Wood Flooring???

[fivesixonesk8er]

I wanted to know, what is the point of having a Wood Floor. Is it for looks or sound?? Are different types better then others? Do you insulate under the wood flooring?? Tell Me All There Is Too Know!!

 

[SonicClang]

There are answers to this all over this and other studio building forums, but I will gladly answer.

Is it for looks or sound? It's for both, but in reality, it's for looks more than anything. You can acheive the same acoustical properties (well, pretty DARN close anyway) by keepping your floor bare concrete. The point is, you want a hard reflective surface for the floor. Some people really like the look of wood. I love it, but I don't like the maintenance. I'm going with Kemiko concrete stain. It's less expensive and virtually maintenance free.

If you need to know why you want a reflective surface for the floor, I'd suggest searching this forum for that answer. It's been answered more times than I can count.

 

[Innovations]

In a nutshell, looks. But floors serve functions besides looks and accoustincs. If you are rolling or sliding around heavy gear a smooth hard surface is nice. Maintainance and how easy it is to stand on a long time are also considerations.

For those designing a home studio avoid hard surface floors plus hard surface flat ceilings. That is just as much a slap echo problem as two parallel untreated walls.

 

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

I'm going out on a limb here. REAL wood floors, (vs laminate) like solid wood strip flooring or wood parquae tiles reflect, yes, but they also absorb. It is this absorption that gives it a sonic quality that is hard to pinpoint, but it definitely exists. Concrete on the otherhand, does not absorb, at least not the way a layer of wood does. Also, different species, such as Maple and Oak have different absorption coefficients. It used to be, studio designers would take this coefficient into consideration when calculating the total absorption in the room, as EVERYTHING absorbs to some extent, even human beings in the room.

 

[sonar acoustics]

Here’s my contribution..

Wood floors glued directly on cement behave near as cement (sounds a little better though).
Wood floors built on wood frames (which suppose an air gap on top of original floor) absorb about 15 to 20% of bass energy.
The kind of “plastic-prefab” floors sound really bad.

Mike