The Local Planning Authority required clarification to the sound reduction of a party wall and internal floors for the development of a shippen into two separate holiday cottages. The owners had the option of preserving the existing cob and stone wall or building a new internal separating wall. Soundguard Acoustics Ltd raised concern as the design included a cavity wall with ties that had risk of failing the required Approved Document E pre-completion testing. It was also determined that maintaining the existing stone wall would require significant attention to ensure that it met the required sound insulation.
Soundguard Acoustics Ltd suggested a revised single block interior wall design using an ADE type 1 wall built of 215mm Celcon block faced with Lafarge Thermalcheck K plasterboard to ensure that ADE Building regulations could be by providing an airborne sound insulation value of 43dB DnT,w+Ctr. The approach was more cost effective, met thermal qualities, reduced build time, and the absence of the cavity reduced the required foundation depth. Other suggestions included improvements to ensure that noise transmission via floor beams did not occur between the cottages.
