Reduce Floor Noise, How to reduce floor noise
Reduce floor noise speaks to how to reduce floor noise, why reduce floor noise and methods that may be used to reduce noise transmission through floors of buildings.
In multistory buildings, it is sometimes necessary to take precautions to reduce the amount of impact noise transmitted through a floor to the room below. This is particularly true of hotels and apartment buildings, where people are sleeping in rooms below the rooms of others who may be awake and moving about. Impact noise is generated by footsteps or machinery and is transmitted as structure borne vibration through the material of the floor to become airborne noise in the room below.
There are several strategies for dealing with the sources of impact noise. These strategies may be employed individually or in various combinations. One is used padded carpeting or cushioned resilient flooring to reduce the amount of impact noise that is generated.
A second is to underlay the flooring material with a layer of resilient material that is not highly conducive of impact noise. Cellulose fiber panels and nonwoven plastic filament matting are two materials marketed for this purpose.
A third mechanism is to make an airtight ceiling below of a heavy, dense material such as plaster or gypsum board and to mount this ceiling on resilient clips or on hanger wires with springs. The springs or clips absorb most of the sound energy that would otherwise travel through the structure.
Many floor ceiling assemblies have been tested for sound transmission and rated for both Sound Transmission Class (STC), which is concerned with transmission of airborne sound and Impact Insulation Class (IIC). Product ratings will be found in trade literature concerned with various types of floor construction and offer a ready comparison of acoustical performance.
Skid and Fire Resistant Flooring Materials
The skid resistance of a flooring material is measured by its Static Coefficient of Friction (SCOF). Particular care must be taken when specifying a very smooth, polished material for a floor, especially in entrances and lobby areas where people may have wet feet. An SCOF of 0.50 or more is desirable to minimize accidents caused by slipping. SCOFs are published by manufacturers for all floor materials.
Floor finish materials must also meet building code requirements for resistance to ignition by radiant heat (NFPA 253) and flame spread (DOCEE-1).
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