#989937 - 01/30/05 02:06 PM
Floated Floors and Decoupling
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spigots
Senior Member
Registered: 01/08/01
Posts: 337
Loc: Dallas,TX,UNITED STATES
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Hello,
We are moving into a new facility. We've hired a world class designer, spents months tweaking the plans and are a few days from breaking ground.
The "money guys" toured another facility last week (which is in the middle of the city). They have "great rooms" but not floated floors. The owner/manager told them that it was "not an issue." I am now in the precarious position of having to AGAIN (3rd time) justify the merits of floated floors and decoupling.
I am asking your opinions, because early next week a decision will be made on whether or not to spend the money (and it is a lot of money to short term thinkers).
Would any of you work remotely with a facility or recommend a facility to a client that did not have floated floors, decoupled rooms and proper acoustics?
Thanks for your time,
Frank
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#989938 - 01/30/05 08:21 PM
Re: Floated Floors and Decoupling
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AudioMaverick
Platinum Member
Registered: 05/19/01
Posts: 1790
Loc: Outskirts of Big Bear, CA,UNIT...
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How close are you to any major roadways? I'm a hobbiest, and I'm planning on floating the garage I want to convert. The noise from delivery trucks driving by some 70 feet away are knocking the slab enough for me to feel it when I am standing on it. I don't want that in my recordings.
I don't have any URLs with references to sound transmission through the ground. But, it is not a good vibration absorber. You can do soome google searches and see what you can find. I only have the Aualex http://www.Acoustics101.com link, which has a chapter on how to float a floor.
Hopefully, some one like John Sayers to give you some things to say (www.johnlsayers.com).
Good luck...
_________________________
"It's all about the... um-m-m, uh-h-h..."
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#989939 - 01/30/05 08:42 PM
Re: Floated Floors and Decoupling
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robmix
Platinum Member
Registered: 05/22/01
Posts: 1187
Loc: Los Angeles,CA,UNITED STATES
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As audiomaverick said you need to look at your environment and figure out if not floating the floors is going to be an issue. There's one every famous studio in Los Angeles that has not floated the floors. It sits between a major roadway, not a highway but still busy, and an alley. Once in a while you feel a little shake from a big truck but it's never stopped a recording or ruined a take.
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#989940 - 02/01/05 05:52 PM
Re: Floated Floors and Decoupling
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bdbklyn
Platinum Member
Registered: 04/04/01
Posts: 1035
Loc: Los Angeles,CA,UNITED STATES
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A lot depends on your location. Floating floors is a major expense and sometimes just cutting the slab to decouple it, if it's a ground floor installation is sufficient. The only studios that I know of that have floating floors are studios in multiple use buildings. I could name probably 2 dozen world class studios in the L.A. area that do not have floating floors.
Bill
_________________________
Studio Guru
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#989941 - 02/11/05 01:14 AM
Re: Floated Floors and Decoupling
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GZsound
MP Hall of Fame Member
Registered: 01/17/01
Posts: 6074
Loc: Somewhere in Oregon
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I floated the floor in my home studio for a very reasonable sum. It's a 24 X 17 room and had a slab under it. I floated the new floor and it works quite well. For cheap.
_________________________
Mark G.
"A man may fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame others" -- John Burroughs
"I consider ethics, as well as religion, as supplements to law in the government of man." -- Thomas Jefferson
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#989943 - 02/12/05 02:35 AM
Re: Floated Floors and Decoupling
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GZsound
MP Hall of Fame Member
Registered: 01/17/01
Posts: 6074
Loc: Somewhere in Oregon
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Since I had a concrete slab, I knew I wanted to float the floor, but I built my studio on a budget.
My main concern was having the drums in the same room and keeping as much bass out of the floor as possible.
I had recently installed a thousand feet of laminate flooring in my house and I had a bunch of the plastic pad left over. It cost me .11 cents a square foot.
It's called Pergo Quiet Step underlayment. It's a lot like plastic bubble wrap except it won't pop when you walk on it.
I put down twenty mils of plastic sheeting first, to avoid any possible dampness coming up through the slab, then layed down a layer of Quiet Step and then layed one inch tongue and groove plywood sub flooring over the top. I left a quarter inch gap around the perimeter. I then installed quarter inch commercial grade felt carpet pad and carpeted the floor with commercial grade level loop gray carpeting. Basically the floor "floats" on the plastic bubble wrap.
For the drum "riser" I put down two pieces of 5/8ths partical board over the top of the carpet, added felt pad and carpet to it to further decouple the drums and it all works great. The drums can't be heard from more than four feet away from any outside wall.
The total cost for the floor for my studio was around four hundred bucks.
_________________________
Mark G.
"A man may fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame others" -- John Burroughs
"I consider ethics, as well as religion, as supplements to law in the government of man." -- Thomas Jefferson
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