Can Acoustic Foam Be Painted ?
Before we started offering you acoustic foam colors we would get this question more often than we do now. The question is can studio foam panels be painted?
The simple answer is no, not if you want your acoustic foam to retain the sound absorbing qualities you need it for.
Acoustic foam is an open cell polyurethane foam which means there are a whole bunch of little tiny bubbles all throughout the foam. If we cut the same wedge designs out of closed cell foam it would not absorb sound because the surface of the foam would be more reflective rather than absorbent.
Since these little bubbles are the reason your foam panels can absorb sound waves it is imperative that you do not clog them. Painting the foam will clog the open cell foam and make it useless for sound dampening.
The simple answer is no, not if you want your acoustic foam to retain the sound absorbing qualities you need it for.
Acoustic foam is an open cell polyurethane foam which means there are a whole bunch of little tiny bubbles all throughout the foam. If we cut the same wedge designs out of closed cell foam it would not absorb sound because the surface of the foam would be more reflective rather than absorbent.
Since these little bubbles are the reason your foam panels can absorb sound waves it is imperative that you do not clog them. Painting the foam will clog the open cell foam and make it useless for sound dampening.
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A different product, acoustic diffuser panels are able to be painted. Acoustic diffusers do not absorb sound, but they do treat echoes by scattering the sound waves. Below is a picture our awesome customer Ryan sent us of his spray painted acoustic diffusers.
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Please contact us with any questions at all or feel free to comment below with any experience you have painting acoustic foam. Take care and be well!
2 comments
None of our customers have painted them and we have not done any testing. From looking online it seems like an acrylic spray paint is the way to go. Hope this helps.
Hi Guys!
We’ve already bought and fitted acoustic foam tiles. However it’s now too late to take it off but we are now concerned more about colors because the current color we bought doesn’t suit the aesthetics. From just a aesthetic standpoint and if we’re okay with losing the sound absorption properties. Is there a way to paint them ? Just to get them to the color we want ?