New build homes: Addressing the Elephant in the Room
Posts by Russell in Building Regulations
It looks great… but would you live there?
One of the most frequent accusations aimed at modern residential properties is that they have bad sound insulation. New build homes, we are often told, don’t hold up to well to noise – particularly if the property in question is a terraced or semi-detached one.
No One Size-Fits-All
Of course, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for these properties and in every case there are individual parameters that need to be considered. In addition to the floor, wall and ceiling design, there’s the surrounding area to consider. Is the new build in a heavily built up area or close to road or rail links? And if it isn’t, is it likely to be any time soon?
All new build developments need to be fit for purpose and guarantee comfortable conditions as stipulated by UK Building Regulations including Approved Document E (England & Wales), Section 5 of the Scottish Building Standards (Scotland) and Approved Part G (Northern Ireland). However, these do not necessarily consider all aspects of modern airborne sound. For example, supporting walls may often need to house large flat screen televisions or even modern gadgets like sound bars.
Acoustics Come First
Like most soundproofing tasks, new build developments require acoustics to be accommodated right from the start. Much like light, sound performance can add a great deal to the quality of life a buyer can expect, so ensuring the right products are in place should be something specifiers take great care with if they want to protect their longer term reputation. But of course, how you specify will depend on the materials and construction of the build.
Where a masonry cavity wall exists, there will be an inner leaf of block work supporting the floors and creating internal and separating walls. While this type of constructions is effective in reducing some airborne noise thanks to their density, there are often flanking noise issues that can cause these to fail the sound test. If there is a timber frame construction to consider, there is also the issue of movement to keep in mind.
Our Solutions
Hush Acoustics has a whole range of systems and solutions for wall, ceiling, concrete and timber floor construction that go well beyond the requirements of today’s solutions. The HD1057 Masonry Acoustic System, for example, provides excellent acoustic performance for masonry wall constructed new builds. Alternatively, our HD1054 Double Timber Stud Wall System provides an effective option where a timber frame is being applied.
However, central to our products isn’t just an impeccable, future proof performance, it’s the level of expertise you can expect from us too. As a specifier, you want the confidence to know everything will adhere to all the aforementioned regulations, we go one step further by offering the support you need to specify with confidence for the many years ahead.
