Thread: Glue For Foam

Try Liquid Nails (Selleys i think but Bostik do one as well) I don't think that will eat the S'foam. Test on an offcut of course.

Originally Posted by conversionking

.... The manufacturer of the foam tells me that if the foam was glued to the aluminium previously with silicone NOTHING and I repeat they said NOTHING will glue the foam to the aluminium any more. Now I am a patient person but this really got up my goat for alot of reasons but mainly I just don't believe there is any truth to that.

I'm not sure where you're coming from with this??

A silicon sealer will work to which you'll need a neutral cure silicon sealant something like Selleys “Roof and Gutter” silicon sealant nutral. You may have to flatten out the bead to give greater surface coverage/area.

To assist with bondage I would rough up the underside of the alum. sheet with some course sanding type paper.

Originally Posted by conversionking

The manufacturer of the foam tells me that if the foam was glued to the aluminium previously with silicone NOTHING and I repeat they said NOTHING will glue the foam to the aluminium any more. Now I am a patient person but this really got up my goat for alot of reasons but mainly I just don't believe there is any truth to that.

It's hard to not let the facts get in the way, what they say is true whether you believe it or not. Once you find a glue that sticks styrofoam to alum (maybe polyurethane or oh yeah as above post suggests more silicone) you will have to sand the top layer of foam that is contaminated with old silicone off or glue in the areas where the silicone was not.

Cheers
Michael

The standard Liquid Nails (solvent based) will not work, it will dissolve the styrofoam (DAMHIK), I used waterbased Liquid Nails when I glued styrofoam panels under my shed roof, but I doubt that would work where silicone had been used previously.

I would have thought silicone will be your only hope.

Hi everyone thanks for the replies its a big help!!!

The main problem is I am not sure if it was silicone used previously or just glue. The foam manfacturer just told me about the potential silicone issue as a warning when for when I did the job and was not a definite that I had silicone in the roof or not.

The caravan itself was manufactured in 1985 and the foam has not been changed since then until I came along. I spoke to a another caravan repairer and the advised they use "Masum" (spelling) roof and gutter glue to glue down foam panels but I think I have the spelling wrong. The caravan was made by viscount and looking at the manufacturing processes it seems silicone was not used but again that is just a guess.

From what I can gather from most of the people who I have spoken to up to this point say to use a water based adhesive as it will not eat into the foam. This was just mentioned above as well thanks.

At this point I have used a drill with a wire brush to remove all the old foam from the aluminium sheet so it is clean now and pretty much bare metal but I just need to select the glue itself.

Keep the ideas coming!!!

Originally Posted by conversionking

Hi everyone thanks for the replies its a big help!!!

The main problem is I am not sure if it was silicone used previously or just glue. The caravan was manufactured in 1985 and has not changed since then until I came along.

Most of the people who I have spoken to say to use a water based adhesive as it will not eat into the foam.

I have used a drill with a wire brush to remove all the old foam from the aluminium sheet so it is clean now.

I have stuck ceramic tiles to polystyrene foam using Selleys Roof and Gutter sealant. It worked a treat with no eating the foam.

Do a test and find out for yourself.

You can also go online to Selleys and put you question to them as to an appropriate adhesive. They will answer you

Thanks everyone, I also found this on the selleys site.

http://www.selleys.com.au/Selleys-Kw...d/default.aspx

I would need a few 500ml tubs but it is water based.

Originally Posted by conversionking

... "Masum" (spelling) roof and gutter glue ...

Macsum Roof and Gutter Silicone.
TM

Originally Posted by TermiMonster

Macsum Roof and Gutter Silicone.
TM

Is it a specialist product as google yields no results?

True epoxy resins should not eat polystyrene, but it must be epoxy, not polyester as used for fibreglass layup. Polyester will eat polystryrene as fast as you can apply it. I figure that if you have been able to get back to bare metal, the epoxy should bond to the ali sheet, and will certainly be effective in bonding the ply to the foam.

http://www.macsim.com.au/Products/Si...r_silicone.php

Sorry, I spelt it incorrectly.
TM