Neoprene - will mouse mats do?

Started by RuneW on 28 November 2007. 10 replies, 2007–2012.

Originally posted at johnlsayers.com, topic 9821.

Hi! I'm about to build a room-in-room home theater. I'll try to decouple the walls from the floor as best as I can. I don't know where to get neoprene rolls here in Norway. So my question is this: Can I simply use bits of neoprene mouse mats instead? And do I need to have them all along the wall or just bits below the studs?
Thanks! I'll certainly check it out! :) Any suggestion about the thickness? I'm thinking about 5mm?
It depends on the weight of the walls. The neoprone work at its best when it's compressed. I got help from a professional builder to calculate the thickness. Perhaps someone on the forum got a formula for how thick it should be. a :arrow:
RunW, You better do some search in the forum related to decoupling (there is lot about it), or find some local help, e.g. via supplier. You speak about designing room-in-room ..... The way you ask your questions now are that superficial, that you 100% guaranteed will do something wrong. Either you do it right or you don't, anything in-between is not just less good but can create problems which didn't exist without doing anything.
jwl wrote:
Eric is right.... I would definitely read this sticky thread before I spent a dime.
I'm sorry, but isn't that thread about floating floors?
RunW, I haven checked that thread now, but you can search further for decoupling as well. And in fact whether you want to decouple a floor, walls, whatever, the basic principles remain the same. You need a certain compression to get to a certain MSM, which is defining for all the rest. If you think about a room in a room, it's very good that you read the thread JWL linked as a start. If you ask a snip here and a snip there, you will never get the idea what you're aiming at yourself. Andreas links to, what seems a very good supplier with lots and lots of professional stuff. Hence a 1000 altenatives, and you ask if 5 mm should do it. Well I can say 5 mm won't do it, for none of these 1000 alternatives. Hence you first should know what you're looking for, and put that in context with your whole project.
RuneW, yes that thread is about floating floors. I'm hesitant to say much, there are many here who are orders of magnitude more expert than I. But if you are talking about decoupling walls from a floor, that is floating in a sense. The key idea that you need to understand is contained in that thread, and Eric has talked about it also in this thread. If you wish to decouple the wall from the floor, the neoprene needs to be compressed just the right amount, not too much, not too little, in order for it to work. If it isn't, at best it won't work, at worst it will introduce new problems.
jwl wrote:
RuneW, yes that thread is about floating floors. I'm hesitant to say much, there are many here who are orders of magnitude more expert than I. But if you are talking about decoupling walls from a floor, that is floating in a sense. The key idea that you need to understand is contained in that thread, and Eric has talked about it also in this thread. If you wish to decouple the wall from the floor, the neoprene needs to be compressed just the right amount, not too much, not too little, in order for it to work. If it isn't, at best it won't work, at worst it will introduce new problems.
Thank you for your kind comments, jwl. I can see now, that my first post is fairly naive. I will calculate the kg per cm2 for my walls and ask somewhere else for the proper neoprene type and thickness for my specific walls/needs. Take care!
Yes you can use neoprene mouse mat to get neoprene rolls.
Really? You can? That's the first time I ever heard anyone claim that!
It is depend on weight on wall it is for sure. Thickness is consider first.
So since you appear to be so knowledgeable on this, please tell us what sort of deflection factor we should use when we build studio walls on top of mouse pads, and what type of load is needed to get the optimum deflection? Thanks. - Stuart -