GIK Clouds - my installation
 

So after some time playing with my system, I realized that I needed to treat the ceiling. After doing some calculations, we confirmed that absorption was the way to go as there was not enough distance from ear to panel to warrant diffusion.

The problem was, my ceiling is inclined and I needed the panels to be nice and parallel to the floor, which mean I needed to hang them from the ceiling via chain so that the length would be customizable.

I must say that my OCD got the best of me, because there was really no tutorial on how to hang clouds, I did significant pre-planning, as I could not afford to screw up the installation and have numerous large drill-holes in my ceiling... my wife would kill me. I also knew that because I needed atleast 6 panels hung (242 x 6), I needed to be very precise with my install.

So I had several questions in mind:
1. What kind of installation hardware would I need? GIK has a cloud install kit, but it would leave my clouds at an angle because of the slope of the ceiling and that's not what I wanted.
2. After realizing I needed some sort of a hook that would suspend the panels from the ceiling, I realized that I would need to suspend the panels from dry wall rather than ceiling rafters.... I found out when marking my ceiling for the rafters that my rafters were off set and were not centered... which meant needed something sturdy to hang from the drywall. I figured that since the panels were somewhere around the 10lb mark, it would probably not be great to use simple drywall anchors...so I had to figure out some other way.

So I figured, the best way to do this was to use toggle bolts as they have the strongest drywall anchoring capabilities, I watched numerous youtube videos comparing this to other anchors (yes, there are videos that compare drywall hangers!).

Then I had to find hooks that would somehow install into the toggle bolts, which was not particularly easy to do at my local LOWES as no one there was any help.... luckily I found the right combo.

Then I decided that apparently I'd have to drill a 5/8" hole into the wall, well that would look really ugly and messy with the hooks dangling through, so I bought some washers to clean the look.

Preplanning took me nearly 4 months as little details were annoying since I'm OCD, such as finding the right hardware, and even when I found the correct hardware, I would deplete the entire stash at Lowes each time I went and would have to come back the week after for the remaining stash, I did this 3x.

OK, so we figured out how to hang the clouds.... the next issue was - how to determine where to hang them.

Part 2:
The next issue was not HOW to hang, it was WHERE to hang the clouds?

I determined via calculations and a mirror, that I needed to hang approximately 6 panels. They had to be pretty close in proximity to avoid residual sound reflection/aberrations.

So, now that I knew how to hang them and a pretty good idea that my system would hold up the units, how do you actually measure and mark out the ceiling?

Very difficult.

Initially I was about to tackle the issue via straight up measurements, I drew on a piece of paper the ceiling, the dimensions, where each would go and since EACH panel had 4 points of contact with the hooks, I needed 6x4 = 24 hook coordinates!!

I had everything down to the nearest .25 inch, but once I started to measure, even with the help of lasers, the fact that my ceiling was angled, made for a very difficult and notoriously inaccurate measurement system and it was fraught with erroneous coordinates on the ceiling.

So what's next?

Well I was about to give up and call a handyman, but I realized no one was as anal as me.... so I figured, maybe if I could just get the center 2 panels up, it would make the remaining 4 easy to place... so I tried to lift the panel up to the ceiling and mark the borders... but because it was so heavy and I didn't want to involve the wife and my only help was Emma (my 2 year old), it was not working out. Plus I could not see where the hooks were since it was underside to the panel.

Part 3:
So I recalled back in my high school days, we used to make presentations with posterboards, so I picked one up and went with the lightest one, was anal enough to actually weight 2 that I bought and went with the lightest weight one.

Cut it out to the dimensions of the panel, and found the site of the hooks and made holes on the posterboard mock panel cut out...

Set the first panel with help of lasers and centered the mock panel, taped it down, walked around the room to ensure it was in a good spot, when I was happy with it, I marked the hook sites with a marker. Then I marked the borders with 2 inches of painter's tape and went on to the next panel location. Then the next, then the next..

Well, this took many hours, so I gave up for the night and went to sleep.

Part 4:
Next day, I had the entire ceiling marked out, I knew were to drill, so it was a matter of drilling. But because this was my first one, I drilled in the first 2 panels (center) and went to see how it looked. It actually looked quite good.

I wanted to assess how good the hooks held the units so I left it there overnight and went to check it the next day.

The next day, the panels were still hanging, nice and strong, so I knew it was working.

I drilled the remainder and hung the panels.

This process took a bit faster as I was getting really good at this.

Here is the final result. It took about 4 months from the initial concept to completion... yes, I am ocd.

Joey: Would you post some pictures at some point so we can learn from your install? Do you use GIK (or other) bass traps in the room?

Ok, I'll post some pics.

Here is the mock panel (I made out of posterboard to make it light and easy to tape to the ceiling, I had drilled holes in the exact coordinates of the hooks so I could mark the ceiling for drill coordinates):
http://i.imgur.com/tTwWz6hl.jpg

Here is the end result of the mock panel, I was able to get the ceiling marked and ready for drilling.
http://i.imgur.com/qN7ZymFl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/iQsY9wUl.jpg

Here are the toggle bolts, as you can see it's fitted with a regular screw. You have to find hooks that would fit the toggle bolts. Toggle bolts are the strongest dry wall hanging system.
http://i.imgur.com/mgpzXIEl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/3s1Gz2Bl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/uxAc0JYl.jpg

You also need washers to cover up the gaping hole.
http://i.imgur.com/xZ7FtrAl.jpg

This is the hanging unit I devised:
http://i.imgur.com/28EMAQql.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/nqzAxFTl.jpg

The hanging unit:
http://i.imgur.com/gowxstcl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/tboGPk6l.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ozbkvgOl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/bFjncH9l.jpg


Then I made some chains, used a needlenose plier to open the end links. I found this to be much better than the included metal hanging wire that they include as this does not stretch or break.
http://i.imgur.com/ftN5m2Wl.jpg


First panels hung...
http://i.imgur.com/Vl92n5cl.jpg

Hung the first 2, left it overnight to see how it would handle and see if there were any adjustments to be made in the morning.
http://i.imgur.com/mRcl2dFl.jpg

Next 2 hung...
http://i.imgur.com/VSJKtNjl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/4YMfhunl.jpg

You can see the size of the drill hole...
http://i.imgur.com/5pu3XFJl.jpg

The hooks ready for the panels.. you need 4 per panel.
http://i.imgur.com/qG6bwDQl.jpg

All 6 hung up... very pretty!!
http://i.imgur.com/XYkNSm0l.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/1AkAIjml.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/UOl2q9gl.jpg

What did I learn, take home points.

1. GIK makes good panels. There are 4 hooks already preset in the rear of the 242 panels, they are actually identically located on all the panels. Makes for easier and more uniform cloud hanging.

2. You need a strong drywall hanger, I found the toggle bolts to be great. I think 2 is enough to hold up a 242, 4 is overkill.... but that's what I like, overkill.

3. Definitely need the washers to not only cover up the hole and make the clouds look more professional, but to also align the hooks on the vertical plane to each other... otherwise, if you think about it, it's hard to vertically match all hooks when there is no "stop point" as you are screwing the hooks into the ceiling.

4. Measure 3x, drill once. I don't think this step can be overstated. Preplanning is key.

5. It took me 4 months to preplan because I was not sure how to attack the installation, once I figured out how to hang the panels, it was then a matter of how to demarcate the ceiling for install locations/drill spots... the actual installation was the easiest... just drill and install the hooks.

6. The drilling - you need to start with a small drill bit so as to align the holes better, then gradually drill bigger and bigger holes. The final hole is 5/8".
http://i.imgur.com/sp502DEl.jpg

All in all, it was a fun project and I'm very proud of my handiwork.

Marvelous planning and execution.