Acupanel

[tanneja]

Was looking at wood slat ceiling or walls for aesthetics, however this range claims some acoustic benefit, which is interesting given the hard flooring we plan in our open plan area.

 

https://www.acupanel.com/gallery

 

For any sound gurus, if I were to attach to the ceiling (after checking fire regs, likely would need a Class 0 coating of the veneered wood), it seems we have two options:

 

- attach directly to joists, filling between joists with rockwool, it would give us maximum height in the room, but won't represent much mass in the ceiling.

- single or double high density plasterboard the ceiling to add mass, then fix these panels to that, however the thickness of that will make it that I can touch the ceiling when on tip toes, and there is the consideration that Acupanel says get much better acoustic performance if it mounted on batons... batons as well and the ceiling really would be getting too low for my liking, every 10mm starts making a difference.

 

I know sound is a dark art, but which approach will likely give us the all round best result in:

• isolating upstairs generated noise getting down stairs,
• likewise downstairs noise getting upstairs, and
• perhaps reducing echo in the hard landscaped open plan area downstairs?

 

Thanks in advance for any guidance

Edited February 25, 2021 by tanneja

[Dan F]

We plan to use these panels.   I think the best way to think about these is that they are for sound absorption (for better acoustics in the room) rather than for sound insulation.  No doubt that by absorbing some sound they will help, but I don't think I'd use them in place of sound insulation..

[joth]

We've been looking into this too, because having moved in we've discovered (as expected) our living room has the acoustic charm of a secondary school toilet so definitely needs some more work

I like the aesthetic shown in the gallery on the AcuPanel website (etc), and would fit our 60s reno vibe very well, but the samples I got felt a bit underwhelming - the slats are veneered MDF and it's easy to see this, especially on the grey felt where the leave the slat edges unfinished raw MDF, the black felt ones they paint the edges black too which does mask the effect, but also makes it incredibly dark (especially if viewed from an angle)

 

A year ago I got the full boxed set of samples from woodupp.co.uk and I think they were a bit better, unfortunately I can't find them now think I must have given it away with the rest of our unused samples. 

 

+1 to Dan, these are mostly acoustic treatment not sound proofing products, although acoustically deadening a room will aid sound proofing (less reverb -> less chances for sound energy to "find" the hole in the wall through to the next room).

 

Random aside: there appear to be  (at least) 3 companies all in one  town selling variations on this stuff. I guess there's some connection:

 

www.thewoodveneerhub.co.uk

www.alphawdesign.co.uk

www.acupanel.com

[tanneja]

For what it is worth, I am far more impressed with the woodup Akupanels, also excellent guy Gregg who has been really helpful.  Am certain to have in our open plan area to hopefully capture echos.  Thank youfor the replies.

[Dan F]

28 minutes ago, joth said:

Random aside: there appear to be  (at least) 3 companies all in one  town selling variations on this stuff. I guess there's some connection:

 

www.thewoodveneerhub.co.uk

www.alphawdesign.co.uk

www.acupanel.com

 

I think they are all the same thing.   Also https://lignosi.com/  (which have "woodup" branding on their web-site).

 

Where were the underwhelming samples from?

 

@joth Please comment on my other thread on "sound absorption" if you have any ideas on the school hall problem...

Edited April 13, 2021 by Dan F

[Dan F]

15 minutes ago, tanneja said:

For what it is worth, I am far more impressed with the woodup Akupanels, also excellent guy Gregg who has been really helpful.  Am certain to have in our open plan area to hopefully capture echos.  Thank youfor the replies.

Which install method are you using:

- Surface-mount  on plasterboard (class C absorption)
- On 45mm battons with mineral wool between them (class A absorption)

- Somewhere inbetween?

 

We've already boared one of the walls where these are supposed to go, so unless we undo things looks like we're going to need to surface-mount which I'm only now realising isn't ideal.

 

[joth]

12 hours ago, Dan F said:

 

Where were the underwhelming samples from?

 

Acupanel from here

https://www.thewoodveneerhub.co.uk/products/acupanel-acoustic-wood-panel-sample

 

Apparently I didn't give away the other samples (which I now recall were from Lignosi before the woodup rebranding) so I'll have to have another rummage around for them. 

 

 

 

[tanneja]

15 hours ago, Dan F said:

Which install method are you using:

- Surface-mount  on plasterboard (class C absorption)
- On 45mm battons with mineral wool between them (class A absorption)

- Somewhere inbetween?

 

We've already boared one of the walls where these are supposed to go, so unless we undo things looks like we're going to need to surface-mount which I'm only now realising isn't ideal.

 

The ceiling areas we are covering are on the ground floor, part of which is flat roof area, part has a bedroom above.  Can these go straight onto the joists, or do I need to have plasterboard above?

 

We haven't boarded yet, but we are space constrained on ceiling height, at the moment we would be around 2.3m in these areas of the room if we boarded and surface mounted.  Additional battons would probably mean I could touch the ceiling on tip toes (I'm 5'11") which isn't a disaster but not my preference.  No PB has obvious lack of mass issues with the ceiling between the bedroom and downstairs, but we went for 25mm plywood floor in the bedroom which is dense itself, and plan generous underlay.  Unsure if it would be a reg requirement to have PB under either of the bedroom or flat roof, or whether would be inviting noise permeation from outside to forego the PB.  Obviously need to pink PB around the steels.  Unsure how to visualise the class C absorption from simple surface mounting, that is probably still good to have?

 

The akupanel / woodup / lingosi from Gregg are just stunning in comparison to other company samples.  

Edited April 14, 2021 by tanneja

[Thorfun]

thanks all for this thread which I am following with interest. I didn't even know you could get this sort of thing.

 

as we're worried about reverb in our openplan living/diner these look like a potential avenue to reduce that.

 

if/when you all install I would be very interested to hear your thoughts and how it has changed the acoustics of the rooms they're installed in.

 

thanks again.

[Dan F]

9 hours ago, joth said:

 

Acupanel from here

https://www.thewoodveneerhub.co.uk/products/acupanel-acoustic-wood-panel-sample

 

Apparently I didn't give away the other samples (which I now recall were from Lignosi before the woodup rebranding) so I'll have to have another rummage around for them. 

 

So are Acupanel and Akupanel two different products?  It looks like Danish Akupanel (with a K) is the good one?   There is also one called SlatWall.

 

@Thorfun The effiveness looks pretty good from looking at datasheets, especially if you use mineral wool behind them rather than service mounting on PB. 

 

 

 

[Thorfun]

1 minute ago, Dan F said:

The effiveness looks pretty good from looking at datasheets, especially if you use mineral wool behind them rather than service mounting on PB.

that may be but I'd still like a real world test rather than paper or lab testing!

 

the rooms we're thinking of are pretty big so losing a bit of space with extra battening isn't an issue and I'm sure I'll have plenty of leftover Rockwool so that would be the route we would probably go.

 

4 minutes ago, Dan F said:

It looks like Danish Akupanel (with a K) is the good one?

 

from the looks of the finish on the websites I'd have to agree with that. hopefully @joth will know for sure once he's found his samples. ?  

[Dan F]

Just now, Thorfun said:

from the looks of the finish on the websites I'd have to agree with that. hopefully @joth will know for sure once he's found his samples. ?  

 

Our main contractor ordered some aCupanel samples.   I've just ordered some Akupanel and Slatwall samples.   Will report back.

 

(One of them, can't remember which, sells inividual depper slats that allows you hide the backing from the side if you surface mount)

[tanneja]

I have Ac and Ak both in front of me.  Both nice people to deal with, but to my taste the range of Akupanel is far more exciting.  Only downside is Akupanel don't do any 3m lengths.

[Dan F]

8 hours ago, tanneja said:

We haven't boarded yet, but we are space constrained on ceiling height, at the moment we would be around 2.3m in these areas of the room if we boarded and surface mounted.  Additional battons would probably mean I could touch the ceiling on tip toes (I'm 5'11") which isn't a disaster but not my preference.  No PB has obvious lack of mass issues with the ceiling between the bedroom and downstairs, but we went for 25mm plywood floor in the bedroom which is dense itself, and plan generous underlay.  Unsure if it would be a reg requirement to have PB under either of the bedroom or flat roof, or whether would be inviting noise permeation from outside to forego the PB.  Obviously need to pink PB around the steels.  Unsure how to visualise the class C absorption from simple surface mounting, that is probably still good to have?

 

I guess it depends if you want to prioritize sound insulation or sound absorption.   I'm no expect, but I would probably think about doing the following if build-up depth was limited:

 

Sound insulation with some absoprtion:   2  SB + surface mounted Akupanels (50mm total)

Sound absorption with some insulation:   1 SB + 25mm battens (mineral woold in. between them) + surface mounted Akupanels (60mm total)

 

We have one ceiling panel where we'll use 2SB + 38mm battens + Akupanel, but we also have a wall that is already boarded, so might just surface mount, even though this isn't ideal from a sound absorption perspective.

 

 

Edited April 14, 2021 by Dan F

[Dan F]

Got samples for SlatWall, Akupanel and Acupanel and, it might be me, but they all seem almost identical.

 

 

[tanneja]

From my perspective, the range available from Akupanel was far larger, twice as many variants as of Acupanel (including concrete effect).  If comparing the standard overlap colours, I agree very similar, I observe thicker veneer on the Akupanel samples I have, and more texture to the grain, but small details.

[tanneja]

@Dan F did you have to get fire rated to satisfy BC?