DIY Bass Traps. health question

[lomky]

Originally Posted by barefoot

Something that they don't mention on the American Lung Association website that's always concerned me is the presence of formaldehyde binders. If you've ever worked with fiberglass insulation, it has a sort of "wet dog" smell that I fear is the off gassing of these binders. Rigid insulation especially seems to produce a lot of it. It doesn't give me any warm fuzzy feelings - pardon the pun.

Formaldehyde glues are also used in a lot of plywood and particleboard. I prefer to use the formaldehyde free products.

Another big consideration is mold. Mold spoors can really do a number on your respiratory tract and your immune system. So proper construction techniques, ventilation and humidity control are very important in tightly built studios.

Thomas

Hope everyone caught this one, thanks Thomas!

Also, be sure to use some sort of flame ******er on the fabric, are flame ******ant fabric. Fire will kill you before fibreglass fibres or formaldehyde.

I have had good luck w/ Rockwool product, and it gave me zero irritation when working with it!

[Acoustic Cloud]

Juicy:

If the kick and bass amps are blasting lose fibers in the traps, you would be wrapping with the wrong material...IE, dont use fishnet stockings..Like I said in a thread a few months ago, this stuff is NOT asbestos, and shouldnt be treated, or thought of as such.

Dont use a big piece as a shower sponge, and you are fine. Your only other choice is to record in a hard box, non treated area. I am pretty sure the real safe alternatives wouldnt be as effective.

[mdsmith64]

Originally Posted by yumdrum

Mike,
Thanks again for the info. However I'm sure that the information provided on this material data sheet is for the actual vapors from application, not after drying.

Just like paint and all household cleaners and adhesives vapors are inteed toxic. After drying is a different story altogether. Just don't lick them and you should be okay.
Thanks.

Well, O.k. then. Since you're sure it must be O.K. Actually, I think you are making my very point with your last post. You (and all of us) assume all kinds of risks everyday based on what you perceive to be acceptable. Perceive is the key word here.

For what it's worth, polymers are well know to off-gas for extended periods of time, even when they appear to be "dry". Not only do the off-gas, but the various reagents that go into making the polymer are never completely removed from the final product (they become "entrained") and continue to leach out over the lifetime of the product. In fact, since you are concerned for you child's health, I recommend you do some research on phthalates which may be in some of your childs toys. Not to mention in a wide variety of medical devices which your child may come in contact with.

Again, I'm not trying to convince you to do anything you don't want to do. I am doubtful, however, that spraying the rock wool with a polymeric adhesive is going to improve your odds over a material that has been studied for at least 15 years and has thus far been proven to be nothing more than a mechanical irritant.

I am speaking from a certain amount of experience by the way. I have a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Purdue University, I hold two U.S. patents (Patent # US2002058689, Patent # US2002062022), have several publications in reputable peer reviewed journals, have worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 4 years and have been in the biotech industry the last 6.5 years (which, unfortunately, doesn't mean I've learned how to spell yet ). I have studied and worked with toxic chemicals for decades now. I have read literally hundreds of MSDS's and have even helped to create a few.


Best Regards,

Mike.

EDIT: I forgot about one of my foreign based patents: Patent# WO0242304. Also I had to correct the US Patent numbers (I was looking at an old version of my Vita which had the patent application numbers instead of the actual numbers issued by the US Patent Office).

[peeder]

This is just a public service announcement for the benefit of people who have bought traps from GIK Acoustics and are wondering about what the line item will read on their credit card. Rather than saying "GIK Acoustics" the line item (at least when I bought them in August) reads INESKUHNDES and has a phone number from Atlanta. This is for InesKuhn Design, which is mentioned on the website for GIK. I guess it's a wife or friend who already takes credit cards and so the panels are billed there via PayPal Pro. Googling INESKUHNDES revealed nothing, reverse lookup on the phone number revealed nothing, I had no idea what this charge was whatsoever until I meticulously searched all my email folders for that date and found it was the traps.

So I hope google will index this and help explain INESKUHNDES before people sic their card investigation teams on these nice people!

The traps work great btw, and I have had no irritations, coughing, cancer, or other problems with them. I did wear a mask to be safe when I was hanging them, and ran a large HEPA air purifier in the room for 48 hours after install to be super-safe about it. But it doesn't look like it would be a problem anyway. RealTraps are built like tanks, but you can treat a whole room with GIK for the price of just a couple RealTraps. If you make lots of dough doing this, buy RealTraps by all means...that's the luxe option. The GIK traps are easily superior to DIY in both price and results however!