Vinyl Flooring ins and outs

Fake News #2 All impact sound reduction (acoustic) vinyl flooring is created equal

One acoustic floor is not necessarily equal to another. When choosing a floor that needs to reduce both impact sound and in-room walking noise, it’s important to understand and check the different technical specifications of the products on offer.


One acoustic floor is not necessarily equal to another.  When choosing a floor that needs to reduce both impact sound and in-room walking noise, it’s important to understand and check the different technical specifications of the products on offer.  

Firstly, make sure you understand:

Impact sound reduction is the reduction in impact sound passed to the spaces below and is affected by the acoustic properties of a floor.  Impact sound reduction is measured as follows: A hammer or tapping machine is used to generate impact noise onto the concrete floor slab in a room and the sound level in decibels (dB) is recorded in the room below.  The floor covering is then placed on the concrete slab and the process is repeated. The same hammer/tapping machine is used to generate noise on the floor covering and the sound level is recorded. The impact sound reduction is the difference between the two sound levels recorded;  commonly 15 – 19 dB (Decibels).

In-room noise reduction: In room noise or ambient noise is noise generated by impact noise in the room itself.  To measure in-room noise and determine the impact a specific floor has on it, we test according to certain standards (NF-S 31-074).  The noise pressure in a room is measured both before and after the specific floor is installed in the room. Following a tapping machine test designed to make a louder noise than normal walking, sound improvement levels are measured both mathematically and psychoacoustically.  The results are expressed in terms of the normalised weighted average sound pressure and the floor is then given a classification dependent on those results. Class A floors are those that give the best-performance for that floor type in terms of in-room noise.

Once you understand what it is you are trying to achieve with an acoustic floor,  here’s a checklist explaining the technical specifications you should analyse and understand before selecting your floor:

Standards to check

Standard
Standards that should be met
What this actually means
 
Wear layer
EN 429/EN ISO 24340 Wear layer thickness helps determine the durability of the floor.
Impact sound reduction standards

EN ISO 10140-3 (EN ISO 140-8)    

ISO 717-2

Make sure you understand how impact sound reduction is measured (see explanation above) and that you compare apples with apples.  A 15dB acoustic floor means that the sound made on a concrete slab is reduced by 15dB when that floor is laid whilst a 19dB rating means that the sound is reduced by 19dB when the floors is laid.  This difference is significant in acoustic performance. It is important to understand that the density of the subfloor will have a significant impact on the impact sound reduction achieved.
Impact sound reduction value
In-room impact noise
UPEC classification
Should be NF UPEC A+ UPEC classifications are an international standard of performance classification for floors. This classification facilitates the selection of floor coverings best suited to the use of the location where it will be installed. UPEC acoustic performance measurements include impact sound efficiency, acoustic absorption and footstep acoustics.  Resilient floors like vinyl should be classified as UPEC A+.  Only carpets would reach a UPEC A++ level.
Residual indentation
EN 433/EN ISO 24343-1, should be <0.2mm

As acoustic floors have a soft foam layer or similar, residual indentation can be an issue.  The balance between the acoustic properties and the residual indentation is important. Residual indentation should be <0.2mm.

Note: The test used to measure residual indentation is when a point load is exerted on the floor for 150 minutes, removed and the floor is left to recover for 150 minutes. Any residual indentation is then measured. Provided its less than 0.2mm it passes. However, in real-life scenario, most indentations arise because point loads are in place for weeks or months NOT two and a half hours.  Therefore, claiming that a product achieves a residual indentation reading of significantly lower than 0.2mm is actually somewhat meaningless in terms of real product quality, and probably does not take batch differences into account.

From walking noise to impact sound: read here for some of the points you should consider when optimising the acoustics for a commercial space. 


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