When Sitek Engineering expanded the office space at its Norwich headquarters, it found that the sound of people walking in the extra workspaces built on a mezzanine floor made of chipboard was disturbing employees in the offices below. Needing a solution, Sitek Engineering contacted Blue Sky Property Services, who had built the offices, for advice on how to stop the noise transmission.

James from Blue Sky Property Services knew the only way to achieve this was to use a flooring panel that would reduce impact and airborne transmitted sounds. He explained the benefits of an acoustic floor to the management at Sitek Engineering and then suggested Norbord’s CaberAcoustic, chipboard flooring that has been upgraded with an attached acoustic layer on the underside. Being familiar with Norbord’s fantastic reputation, Blue Sky Property Services ordered a pallet of 28mm CaberAcoustic panels.

James, who laid the floor himself, commented, “We had 75 square metres of flooring which was laid in just a day and a half. Unlike some tongue-and-groove flooring I have used, Norbord’s CaberAcoustic fitted together easily. The joints lined up tightly leaving a very smooth flat surface which enabled the carpet tiles to go down quickly with no problems.”

Glynn White, the Office Manager at Sitek Engineering, also explained, “Several solutions to the noise problem were looked into, including rubber matting, filling the void between floors or a suspended floor. When Blue Sky Property Services suggested the use of acoustic flooring, we agreed. We only lost about 30mm of height and it was easy and quick to lay. The carpet was then easy to lay on top of it and we have noticed a significant reduction in noise transfer from footsteps, speech and dropped objects, making the work environment for those underneath considerably better.”

The team at Blue Sky Property Services tested the effects of the new flooring by taking readings of the noise level before and after laying the CaberAcoustic panels. James said, “The results, explained by Glynn, certainly showed how well the flooring soaked up a lot of the sound – a job well done, thanks to CaberAcoustic! We will certainly be specifying it on our next project.”