For many years, concern was expressed about the sound transmission in party floor construction and a number of suppliers introduced simple batten systems, with a resilient layer, that contributed to the reduction of impact and airborne sound through party floors. These systems did offer an improvement in sound transmission, but site installation was not easy when dealing with uneven sub-floors that required packing pieces to take out level variations. In addition, the finished floor height was always restricted to the standard batten dimension. Cradle systems were subsequently developed but in certain instances these resulted in a hybrid understructure combining standard batten arrangements and cradles!
Terry Newman, Managing Director, of Kingspan Access Floors Ltd states: ‘‘These old fashioned systems have been used for many years, and the level variation issue has been dealt with rather than being properly resolved, but they have always been recognised as having one other major failing. This is the fact that it has always been difficult or impossible to access the floor void (should it be necessary to reach the under floor services etc) without destroying the floor panels.’’
He continues to say ‘‘As a result of considerable research & development, coupled with extensive field trials, Kingspan has developed an acoustic flooring system that not only has been independently demonstrated to meet the performance standards of the Building Regulations (Document “E”) when used with an appropriate structural floor and ceiling construction, but it also has the added advantage of providing simple and fast access to the floor void without damaging the floor surface!’’
The new system, Kingspan Acoustideck, consists of a modular flooring system with a lock-down detail that provides maximum rigidity and stability. The flooring panels are fully accessible and interchangeable with an edge detail that provides ease in lifting and replacement. Acoustideck panels are installed on Kingspan’s standard range of pedestals and these are able to deal efficiently with uneven floors but the real secret of the system is the unique Kingspan’s snap-on flexible polymer based acoustic pad.
The Kingspan Acoustideck system has been independently tested and performance Data Sheets are now readily available.
The Acoustideck pedestal system provides a tried and tested adjustable understructure for supporting the Acoustideck flooring panels and can be used in domestic and commercial applications and can also contribute significantly to the acoustic performance of overall floor.
As well as the above features, the Acoustideck panel is manufactured from responsibly sourced timber accredited by the FSC (Forestry Stewardship Council) for which Kingspan have third party Chain of Custody.