Can I stain or finish expanding foam?

Foam, in my experience, is not something that usually stops critters. It does stop the movement of air which the critters will follow. I would put something a little more permanent under the hole and then fit a piece of wood in the hole to match the floor. Takes a bit more work but you will be happier in the long run.

-- Love woodworking and fixing most anything

I don’t have the ability to do that. For one thing, if you have ever lived in an old house you know the “don’t-look-under-anything-cause-you-don’t-want-to-know-what’s-under-it” rule. That is the golden rule in this house because of the mold, rot, etc.

I understand what you are saying, but if I pull up the carpet in that spot (which I have no Idea how to do and couldn’t get it back to normal if I did) I will see things I don’t want to see.

I think the only creatures that are getting though there are large bugs like cockroaches and Giant Australasian Centipedes (6” centipedes that won’t die and are VERY poisonous and very painful). Hence, I think that if I just put the foam there it might stop them from getting in there. The reason I ask about the mice and rat proofing is that the hole is about 1 inch in diameter so relatively large critters can get through it if they want to.

If I put a little foam in the hole and stuffed steel wool in after it and then some rat poison and more foam…. Basically layer foam, steel wool, and poison, would it stop them from coming in? I know this is a cheap jerry-rig but I have no idea hove to fix it correctly, short of ripping the floor out and then rebuilding it with non-rotten wood.

Thanks for your advise. This is the first time I have done this kind of thing, so I am studying all the ways to fix it.

P.S. The floor is on the second story and by an old sliding glass door that is never open and is basically part of the wall now. It was a outdoor wall until the previous owners added a BADLY built add-on which contains the other holes I need to fill. The one in the floor is the hard one so if I can figure out how to fix it I can fix the others easy.

I’d find your local theater folks and ask them: They’re likely to have built sculpture out of foam and figured out good ways to color it and surface it!

-- Dan Lyke, Petaluma California, http://www.flutterby.net/

When we were moving here (Tonga, South Pacific) we had to fly through NZ, so we saw a 20ft dwarf statue from the Hobbit. It was made of foam, but it looked like real rock. I wish I had the tools they used on that!!!

I actually finished the holes in the bathroom. I am skipping the floor hole until I get my multi tool. I need to lose the rotten wood and I may as well plug the hole with wood while I’m at it.

Thanks

BTW, The foam I used here is much less ugly than the American foam I used last time. Maybe this stuff is a different kind???

There’s bunches! Ages ago I used some spray foam for a sculpture to take to Burning Man. It was awesome, I shaped my sculpture, got the right texture, and then…

...got out to the super alkali very dry Black Rock Desert, and the whole thing just deflated and degraded.

So, yeah: There are tons of different foams. I suspect that the stuff the movie folks are using is like the marine 2 part resin stuff they use for filling flotation compartments in boat hulls. Probably toss a couple layers of latex paint (as non-gloss as possible, so it’ll take extra layers) over that and it’s just another paintable surface.

-- Dan Lyke, Petaluma California, http://www.flutterby.net/

I think high-grade foam might just do the trick as they are considered durable (not too long though). For the lower quality foam, they are not as dense as you would expect so creepy crawlies can still burrow their way through with a little nibble. For a more permanent solution, it is best to use steel or concrete.

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