Hy HWFF We have a large project that we are making plans on covering it with your exterior foam coat . This will be to large of a project to apply foam coat by hand & we would like to spray it on ! I have read you can apply foam coat with a hopper, but can not find any information on how to mix & or apply it using a spray method ? Any info on this would help greatly Thanks Jerry

Look at the Raised Beds video on the Exterior Foam Coat page. It shows the hopper gun that we use. All Purpose sprays in a similar fashion, but sets up faster than the Exterior Foam Coat.
https://hotwirefoamfactory.com/-026ECO-50-Bulk-Exterior-Foam-Coat-50lbs.html
As you will see, hopper guns spit and spatter, so smoothing with trowels and/or a tile grouting sponge is needed to accomplish a smooth surface.
I use a Marshalltown Hopper gun at the second to the largest opening. The compressor is set at 125psi and I vary the gun pressure from 40-60psi depending on the consistence of my mix. I use a fairly heavy duty 10 gallon compressor. When I've used a small pancake compressor I have to wait for it to catch up.

I want to re-coat 2 foam planters because the white finish is wearing off. Would this work for my project?

Yes, you can use our Exterior Foam Coat, but depending on what kind of foam the planters are made out of you might have to add Boost liquid fortifier. Foam Coat will stick well to polystyrene foam, the kind that has the little white bubbles, but not polyurethane which is smoother and harder and often yellowish. Boost will make the foam coat stick to almost any surface. You can first do a thin coat with Boost, then your subsequent coats without it. 

Hello, I am using two part expanding polyurethane foam to cast garden sculptures rather than cement. The purpose is so clients who cannot either move or host an 800 lb piece of work can still have one in their garden. Would you recommend the Exterior Foam Coat for this? I see the Boulder Image pictures in your gallery where they have done similar work and it appears to be holding up to lots of moisture and use. Any tips on getting it sticky enough for this type of foam or will mixing it with Boost be enough? The problem is that this foam is glossy and doesn't have much 'tooth'.

Hi Ron,

People who have been using the two part expanding polyurethane foams like Great Stuff can't get our coatings to stick. Probably because they are waterproof. Several customers have recently tried adding Boost to All Purpose and to Exterior Foam Coat with one reporting back that they adhered well. I can't vouch for this as I haven't tried it myself.

Note that subsequent layers should not need Boost. If you go thicker than 1/8" with Boost you could get some surface fissures. We have applied up to 1/2 thick layers of straight Exterior Foam Coat with no cracking.

One of the most difficult parts of coating foam is getting the first layer to leave the brush to go onto the foam, so yes, hopper-spraying at least the first coat on to give some 'tooth' to the next layer is a smart technique. Pancake batter thickness seems to work well in our hopper gun.

We, and many of our customers, have made boulders out of EPS foam, but each needs to be carved.

If you would like to send some scraps of this foam to us we will do some testing:
Hot Wire Foam Factory
Product Testing/Dave
216 East Laurel Ave
Lompoc, CA 93436

How long do I need to wait between layers of all purpose foam coat and a second layer of foam coat or paint, and how much longer would the drying time be for the exterior foam coat? Thank you for using our shopping system

Hi Patricia,

You can apply subsequent layers up to 3/8" thick of All Purpose Foam Coat in about one hour increments. For painting, wait until the last coating no longer feels cold to the touch and when it loses its darker/wet look, usually in 2-3 hours.

The Exterior Foam Coat applied in1/8" to 1/4" thick layers will be dry enough for subsequent layers in 6-12 hours, depending on how hot and dry the atmosphere is. You can apply subsequent layers as soon as it sets up, usually in 1-2 hours, but applying this soon will increase the overall drying time. For painting, follow the same instructions as for the All Purpose, but it will be quite a bit longer, probably 6-12 hours.

Note that if you apply either foam coat with a hopper gun you can keep applying thin layer after thin layer until it starts slumping (see the video on our YouTube Channel: Exterior Foam Coat Applied With Hopper Gun. It will dry much faster when applied with a hopper gun.

It's always a good idea to play around with some small batches until you find the procedure that best suits your needs. Victoria, who teaches foam coating, tells her students that once they've made a couple of batches it will feel simpler than cooking a batch of pre-mixed cookies.

Let us know if you have any further questions,

I am using polystyrene foam to create a slate look background like this one on YouTube-

He is using All Purpose Foam Coat in his video. It is easier to apply and dries faster than the Exterior Foam Coat, but the Exterior is stronger and looks and feels more like real stone than the All Purpose and will have enough texture for your lizard to climb on.

Thinning down a lot will weaken both of the coatings. It's better to exaggerate your details an put it on thicker. You can create a lot of your detail in the foam coat as it dries. Check out the Foam Gone Wild DVD.

We have a foam-coat/stain system that is aquarium safe and will produce a beautiful natural stone or reef look. Exterior Foam Coat is applied over the foam shape. The coating is then sealed with Stainfast, which is also a base for water-base stains. Stainfast does not have NSF approval because it is not a coating. It seals on a molecular level. It is a densifier which prevents water from passing through after the chemical conversion. Stainfast was used to seal sea life exhibits at Sea World in San Diego.

Lots more information on using Foam Coat in aquariums and reptile enclosures here:
http://gallery.hotwirefoamfactory.com/faqs/faqs-gluing-and-coating/
And examples with images here:
http://gallery.hotwirefoamfactory.com/gallery/habitats/

Lots of good options!

How durable would Exterior Foam Coat be outside with wind and rain snow direct sun and wide temperature changes from +90 to -40? I plan on using the Pink foam board 4x8 sheets and carving my own Stone Faux Pannels to future on the bottom of my porch and house, we have a lot of wind rain and snow and hot sun and sub zero temperature.

The Exterior Foam Coat is made to hold up in all weather conditions. It will easily withstand the hottest climate conditions, and although low temperatures will not damage Exterior Foam Coat a combination of moisture and freezing temperatures can. Our product is similar, though stronger and stays adhered to foam much better than stucco, but will react the same to extreme weather conditions. Here is an article that will give you some good parameters for your project:
http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4760049_stucco-exterior-fare-winter-climates.html
Exterior Foam Coat is denser and less permeable than stucco, so should work somewhat better in moist freezing conditions than stucco does. Do any homes in your area have stucco finishes? Have you noticed a breakdown of the stucco where it is not sealed with paint?

Im fixing a lodge made of 100 year old logs. Some corners are rotting. I need to replace damaged wood . But I can not cut to the inside. The logs are 8 in thick. I cut in about 4 inches then remove all the bad wood. I was hoping that i could use your product with foam to create a repair that would be weather proof and wood like. Craig Erickson

https://gallery.hotwirefoamfactory.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/exterior_manual_2023-1.pdf

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