I’m looking for sources on rubber tiles, similar to those used in gyms. I need about 230 sqft of material, and intend to glue it down(don’t need the interlocking style). It will be used for a finished attic, and the main criteria is sound suppression and a non-porous surface. I thought of cork tiles, but I’ve gotten quotes over $10/sqft(too expensive). I appreciate the help/insight/advice. John
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Hi, John-
I have installed the interlocking type. Wondered why you want the glue-down? Water resistance?
Ken Hill
Edited 5/27/2002 8:07:26 PM ET by Ken Hill
I don't have to use the glue down type, just thought it was probably more readily available. Where can I get the interlocking style,and whats the $/sqft costs? John
Those rubber tiles are expensive. I had literature on those when I was a commercial interior designer. Neat stuff, though. There's one kind that had wax right in the material so it shines with no added products when you buff it.
Flexco makes rubber floor tile. My distributor was Wiliam M. Bird and Company. http://www.wmbird.com/
You can look at it on their website and get contact info to get a quote.
Prepare yourself. It's going to be high. It's for super high traffic, daily maintenance kind of installations. It's good for a school, but kind of overkill for an attic. Cheap sheet vinyl would probably be fine. If you want it quiet, I assume you mean you don't want the sound to transmit to the rooms below the attic? You probably need to go for density and isolation. You could put down a layer of that foam underlayment for floating wood floors. That's probably not expensive, and they have it at HD. Then lay down another layer of plywood. I bet that T&G Sturd-i-Floor glued in the joints would work. Just let it float.
I was just looking in my Physics of Sound book today and saw that plywood has the highest absorption coefficient at low frequencies of any building material, 0.45 at 125 Hz, versus carpet's 0.10. Carpet starts to beat plywood at 500 Hz. But mostly it's the bass drum that transmits, not the cymbals.
I would just top it all off with cheap sheet vinyl. You can get the stuff you just glue on the sides. Then if you tear it up, you can replace it easily. You could finish the gap around the edges from fitting T&G together in a finished space by using some kind of funky fat baseboard. If you wait until after you put the vinyl on, you don't even have to cut carefully. Can you route an edge on a 2x4 and use that for trim in an attic? It might work.
If you put something on the floor that makes noise directly, like a drum set or a stereo loudspeaker, get some of that expensive anti-fatigue mat or some carpet to go under it. That will stop a lot of transmitted sound.
Happy shopping!
B
Thanks for the info. John
I saw some interlocking foam rubber type tiles at my local Costco last weekend. They were about $1 per sq ft as I recall and sold in 2'x2' squares. Not quite as high a quality as you would find in a gym....but good for a work shop or attic maybe. BTW, this was in a San Jose, CA Costco.
-Richard
They have that stuff at Home Depot in Atlanta. Colors and gray. I kind of imagine it in a kids playroom under the 2' plastic slide.