Great Stuff

[edwing206]

Ok, I'm going to start the next step in making my viv in a few days. I know it's a stupid question but how do I open the Great Stuff foam can? Do you have to puncture it? Can I stuck substrate straight to the foam? What would be the best substrate to stick to the back?


Thanks

[tkromer]

Don't puncture it! The instructions are on the can.
Substrate will stick to the foam, but you won't get the results you're looking for, let the foam dry, put down a layer or two of silicone, and stick the substrate to the wet silicone.
The "best" substrate is open to a lot of discussion, choose what you like, browse around this site for some custom "recipes", or make up your own mix of common viv substrates. Normal substrates might include orchid bark or coco fibers.

[edwing206]

I'll look around and see what kind of substrate looks good.

The can of Great stuff says to screw on the straw that came with it. But that's as far as I got. No foam will come out. I pressed, pulled, twister, did everything I could think of but nothing.

[edwing206]

Anybody?

[LittleDip]

When that happened to me the foam had dried up on me. :|
You might have a bad can...

[edwing206]

Ok, I'll see what I can do. But you're just supposed to screw on the straw and squeeze?

Thanks

[nawth21]

yeah, it's like a can of whip cream. you should hear air flow before any foam comes out. probably a dud

[tkromer]

Yeah definitely sounds like you got a dead can (probably dried up). Don't go poking at it, theoretically you could fix it, but you might end up with a big mess or worse...

[edwing206]

Ok thanks guys. I seem to have misplaced the receipt so I gotta go get another can. Oh well, at least the end result will be worth it. Do I have to use the whole can at one time or can I save it for another day?
Thanks

[NickBoudin]

You could re-use it. You'd be better off using it all at once though, this stuff is very hard to work with. It dosent come off of ANYTHING once it's on there..