mshilarious said:
That product has an NRC of 0.69, which is good, but without a detailed frequency chart it's hard to know its exact performance. Carpet installations are generally more concerned with transmission than absorption, anyway.
Could it be used on a wall? I suppose, but given its non-rigid nature, it would be more of a chore to fashion panels. I'm also not sure what the flame retardant properties of the material are, but that should be in the manufacturer's info too. I don't know about standards for floors vs. walls either; I imagine walls are more strict.
1st off - let's make certain here that we realize we are talking apples and oranges.
The NRC of .69 is for a high end 32oz synthetic fiber cushion - not for the polyurethane cushion that's the subject of the thread.
Next - to the best of my knowledge (which is fairly extensive) no carpet pad has ever been tested for application to a wall - in fact the only carpet that I am aware of that has been tested and approved for wal covering (and this is only in fairly small quanities) is Berber - in a direct application - no pad involved. I don't even know that carpet pad has ever even been tested seperately from the carpet that rests on it. After all - the carpet/pad installation is part of a tested assembly - and that's as a whole. You can't install pad as a finished floor covering material.
Next, there is a tremendous difference between horizontal and vertical installations of material - whic is why there are different testing requirements for each.
For Example:
Floor Coverings:
ASTM D2859 - Flammability of Finished Textile Floor Covering Materials
ASTM E 648 - Critical Radiant Flux of Floor Covering Systems Using a Radiant Heat Energy Source [NIST (NBS) Flooring Radiant Panel]
NFPA 253 - Equivalent or similar to ASTM E 648
Wall Coverings (on the other hand):
UBC 8-2 Evaluating Room Fire Growth Contribution of Textile Wallcovering (Formerly UBC 42-2)
NFPA 265 Equivalent or similar to UBC 8-2
Foam PLastics (on yet another hand) have a totally different test criteria:
UBC 26-3 Room Fire Test for Interior of Foam Plastic Systems (formerly UBC 17-5)
Sincerely,
Rod