Page 36 - New England Condominium May EXPO 2019

36 NEW ENGLAND CONDOMINIUM —MAY 2019 NEWENGLANDCONDO.COM MAINTENANCE D o you remember when you were a Structural noise has to do with reverbera- kid, and the closest thing you had tions that come through the actual building to a cell phone was two cups with structure – so the reviled ‘footfalls’ of your lation and Soundproofing, which has of- a string pulled taut between them, speaking upstairs neighbor’s children and her high- into one cup to see if your friend holding heeled shoes clacking against the floor at says: “The old buildings were soundproofed the other could hear you? That long-ago the same time every day count as structural by density. Everything back in the day was game worked because sound travels along noise. rigid pathways. If you let the string between the cups go slack, the sound didn’t travel. noise vary in approach. In reality, the under- That’s the fundamental science behind lying science behind the solutions is pretty soundproofing – and you’d already learned much always the same: relax the string. it in kindergarten. The ABC’s of Sound – and Soundproofing Sarah Marsh, President of MAAI Marsh sound is concerned. The first period stretch- Architects in New York City, says: “There’s es from World War I through the pre-World structural noise. And according to Marsh, no such thing as soundproofing; rather the War II construction boom, and then on to the level of noise in a building “has to do proper term is sound attenuation.” Sound the mid-1960s, when construction meth- attenuation is the effective reduction of ods began to change for both economic and math in their projects. They build as they sound – not necessarily its elimination. Michele Boddewyn and Alan Gaynor, covers the years from the late 1960s and ear- President and Founding Principal, respec- tively of the New York City firm Boddewyn period goes from the 1990s to the present. Gaynor Architects, explain that noise in multifamily buildings can be broadly divid- ed between two general categories: airborne and solid materials. “Sound was less of an ers are putting up new buildings, and with noise and structural noise. Airborne noise issue before World War II,” says Boddewyn. soundproofing it’s about quality, not quan- filters in from adjacent units and outside. And adds Gaynor: “They had plaster walls tity,” he says. “We see cheap materials that It includes things such as music from a ste- reo, raised voices, or the rumble of the gar- bage truck at 6:30 on a Saturday morning. which is like rubble, so it’s pretty quiet. couple the floors, which is bad for impact Solutions for these different types of the floor or wall, the harder it is for that An Unintentional History Urban multifamily housing can be pretty rock and studs, so you have much more much divided into three categories as far as sound transfer,” Boddewyn says. This has technological reasons. The second period do because they can – it’s all about the cost ly 1970s through the early 1990s. The third high-end projects won’t put the expensive Older buildings (often referred as pre- war) were heavier, built with more layers and used gypsum block, and had high ceil- ings. They also used lots of concrete fill, sometimes they don’t do anything to de- There are many layers.” Kevin White, Owner of Brooklyn Insu- fices in New York, New Jersey, and Florida, built solid, and extremely dense. The denser sound to transmit through.” Mid-Century Change From the late 1960s onward, “builders went for lighter-weight materials like sheet- led to more issues with both airborne and with math. And developers aren’t using of the materials. A lot of developers on less materials in.” Consequently, “there’s a poor quality of sound control.” White agrees. “We see how fast develop- aren’t installed correctly in new units, and transmission.” The proliferation of glass buildings over the past two decades has made the prob- lem even more acute. Glass does not act as a sound reduction agent in any way. Many new buildings are constructed with shared walls between units, as well as between units and common areas, which adds to the likelihood of airborne sound infiltration and structural transmission. The Sound of Suburbia Condominium ownership is not limited to urban areas, of course. Townhouse-style and low-rise apartment developments dot the suburban landscape, too -- and noise is just as big a headache there as it is in the heart of the city. “More typically than not in suburban settings, your biggest problem is footfall and airborne sound,” says David In- gersoll, Director of Business Development for Agawam, Massachusetts-based sound- proofing manufacturer Sound Seal. “There’s not nearly as much traffic or street noise. More likely than not, it’s wood construction and you hear people’s voices. The problem is that because of the type of construction, retrofitting or redoing the structure, you’ll have to open up a wall, floor or ceiling. It’s easier and cheaper to insulate correctly dur- ing construction.” Solutions So back to the cup and the string. Dr. Bonnie Schnitta, President and Owner of SoundSense, an acoustical consulting and engineering company with offices in New York, says: “If we’re talking about a wall, a floor or a ceiling, there are certain things that improve or are successful in inhibit- ing sound. The criteria are that it has to be dense, must have some level of flexibility or resiliency to it, and has to have a complete seal. You can have the best wall in the world, but if it’s got a hole in it, it’s not going to work.” The culprits when it comes to sound transmission between apartments are of- ten single studs and back-to-back electrical outlets, which do little to reduce or inter- rupt the flow of unwanted noise. Though strongly cautioned against by architects, developers will often ignore these pitfalls for the sake of saving a bit on construction costs. Marsh adds that “some soundproofing materials are used within the initial con- Soundproofing Multifamily Silence Technology BY A J SIDRANSKY continued on page 41