Carpet or wood floor?

[struth]

i have concrete downstairs. so i got the best quality underlay available; in fact it cost as much as the expensive carpet but ive ended up with a nioce sound. it wasnt bought for audio but for wheelcair use but its wort paying for really good underlay

[guy]

Hi Guy, how would the bamboo be laid if you went that route? Laying it solidly on the concrete floor with adhesive is fine. Gluing it on top of plywood which will lie on the floor will resonate unpredictably and should be bedded down on a mastic.

I would prefer the bamboo solidly installed, a) for its beautiful appearance b) for sound quality.

Carpets being relatively thin will absorb sound only over a very limited range of frequencies, so forming a narrow-band absorber. If the carpet is wall-2-wall the effect will be to largely absorb all the information that corresponds to the wavelength of your carpet thickness. To be clear, this info will be mostly MIA

A thick attractive wool rug or rugs on felt underlay are fine.

However, isn't there always an however? if you would like to add broad-band absorption (this is the good kind that actually does something and not just reduce a little flutter echo) a better way would be to build a cloud but you may need permission.

If you have the height, hang a frame about 4' x 6' x 4" below the ceiling. This will accept standard panels of rockwool or equivalent. Choose a pretty fabric that compliments your room to cover the frame. The winner here is the fact that by varying the distance from the ceiling you can adjust the low frequency performance. Try for 4" air space, but even 1" will make a rather large improvement.

Depending on personal taste, an LED strip light mounted on top of the frame perimeter looks really cool.

Brilliant response, thanks for taking the time.

Early days, but I was thinking of something like this:

https://www.bambooflooringcompany.co...-flooring.html

glued direct to floor, I understand that the resin bonded stuff is very tough which would be important for me (dog for one thing ).

Pretty limited on height, "house" is a late '50's bungalow which we extended and built an upstairs, so ceiling is only just over 8'

[guy]

i have concrete downstairs. so i got the best quality underlay available; in fact it cost as much as the expensive carpet but ive ended up with a nioce sound. it wasnt bought for audio but for wheelcair use but its wort paying for really good underlay

Thanks for that Grant, any recommendations on type of underlay?

I am glad that you mention wheelchair use. We don't need them at the moment, but as we are planning on staying here for the duration it is something that should be considered (over the last six years both my wife and I cared for elderly parents who were using wheelchairs and ease of movement/accessibility became major concerns in their homes).
My daughter, who recently qualified as an occupational therapist, has been quite forthright in her view that we should stay here as we get older, as the house is quite open plan and makes movement around the place easier

[struth]

yes open plan is good. i had to get doors widened etc here for wife... i went to a good carpet shop and asked them what they recommened for wheelchair use.
it wasnt cheap but its 16 yrs ago and although wife is no longer with us, the carpet has no marks from wheels.. ie it never collapsed underneath. it proved point that the underlay was at least as important.. it also is quite good audio wise.

[tapid]

Went from carpet to wood in largish room and there a very noticeable reduction in sound quality. However then moved to smaller room ( also wood ) and was happy again.
So, wether size of rooms was a factor or just got used to a new sound I don't know ?. Would probably go for carpet though for optimum sound

[tapid]

Hope everything goes well Guy

[guy]

yes open plan is good. i had to get doors widened etc here for wife... i went to a good carpet shop and asked them what they recommened for wheelchair use.
it wasnt cheap but its 16 yrs ago and although wife is no longer with us, the carpet has no marks from wheels.. ie it never collapsed underneath. it proved point that the underlay was at least as important.. it also is quite good audio wise.

Crikey! sixteen years is bloody good going for underlay in my experience, just goes to show that you get what you pay for.

[guy]

Hope everything goes well Guy

Cheers - I would like a wood floor, looks mainly, although I do get pissed off with carpet getting grubby/needing shampoo every now and then. One of my sister in laws is Chinese and I can see why they take off shoes on entering the house, although having a dog would negate that!
My only concerns would be effect on sound, and comfort/insulation.

[sailor]

@guy, I am confused! Because one of your sisters in law is Chinese, why would your dog not have to take off his shoes?

It is desirable to address the 3 axes: floor to ceiling, front to back and side to side, if this is possible. With the floor to ceiling reflections it would be better to have the absorption on the ceiling, height permitting, for the simple reason that we have evolved to allow for floor bounce. The ear/brain relationship knows well how to deal with this. Unless you have had too much to drink your ears are always the same distance from the floor. So ceiling absorption is preferred.

I once helped a friend hang a cloud in his dedicated room. He is tall and only has about an inch between him and the cloud frame. He was concerned about someone taller bumping their head. I suggested he keep a crash helmet handy for those occasions. On a later visit I noticed 3 brightly coloured helmets on the front wall above the audio rack. This was always of great interest at get togethers. He explained them away as diffusers or protection devices should someone want to jump up and down with excitement.

[dave2010]

I once helped a friend hang a cloud in his dedicated room. He is tall and only has about an inch between him and the cloud frame. He was concerned about someone taller bumping their head. I suggested he keep a crash helmet handy for those occasions. On a later visit I noticed 3 brightly coloured helmets on the front wall above the audio rack. This was always of great interest at get togethers. He explained them away as diffusers or protection devices should someone want to jump up and down with excitement.

Slight diversion - hanging baskets. We used to have hanging baskets outside our previous house near the front door. Miss d got out of her car, and banged her head on it, letting out a great cry of "F***" - the first and perhaps only time I ever heard her swear. We also noted that the lady who delivered our post wore a crash helmet - and we wondered if that had been as a result of one too many encounters with our hanging flowers.

Now back to floors, ceilings, wood and carpets.