1.
Lay down the pegboard fuzzy side up. This is so the poly batting will stick
to the fuzzy side of the board and won't slide around. (Figure 1)
2. Cut the wooden beams so that the longest length goes
all the way to the edges of the pegboard, and cut the short beams so that
they fit on the pegboard.. (Figure 1)
3. Mark and Pre-drill into the long boards so that you
don't split the wood. When gluing, make sure the marked side gets the glue
on it so the nail goes into the other board centered. There are also other
options such as buying some framing brackets to make a stronger joint.
(Figure 2)
4. Glue and then nail the frame together. Make sure that
the side that meets the pegboard is flat because cheap boards vary in width
slightly due to the rough cuts. I'd clean up any seeping yellow glue with a
wet rag. Another option is to use screws and finishing washers to secure
the pegboard but again, that is a little more work and money but stronger in
the end. (Figure 3)
5. To attach the pegboard I used yellow glue along with
steel wire I twisted and then trimmed. I then used a hammer to bend the
twisted knob down into the panel. (Figure 3)
6. Cut the polyester batting to length size (about 4
feet) and then I cut the width of it in half because my batting was about
48" wide. The batting sticks to the fuzzy pegboard and the insulation will
stick to the polybatting. The polyester also acts as a filter to keep the
fiberglass particles in the panel and not in your room. (Figure 4)
7. *Remember to use protection
when working with fiberglass, I used a mask, gloves, and goggles. It's not
deadly, but can cause some itch.
Then cut a layer of 3/5" thick insulation and layer it on
top of the poly batting. This will only partially cover the width of the
panel so you will need to cut another in half as seen in (Figure 5). Once
you've layer down one 3.5" thick fiberglass you then layer another 3.5"
layer except this time you place it differently as seen in (Figure 6).
Notice how thick the panel seems to be, make sure you push down on the edges
so that they are somewhat inside the panel. Last, put the left over layer
you cut of the poly batting on top of the panel. You will now have a
sandwich which goes: (from bottom to top): Pegboard, polyester,
fiberglass, fiberglass, polyester, (and then burlap). (See pic 3 in Figure
6, See Diagram for Sandwich)
8. Now for my favorite, part.. the squish and tack. You
are going to flip the panel and center it onto a single burlap sheet which
rests on the (clean swept) ground. Then add a heavy weight on top of the
panel as seen in Figure 7.
You will then push down on the middle so to help squish
some more, and tug the burlap on all edges before tacking to remove any
wrinkles. Keep in mind that in my case, the frame still didn't touch the
ground all around because it was pretty stuffed. When you tack, I pushed in
with my finger, and then touched it with a hammer. It goes into the
pegboard nice and strong though I did bend a few tacks.
9. My special folding technique is shown in Figure 9, and
you can also see how I tacked. I started with the middle, and then the
ends. After I added an in-between, and then another in-between.
10. FINISHED... Now that you've seen the hours it took
for the panel you can now enjoy absolute ambient noise suffocation. Just
choose a way to install them by either hanging them using eyelets, or making
legs, or just plain mounting them on the wall. Keep in mind the further you
space them away the better the bass absorption. 3-4" would be plenty,
especially if you plan on building DIY bass traps or helmholtz resonators to
control the bass frequencies.
