Muscle Sholas Wallmart
WallMart Pharmacy in Muscle Shoals, AL
If you are in north-western Alabama or southern Tennessee and want to see some of our WallMate and Echo Eliminator panels installed, I have just the place. This is the Wall Mart in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. I received a call from an architect who was looking for some custom acoustical treatment to reduce the reverberation and noise level in the pharmacy area of a local Wall Mart. After some discussion and some product review, here it is.
When acoustical treatment is required for an existing room or space, a few important factors come into play. These factors are usually size and aesthetic. The panels or wall treatment needs to fit onto the existing, available wall spaces and not alter the look of the space too much. It is impossible to acoustically treat an area without changing the aesthetic in some way, but being able to choose a fabric for the face which blends into the wall color is a major advantage.
With these two factors (size and color) in mind, it fairly quickly limits the number of acoustical treatment options. The two products that we have to offer with the ability to choose the size and shape of the finished product is our Fabric Wrapped Fiberglass panels and the WallMate high-tension wall fabric system. Each of these has it’s respective advantage and disadvantage and I will do my best to explain each.
The Fabric Wrapped Fiberglass panels start out as a board of fiberglass, usually 4×8 or 4×10 and are cut to the size(s) specified by the customer. We will use a few different tools to create different edge contours (square, radius, bevel or half-bevel) and resin harden the edges for durability before wrapping the fiberglass with an acoustically invisible fabric. There are hundreds of fabrics that we have to choose from and the prices for each different style vary. These panels are completely pre-fabricated and shipped ready to install. Because of the labor involved with the fabrication, they can be fairly expensive and are priced out on a per-job basis. Shipping these panels just about always has to be done on a pallet because of the size and weight, so shipping can be expensive.
The other option when it comes to custom panels is our WallMate stretch wall system. I like to use the analogy of a canvas painting for this product where a canvas is stretched over a wooden frame. The frame supports the tension of the canvas and keeps it taunt. For this product, we provide a two-piece track, or frame. The frame goes around the perimeter of each panel that is being built and is stapled or screwed to the wall. Our Echo Eliminator recycled cotton panels are then glued to the inside of the frame and are the acoustical core. After the panels are installed, a double sided tape is put on the profile of the track which will hold the fabric as the installer aligns it. When the fabric is in place, the edges of the fabric are rolled into the track and the top profile is snapped into the base. This process stretches the fabric and creates a smooth, uninterrupted fabric surface. We will usually ship the pieces for this system via a standard ground delivery like FedEx or UPS which is more cost effective than sending a pallet. There is a little bit more labor involved on site, but the installer can build panels that are only limited by the width of the fabric bolt.
In this case, the WallMate system was chosen and the pictures show the build process. The overall result was a lower sound level in the working area for the employees of the pharmacy. Creating an absorptive environment allows people to speak softer and still be able to be understood by a listener.
If you have any questions about this installation or need any additional information or product samples for either of these, please feel free to contact Ted Weidman at 800-527-6253 (ext. 25) or [email protected]
