Which floor covering reduces impact and structure-borne sound?
An elastic floor covering made from PU-bound rubber granules can reduce impact sound. Under load, the covering yields and absorbs part of the impact before it reaches the load-bearing layer beneath it.
What is then transmitted through that layer is structure-borne sound. This consists of vibrations that travel through solid building elements such as floor slabs, walls and stairs and can become audible elsewhere as airborne sound. Impact sound is one form of structure-borne sound. It arises when walking, jumping, moving furniture or setting down weights excites the load-bearing layer beneath the covering. Structure-borne sound from equipment and building services has different sources and transmission paths. Footfall noise, in contrast, is heard where it is generated.
For impact sound, the covering acts on this excitation by extending the duration of the impact. This lowers the peak force and attenuates mainly the higher frequency components. The tile itself forms the resilient layer between the load and the substrate. How much vibration is transmitted depends on its frequency and on the complete construction.
Further damping can be achieved through the construction. Where requirements are higher, one or more resilient underlay tiles beneath the top tile can absorb impacts from weights being set down and further reduce transmission into the substrate. Such a multilayer construction can be considered particularly in fitness rooms above occupied storeys, as well as on balconies, access balconies and roof terraces where vibration can pass through connected building elements into occupied rooms. All layers are laid loose, one on top of another. A building acoustics assessment under Approved Document E of the Building Regulations covers the complete building element and its transmission paths, not an individual tile.