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Impact & Airborne Sound Control
Keene Building Products™ manufactures 3-dimensional products for noise control. These products work in construction projects such as multi-family apartments and condominiums to stop impact and airborne noise.
Quiet Qurl® products have been installed in every part of North America. This innovative full line product offers solutions in different thicknesses for code driven performance needs. Quiet Qurl® systems are available from 0.25” to 0.75” with a moisture control fabric top for installations with underlayments such as gypsum concrete and light weight concrete.
Two Tests for Sound
Each flooring assembly performs differently, add or subtract a component like wallboard, change a structural element from a 2” x 10” joist to an open web, add a resilient channel and the sound performance will change, sometimes dramatically. Assemblies are tested for their ability to control airborne sound and rated with a Sound Transmission Classification (STC) number. The higher the number the better job the assembly does of controlling airborne sound. Vibration or structural sound is rated in a similar manner with an ASTM test resulting in an Impact Insulation Classification (IIC) number. Again, the higher the number the better.
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 Also, every assembly has a frequency at which it resonates. Just like a tuning fork, a floor
will amplify a noise at a given frequency. The goal of the assembly is to bring that
frequency down to an inaudible level, the lower the better, although humans can’t hear
below a frequency of 100 Hertz.
Quiet Qurl® works by creating a sound break or “spring” between two heavier materials. The concept creates a floor that floats and places it upon a spring that attenuates (absorbs) sound. The subfloor then receives less of an impact from vibration noise above and helps lower the level of sound heard to occupants below. Now, the building has a MASS-SPRING-MASS construction in the flooring and the owners can comfortably install noisy surfaces like tile, hardwood and vinyl.
How It Works
Three Qualities to Insist on When Selecting a Sound Mat
Three qualities make a good spring for floor isolation mat: resilience, thickness and airspace. Quiet Qurl® is designed with this in mind. Created from a material that is 95% air, shaped from a “curly” monofilament and either 0.25” in thickness or 0.375” in thickness, Quiet Qurl® is versatile enough to be used with many types of floating floors such as gypsum concrete, light weight concrete, mortar beds, plywood and tile backer board.
The three dimensional structure maintains its composition under the weight of the floor while completely separating the finished floor from the subfloor. NO PENETRATIONS ARE ALLOWED in a proper installation,
the material is loosely laid on the plywood or concrete. The floor is isolated from the wall, all pipes and
ductwork along with cabinets. When completed the direct path for vibrational sound along with the
“Flanking” paths are blocked from passing noise.
Although not always possible in applications such as retrofit, a good floor to ceiling assembly includes the use
of resilient channels to fasten gypsum board and sound insulation in between the joists. Want your next
project to have good sound control, choose Quiet Qurl® Impact and Airborne Sound Control.
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AIA Lunch-n-Learn
from
Keene Building Products
on Noise Control in Multi-family
Click here for more info!
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