Black expanding foam

[Tim Lamb]

At last. A d-i-y thread:-)

Has anyone come across building grade gun or can expanding foam in black?

My house is partly clad in black painted feather edge board nailed to vertical battens. Poor original fitting, warping and shrinkage has led to occasional gaps where the ends meet the undertile (verge?)

This allows space for uninvited guests:-(

Googling turns up lots of foam manufacturers/suppliers but apart from red for fire rating and black for pond/gardening nothing so far for normal building applications. Can the pond stuff be used?

With Sun exposure and Sadolin painted boards it needs UV proofing and to resist future re-decoration. Also high ratio of closed cells for water proofing.

Paint it? Only needed for small patches and I'm trying to avoid major outdoor decorating jobs this late in the season.

[Tim Watts]

I see no reason pond stuff can't be used, unless you *needed* the fire properties of the fire stuff.

[newshound]

+1.

I guess they may already have UV proofing and I would expect them to be fine with Sadolin. If you want to post links to candidate products I'll have a closer look.

[Brian-Gaff]

I was wondering about this as our neighbour had to stop wasps getting in under the boards round his flat extension roof and foam was the answer, but its bloody Orange for goodness sake, It now looks like some alien has infected his roof and started to come out from it! Brian

[spuorgelgoog]

That would be alright in Larkhall.

Wickes foam is green, for those of more Catholic (capital c) taste

Owain

[RayL12]

I read, somewhere, that wasps and bees don?t like strong-smelling herbs like mint. And, they hate peppermint. Nice plants to have around, too.

And, while on the subject of nuisance, most blood feeding insects, and not only Dracula, hate garlic in the blood. That includes many destructive bacteria, too.

...Ray.

[Robin]

Do you happen to have evidence for that from any qualified practioner or peer-reviewed research? I ask as last time I checked[1] there was no evidence that eating garlic stopped the buggers biting - although I admit that you only claimed they then don't enjoy their meal.

[1] eg Maia, Marta Ferreira, and Sarah J. Moore. "Plant-based insect repellents: a review of their efficacy, development and testing." Malar J 10.Suppl 1 (2011): S11.

"Another common misconception is that garlic is an effective repellent. It does have a moderate repellent effect when rubbed on the skin, although there are far more effective repellents available that also have a more pleasing odour. The consumption of garlic however, has not been shown to be effective at repelling mosquitoes."

"There is no evidence that eating garlic, vitamin B1 or other foods will repel insects."

[Brian Gaff]

Ug, green goo eh? I suspect he used the first stuff he got his hands on then. After all Wasps are a bit of a pest once they get into your roof space. Brian

[Brian Gaff]

I am doomed then as I have an allergy to Garlic and several other members of the alium family.

Brian

[RayL12]

I will let you and Rod determine the 'facts'. However, business being what it is, you are hardly likely to find any studies showing a comparatively free product getting any air-time.

Having said that, I found three site showing research done on garlic and insect bites and guess what.....? No, I won't say, I might spoil your day.

...Ray.