Living in an apartment or a semi-detached home can come with its fair share of noise issues, here's how you can effectively stop the noise transfer.
The New Zealand Building Code clause G6 focuses on the prevention of undue noise transmission in buildings, between occupancies or common spaces in different household units.
This applies to shared living spaces, such as multi-residential apartments, Airbnbs, and any environments where walls, ceilings, or floors are shared between different occupants.
To comply with regulations, these walls, floors, and ceilings must meet specific acoustic performance standards, ensuring a quiet and comfortable environment for each occupant.
What acoustic performance standards are required?
- A Sound Transmission Class (STC) of no less than 55 for walls, floors, and ceilings.
- An Impact Insulation Class (IIC) of no less than 55 for floors.
These requirements ensure that sound transmission between different occupancies is minimised, reducing disturbances caused by airborne noise (such as voices or TV sounds) and impact noise (such as footsteps or dropped objects). For more information on airborne and impact noise read our article How to Soundproof Your Home: Controlling Airborne and Impact Sounds
How can you achieve G6 acoustic requirements?
Each building structure may vary, but to ensure compliance with G6, it’s crucial to use quality soundproofing materials.
Consider using an acoustic underlay for floors, or a soundproofing board such as PhoneStar Tri for walls, ceilings and floors to reduce noise transfer.
PhoneStar impact sound insulation: up to ΔLw = 22dB
PhoneStar airborne sound insulation: up to Rw = 38dB
At Woodland Acoustics, we offer a range of solutions designed to effectively meet G6 acoustic requirements, contact our Acoustic team to find the best solution for your project, or locate a PhoneStar installer near you.