Fiberglass panels covered with fabric? Trim ideas??

[Boom Chic]

I don't know if this is the right forum to discuss this, but it has to do with studio design, and in particular, decorating!

My studio and control room are covered with fiberglass panels that are covered with fabric. Looks great and sounds great, except for the seams where the fabric is stapled to the 1" x 3" board between panels. Fabric butts up against fabric and there is a row of staples.

I'm looking for some kind of trim (no not THAT kind) to finish my studio and cover the seams/staples. Any ideas?? (wood is very expensive and labor intensive, but would do very nice if I had the budget and time).

I would need something about 2-3 inches wide.

Thanks.

 

[Bear's Gone Fission]

Cork board might be a good cheap and easy solution. You can get squares about 12" x 12" x 1/4", if memory serves, in dark or light tones and it'll exacto pretty easily. It'll probably end up absorbing just highs, but it looks organic and is easier than wood trim.

Bear

 

[Boom Chic]

Thanks Bear,

Hmmmmmm....cork board, interesting, I'll have to go find some and see what it looks like. Do you know where I can find some, or what kind of store would have it?

Any other suggestions?

Thanks.

 

[Bear's Gone Fission]

Wally World or S-Mart should probablly have it, I would guess around bulletin board sort of stuff. It's basically squares of cork kind of like you'd see on a bulletin board, except usually a bit thicker and more loosely formed. I know about the stuff because I had a bunch of it on one of my bedroom walls as a teenager.

Bear

 

[Boom Chic]

We don't have Wally World, or S mart out here in California, what type of stores are these? Walmart, Kmart, Target, these are the names of general merchandise stores where I am.

Thanks

 

[knightfly]

Hi Karen - Unless Bear's neck of the woods is different, Wally World is a slang term for Wal-Mart. I'm not sure if "S-Mart" is too - maybe short for Sam, as in Walton, as in Wal-mart???

Anyway, in your search for the perfect trim material, be sure to watch for materials that are too rigid and thin not to resonate. The cork, if you can find it, should be soft enough not to do that - possibly strips of soft vinyl flooring, depending on the look you're after. If you knew anyone with some woodworking tools, perhaps some cedar fence boards, ripped to about 2" width. If you have a Lowes, or Home Depot, they might rip them for you. I know they will cut plywood in the store. Whatever you use, making fasteners invisible will complicate the task. Maybe use Brass wood screws with chrome finish washers, and make it a design feature? Any rigid material should be backed with thin foam to eliminate vibrations. A good material for this is the thin, self-adhesive rolls of foam tape, usually sold as "camper tape", because it is used between the rails of a camper top and a pickup truck. If not there, try the insulation department, under weatherstripping. It is available at home improvement stores too, in a few different widths and thicknesses. If you use a thicker material, such as the boards, you could also gain some diffusion from the boundaries created.

This doesn't seem like a no-brainer, hope you find a plan you like... Steve

 

[Boom Chic]

Thanks Knightfly,

Maybe I could use some kind of caulking or liquid nails to attatch the trim material? I wouldn't have to worry about the fasteners (just a few to hold it in place). Although, attatching wood to fabric (backed with wood) may not work.hhhmmmmmmm................ ) could act like the "camper tape" and keep the wood or trim material from vibrating.

I also have some acoustical vinyl sheets lying around, I could cut those into strips and put them behind the wood (or whatever) trim.

Whaddaya think?

 

[knightfly]

Hi Karen - I'm not sure what the possibilities are of something like a flexible (guess people could joke about that term too, I know I usually would) caulk allowing the trim to slip downward if it was too heavy - probably not much. One possible way to "clamp" the trim while caulk is setting: I just deleted two long paragraphs I wrote trying to describe my method, because I re-read them and couldn't understand my own explanation. If you want a way to do this, PM me and I'll send you a drawing. I never could talk without a pencil and paper, not that it ever stopped me from trying. BTW, love the name of your studio - good combo of old/new inference... Steve

 

[Bear's Gone Fission]

Steve got the Wally World ref right. S-Mart is from the Evil Dead/Army of Darkness world of the bizarre, and equivalent to the abovementioned sort of generica superstore. Thought one or the other would be clear enough (picked up both tags in Southern California, at that).

Bear

 

[k.w.blackwell]

Originally posted by Bear's Gone Fission:
[QB]S-Mart is from the Evil Dead/Army of Darkness world of the bizarre, and equivalent to the abovementioned sort of generica superstore/QB]

When I was a wee lad, my Mom would sometimes shop for shirts at a factory outlet named S-Mart. It's long gone, now.

 

[adam_w1]

I have areas in my control room where there is fabric over aborbers, and the trim is just long wide strips of wood over the fabric edges at the ceiling and above the wall absorbers which looks very nice. The fabric is kind of stretched over a frame, which means it looks smooth and the wood just covers the rough edge.

 

[RL Wall]

If your seams aren't too lumpy, you can do lightweight trim very cheap and easy.

Take a complementary fabric -- even the same fabric, really, and wrap it around anything lightweight -- masonite, pegboard, even cardboard strips, and hotmelt glue it to the strip. Then, just hot glue the strips over the seams.

The glue gun is less than $10 and a box of glue sticks will do the job. You can use this stuff for just about any glue job that won't be subjected to extreme heat or stress.

RW <--- hot glued his life back together after extreme heat and stress.