Haunt Construction – Great Stuff Foam
Have you heard of Great Stuff Foam? If you answered no I highly recommend you start researching because this stuff is like duct tape and has a ton of uses when it comes to haunt construction and prop building. I have used it for guts on skeletons, for holding foam together and for its original purpose of sealing gaps and cracks in my home but mostly for props and set pieces. It is a bit costly coming in around $5-$6 for a 16oz can but the results are amazing once you figure out how to use this stuff. It squirts out of the tube attachment and onto the location you need it then it begins to expand and it does so rapidly and then in about an hour it is dried and your good to go.
Now the purpose of this post is not to give you a tutorial on any props or construction as much as some tips and tricks to the use of Great Stuff Foam as I came across some useful things in my last use of a can a week ago. If you have used it before then you know once you are done its kind of a pain to clean up and the tube attachment is usually filled and then when it hardens can be a pain to unclog some times. Well here are some of the things I have found out over the years in my use of Great Stuff Foam. First is always wear gloves, I try to always have some latex gloves for painting and use with Great Stuff Foam but last time I did not and just pushed on without any and well 4 days later still have some stuck on my hand. It is rather interesting if you read the label because it says you have to wait and let it wear off of your skin if you get it on you or you have to remove it mechanically so I would just like to recommend you make sure you have gloves before hand it saves you from a big mess.
The clogging issue. Well usually I just leave the nozzle attachment on the can and then when it is time to use again you just pull out the top piece of it that is dried in the tube and you can continue on. However if by chance your nozzle gets removed and the tube is also seperated then you have a lot of dried and expanded foam in them. Not the easiest thing to get out but thanks to a BBQ earlier in the day this last time I found that the little thin wooden kabob sticks from the grocery store fit through the tube perfectly and push the dried foam right out. Then i used a screw that was just about the size of the opening on the cans nozzle and just twisted it into the top of the foam and it pulled right out and gave me a clean and clear nozzle and tube.
I am sure there are a dozens of other tips and tricks to ways to use and handle Dow Chemical Co. 157901 Great Stuff Insulating Foam Sealant for Gaps & Cracks
One last resource for Great Stuff Foam is the MSDS Safety Sheet