Where to get corrugated board

Kim79 · Post by **Kim79** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 9:27 pm

I'm trying to improve my shade structure using corrugated board and space blankets.The board needs to be at least 8'x5.5'. Does anyone know where I can find board like this?

Angel Ben · Post by **Angel Ben** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 8:43 am

I use a lot of corrugated plastic in my projects, because it's free. In most states you can legally tear down those signs for Bankruptcy and "We Buy Houses" if they're posted to public property (like a telephone pole, or in the ground on a median strip). In many states they're legally considered litter (and rightly so), so you're actually doing a community service!

Getting it 8x5.5' is the tricky part, but it depends on how sturdy you need it to be. If you pull the ones posted to the ground, you'll notice the wire stand fits into the channels very snugly. You could cut that up with some wire cutters and use it to hold two pieces togethr snugly. A little duct tape to cover the seams, and you've got something relatively sturdy. You could probably even zip tie it together, if it doesn't have to be rigid. The zip ties will break before the plastic does.

You can also order it on line in larger sizes (search for coroplast), but it's pretty expensive.

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 12:24 pm

a} buy refrigerator

b) dump refrigerator

c) keep box

dragonfly Jafe · Post by **dragonfly Jafe** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 3:42 pm

Corrugated is very light and makes a great sail in any reasonably sized wind (which will happen). It also tears very easily when stressed. It doesn't handle rain well either. Unless you are planning on making a dome (you can actually get these now - a group tested them on-Playa in 2002 and now sells them) I strongly recommend against using corrugated on the Playa. However, if you still want to go this route, look in the yellow pages under "Packaging Materials" and tell them you want to buy full sheets. I recommend at least a 350# b/c flute double wall. If they have it, a 500# b/c flute double wall would be better (c/c flute would be better yet). You may be able to get wax coated sheets, which would have some degree of water resistance. Otherwise coat it with something to waterproof it because paper sucks when wet.

If you can find a big wholesaler, they may have "plastic corrugated", but it is much more expensisve. Finding this stuff 2nd-hand is really the only way to go.

Kim79 · Post by **Kim79** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 5:27 pm

They are going to be interior panels for a already existing structure. The six panels will be lashed to the structure with zip ties for fast removal if the wind kicks up and scored so they can be fold back to allow for better ventilation.

Kim79 · Post by **Kim79** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 5:33 pm

Oh, the afore mentioned panels will only be covering the afore mentioned structure.

Kim79 · Post by **Kim79** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 5:33 pm

Oh, the afore mentioned panels will only be covering the top of afore mentioned structure.

BAS · Post by **BAS** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 8:52 pm

This is just a weird thought which occurred to me, but: how about some inexpensive sun shades for the front window of cars? Those are small, so you would have to use a bunch of them, but, IIRC, they are fairly cheap and come in all kinds of colors and with all kinds of decorations.
(Like I said, it was a weird thought.

)

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Mon Jun 28, 2004 5:21 am

I could see a bunch of those carshades as shingles on a dome!

Regarding zipties and corrugated- You may wish to reinforce the corners, maybe with duct tape, so that the ties won't rip out as easily. Folding the edge over might help too.

Maybe it was the same folks from '02, but I ran into some folks with corrugated 1V huts somewhere around Hushville last year- They had added a layer of foil to increase water-resistance and deflect sunlight. Looked about 3/4" thick and maybe five feet tall.

One observation about BURNING cardboard- It creates lots of "flyaways", flaming ash that can sail a great distance and wreak havoc. If your panels go in the community burn pen at week's end, babysit them until they're consumed and, ideally, come back for your share of the ash.

dragonfly Jafe · Post by **dragonfly Jafe** » Mon Jun 28, 2004 3:42 pm

These are the ones I refered to earlier - they where a sandwich of corrugated with an airspace in between (and an outer layer to increase rain resistance). They designed them to have a chimney effect, claimed it reduced the temp by an extra 10 degrees or so. The biggest problem they had was staking them down for high winds (not a trivial thing to do with "cardboard"). Pretty cool, but too expensive to bring just to burn and I don't think you could disassemble them for later use (IIRC they used tape or glue to assemble them).