R10 soundproofing floating floor isolation

R10 Floating Floor Isolation

R-10 insulation is made from a special vulcanised rubber/latex mix bonded to a layer of bituminated felt. and supplied in roll form. R10 is designed to significantly reducing impact noise through floors as part of a floating floor system.

When using R-10 it should be recognised that the overall floor height will rise with the addition of the top floor. If you wish to lift the existing floorboards then there is an alternative, high performance, system that can be employed which can be more effective with less of a height rise.
Please click here to look at R10 applications with joist inserts.

A standard domestic floor/ceiling construction with square edges floorboards will only give around 36dB of airbourne noise reduction and around 82dB of impact noise reduction. This can be improved on greatly if the following measures below are implemented. The fire performance, by adding additional plasterboard to the ceiling below, is also increased to 1 hour.

Installation as a Basic Floating Floor.
Before laying the insulation it is important to ensure that the floor itself is perfectly sealed. Any small holes or gaps should be filled with flexible mastic or overlay the whole floor with Soundproofing mats, glued down, to reduce airborne sound penetration.

The insulation is simply unrolled over the existing floor. All edges should be butt jointed and offcuts can be re-used. The R10 can be cut easily with scissors or a sharp knife. 18-22mm T & G Flooring Grade Chipboard should be applied directly on top of the insulation. The T&G floor surface should be applied directly on top of the R10 with the joints glued using a PVA wood adhesive or our own sealant. No mechanical fixings must be used which may penetrate the R10 insulation. A gap as small as possible of around 5-10mm should be left around the perimeter of the floor (read specific flooring manufacturers instructions for likely expansion). The flooring chipboard should not touch the walls. This gap should be completely filled with our flexible sealant. When applying skirting boards, allow a 2-3mm gap between the skirting and the top of the flooring. This gap should not be filled unless the material used is flexible and non-hardening.

Load bearing and stud partitions should be constructed from the base floor before the installation of floating floors. Under no circumstances should our R10 be used as a load bearing component.

Incorporating the latest changes to the Approved Document E 2003, the minimum and maximum sound insulation requirement for separating floors are as follows:

Conversion *New Build*	Airborne Sound Reduction D_nTw+C;_tr 43dB or greater 45dB or greater	Impact Sound Level L_nTw 64dB or less 62dB or less
To comply with the requirements of the Approved Document E 2003, R10 sound insulated separating floors have been tested in accordance with BSEN ISO 717-1997 and BSEN ISO 717:1997. Substituting the 25mm mineral wool floating layer normally specified with a more stable and efficient recycled rubber resilient layer. 10mm thick sound absorbing R10 is installed onto timber suspended floors as detailed below.

Using a floating layer of 19mm thick cement impregnated T&G chipboard placed on top of the R10 acoustic insulation as shown above, the following test result was recorded:
*Airborne D_n _T_,w+C_tr* 45dB IImpact L_n_T_w61dB
WHICH MEETS THE NEW CHANGE OF USE AND NEW BUILD REQUIREMENTS

If the existing floor is square edges floorboards it's a good idea to seal the floor off first with a layer of our 5kg soundproofing mat (as shown above). By replacing the 19mm thick cement impregnated T&G chipboard with ordinary 22mm T&G flooring grade chipboard on top of the R10 acoustic insulation, the following test result was recorded:
*Airborne D_n _T_,w+C_tr* 45dB Impact L_n _T_w63dB
WHICH MEETS THE NEW CHANGE OF USE REQUIREMENTS (Including the 2mm layer of 5kg/m² Soundproofing Mat will improve performance by around 3dB).

ALTERNATIVE R10 TESTS WITHOUT THE C_tr ADJUSTING FACTOR INCLUDED:

Further reductions in air-borne noise travelling through timber joisted floors from above and below can be achieved by:-

Increasing the mass within the topfloor

Incorporating resilient bars

Tested Performance of the Above Structure: AIRBORNE 61dB IMPACT 55dB
Meets Older Building Regulations for New Build & Conversion Standards

Installation for Floating Concrete Floors

Lay the R10 rolls out on the surface to be covered with the felt side upwards, covering also tubing or ducts.

Overlap the rolls by about 30mm.

Turn the material up the sides of the walls so as to contain the complete sub-layer thickness and surface finishing.

On this acoustically insulated surface, lay the sub-layer with a recommended thickness of about 40mm.

As a result of the container effect produced by the insulation material, the sub-layer and floor covering ‘float’ without touching the building structure thereby impeding the transmission of vibrations and, as a result, noise.

Impact reduction with concrete block floors

Tested Performance of Structure Above:
AIRBORNE: 55dB IMPACT: 60dB

General Physical Data
Color Size Form Density Weight Nom. Thickness	Black 5m x 1m Rolls 300 Kg/m³ 3 Kg/m² 10mm
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All information contained in these details is given in good faith but without warranty. Custom Audio Designs reserves the right to alter the specifications of any product without notice.
©Custom Audio Designs 2004