I was wondering if there were any fair places online to purchase foam for these. I live in NY and shockingly enough I cant seem to find anywhere that isnt atronomical when it comes to buting the foam.
I realize shipping will probably be more than the foam itself but if the final price is fair I will be happy to give it a shot!
Great question - its true that the foam can be very costly so here are a few tips. You want to use polystyrene foam, which is the one that looks like compressed white beads. This is the most cost effective foam and should be used for all non-strutural artificial rock forms. The more dense pink and blue varieties are used for structural applications where the rigidity of the foam adds to the structual integrity to the piece. Also these more dense varieties are much more expensive.
SO - how do you get cheap foam? Start with buying second hand foam. "Virgin" styrofoam is the first manufactured use of the styrofoam and therefor expensive. Try finding use foam outlets as they can be a good source for materials, though still a little on the pricy side.
Look at the situation from another angle. Styrofoam deteriorates at such an unreasonbly slow rate that every piece of styrofoam ever made in the history of man still sits somehwere on or near the surface of the earth. This stuff never goes away. As such, a company that deals with relacing styrofoam may need to actually pay to get rid of old products:
Specifically, roofing companies for example. When certain renovations are completed, old styrofoam sheets are removed and replaced with new ones. This could be to upgrade the insulating value or to eliminate old, damaged or moldy insulation. Since you are building artificial rocks and not installing the insulation in your bedroom, you may be able to use second hand product that the company may not be able to get rid of otherwise. It is even possible if you live in the right area that you mat be able to have companies pay a small fee to have you dispose of their unusable, damaged and otherwise unsellable product.
Post a few ads online stating that you are looking for free or cheap foam and I bet that you will be swimming in it in no time.
I hope this information is helpful.
Steve Goodale Green Pools www.ArtificialRock.ca www.GreenPools.ca 1-888-818-POOL
I have actually found recently that just calling a local contractor or two will get you access to construction sites. You just need to "talk the talk" with the site supervisor or boss. They all have construction bins for taking away waste and unfortunately foam chunks take up a ton of space in these bins so it can be costly to get rid of.
Since rock sculpting allows you to make use of what would otherwise be scrap styrofoam almost all little pieces that you find will be useful and the contrator will be saving money for your efforts - a win win situation.