|
The sound & the fury - Soundblock Solutions show how acoustic insulation helps with noise control.
Anything for a quiet life.
Don't succumb to unit rage. There are things you can do about apartment noise.
You have just bought a new apartment and everything is bright, shiny and spotless. As you settle down on your new sofa for that first
glass of chilled rosé, you get the creeping sensation that something might be wrong.
For a start, traffic sounds like it is travelling along your balcony rather than 10 storeys underneath it. The surround-sound DVD of your
neighbour's Robbie Williams Live makes you feel like you're backstage. And, judging by the thumps and scrapes, a small herd of
elephants is rearranging the furniture in the unit upstairs.
Welcome to the noisy apartment - the modern version of hell on earth from which few flat dwellers are completely immune. The effects of
nuisance noise on your health and your ability to get on with your neighbours can be devastating, with noise the most common source of
complaint to owners' corporations.
UNIT RAGE
"The stress caused by neighbours' noise can be so distressing that it can lead to violence between them. It's a bit like road rage - we call
it 'unit rage'," says Sam Fletcher, of Soundblock Solutions, a Sydney company specialising in noise insulation for old and new apartments,
hotels, restaurants and offices.
Fletcher says the use by some builders and developers of the cheapest materials that they can get away with - and historically poor
building standards mean they can get away with too much - is the main source of noise problems.
Add to the mix the changing face of apartment living, with people investing thousands of dollars in surround-sound home cinema systems,
ripping up their noise-reducing carpets to reveal their trendy floorboards and the fact that 24-hour party people are increasingly living
cheek-by-jowl with early retiring empty-nesters, and you get a sense of the potential for unit rage.
Noisy neighbours are not the only problem. Once quiet streets may now be busy thoroughfares, local hostels may have evolved into all-night
bars and new buildings may have been put up with little or no thought for the noise from plant and machinery on nearby roofs.
"Apartment living is difficult enough, but with excessive noise penetrating through windows, floors, ceilings, walls, doors and even
through water pipes, the experience can be extremely unpleasant," Fletcher says.
WINDOWS OF OPPORTUNITY
The science of acoustic insulation is complex, but where the physical barrier is weak and there are gaps where air can get through, noise will
get through, too. Therefore, windows - and especially the huge sliding doors in modern apartments - are a key area of concern.
"Windows are often the main cause of noise problems from outside," Fletcher says. "Traffic noise, people noise and general environmental
noise isn't likely to be reduced by a 3 millimetre sheet of glass."
The solutions can be as radical or simple as you wish, from double glazing or secondary windows to one of the ingenious "snap-on" window
systems such as Magnetite, where a transparent cover-all panel fits on to a frame over your existing window using an airtight magnetic seal.
Adrian Lafleur, of Magnetite, says in ideal conditions - where they can create a 100-millimetre gap between the existing window
For further information please contact:
Soundblock Solutions
phone: +61 2 9327 7410
mobile: 0418 409 504
fax: +61 2 9327 1077
web: www.soundblock.com.au
|
