Where to get Semi rigid insulation

Willy · Post by **Willy** » Fri Jul 18, 2003 1:00 am

Gudday John.

I've been hunting around for Insulco semi rigid, finally ringing them up to ask about it. Semi-rigid didn't get much of a response, but when I said I wanted it for acoustic panels, the bloke put me onto their Acousti-therm, Sonoblue and ISB products.

The PDFs are here:
http://www.insulco.com.au/professional/ ... aSheet.pdf
http://www.insulco.com.au/professional/ ... aSheet.pdf

The NCR seems ok from my uninformed point of view, do you think they'd work in the context of absorber panels hanging from the wall?

Willy.

Willy · Post by **Willy** » Fri Jul 18, 2003 8:17 pm

Well, I went into the supplier today - they'd still never heard of Semi-rigid, until we had a look through their catalog and found it. They didn't have any in stock but they're getting it in, so I guess it's all good.

Willy.

knightfly · Post by **knightfly** » Sat Jul 19, 2003 10:35 am

Hi, Willy - here's a link to ALL the good stuff from Insulco -

http://www.insulco.com.au/professional/ ... rial.shtml

Compare their High Density/High temp semi-rigid to the normal stuff, and you'll find even better performance, especially below 500 hZ, at the same thickness.

They don't list (or I couldn't find) density values, but their normal semi-rigid seems nearly identical to Owens Corning's 704 (which I also couldn't find density values on, although it's between 703 and 705 so I would assume around 4.5 PCF, or 90 kg/m - a bit heavy for inside walls, but good for bass trapping, clouds, etc... Steve

cfuehrer · Post by **cfuehrer** » Mon Jul 28, 2003 6:14 am

Hey John, so I make sure I look for the right stuff, what are your recommended specs for the insulation (any nicknames or buzzwords it's called or I should know)? I plan on going out this week to price out construction materials and want to know exactly what I am looking for.

If you guys are getting it for so cheap, why does Auralex charge so damn much for the mineral fiber insulation?

knightfly · Post by **knightfly** » Mon Jul 28, 2003 7:56 am

Carl, in the states look for either Owens Corning 703 or Knauf fiberglas insulation - for most things, you want 3 pounds/cu ft density.

The best places to call locally are insulation/drywall contractors - some are helpful, some are useless, you pretty much just have to call around.

As to why Auralex charges so much, can you say "VAR"? Wrap some pretty cloth around cheap insulation, call it a "sound blanket" and musicians (some of whom can't even remember how to plug in their guitar, I know, I used to "babysit" them til I got tired of changing diapers) - will flock to buy them...

On a more serious note, companies like Auralex make most of their money from people who either don't have the tools, the time, or the space to build their own stuff. That's no different than anything else - you want it done FOR you, you PAY...

Here are some links to what you want -

http://www.fibrex.on.ca/products/sound_attenuation.html

download their pdf spec sheet, it has absorption values. Similar to OC 703, maybe a little better low end absorption.

http://www.thermafiber.com/literature_acoustsafb.html

download pdf's on system, and the data sheet.

http://www.owenscorning.com/comminsul/p ... &system=79

Owens Corning really doesn't want to sell their commercial products to anyone but commercial insulation installers, and they make it nearly impossible to even get information. I used to have a pdf on 700 series, but for the life of me I couldn't even come close to finding one online this time. People have reported having fair luck calling 1-800-getpink, and others have had no luck at all. YMMV...

Also, I couldn't get ANY of my Knauf links to work, kept getting 404 errors. Not sure where they went, but if you can find it the specs are as good or better than Owens Corning 703 for the same thickness.

It's worth the effort to find this stuff locally, because even the thickest rigid fiberglas/mineral wool is less than half the cost of the foam from auralex, etc, and absorbs far more in the low end. This is important, because MOST of the things in the studio will absorb highs, so you need more low absorption for balance.

Hope that helped some - this has been an on-going problem of supply throughout the world, with some people managing to find and get what they need pretty easily, others not... Steve

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Aug 09, 2003 7:25 am

I've got the spec sheets for both the Knauff and OC stuff in .pdf format--but the files are too large to attach here. I could e-mail them to you if it would be helpful.

Alex

knightfly · Post by **knightfly** » Sat Aug 09, 2003 8:22 pm

Alex, I usually just post the link to the pdf - here's the one for the OC stuff, don't think I have the knauf one -

http://www.owenscorning.com/comminsul/d ... Series.pdf

Luke · Post by **Luke** » Thu Aug 21, 2003 6:10 am

Hey Brian, where did you buy the Fibrex SAFB @ .35/sqft??

giles117 · Post by **giles117** » Thu Aug 21, 2003 7:39 am

A Company Called Fibre Fab in Michigan. Try calling Fibrex and they will be happy to tell you who is local to you.

That is how I found my supplier. Realize this was a distributor, not a reseller. I ran the purchase through my production company

Keep in mind, that price was for me to go and pick it up. For you you'd have to add shipping costs which will probably make the cost more like .65/sq ft

Bryan Giles

sauceman · Post by **sauceman** » Tue Aug 26, 2003 6:08 am

Thanks to info and links posted by others in the group I was able to find a source of semi-rigid (they insist on calling it rigid) fiberglass insulation boards in Ottawa! I wanted to share the info in case there is anyone else in the area looking for them. I know how hard they are to find. There are minimum orders but they are small.

The place is called Insulcousic
Location: 2766 Fenton Road, Ottawa Ontario
Phone: (613) 822-2225

All the boards are 2' x 4' and a box of each costs around $45. If you want 1" thick boards a box contains 96 sq ft.
1 1/2" boards: 64 sq ft.
2" boards: 48 sq. ft

sauceman · Post by **sauceman** » Tue Aug 26, 2003 6:14 am

One other thing... for those of you looking for rigid fiberglass boards in Canada, but not necessarily in Ottawa (see my last post).

I was able to find these in Ottawa because I was refered to the dealer by the extremely helpful people in the customer service dept at Fibrex. The web site is: http://www.fibrexinsulations.com/about.html and the customer service number is there. They may have a dealer where you are.

I don't know if they have dealers in the States too, but its worth calling if you're having trouble finding this stuff.

babyblueslinky · Post by **babyblueslinky** » Thu Sep 04, 2003 11:01 am

I'm currently looking to attain some semi-rigid fiberglass but the local distributor that I found that actually carries the stuff wanted $15 for a 2'x4' sheet of 6lb./cu.ft. fiberglass. I thought that was a bit ridiculous, but I am not exactly sure of the going rate. Does anyone know of any suppliers/manufacturers in the Lansing, Michigan area? Hopefully? Maybe? Any input would be appreciated greatly, as I am going crazy because I want to start making music soon, but I want to get all my room construction stuff done first to avoid moving things ten times. Thanks much.

Slink

babyblueslinky · Post by **babyblueslinky** » Thu Sep 04, 2003 11:30 am

One other thing I forgot to mention is that I will be purchasing directly for myself, not through a business. Why do they make products so unavailable to the everyday consumer, damnit? It seems like the manufacturers would want to sell the products they make, no?

I would think I ought to be able to walk into any building supply retail store and buy it, but NO! Bastards!

giles117 · Post by **giles117** » Thu Sep 04, 2003 11:47 am

Is this a 4" sheet?

Most of the dealers around here sell it at 1.50 to 1.95 a sq. ft. So a sheet runs about 12.00 a sheet on up

2" starting at .75 sq.ft so a sheet runs about 6.00 a sheet on up

And that is distributor cost here.

Bryan Giles

lefty77 · Post by **lefty77** » Fri Sep 05, 2003 12:58 am

It wasn't 4" board that I got that price on, but 1"! Not really even a decent deal huh? That sucks. When you purchased it through the production company, did you pay yourself(cash/card), or did you use the company card to pay? I could use the company I work for to go through, but I doubt that they will let me use their card and pay them back. I'm sure I could use their name and address though. Do you think this would work?

John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Where to get Semi rigid insulation

Source in Ottawa, Ontario

Anywhere In The Midwest?

One thing I forgot

No not 4"