According to statistics provided by the 1996 English House Condition Survey, up to 4.7 million people suffer as a result of noise from traffic, industry or noisy neighbours. Many others consider sound insulation standards in their homes to be poor. Nearly all stated that sound insulation standards needed to be improved.
Building Regulations
Various revisions to Building Regulations, Approved Document E: Resistance to the passage of sound, have taken place over recent years, with an aim to reducing transmission of sound within the building to improve the internal environment. The Regulations relate to both internal and separating walls and floors. Pre-completion testing for purpose built dwellings was applied from 1st July 2004, when an alternative to testing involving the use of 'Robust Details' was also introduced.
Part E covers separating walls and floors in Part E1. Internal floors are covered in Part E2. With regards purpose built dwellings, there are 2 approaches that can be taken:
- Build and register for the use of Robust Details which, assuming construction satisfies all the relevant requirements, will meet the level of sound insulation required by the Regulations.
- Build using other floor constructions and then undertake pre-completion sound insulation tests between a specified proportion of attached properties on each site in order to prove compliance. The constructions can either be the tried and tested guidance details given given in Approved Document E or other details not included in the Approved Document which are proposed by the manufacturer or specifier.
There is no site-testing requirement for internal floors. The Regulations simply require the specification of constructions that have a minimum level of sound insulation as demonstrated by laboratory tests.
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