Homosote Substitute

I covered my plywood with fiber board and really like it.  Helps with sound, easy to work with and holds screws good enough. 

Mort

Check out Quietbrace.

Paul, I've been using fiberboard for years. I've also used Homasote, which I feel is way overrated. If you aren't hand laying and spiking track, you don't need the extra density and expense of Homasote. Fiberboard goes by a number of trade names. Quietbrace is just one brand, but I don't think Menards stocks it. The stuff that I used to get from them was brown, but the newer stuff has a black waterproofing material applied. 

Here you can see the old brown vs the new black.

I used 56 sheets of Quietbrace. Not only was it cheaper than Homosote,about $9 per sheet vs $30+ per sheet but it is better material in a lot of respects. Holds screws very well.

Dale H

Elliot, my brown was darker than yours, but you did say the product came under different names hence the difference in colors. Dale, I just priced it Friday and the 2X4 homosote was $11.00 vs $6.50 for a 4X8 sheet of fiber board. That's a difference of $210.00 if you got 10 4X8's! That buys a lot of freight cars.

Is Fiberboard = Quietbrace ?

It is very hard to tell if this thread is speaking of Fiberboard _and_ Quietbrace, or Fiberboard using Quietbrace as a brand name example.

  --Joe

Paul, that stuff in the picture is about 7 or 8 years old. I liked the old stuff better, because that black coating seems to be asphalt based, and gums up my knife blades. However, for its intended purpose of sheathing houses, I suppose that coating makes it better.

Joe, I started this post and I just know of the generic name fiberboard. In fact, I never heard of quietbrace until this posting. Maybe one of the members can clue us in or find out from a building supply store.

I just looked up quietbrace on the internet and it is a form of fiberboard with an asphalt coating on both sides.

Fiberboard sheathing, a compressed vegetation board, [i.e; Quietbrace brand recently and other brands earlier], has been around since the early 1950s. When we first used it[4' x 9' sheets] on some small farm buildings in 1955 it was asphalt impregnated one side only and was printed with the Celotex Brand and 16" stud markings.

Today's Quietbrace is far more dense and some heavier than what I used back in the day.  If building a layout today I would use it over ply under foam, but first place it on sawhorses and roll both sides with latex paint. Helped my son use it on a Playhouse last year.

[see Fiberboard info in Elliot's post above].

Yes it is black,you have to paint it,2 coats of latex covers it. Here it is painted 2 shades of green with K-Line shadow rail screwed down to it. The screws (black,5/8 X #4) are not long enough to reach the OSB under it. I cut mine by scoring with a carpet knife on both sides on the straight cuts. Click on photo to enlarge

Dale H

Wow, great job Dale H. Let the good times [trains] roll!

Hey Guys;

There is another form of fiberboard without the asphalt, called Celotex soundstop.

This is actually engineered as a sound barrier material. And it works well, but is much lower density and more fragile than the others. I can't say how well it holds screws as I haven't put any in it yet. It is also much lower cost than Homosote and more readily available. It does make a lot of fuzz unless you cut with a razor blade vs a jigsaw blade w teeth.

Hello Chad

The layout will be conventional, forward only automated. It is in a 30X60 room,dog bones 2 times then goes through the wall to another room where the layout is about 30X30. In the first room there are 2 levels each with 2 loops of track. 3 Trains are staged at the end of the room on each loop,then the lead train runs through the loop and returns. Only one train runs on a loop at a time to reduce noise for competing sound systems. Using relays the trains start and stop with gradual momentum. In the second room there are random automatic station stops,which I have not circuited yet. 

A fifth loop runs starts on the smaller dog bone.  4 trains sit on the passing siding and alternate direction one at a time running loop to the other room and returns. In the other room a trolley intersects the line in 2 places then goes to a third level against the wall.2 trolleys run the loop. The trolley yields to the train,hopefully.

With time delays and waiting time I hope to create the illusion of real trains in that they will not be continuously visible. Real trains are only seen occasionally. However the layout itself is mostly a toy train layout in theme.

Track is O 120 shadow rail, Inner loop O 96 shadow rail,trolley O 31 shadow rail.

Here are a few more pics, still under construction in an old school building.

Dale H

Hey, truly a fine product of the public school system. Awesome Dale H.

Lee;

Ask about Celotex Soundstop (a fiberboard with a specific sound barrier rating) or ceiling acoustic tiles. They should be available and cost less anyway.

Anyone find quietbrace in nnj? I just check a couple of HD and they do not carry it.

Thanks

HD and Lowes don't have it.  Maybe try a lumber yard.

Richie

It is not distributed in the Northeast. I had to drive to Ohio to get mine. Carter Lumber in Chardon Ohio. If you go on the Quietbrace website they list distributors.

Home Depot will order only if you buy a whole pallet,

Dale H

im in north central florida. the only thing I see at home depot is medium density fiberboard. is that what you guys are talking about

No, MDF is much denser.  Homasote and other "soundboard" types are softer, more like compressed cardboard; you can dent it with your thumb.  MDF and MDO are too dense, they will transmit the sound like plywood does.

hojack,

You need to look where they keep the insulation board next to the extruded and expanded Styrofoam sheets.  I found it at my local Lowe's the other day,  It was about $9 a sheet.  There are several brands out there.  Lowe's carries Georgia Pacific products so they carry their version.

I'm quite familiar with Homasote anf the GP product is lighter and the fibers are more like slivers.  I don't think it is structurally as strong as Homasote so you definitely will have to support it.

I've purchased Homasote in Tallahassee at $40 per sheet.  I'm going to visit my brother in Pennsylvania and I can fit about two dozen 4'x4'sheets in my SUV.

Jan