Wood laminate flooring?

mjbphotos

mjbphotos

Moderator
I totally understand the use of hardwood flooring (rather than carpet) in a small room (low ceiling with cloud).
My current room has carpet - when I moved in 20 years ago, I had the room and the adjacent living room all done in wall-to-wall. 20 years later the carpet is getting near the end of its days, so this might be the right time to think of a change in my studio room. I used laminate flooring (Pergo, because that's what Home Depot carried 12 years ago) in my kitchen, and it was fairly easy to install.
Hardwood, on the other hand, is not so easy - finishing it being the key thing.
Is laminate an option? Anyone use it in their studio?
 
mjbphotos said:
I totally understand the use of hardwood flooring (rather than carpet) in a small room (low ceiling with cloud).
My current room has carpet - when I moved in 20 years ago, I had the room and the adjacent living room all done in wall-to-wall. 20 years later the carpet is getting near the end of its days, so this might be the right time to think of a change in my studio room. I used laminate flooring (Pergo, because that's what Home Depot carried 12 years ago) in my kitchen, and it was fairly easy to install.
Hardwood, on the other hand, is not so easy - finishing it being the key thing.


Is laminate an option? Anyone use it in their studio?
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I would like to know this too - I'm intending to use it myself in mine. I assume you will lay acoustic underlay mat first?
 
They do make real hardwood flooring that is pre-finished. It is a little more in cost, but much cleaner and faster for the final product.

Also, if you have a lumber liquidators in your area, check them out. They have pretty decent wood flooring and some man made/wood laminate flooring that might be what you're looking for at a pretty decent price.
 
Bubba po said:
I would like to know this too - I'm intending to use it myself in mine. I assume you will lay acoustic underlay mat first?
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Thre was a rolled foam used with the Pergo.

DM60 said:
They do make real hardwood flooring that is pre-finished. It is a little more in cost, but much cleaner and faster for the final product.

Also, if you have a lumber liquidators in your area, check them out. They have pretty decent wood flooring and some man made/wood laminate flooring that might be what you're looking for at a pretty decent price.
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Hardwood - much more expensive than laminate. No liquidators around here I know of, and with them it's hard to plan - you can only get what they have at a particular time.

rob aylestone said:
..... and then a nice thick rug to put over it to get back the old room sound?
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Wise guy!
 
Click Laminates are easy to install and very durable. They are also inexpensive, I work at a place in NH that sells AC3 grade laminates with a pad already on the back for as little as $0.99 per square foot. I agree about having a rug, the laminate finish is pretty lively. Another plus is that it is a floating floor- no nails or adhesive, and you can take it up and re-use it elsewhere.
 
Would there really be any difference between hard wood and laminate as far as recording surfaces go? They're both hard- laminate probably being "harder" when compared to oak or maple. If you're worried about transmittal to a room below, then 3/4 or 7/8 hardwood is the way to go. Much more difficult to install. I'll take $x/ft laminate over $x/ft wood (or whatever) for this purpose. What is "acoustic underlay" ? And yes, there are Lumber Liquidators in our area.
 
bongoboy said:
Would there really be any difference between hard wood and laminate as far as recording surfaces go? They're both hard- laminate probably being "harder" when compared to oak or maple. If you're worried about transmittal to a room below, then 3/4 or 7/8 hardwood is the way to go. Much more difficult to install. I'll take $x/ft laminate over $x/ft wood (or whatever) for this purpose. What is "acoustic underlay" ? And yes, there are Lumber Liquidators in our area.
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I think for this purpose, I would go with a engineered wood. The better kind, hold up better, more stable and to the point above, I am sure the sound is, if not identical, close enough for human ears.

I only mentioned prefinished wood as it is a better alternative than unfinished wood that requires the mess inside the house. (Saw dust, staining, drying, coating, drying)
 
My studio has laminate wood flooring, I used an acoustic underlay that is designed to stop floor noise transfer in high rise buildings. Way to go if you can't afford a real wood floor. Have a look on my link to see what it look like (recording room). Also my control room area already had tiles so I left them and just put a small rug on the floor behind where the chair is, that also works well.

Alan.
 
Alan - thanks for chiming in - I was looking for someone who had used laminate! It definitely is 'lively', I know that from my kitchen. I have wood paneling in my room, as well, so needed a ton of traps to tame those reflections, so not sure if a hard floor is really going to help.

Never heard of 'Lumber Liquidators' before, didn't realize that was actually the name of the company! In fact I met John (bongoboy) just down the street from the Nashua place!

Now who's got a source for inexpensive 2'x2' drop in acoustic ceiling tiles to replace the standard contractor ones I've got now? :rolleyes:
 
bongoboy said:
Would there really be any difference between hard wood and laminate as far as recording surfaces go?
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Can't say for sure about recording...but I hate the sound of laminate flooring....it always has that...CLACK...CLACK...CLACK....sound when you walk on it, or if anything taps on it, even when using it with the sound absorbing underlay...though it does look nice.

I'm considering putting down a hardwood floor in my studio, primarily for aesthetics....which currently is a concrete floor with carpeting on half the room, and wood parquet tile at the mixing/desk area.
The only thing....I can't see putting down a hardwood floor just to end up covering it with Indian rugs! :p

I put acoustic tile in some sections of my sheetrock ceiling...but not the whole ceiling. I also have a "cloud" over the mix area.
So the combination of the carpet/wood, partial acoustic ceiling tile/cloud (I just glued the tile/cloud to the sheetrock since it's a low ceiling). The walls have acoustic treatment mostly at/around the mix side of the room, but some of the walls still show a little sheetrock, and the other half of the room next to the mix half, that's got stained T-11 plywood panels (4" stripes) on two opposing walls.

The total combination of all those things gives the room a very warm sound without any slap/back or any obvious reverberation....but it's not that dead/dry sound.
 
I upgraded my underlay on my floor and it does not clack. But I purchased the higher underlay and I am glad I did.
 
My kitchen definitely 'clacks'. David - do you have details on the upgraded underlay? I'd seriously consider doing my living room in laminate if it wasn't so clacky.
 
mjbphotos said:
My kitchen definitely 'clacks'. David - do you have details on the upgraded underlay? I'd seriously consider doing my living room in laminate if it wasn't so clacky.
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I picked the bamboo (just for point of reference) with this underlay: Premium-Underlayment-Sq-Ft-BELLAWOOD-BELLAPREM. This is on a subflooring (plywood), but it is also rated for use in basements (in case of water issues). I have had mine for a year and it does not make a noise. Just for reference, here is the wood I used it with: Natural-Click-Strand-Bamboo-Morning-Star-Click.

Just so you have at least a reference of system.

By the way, I put this in myself, and if you haven't already done something like this, it is probably the simplest flooring a DIY person can do. It is a floating floor (no glue or nails). Just need 1/4 round finish for the edges and an air nail gun for the trim. Do give it is recommended gap spacing as the wood does breath (expand and contract). Since it locks, it will square itself up.

Hope this helps.
 
I switched from carpet to laminate flooring a few years ago - it changed everything for the better!

I remember gathering opinions here at the time, and if I'm not mistaken, I think John Brandt told me that cement, wood, and laminate aren't too dissimilar.
 
kidkage said:
...I think John Brandt told me that cement, wood, and laminate aren't too dissimilar.
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Yeah...that's true, from an acoustics perspective they probably are not....so it comes down to aesthetics and personal preferences.
At one point I thought about doing the stain etch-n-polish thing with the concrete floor....like you see in some stores. It can look real nice, almost marble-like...but I still don't like the overal vibe for a studio.
To me....a nice wide-plank hardwood floor would be the first choice...so I'm not chaning anything with my studio flooring untill I can go forward with that ($$$).
 
Being serious this time - I've got a small area done in the fake laminate style flooring - I guess it's the same as the US products, and the subfloor is solid, then I have the fibre type underlay. I've had a heavy rack on it for about a year, and although the surface is fine, the weight has compressed the underlay, and now you can push the flooring down about 5mm where the castors were.
 
I've been giving my (very poor, in principle) recording room a makeover this weekend; I've ripped out the carpet and I'm laying laminate over wood-fibre underlay. In addition, I'm putting up some acoustic foam to break the flutter effect and have the materials to begin constructing my bass traps. If all this doesn't result in better drum recordings, I don't know what I'm going to do. :D

As an aside, I put up a bit of acoustic foam in my mixing area tonight and I was by turns impressed, shocked and disheartened. My best recent mix sounded awful. All the room ring, flutter echo and comb filtering on my drum overheads was really noticeable, and other stuff like my acoustic guitars sounded irritating and generally not "right". Room sound was smoothing out my mix and giving me a false impression of its quality.

Bummed out, but determined to improve.
 
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