Advice for Concrete floor ht

[deltadube]

been looking around.. cant seem to find alot of info out there any help guidance be great

building an ht in my basement.. block walls and concrete floors
how would you treat the floors for the best sound potential of the room?

im thinking of using a product called dricore.. its a tile with like 5/8 particle
board and glued on plastic with dimples so its raised off the concrete by1/2in
about 20 contact points in the 2 x 2 tile lots of air under the tile..

this way the floor can breath and let water drain if it ever comes in
and cover this with a carpet.. would there be a problem with acoustic in the room with a floor like this..

any other ideas?

thanks

[EMAGDNIM]

Take a look at my build thread. I used dricore for my space. My wife and I love it, and I plan to use it in my new house once I start the basement project again.

It did not affect acoustics (that I noticed anyways). I installed it because I'd like the water to drain if I ever had a leak, and it helps with keeping your floor warm.

[deltadube]

Originally Posted by EMAGDNIM

Take a look at my build thread. I used dricore for my space. My wife and I love it, and I plan to use it in my new house once I start the basement project again.

It did not affect acoustics (that I noticed anyways). I installed it because I'd like the water to drain if I ever had a leak, and it helps with keeping your floor warm.

thanks for the reply..

dricore is good for the concrete too lets it breath too eh..
the r value may only be about 2 tho.. but it all helps.. less chance of
mold and mildew with the air underneath too.

glade to hear you notice no acoustic problems are you using some
bad ass subs too?

cheers..

[roar]

Originally Posted by deltadube

been looking around.. cant seem to find alot of info out there any help guidance be great

building an ht in my basement.. block walls and concrete floors
how would you treat the floors for the best sound potential of the room?

im thinking of using a product called dricore.. its a tile with like 5/8 particle
board and glued on plastic with dimples so its raised off the concrete by1/2in
about 20 contact points in the 2 x 2 tile lots of air under the tile..

this way the floor can breath and let water drain if it ever comes in
and cover this with a carpet.. would there be a problem with acoustic in the room with a floor like this..

any other ideas?

thanks

I didn't got with any sub-flooring, just a thick under padding and a good carpet. The rest of my basement has tile which the first home owners installed. I think dricore is a good idea. One thing I have talked to some friends about is actually buying the plastic dimples separately as you can buy it in roles then you can by plywood in sheets to lay on top. I heard that may be a cheaper solution.

[ahmedreda]

You can do a moisture test by taping a piece of plastic bag and leaving it for sometime (look it up). If your floor is dry then you don't need dricore.. I ended up just using a carpet pad that does not have a moisture barrier and let the ac keeping the moisture level down.. I have a humidity sensor and the humidity level is less than 50% for most of the year.
Acoustically, i think carpet will work better than dricore as it will minimize reflections.

[deltadube]

Originally Posted by roar

I didn't got with any sub-flooring, just a thick under padding and a good carpet. The rest of my basement has tile which the first home owners installed. I think dricore is a good idea. One thing I have talked to some friends about is actually buying the plastic dimples separately as you can buy it in roles then you can by plywood in sheets to lay on top. I heard that may be a cheaper solution.

wonder where you buy a roll... ?

could save a bit..

i will check out my hd..

cheers

[deltadube]

Originally Posted by ahmedreda

You can do a moisture test by taping a piece of plastic bag and leaving it for sometime (look it up). If your floor is dry then you don't need dricore.. I ended up just using a carpet pad that does not have a moisture barrier and let the ac keeping the moisture level down.. I have a humidity sensor and the humidity level is less than 50% for most of the year.
Acoustically, i think carpet will work better than dricore as it will minimize reflections.

are you down in arizona? im up in ontario canada we have massive swings in
humidity here.. super dry to super wet.. my basement dose no leak to say
but in could in a huricane type rain.. but the main thing is the moisture comes right though the concrete more spring summer fall.. you cant use the ac at 40 f it will shut off.. carpet on concrete will go to mold mildew.. dont want that.. but the carpet on top of dricore lots like a good solution..

thanks

[ahmedreda]

I am in arkansas so we have very humid summers and dry winters.. My concrete slab does not seep water so i was able to just use the carpet on top of it.. I keep the ac vents shut in the basement so that allows barely enough circulation to remove any moisture during the summer months without unnecessarily loading the system. I have a humidity sensor to monitor the rh to make sure it doesn't go above 50.

[roar]

Originally Posted by deltadube

wonder where you buy a roll... ?

could save a bit..

i will check out my hd..

cheers

I'm pretty sure I've seen at Home Depot.

[Anthony P]

From an acoustic perspective thered should not be an issue what ever you do. From a personal perspective, I would say if you don't have water issues, then go with something like barricade that has insulation underneath and then carpet.

[Blackshield]

Originally Posted by deltadube

are you down in arizona? im up in ontario canada we have massive swings in
humidity here.. super dry to super wet.. my basement dose no leak to say
but in could in a huricane type rain.. but the main thing is the moisture comes right though the concrete more spring summer fall.. you cant use the ac at 40 f it will shut off.. carpet on concrete will go to mold mildew.. dont want that.. but the carpet on top of dricore lots like a good solution..

thanks

I've been finishing my basement and made the call not to do a subfloor/drycore for a couple reasons. We bought the house brand new and the builder hadn't had the grade done prior to us moving in. We ended up having several heavy downpours during the last summer before it got done and the builders people had left a giant slope towards the back of the houses basement window. I went down to check cause there' is weeping tile in the window well; half the window was under water like a fish tank lol, I had a slow stream of water coming it. The thing is that if it was to happen again for any reason I know looking at the area affected as a result that water would pool in areas of the floor and take a very long time to dry/evaporate, if ever. so after my grade was done and we obviously had no more issues; I went with underpad only for the main reason that I want to know if there's water coming in. my personal choice but I want something like that to be known and not ignored or unseen. I do think the concrete sweat issue is going to ever be an issue for me, it can get humid in Alberta during the summer but not as bad as the eastcoast. I run A/C also so that dry's the air considerably.

Off topic but the one thing I do recommend is to make sure your cold air return is located at ground level! and that you have a good airflow from it to help pull that cold air off the ground ; I also added 2 more heat vents to keep in a balanced temp making it 2 vents per 350 ish sq feet.

[deltadube]

Originally Posted by Anthony P

From an acoustic perspective thered should not be an issue what ever you do. From a personal perspective, I would say if you don't have water issues, then go with something like barricade that has insulation underneath and then carpet.

sorry but i dont understand what is thered?

cheers

[deltadube]

Originally Posted by Blackshield

I've been finishing my basement and made the call not to do a subfloor/drycore for a couple reasons. We bought the house brand new and the builder hadn't had the grade done prior to us moving in. We ended up having several heavy downpours during the last summer before it got done and the builders people had left a giant slope towards the back of the houses basement window. I went down to check cause there' is weeping tile in the window well; half the window was under water like a fish tank lol, I had a slow stream of water coming it. The thing is that if it was to happen again for any reason I know looking at the area affected as a result that water would pool in areas of the floor and take a very long time to dry/evaporate, if ever. so after my grade was done and we obviously had no more issues; I went with underpad only for the main reason that I want to know if there's water coming in. my personal choice but I want something like that to be known and not ignored or unseen. I do think the concrete sweat issue is going to ever be an issue for me, it can get humid in Alberta during the summer but not as bad as the eastcoast. I run A/C also so that dry's the air considerably.

Off topic but the one thing I do recommend is to make sure your cold air return is located at ground level! and that you have a good airflow from it to help pull that cold air off the ground ; I also added 2 more heat vents to keep in a balanced temp making it 2 vents per 350 ish sq feet.

thanks .. good idea to put cold air return on floor in the ht room..

how do you sound proof the vents cold and hot? good idea

cheers..

[roar]

Originally Posted by deltadube

thanks .. good idea to put cold air return on floor in the ht room..

how do you sound proof the vents cold and hot? good idea

cheers..

People do sound proof vents, but that takes some real dedication! You've got to create a snake like vent forcing the sound to bounce making it more difficult to escape. I know I've read threads on the subject over at AVS.

http://www.soundproofingcompany.com/...undproof-room/

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by deltadube

sorry but i dont understand what is thered?

cheers

typo

From an acoustic perspective there should not be an issue whatever you do (drycore, no sub floor, other subfloor). From a personal perspective, I would say if you don't have water issues, then go with something like barricade that has insulation underneath and then carpet on top of it.

[deltadube]

Originally Posted by roar

People do sound proof vents, but that takes some real dedication! You've got to create a snake like vent forcing the sound to bounce making it more difficult to escape. I know I've read threads on the subject over at AVS.

http://www.soundproofingcompany.com/...undproof-room/

thanks for the good link.. cool ideas..

cheers

[Blackshield]

BTW I saw the Underlay that was referred to in the earlier posting at home depot yesterday it was 100sq' for 72$

http://www.homedepot.ca/product/dmx-...layment/813313

[deltadube]

Originally Posted by Blackshield

BTW I saw the Underlay that was referred to in the earlier posting at home depot yesterday it was 100sq' for 72$

http://www.homedepot.ca/product/dmx-...layment/813313

hey thanks for the link

thats about 1/2 price over dri core..

[deltadube]

Originally Posted by Blackshield

BTW I saw the Underlay that was referred to in the earlier posting at home depot yesterday it was 100sq' for 72$

http://www.homedepot.ca/product/dmx-...layment/813313

well i guess i spoke to soon.. dmx-1 plus the ply or osb on top
would 79% of the dri core.. save 21%..

i think all in all the dri core is better product .. you can make better adjustments for the slight roll of the basement floor to level..
and it is much stronger as well..

cheers

[Blackshield]

Reading the info about it on the site and reviews it doesn't appear that you need to lay plywood overtop if your using a laminate 10mm or thicker, but you do if your using carpet or hardwood I'd look into it a little further. Also it may be cheaper at an actual flooring place. I would probably go dricore if doing carpet etc. .

Found this video about it also

Basement flooring product from DMX - YouTube

Originally Posted by deltadube

well i guess i spoke to soon.. dmx-1 plus the ply or osb on top
would 79% of the dri core.. save 21%..

i think all in all the dri core is better product .. you can make better adjustments for the slight roll of the basement floor to level..
and it is much stronger as well..

cheers