10-19-2010, 04:49 PM
No way a thin layer of cardstock would have enough force to warp the homasote. I'd think maybe the plaster adhered and pulled it up, but plaster tends to shrink not expand, and shrinkage on top would have bowed it the other way, I'd think.
I've never had it warp on me from moisture, but I do dispute the whoel idea that homasote 'holds' spikes. Maybe witht he little tricks of a dab of matte medium or some other adhesive before you drive them - but I built a small N scale pike on a 2x4 sheet of homasote, and I was able to drive many of the track nails in, through cork roadbed, with my fingers. When it came time to dismantle that pike to build larger one, I simply pulled up the track pieces and the track nails pulled right out with hardly any force, and without breaking a tie, so I was able to reuse it all. There was no ballast because I never got that far. Bottom line, the homasote sidn't homd anything, at least not plain non-ridged nails.It held enough to keep things from moving on their own, and ballast would have truly locked the track in place, but long term without the application of ballast I would not think it owuld last. With handlaid track, the ballast isn;t goign to hold the rails in place, but it has always been my opinion that the spike into the wood tie does more to hold the spike in tightly than the spike's penetration into homasote.
Tough I would say it is - my neighbor, some 45+ years ago, built a playhouse for his kids, and sheathed it with homasote rather than plywood. It's been kept painted, and still stands and is in no way deteriorated to this day. This in a climate that has a true 4 seasons, with summers reaching 90+ and high humidity to dry winters with sometimes a foot or more of snow, and it has stood up all these years.
--Randy
I've never had it warp on me from moisture, but I do dispute the whoel idea that homasote 'holds' spikes. Maybe witht he little tricks of a dab of matte medium or some other adhesive before you drive them - but I built a small N scale pike on a 2x4 sheet of homasote, and I was able to drive many of the track nails in, through cork roadbed, with my fingers. When it came time to dismantle that pike to build larger one, I simply pulled up the track pieces and the track nails pulled right out with hardly any force, and without breaking a tie, so I was able to reuse it all. There was no ballast because I never got that far. Bottom line, the homasote sidn't homd anything, at least not plain non-ridged nails.It held enough to keep things from moving on their own, and ballast would have truly locked the track in place, but long term without the application of ballast I would not think it owuld last. With handlaid track, the ballast isn;t goign to hold the rails in place, but it has always been my opinion that the spike into the wood tie does more to hold the spike in tightly than the spike's penetration into homasote.
Tough I would say it is - my neighbor, some 45+ years ago, built a playhouse for his kids, and sheathed it with homasote rather than plywood. It's been kept painted, and still stands and is in no way deteriorated to this day. This in a climate that has a true 4 seasons, with summers reaching 90+ and high humidity to dry winters with sometimes a foot or more of snow, and it has stood up all these years.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad of the 1950's in HO
Visit my web site to see layout progress and other information:
http://www.readingeastpenn.com
Visit my web site to see layout progress and other information:
http://www.readingeastpenn.com