Anyone used Auralex U-boats?

[SL]

Hi!

Have anyone on this forum floated floors with the U-boats from Auralex? Did a search, but did not find any on this forum actually been using them..yet.
But if so, did they work as promised & what spacing did you use?
I know they might not be the cheapest buy, but it`s not an option for me to tear down a room and do it all again because I was cheap... If I know they work I won`t mind spending the xtra cash.

Anyone with hands on exp. with the boats?

Thanks
Stein

[cfuehrer]

NO WAY!! Way too expensive, just get 1/2" 60 durometer neoprene rubber and cut them into 2"x2" pieces. For U-boats alone I was going to pay $2500. For the neoprene which is the same thing, only without the high price my cost is only $150.

[knightfly]

I'm not arguing that U-boats aren't expensive, but if you intend to use your studio for more than about 10 years, I REALLY wouldn't advise using neoprene - EPDM, which is the material U-boats are made of, lasts about 25 years under the same conditions. You can still buy EPDM 60 duro rubber, and although it will be more expensive than the neoprene, it will be less than the pre-shaped U-boats.

Remember, if you have to replace these it means tearing up at least your floor; if your walls are floated on top of the floor, then you're talking about even MORE serious demolition to replace pads... Steve

[cfuehrer]

Great!!! Now you tell me! I am planning to be in my studio space as long as I can.

[ponkass]

What does EPDM stand for?
Trying to find it here in Sweden.

anyone?

[knightfly]

http://www.materialscraps.com/Merchant2 ... _Code=EPDM

http://www.rubbercal.com/epdm.html

Second link gives the full name - if you click on the pdf price list, you'll see that the 1/2" stuff is $40 per foot, 10 foot minimum, so $400 minimum price - if you figure 1-1/2 x 3" pucks (crosswise of joists) you get 32 pucks per lineal foot, or 320 pucks for $400, give or take. The spacing should be about 4 feet for a wood floated floor,using 24" centers, 5 feet using 16" centers, and 6 feet using 12" centers - this last is what I would recommend if doing a wood floated floor, because the closer spacing of joists makes the floor stiffer and less likely to ring. you still need to fill with rockwool (not the plant propagating loose stuff) but this will lower the resonance. so, for every 6 square foot of floor you need 1 puck, times 320 gives you about 1800 sf of space for $400 - this was quick off the top of my head, running late - (sue me if my math is off, sorry) Steve

[jthomas1]

What does EPDM stand for?

Ethylene-propylene-diene monomer rubber

Man I love google. define:EPDM

[ponkass]

i should´ve had a round of whopass for not googling first.. sorry..=)

[cfuehrer]

Steve, let's say I am looking at 30 to 35 year of use out of my floated studio. What would you suggest to use then?

[knightfly]

Carl, I'm not aware of anything in an elastomer with longer life than EPDM, but then I'm not an elastomeric engineer either - there may be something. I don't remember Paul Woodlock mentioning life expectancy of his Sylomer blocks (also not cheap) - maybe you could ask him?

One thing that helps is to stay on the low side of loading for ANY material - the more compression, the shorter life. So if you calculate for 5% deflection instead of 15%, that would extend the useful life of any material.

Beyond that, for a really long-term floor you'd probably be better off working with kineticsnoise.com; pouring a concrete slab and using their LiftSlab devices

http://www.kineticsnoise.com/arch/noise/pdf/FLM.PDF

They also use neoprene for some of their units; I hadn't noticed that before. If you check them out, maybe you could ask about life span of different materials, as this is what they do; if you find out more about this, please post it back here; I'm so swamped with life lately I doubt I'd have time to do this in the next few years... Steve

[sharward]

...you'll see that the 1/2" stuff is $40 per foot, 10 foot minimum, so $400 minimum price...

Looks like prices went up last month, according to their EPDM Price List. It's now $461.40 for a 10 foot minimum... Up about 15%.

[knightfly]

Wow, inflatable rubber; sounds kinky...

No wonder I had to trash a thread on young lesbians from the Buidling Forum ...

[ktb1025]

I've managed to acquire a dozen 3/8" rolls of neoprene. Each roll is 3.5" wide, perfect for placement under 2x4's. I bought these a while back, prior to my understanding of the weight calculations involved. I'll be framing my floor soon, and floating the walls & ceiling on top of the floor. I was thinking of putting the neoprene under the entire wall perimeter to compensate for the lack of thickness, and cutting 2" wide strips placing them at a closer distance under the floor joists.

Should I just scrap the 3/8 and go for the 1/2, or would the above method give me satisfactory results? The rooms would be 12ft W x 16ft L x 10ft H with 3/4" mdf walls + 5/8 sheetrock.

[AVare]

Straight talk. Do the calculations and understand them. Otherwise you will make things WORSE!

Paul Wooodlock has written many excellent posts and given references for for this.

Andre

[ktb1025]

Thanks Andre... I'll be working on the calculations some more later today. The reason for my question was because I'm thinking of using a continuous strip of neoprene along the floor perimeter. Continuous strips would affect the load disbursement differently than individual pieces at "x" inches apart. I also thought that maybe continuous strips would alleviate some of the caulking issues since all of the perimeter is in direct contact with the floor, albeit at different pressures per square in.

If my questions seem contrite, I apologize. It's not that I'm trying to give anyone a hard time, or that I'm disregarding the extraordinary amount of sage advice. Rather, I'm just trying to explore all my options while at the same time evaluating the multiple sources of information I'm acquiring lately. I do respect the advice and information I get here immensely...