A separating floor is defined as any floor that divides one dwelling or residential room from
another.
These could be apartments,
hotel rooms, student accommodation, and dwellings over communal areas etc.
Part E Acoustic Sound Requirement
Impact Sound
New Build
L'nT,wdB 62
Refurbishment
L’nT,w dB 64
Part E Acoustic Sound Requirement
Airborne Sound
New Build
DnT,w+Ctr dB 45
Refurbishment
DnT,w+Ctr 43
Approved Document E sets two challenges with regard to separating floors.
Airborne Sound Reduction Separating floors must provide a minimum
level of airborne sound reduction in the amount
of noise televisions, speech and telephones
etc may create.
Ctr Adjusting Factor
Low frequency sound from televisions and
hi-fi’s is often present between adjoining properties in a separating floor application.
Therefore a correction factor is taken into
account known as ‘+ Ctr’. This ensures
low frequency noise is reflected in test data
and must be considered when selecting a
separating floor treatment.
Impact Sound Reduction Separating floors must provide impact sound
insulation at source to reduce the amount of
noise created by footsteps, furniture or heavy
objects moving or hitting the floor. This time
a maximum level of sound is permitted within
Approved Document E.
Unless using a solution that is compliant
and registered with Robust Details Ltd, all separating floors are subject to Pre-Completion
Testing to comply with Approved Document E.
To assist when analysing test data:
• For airborne sound the higher the figure the better the performance.
• For impact sound the lower the figure the better the performance.
