a method of making an expanded plastics foam block section and uniting it with a prior made , or partly made , section comprising the steps of charging a mould space of which one end is defined by a surface of the prior section with expandable plastics beads , initiating the expansion and fusion of the beads to create a cohesive but largely unexpanded mass of beads , obtruding the prior section into the mould space to compress a zone of the cohesive mass adjacent to the said one end , increasing the temperature and pressure in the mould space to complete the expansion and fusion process and to compress the end zone of the prior section to bring its end substantially to its unobtruded position , lowering said pressure and temperature , and ejecting the newly made block section from the mould space . apparatus for performing the method is also disclosed .