Carpet for Sound Absorption in Concrete Floored Basement (1 Viewer)

I've been looking at carpet and wondering what the best type is to get? I want to help prevent a lot of sound bouncing around the room, and help the acoustics.

Am I correct in assuming that the thicker the carpet, the better? Do I want thicker, or also more dense?

Of course, the thick, dense carpet is the most expensive. I'm thinking I'll freak out if we ever have a water leak in the basement and have to replace it.

Can anyone give me some thoughts? I suspect others have gone through this line of thinking when they were building out their basements...

Thanks in advance!

Dave

Ok being in the carpet cleaning installing business fro quite some time ...I might be able to answer a few questions.

First if you basement does occasionally leak then you'll be in trouble with thick carpet it will take forever to dry out and could end up smelling and or have a mold problem.

Now as for "sound bouncing" (as you call it) You do want some, and I don't really think the rug will make that much diffrence for the mids and highs only the bass. The bass is where you do want sound bouncing and if you use thick carpeting you may absorb too much of the bass.Unless you use a sub that has a bottom plate.

My suggestion is a commercial grade carpet with jute padding not foam padding.

Just my 2 cents
ED

I used medium grade carpet for my basement room with 8lb pad. If I did not have young kids that like to sit on the floor during movies I would've definitely went with commercial grade carpet.

My basement is waterproof but I have been through the water damage from a pipe breaking. It took a restoration company 4 days to dry out my carpet in my gameroom. They had to replace the padding and a couple months after I made them replace the carpet as well. The smell never went away.

If you don't have it already, you should look into "full" replacement insurance.

How you are going to treat the walls to help with sound reflection/absorption?

Ed: Thanks for the input. As Brian mentioned, having a softer carpet to allow sitting on the floor by the younger folks is a benefit I'd like as well.

I have read that the carpet and upholstered furniture is what helps make the room acoustics better? It sounds like you're not thinking that's the case? I'll have to re-read some of those other posts.

For the bass, from my reading of other posts, it seems that unless you have a wood subfloor (which I don't), you really need bass shakers to get good base with a concrete floor. This is what I plan.

I will take another look at the carpet samples, though. Your point about drying time is a good one, in case there is ever a leak.

Brian: Thanks for the tip about insurance. I'll have to look into that.

Out of the gate, I don't have plans for wall treatment--my plan is to see how it sounds when everything is in and go from there. I have read that too much acoustic treatment is as bad as too little, since as Ed pointed out, you do want SOME reflectivity in the room.

It looks like I have some thinking to do... Thanks.

Oh, and Ed. Is the "jute" padding the more felt-like padding, that's a little thinner than the foam padding? I asked at the carpet store and they showed me this type of padding as an alternative to the foam pad.

Before you purchase/install bass shakers give the room a try without them. My sub has no problems shaking the furniture, flexing the walls and blowing the pant legs off of visitors. :b

I assume it's just a concrete slab except for the platform at the rear?

I will certainly give it a shot with just the sub before shelling out the cash on a shaker. One other attraction to the shaker is getting better bass without having others in other parts of the house hearing "MMMM MMMM MMMM MMMMM".

(I suspect there will be times when I'm down there with the guys while the "ladies" are upstairs hanging out. I REALLY don't want the "can you turn it down, please?")



Dave

Dave,

You may also want to seal your concrete floor before carpeting. Moisture can seep up from the concrete and still cause problems with mold in your carpet.

As for bass shaking your concrete....I guess some of it would depend on the sub you have (and size does matter). I moved to PA from TX where we had a 5 foot think slab of concrete (no basements), and my Def 1500tl had no problem shaking the slab. Good luck.

-Jason

I would highly recommend placing a 6 mil plastic vapor barrier on the concrete before installing the carpet.

GL!

-Shane

YES .... It is felt likeand is usually grey in color.

Just so you know...you can still use commercial/industrial carpet with padding.

Also take Jason D. advice he is 100% correct seal your floor It's a diy project just go to HD and get concrete sealer.

Signed
ED

This seems like a very good idea!

If one does that, would you still recommend what Shane suggested above?

"I would highly recommend placing a 6 mil plastic vapor barrier on the concrete before installing the carpet."


Andy

...and which is easier?

Andy,

No you shouldn't have to do what shane said if you seal the concrete. What shane suggested is basically doing the same thing. I would check with a local installer because diffrent areas of the country might require diffrent methods of trapping moisture.

DaveT,

I can't answer what is easier, hear in New England we recommend/use sealer.

Signed
ED