[nixey]

Hi Whale, your suggestion that a minimum Ln,W+C1 acoustic underlay in laboratory performance test of dB 50 would permit a number of materials to be used in place of carpet but in our case the by-law was set at db 40 and only carpet or a floating floor with the best available underlay has been shown to deliver this standard in laboratory test results.

But this still doesn't change the fact that each situation is different and that noise transfer particularly impact noise in ground floor units is materially less than in units above. Therefore any reasonable noise transferance by-law should allow for this in respect of ground floor units.

[nixey]

In response to the two ensuing posts from my original submission I can only say that each case can be very different and that's why by-laws shouldn't be too prescriptive. Rather the requirement that noise should not be permitted to disturb the peacful enjoyment of people in neihboring lots is really what this whole issue is about. In my case 'the proof is in the pudding'. I have laid tiles over an extended entrance area between the front doorway and the kitchen and bathroom/laundry but carpet remains through the rest of the unit including the lounge/dining area and all 3 bedrooms. Although I'm on the ground floor I still used some of the best available sound cushioning underlay and neither the occupants above or beside my apartment have heard any noise whatsoever. By the way we do have grandchildren and they can make a fair amount of noise but nothing has been evident above or below. Another ground floor apartment in our strata was concerned about the prospect of impact noise when OC permission was granted to the unit above to replace carpet with a floating floor laid over the best available acoustic underlay. Now that it's all finished they have admitted that the impact noise from above is no greater than with the original carpet. So it seems that whether or not hard surface flooring is going to be a noise problem depends so much on the individual situation i.e., what materials are used over how much of the apartment and whether or not the best available sound cushioning materials are used as well as whether or not the unit is on the ground floor, thickness of the concrete floor and whether or not  there are other sound cusioning factors such as any gaps between the surfaces to minimise noise transfer. So setting arbitrary impact insulation measures in by-laws to apply equally to all lots that are designed to effectively prevent anybody replacing any bit of their carpet with almost any type of hard flooring even if it's just in the entrance or high traffic areas can certainly be overly prescriptive and inappropriate for some especially if they're on the ground floor with no-one living below.

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