A new use for foam...?

We have several wheelbarrows that have been 'rescued' from many a job site. Some have had minor issues, like needing new buckets, or a broken handle, bad tire, etc...


My husband can not stand to see something with any hope of life left in it discarded, and so he usually ends up hauling it home. This is how we came to possess much of the equipment we now have. The wheelbarrow he is currently trying to 'restore', one more time, has been having tire issues since he brought it home. He has put several tire plugs in the numerous holes this poor tire has acquired...and then he has filled the tire with Fix-a-flat for the past who knows how many years. Occasionally, the tire will be filled with air to re-inflate it.

Last night while he was trying the Fix-a-flat one more time....it blew one of the plugs clean out of the tire!! Was a slow spew at first, he just spun the tire for a few more minutes to help distribute the resin and then as he sat it upright and the tire had a little weight on it....the tire sprayed the plug deep into the ground and continued until the pressure was gone...left a hole about six inches deep in the dirt and big enough around that a golf ball would have room to drop! I was impressed at the force with which this stuff exploded from the tire!!

After the tire had oozed all the stuff back out, hubby gets the bright idea of using the can of expanding foam he has on hand...out comes the drill (why can't you just pop one of the plugs out? would be so much easier, don't you think?)...he drills the hole on the opposite side of the one where the plug just blew and inserts the filler straw from the foam can.....took almost the full can before it began to drip from the other side. It was left to 'cure' overnight and by the time we came inside for the evening, it had a big 'blob' drying on the drip side...the 'blob' is about the size of a softball.

This morning I was telling my girlfriend from the farm about his 'experiment' and as we looked at the blob, I went ahead and peeled it away from the tire....the tire is now nice and firm as the foam has set. WOOHOO!!! No more flat wheelbarrow tire and having to hunt for the compressor or a can of Fix-a-flat!!

So, it looks as if we have found another use for this expanding foam stuff that we normally use to help seal gaps around the house. I think the stuff runs around $4 or so, which makes it a super deal for fixing worn out tires!! I think we may have found the answer for some of the mower tires that have the same issues as the wheelbarrow tire....looks like more than one tire around here could end up with this stuff....no more flat tires!!!!