Control Room flooring.

[drew]

for those who've remodeled their control rooms recently, what flooring did you choose? why? would you use it again? I'm specifically interested in anyone that used Laminate. Pergo? Ikea's stuff? Dupont?
thanks in advance,
drew

[Produce_dept]

I just installed Pergo in my room - and I think it was a great choice. Pretty easy to install, looks GREAT, and the room is sounding great.

I had professionals help me do the corners and some other things... I floated the floor on felt, and glued the connections. It cracked a bit after I first installed it, but now that its all seated, its quiet.

Good luck

- Kurt

[Dave Martin]

I installed oak floors in my room - sealed and waxed, NOT polyurethaned. You see, if you scratch a poly finish, you're pretty much screwed until you refinish the whole floor - and studio floors WILL get scratched - by racks being moved, or amps being slid, or something. All I need to do to bring my floors back to a shiny finish is clean and re-wax them.

[denial]

We recently installed PVC wood-look planks called "Grandewood". These are different to the click-clack planks that snap together. Grandewood is really hard wearing (they are installing them in shopping malls and supermarkets) and comes with a 10 year warranty. Another great thing about them is that if you damage a plank, you can easily remove it (with a hair dryer) and replace it without pulling up other planks.

They are glued down, feel good and because there are so many variation planks to one color, the floor looks very real. They don't produce static electricity when you roll a chair and you can flood/mop the floor and they won't buckle and lift. They come in various colors and have a wood grain textured top for non slip (they are not dead flat on top). Best of all it's a lot cheaper than harwood flooring and it goes down in one day and you could even do it yourself. All you need is a razor blade and the right glue.

The pictures are "Grandewood" in "Weathered Ash" color from our control room just prior to the console getting commissioned. It was glued directly to 18mm MDF.

******//www.karndean.com

[drew]

who makes that stuff Denial?

thanks for the responses so far.

[denial]

Originally Posted by drew

who makes that stuff Denial?

It's called "Grandewood" ******//karndean.com/ and IMO far better than real hardwood. I previously had a Tasmanian Oak hardwood floor and it was nice but more costly and harder to look after. I wouldn't have chosen this stuff if I thought it wasn't better.

If you're looking for a commercial carpet that stains remove effortlessly and chairs can glide, check out "Flotex".
******//www.flotex.co.uk

Here's a pic of the the traditional brown/honey color Grandewood flooring taken from their website.

[limestone]

Hey Mate!

We installed laminate on our control room (and live room) floor in combination with carpet; That's the way our acoustic engineer designed it, who (at least here in Australia) is of very high reputation. I know shit about acoustics and I won't pretend I do: You can get masters degrees in that field, so I'm more than happy to leave that to someone who actually has that degree...

The laminate so far has been fantastic: No hassle of laquering every year or reparing scratches... And acoustically it makes no difference compared to real wood. It's just a lot cheaper. And it looks almost just as good! You'll have to get down on your knees to spot the difference. And it can easily handle everything you throw at it. Chairs on wheels, amps being moved around, etc. Not a scratch!

Louis

[Jan Folkson]

I used oak parquet tiles. I put the floor in 3 years ago and it still looks great.

[sounddevisor]

I used Pergo on my control room floor - one of the lower-end lines which clicks together rather than being glued. It was very easy to install, looks pretty good, and it's easy to clean. Biggest drawback - it's plastic, and when you drop something on it, like a cable (which I only do about a thousand times a day) it sounds like plastic - drives me f*cking crazy! Most of the room is now covered with area rugs, which helps a lot.

I can't say I regret using it - it was half the price of hardwood, and much easier to install (esp. over the existing concrete floor), but I don't think I'd use it again - or if I did, I'd go for a higher-end model that sounds and feels more like wood. I did use real hardwood in my live room, and the difference is huge.

- sounddevisor

[AdAudioInc]

I have laminate floor in both CR and live Room - it floats on high density foam which helps to isolate the rooms from the outside, as well as each other - it's cheap, easy to install, and looks great. - also the variety of styles is endless

[jajjguy]

Originally Posted by limestone

We installed laminate on our control room (and live room) floor in combination with carpet; That's the way our acoustic engineer designed it...

How did you combine the two? i mean, what areas of the room got which floor type? Also, what's under the carpet? Just curious, thanks.

[Jan Folkson]

A big problem with the laminate flooring is that it scratches easily. A buddy put in a dark wood color pergo floor and it's scratched up really badly. It's at the point where he's looking to redo it already.

[Musiclab]

I bought the Loews brand version of laminate flooring, I'm in a basement so really I'm not even supposed to do this, but its been in for a few years and has behaved well.

[Killahurts]

Drew,

If you go with laminate, be sure to go for an under-layment that will completely discourage resonance, and that "plastic sound" problem sounddevisor mentioned.

I have hardwood in this studio, but in my last studio I had installed the Pergo type laminate. Underneath it, I should have installed a layer or two of high density rubber or Neoprene, but instead I put the (less expensive) 1/8" plastic stuff with air inside...well, the whole floor resonated at 125Hz., so I had to do some special acoustic treatments in the room to compensate.

Also, I had a huge problem with that floor when it got cold ouside- Because the floor was plastic, and isolated as it was, you would build up tremendous static charge walking across the floor - Then you touch a piece of gear... stike

[limestone]

Jajjguy;

It's pretty simple: Roughly half the floor surface is carpet, the other half laminate. Basically a quarter of the floorsurface on both sides of the rooms are carpeted, with a big wide 'lane' of laminate in the middle of the room. The transition between the two surfaces is simple: A metal strip attached to the floorboards, in which you can 'click' a covering strip (an inch wide) that covers the gap between the two surfaces. There is also no height difference between the two.

The rooms are both totally floating, and the floatig floor has a layer of 21mm 'yellow tongue' wooden floorboards as the top layer. on top of this is the laminate/carpet. (with of course the usual underlayers...)

Louis

[natpub]

Originally Posted by Killahurts

Drew,

If you go with laminate, be sure to go for an under-layment that will completely discourage resonance, and that "plastic sound" problem sounddevisor mentioned.

I have hardwood in this studio, but in my last studio I had installed the Pergo type laminate. Underneath it, I should have installed a layer or two of high density rubber or Neoprene, but instead I put the (less expensive) 1/8" plastic stuff with air inside...well, the whole floor resonated at 125Hz., so I had to do some special acoustic treatments in the room to compensate.

Is this the cheaper stuff you refer to, Killahurts?


******//www.soundprooffoam.com/quiet-walk.html


If not, it seems pretty interesting.


.

[drew]

thanks to all for the replies. i'll post some pics once it's done.

[TornadoTed]

I recently did the floor in the live room on a mega budget. I brought 8' x 4' sheets of 18mm ply, good one side and cut it into 4" boards with a hand circular saw and a straight edge.

I then went to a friends workshop and used a spindle molder to cut a 5mm groove about 10 mm deep in the edges and then cut 20mm strips of 5mm ply, effectively tounge and groove! I gave him a bottle of wine for his services.

I then put run a small hand plane along all the edges to smooth them slightly before fitting. It took a long time but looks stunning and everyone who comes in comments on how nice the floor looks and ask what hardwood it is!

And now the best bit, a 40 Square Metre floor cost me less than £90.00 and it will certainly last a lot longer than 6mm laminate flooring, uhhh I hate that stuff!

Not a project for the faint hearted but well worth the end result.

[Killahurts]

Originally Posted by natpub

Is this the cheaper stuff you refer to, Killahurts?


******//www.soundprooffoam.com/quiet-walk.html


If not, it seems pretty interesting.


.

No that's not what I used, but it does look interesting. Many materials like this were not available when I built that old studio, 10 years ago.

[giles117]

Laminate in my Live room, Sounds fine, LOW LOW maintenance. Put that parwuet crap in my control room bout to toss it and install laminate. Need durability and something that looks nice years later.....

[drew]

Originally Posted by drew

thanks to all for the replies. i'll post some pics once it's done.

i said i'd post a pic so here it is. went with the lam and it's been good so far. the plasticy noise is there but other than that i'm happy.

[IMG]******//www.dmazurek.com/pics/NewCR.jpg[/IMG]

[mwagener]

darn, didn't see this post in time.

As you know I have the Pergo like stuff in parts of my control room and I have terrible problems with static buildup during the dryer wintermonth. I have to spray antistatic spray (smells bad) to not get clicks and pops when I walk on it or roll around with the nylon rollers of the Aeron chair. I called the company making the floor and they said they were aware of the problem and the best solution would be to put a metal mesh under the floor and ground it . Somebody told me that there is a company making clear fluid floorcoverings for antistatic computer rooms, maybe that's the way to go.

I hope you don't have those problems, it's really annoying. If I had to do it again I would go with "real" wood flooring, even though it's a bit more money and a bit more of a PITA to put in.

Sorry I didn't see this in time.

Great looking room, love the dog

[drew]

thanks Michael. i do have a bit of the static issue but it seems to be about the same as when it was carpeted so i'm no worse off. real wood wasn't an option because of thickness (doors clearing etc) and subflooring issues.

[mwagener]

Originally Posted by drew

thanks Michael. i do have a bit of the static issue but it seems to be about the same as when it was carpeted so i'm no worse off. real wood wasn't an option because of thickness (doors clearing etc) and subflooring issues.

If it gets bad (dry days, heater in the winter), Home Depot sells this spray in a blue and orange can. It smells pretty bad and I'm sure it's not good on a singer's throat, but if you spray it in the morning, then leave the room for about 15 minutes it will take care of the static for the rest of the day. I also use humidifyers (the silent ones , no fan) and they help quite a bit.

Looks like you are settled in nicely. Gotta come out and hang.

[drew]

hell yea, lots of great sushi places in town!! let me know when you're coming to the east coast again and we'll hook up.

[bwindsor]

For my control room floor, I went with a plastic vapour barrier over the concrete, then about 50 - 60 1 X1 foot rubber pads (you can buy these in a 9 X 9 and cut them, used for industrial work stations where someone is standing at a machine all day) to "float" the sub floor, which was 5/8'' plywood, topped with 1/4 " plywood...final layer was 1 X 6 tongue and groove pine...the pine is soft and marks easily (I only used a sealer coat of varnish and one coat after) but I'm careful moving stuff, and nobody wears shoes in there anyway...only mixing slippers ...of course I have a couple of area rugs (mostly one large one for my chair...anyway, pine matched the "decor"...I'm a "real wood" type of guy, although I do have "pergo-style" flooring in my lounge/recroom...it's okay, but I'm really glad I didn't do that in the studio or control room.

BW

[cedarstudios]

Anyone used bamboo? I am putting in floors for my live room in a couple weeks and bamboo seems like a very interesting/cost effective option. Wanted to know if anyone had any experiences with it.
Shaun

[sounddevisor]

I had looked into bamboo for my floors at one point, but steered away because it's apparently not super durable - as in, fine for everyday foot traffic but not so good for a room with equipment being moved around, bass and cello endpins stuck into it, mic stands being dragged across it, etc.

[Killahurts]

Drew, the floor looks great!

Looks like you ran it diagonally - nice

[adrianex]

I got laminated on a floating system floor in my control and studio room and looks great (plus the low manteinence) and its sound good too..