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Noise Reduction: Menard's Products

2K views 21 replies 13 participants last post by  trotztratz 
#1 · (Edited)
I work at Menards in the floorcoverings department. It came time to do a slight rebuild the other day and I decided to repurpose some of our products for use in my car. I had great results. Hopefully others can chime in with insight as to if this is a good idea or not, and maybe someone can save some money this way!

First up we have this memory foam carpet pad; it goes for $.79/sqft, comes 6ft wide, and is 3/8" thick. It has a 10lb density rating which means 10lb per square yard or .9lb/sqft. I put it behind trim where it would fit, on my door panels, under the stock carpet and padding, and in any voids I could get it in. The difference is huge!

I get that nice deep 'thud' whenever I close the doors now and they just feel solid. Some rattles that I had as a result of flex from the midbass and my subwoofers have gone away for the most part and road noise is down a considerable amount. I don't know why I didn't do this earlier!













I already deadened my doors with Second Skin products so that's handled just fine and I would never use one of our products for deadening. However, how does this foam compare to other SS products?

First we have their closed cell foam, OverKill Pro, which is also 3/8" thick, .39lb/ft^2, and $3.66/ft^2. I'd say my pad wins there but what about actually blocking noise? SS's Luxury Liner is 1.25lb/ft^2, 1/8" thick, and $3.88/ft^2 - I have some of this stuff and it's awesome. Let's do one more comparison with their Luxury Liner Pro; 1.2lb/ft^2, 1/4-1/2" thick, and $5.55/ft^2.

I realize that the SS stuff is designed for the mobile environment and engineered to block specific frequencies and what not, but they say mass is key and $.79/ft^2 for .9lbs/ft^2 sounds pretty good compared to $5.55 for 1.2lb/ft^2. They boast that the LLP is waterproof and limp, which means easier installation. Our pad is called "Spillmaster" and is designed to be in wet areas too so they are both fine in doors. The Spillmaster also has anti-odor treatments, antimicrobial treatments, and is squishy enough to fit behind my door panes and some trim.

I am in no way picking on Second Skin AT ALL. I respect their company and have used their products exclusively. I've dealt with Jon, their rep, and he's awesome :) I just chose them for this comparison.

I just re-read this an it seems like I'm kind of plugging in Menards and our products so people will buy them. If anyone else caught this vibe rest assured that I am not implying this at all lol. From what I have heard, felt, and experienced this appears to be a great alternative though! I was going to omit the brand names but I realize if others want to research this more or buy some they'll need to know the name.
 
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#2 · (Edited)
I should also mention that on my trim where the carpet pad was too thick for it to clip back on I got some of our underlayment. It's designed to be used under laminate floors and comes in rolls which are $55 for 100ft^2 ($.55/ft^2). I am still in the process of getting this part done but I do my best to cover the trim in this stuff and use spray adhesive to adhere it to the plastic.



It's the Sound Solution underlayment; a thin memory foam designed to deaden flooring, block noise, prevent transfer of noise from one material to another, and be crush resistant. You can imagine how this does pretty well in my car! The stats are: 2.12mm thick, 15lb/100ft^2, and waterproof.

So, like I said before, I put this stuff on my trim and then clip them back into place. They block more noise now and also don't rattle because there is no longer any plastic rubbing on/hitting the metal as they flex. I'm happy with the way it turned out!

I don't have many pics of this yet but I'll update as I get more done.
 
#3 ·
hmm. That looks like a very good viable product to use. I'v been looking for an inexpensive product for my Cherokee. Its getting to an older truck now and did.nt want to spend a boat load. this looks like my ticket.
 
#8 ·
Haha something like that. It's definitely a lot better than it was before. If I wanted to go further I'd spray some Spectrum Sludge all over my wheel wells lol.

Give it a whirl, if you go to a store like mine we can cut off however much you need so it's not a huge investment.

Nice find. I was planning on using yoga mats. Lol.
Thanks, I'm not sure if those would be as cost effective though lol.
 
#11 ·
last year I picked up a few yards to try myself, I was also looking for a cheaper alternative to the overpriced foam. if you checked the Remrent rack ,they usually have smaller sections for the end of the roles that they can't sell that will not fill a room, the price is much cheaper they put them on sale, I know when I first started to buy a few yards at a time the sales person thought that I was crazy or just being cheap because they are used to people buying rolls to fill a house or room. so to satisfy the nosey salesman I just use the excuse that I'm doing a walk in closet lol
 
#12 ·
Interesting, our pad is never on sale even if it's in the remnant rack. The carpet, however, is usually always discounted; 18-75% right now actually.
 
#14 ·
Small update: I just got new tires (Michelain Defenders) and my ride is damn near silent now! Before I have 4, questionable, mismatched tires that were actually pretty loud. Those new tires with this pad make for a smooth, quiet ride and I'm extremely satisfied.
 
#15 ·
When construction was kick'n butt Sparkys left these all over the place so I did my doors with it. They install them on party walls in condos where one unit meets the other to prevent sound from travling through the outlets. It's too easy to use and it's a very viscous pliable clay like material that IMO works better than anything Iv'e used.
Fire Stop Putty Pads | Acoustical Solutions, Inc.
 
#18 ·
I work at Menards in the floorcoverings department. It came time to do a slight rebuild the other day and I decided to repurpose some of our products for use in my car. I had great results. Hopefully others can chime in with insight as to if this is a good idea or not, and maybe someone can save some money this way!

First up we have this memory foam carpet pad; it goes for $.79/sqft, comes 6ft wide, and is 3/8" thick. It has a 10lb density rating which means 10lb per square yard or .9lb/sqft. I put it behind trim where it would fit, on my door panels, under the stock carpet and padding, and in any voids I could get it in. The difference is huge!

I get that nice deep 'thud' whenever I close the doors now and they just feel solid. Some rattles that I had as a result of flex from the midbass and my subwoofers have gone away for the most part and road noise is down a considerable amount. I don't know why I didn't do this earlier!













I already deadened my doors with Second Skin products so that's handled just fine and I would never use one of our products for deadening. However, how does this foam compare to other SS products?

First we have their closed cell foam, OverKill Pro, which is also 3/8" thick, .39lb/ft^2, and $3.66/ft^2. I'd say my pad wins there but what about actually blocking noise? SS's Luxury Liner is 1.25lb/ft^2, 1/8" thick, and $3.88/ft^2 - I have some of this stuff and it's awesome. Let's do one more comparison with their Luxury Liner Pro; 1.2lb/ft^2, 1/4-1/2" thick, and $5.55/ft^2.

I realize that the SS stuff is designed for the mobile environment and engineered to block specific frequencies and what not, but they say mass is key and $.79/ft^2 for .9lbs/ft^2 sounds pretty good compared to $5.55 for 1.2lb/ft^2. They boast that the LLP is waterproof and limp, which means easier installation. Our pad is called "Spillmaster" and is designed to be in wet areas too so they are both fine in doors. The Spillmaster also has anti-odor treatments, antimicrobial treatments, and is squishy enough to fit behind my door panes and some trim.

I am in no way picking on Second Skin AT ALL. I respect their company and have used their products exclusively. I've dealt with Jon, their rep, and he's awesome :) I just chose them for this comparison.

I just re-read this an it seems like I'm kind of plugging in Menards and our products so people will buy them. If anyone else caught this vibe rest assured that I am not implying this at all lol. From what I have heard, felt, and experienced this appears to be a great alternative though! I was going to omit the brand names but I realize if others want to research this more or buy some they'll need to know the name.
Thus is incredibly helpful I am trying to find product to rebuild an old nv200 as cheep as possible..getting your take on this application was very needed at this point. I can read reviews but comparing price and how you used it was great! Appreciate you!
 
#19 ·
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