Recent decades have seen a dramatic increase in UK housing densities and this has clearly tested people’s tolerance of neighbourly noise. The number of complaints regarding invasive sound, particularly in multi-occupancy dwellings has spiralled, increasing seven-fold between 1980 and 2002. And the pressure to build more new homes in a confined area is set to make noisy neighbours still more of an issue.

Exacerbating the problem is the fact that poor enforcement has meant that even new builds have not been meeting the requirements of the old Part E of the Building Regulations on sound insulation. The BRE estimates that at least 25% of walls and 40% of floors in new dwellings would fail if tested.

It is against this background that amendments were made to Part E of the Building Regulations (implemented on January 1) to improve sound insulation between and within dwellings. The revised criteria were drafted after the UK’s largest ever test programme for sound, covering 1,300 dwellings.

Key objectives

The key objectives of the resulting new benchmark for sound transmission reduction are to:

  • improve sound insulation levels to benefit the consumer several times higher than the regulatory threshold;

  • establish an enforcement and control regime significantly less costly to government and building control bodies;

  • provide a certainty in timing and lower cost delivery to the housebuilder.

    As the designs in the 2003 Approved Document E are developments of those in the 2002 edition, no radically different building processes are required. But as the performance standards have been raised significantly, almost all types of builds will need some improvement.

    In a response to the proposed changes, many construction sector companies have developed existing or launched new flooring products to help housebuilders meet the revised regulations without adding significant costs. One answer is the use of acoustic battens, which lie just above the joists. More popular is the built up floor approach using layers of dense and resilient material on top of the joists.

    Stramit’s response has been to develop ElecoFloor, an engineered pre-bonded composite which tackles both airborne and impact sound, with the latter making it particularly relevant for use with timber and laminate, which are generally perceived as noisier flooring.

    Product design

    The product’s design achieves sound insulation with half the thickness required using a typical ‘built up’ flooring system. To meet the revised Part E, the typical built up floor would require a 25mm thick layer of mineral floor slabs, two layers of 19mm Gypsum board and 18mm of tongue and grove chipboard – a total thickness of 81mm. ElecoFloor achieves the same sound insulation but its total composite thickness is only 36mm. It comprises four layers: an 18mm layer of moisture resistant tongue and groove chipboard; sound absorbing membrane; a 9mm layer of MDF; and a bottom layer of acoustic felt. The 36mm version, laid on solid timber joists, provides 57dB airborne and 58dB impact sound insulation, while the 40mm product achieves 59dB and 56dB respectively.

    Stramit has also been working with Gang-Nail, another Eleco Group company, using ElecoFloor with its EcoJoist flooring system to provide a complete solution. This achieves an improvement on solid joist construction of 4dB airborne and 3dB impact.

    So, while housebuilders and suppliers may have worried about the demands of the new regulations, innovative products will help them satisfy, and even surpass, the standards cost-effectively and efficiently.