Using Rubber as covering

[Floyd]

Hello All....I just joined and am enjoying reading the different posts submitted. Glad to be online with persons who are willing to go over and beyond what would be expected to be helpful.

I am a novice HO grandpa and am trying to setup some type of bilevel track layout for my grandson (and Me). My immediate question is..I have quite a lot of rubberized 1/8 inch thick material which are leftovers from a roofing job that my son just completed. He has some type of "instant" adhesion glue that he used to apply it onto the plywood roof sheeting on a shed roof. Does anyone have any experience using similiar material as a plywood subbase on their layout? Is the use of this material feasable in your opinion or am I heading in a bad direction? Guess it could just be used under the trackbed but I have enough to cover the entire 4X8 sheet of plywood??
Thanks for any help

 

[MasonJar]

Hi Floyd,

Welcome to The Gauge/Zealot! Glad you could join us.

To get right to your question... I would ask in return - what benefit are you looking for in covering the entire plywood deck with the rubberized material? I am not sure there are any, but I can think of a couple of possible uses:

If you can get other things to stick to it, it might be useful as roadbed (i.e. under the track), as you note. But there'd have to be some way to secure the track. You can nail it, as long as nails can penetrate and hold in the rubber. Many people glue their track instead, so gyou'd have to find some sort of glue that sticks to it.

It might also be good for modelling paved roads. Just the other day, a fellow from our local modular club told us about making roads from spray-on asphalt roof repair tar.

A picture of the material might help generate other suggestions or advice. Good luck with the project!

Andrew

 

[Floyd]

Andrew thanks for your comments. Guess that I was wondering if the material would help cut down on noise....but? I will attempt to post a picture of the rolled material later.

 

[MasonJar]

That's an interesting point - most noise reduction benefits are negated partly or sometimes almost completely by landscaping. Landscaping has the effect of cementing everything back into one rigid mass, which transmits sound very well... For example, the gluing of ballast makes the track, roadbed cork, ballast, and the "deck" back into one solid piece, often negating the effect of the cork in reducing noise.

But in your case, if you were to sandwich the rubber between the "table" and perhaps a thinner layer of plywood - over which everything else would be laid - you might achieve a good level of sound reduction.

I am sure that someone else will be along to offer an opinion. I have not tried this, so can't say if it'll work. Could be interesting...!

Andrew

 

[nkp174]

Andrew's suggestion is pretty much what I'd recommend. Further, many HO locomotives are quite quiet. Metal wheel sets and kadee couples make nice sound effects when starting a train and/or rolling over the layout.

 

[Jim Krause]

Is this material what is sometimes called "torch down" roofing or is it a direct adhesive application?

 

[Floyd]

Hello Jim and thanks for your reply, .....It is direct adhesive application. On the shed roof we spread the adhesive on the roofing board and then let it dry a few minutes then placed the material onto the adhesive and it makes "INSTANT CONTACT" . We had to make sure that the material was set correctly the first time as it stuck to the adhesive immediately. I don't think I would want a job like that one again as the roof is about 40 x 20 feet and the material comes in a one piece roll!!