Spray painting Acoustic Foam

My Home Studio Is wall-to-wall dark-grey convoluted acoustic foam. The problem is the dark colour, it sucks the energy right out of you. I'd like spray paint the foam. Can you recommend any paint products available here in Australia? Do you know what type of paint they use on thesecommon coloured acoustic foam tiles? They seem to have a thick rubbery coating. Are there paints that do that? :?:

headcaver wrote:

I'd like spray paint the foam.

You can't paint acoustic foam. Well, okay, you can paint foam, but then it won't work any more. :) --Ethan

One can spray paint foam, but I'm not sure which paint they use for it. A lot of these colored versions are spray painted (in auto paint units). Even for acoustic rockwool ceiling tilmes I've tests where they spray painted (manually) the tiles with standard acrylic paint and only after the 3rd (or something) one could see the effect on absorption, but continue spraying and testing to 7 times (or more) should need to locate these tests) However you can't use a brush or roller and thick paint (don't know how to say this exactly, but I assume you understand). Edited: A superficial google search: http://www.azobuild.com/news.asp?newsID=3413 But I thing you shouls ask a paint expert/shop to know which paint is best suitable.

how about covering the foam/wall coloured acoustic fabric?

Make certain that you are not interfering with the fire retardant ability of the foam you are using... You don't want to end up with something that is going to catch fire if someone lights a match too close... AKA Rhode Island Nightclub fire that killed dozens of people.

You CAN paint foam and it doesn't stop it from working - sorry Ethan - I've done it. You can use a standard plastic wall paint. cheers john

John Sayers wrote:

You CAN paint foam and it doesn't stop it from working - sorry Ethan - I've done it. You can use a standard plastic wall paint.

LOL. But John, it has to harm the performance at least a little at the higher frequencies.

yes possibly Ethan - but only the highs and the diffuse surfaces they get on the foam surface is probably helpful. :) cheers john

http://www.icceurope.com/html/EN/index.html Not sure if you can use this on foam, this is usually used for hard surfaces in large spaces. I'm sure Eric knows this

Thanks everyone! Looks like I'm going to try some sample spraying and see where it takes me. I'll be back...

With all due respect to my esteemed colleagues, I have to claim bullshit. Yesterday I painted a piece of decent quality acoustic foam I had around and today, after drying, it no longer absorbs nearly as well. John said even "plastic" paint is acceptable, so that's what I used. Here in the US we call this Latex paint. I did not measure the reflectivity, and in hindsight I guess I should have in order to offer hard numbers as proof. And that was the only piece of foam I had around so I can't do it again. But I promise you that my standard test of "talking into" the foam to test its absorption shows that today after being painted, it's basically useless. --Ethan

Ethan Winer wrote:

With all due respect to my esteemed colleagues, I have to claim bullshit. ......

You can spray paint acoustic foam. It's sold in mass without any significant negative acoustic effects. Your experiment was applied wrongly. If you try to fill up the holes with a brush of course, just to be right, then you're right. The others reacted in the interest of the OP with his original related question. And as I said, ignored by you, I have tests where ceiling tiles were spray painted, which have a much more closed fibre at the surface to begin with. And there tested in a lab several times after several layers, specifically executed to test how far one could go with spray-painting absorptive tiles. And that was standard acrylic paint (latex type) but logically with a for the application and used tooling adapted viscosity. And the OP "VERY CLEARLY" referred to spray painting, which can even be done with a relative cheap DIY airless spray painter. The difference in the choice of paint relates to how it feels afterwards. Some paint causes a sturdy bit stiffened surface, which you can easily damage with your fingers, and a better professional choise used by manufacturers leaves the soupless of the foam. And I've seen them with hundreds. But I humbly admit, not that single bad one done by you. All one has to do, as with anything one does, is asking a specialist which is the best easy accessible paint to use. Also John confirmed applying it with success. You're just wrong. The logical question should be: ... Guys I don't seem to get it right with my very first experiment. What am I doing wrong? Not telling the others they tell bulshit.

Everyone outta the pool! Ethan, when I read your post and the way it began (i.e., "claiming bullshit,") it got my attention (in the "not good" way :roll:). I came very close to editing it to be more "gentlemanly" and notifying you of such, but I feared that being interpreted as an overly legalistic move on my part... So I decided to let it go to see what came of it, thinking perhaps I was overreacting. It seems I'm not alone in my interpretation that it was disrespectful. That being said... It would not be fair for me not to call foul on you too, Eric, for your "I humbly admit, not that single bad one done by you" remark. Yet again I am shutting down a thread that flares up between you two... Not on the merits of the arguments (the subject matter is quite compelling, actually), but because you are both out of line in terms of treating one another with respect. You two don't have to like each other, and heck, you don't even have to actually respect each other... But you must be respectful towards one another in order to maintain your privileges on this forum! It pains me to write this, because I realize I run the risk of alienating one or both of you, two extremely knowledgeable experts in your own right, at a time when the expert-to-amateur ratio on the forum is very low. However, the greater principle that I must maintain here is that of open and respectful dialogue among all its members. The standards for what constitutes a flame war or a flame war provacation around here are quite conservative. A rudeness level that might pass somewhere else will not be tolerated here. This discussion is closed. My apologies to headcaver (the original poster) for squelching further discussion before a consensus could be reached. headcleaver, you are welcome to pose the question again in a new thread if you wish. Ethan & Eric, if either of you tries to suck the other into a fight, don't take the bait. Don't even make a point of taking the high road. Just let it go! Final warning!!