First you need to understand how the sound is travelling into your home. It may be coming directly through the separating partition, i.e. wall or floor or it may be coming along another indirect route – called a noise flanking path. The most common such flanking path is the inner leaf of an external cavity wall.
Problems with airborne and structure borne sound are often associated with direct flanking transmissions through floors and supporting walls and other associated structures. It is essential to establish if your problem is due to direct transmission, flanking transmission or a combination of both so that the most effective remedial treatment can be chosen to pass the sound testing. If you are unsure where the sound is getting through, then contact us at info@aptsoundtesting.co.uk as we should be able to identify the worst areas by undertaking sound testing on the problematic partitions.
Unwanted noise travelling along flanking paths makes the building structure vibrate and this causes the sound to radiate into your room. One solution is to build another wall or ceiling in front of the original, but not connected to it (often called an independent wall or ceiling). A basic description of this treatment is given below.
There are two distinct types of noise to consider through floors, they are:
- Airborne Noise (for example speech and music)
- Impact Noise (for example footsteps directly on the floor above)
Even if both types of sound are emitting through the ceiling/floor then there are some easy installations that should reduce the sound levels and improve your sound test results.
If you would like more information in regards to sound testing please contact us at info@aptsoundtesting.co.uk or call us on 01525 303905.