper. In the U.S. it is sold at some lumber dealers in 4 x 8 foot 1/2 inch thick sheets as an insulation material.
Here's a link to the Homasote Corporation's web site:
http://www.homasote.com/
I think it's called fibreboard or paperboard in Canuckland. No one has ever heard of homasote way up here.
The Homasote web site lists Mickey MacMurchy, 604-526-5153, as the sales rep for your area. You might try calling him.
I googled "homasote" and can find no reference to it outside the USA. Ii wonder if a similar product, under a different name, is available in Canada?
73
Bruce in the Peg