Hotel Soundproofing - A Case Study

In September 2003, Green Bay, Wisconsin’s legendary Lambeau Field celebrated the completion of a $297 million redevelopment. On a nearby street named after football’s greatest coaching legend, another multi-use structure opened for business. Combining an indoor water park, arcade, and conference center with an exquisite 161-room lodge, The Tundra Lodge Resort and Waterpark seemingly had everything going for it on opening day.
Just four blocks from the country’s newest pro stadium in a region famous for rabid football fans, many of whom travel long distances to attend games, The Tundra Lodge was perfectly situated to draw faraway fans and local families to its Lombardi Avenue address.

THE PROBLEM
But then the complaints about room-to-room sound intrusion began. The facility’s Managing Director of Engineering, Melanie Novinska, vividly remembers the impact that mounting complaints over unwanted sound were having by the end of the first year of operation. “It cost our property a lot of discounted rooms and certificates for people to give us another try. “
The sound transfer from one guestroom to another was unacceptable. Of course, when you first open any hotel property, business is slow. You don’t find the problems until you’re selling lots of rooms and guests are next to each other.”
How bad was the real-life performance of the resilient channel walls her original architect-builder believed would deliver an STC rating around 50? Before renovation began, the sound transmission of the old walls was measured. The best-performing walls came in at a mere STC 37 and the worst yielded a paltry STC 34 rating—only one or two points above standard 5/8-inch drywall. Because the lodging business is so heavily impacted by word-of-mouth, Novinska estimates inadequate sound isolation in the original construction was causing some 50% of repeat business to evaporate. That’s a lot of revenue for any hotel to lose; for a lodge with over 160 rooms it was a flat out disaster. Something had to be done.

THE SOLUTION
Novinska felt compelled to educate herself. “I read about QuietRock on the internet and requested information and a sample of QuietRock soundproof drywall. Then, working with Quiet Solution, we put together a solution to fix the problem using QuietRock.”
After receiving third-party validation from Patrick McCormick of Brandner Engineering about the proposed solution, contractor HJ Martin began the work of removing the now two-year-young drywall. While QuietRock could have simply been placed over the existing drywall, outlets needed to be moved as well, so it was decided to remove the drywall on the shared walls. QuietRock was then used instead of the old RC/drywall wall. “With tape, texture and paint, we were able to complete about 6-8 rooms every 5 days”, Novinska recalls.

RESULTS
“Before we installed QuietRock the situation was really bad,” Jay Hussong of drywall contractor HJ Martin commented. “You could hear conversations right through the walls. After QuietRock was installed, we measured multiple rooms at STC 50 or better—we could clearly hear the difference.”
After installing QuietRock the noise complaints ceased,” reported Novinska. “The difference was amazing, and our occupancy rates went up. QuietRock was the perfect solution for us. For this project I give it 9 out of 10 points. Factoring all the costs, including materials and labor, you’ll realize savings over the long term, she advised other building owners.
“Start with QuietRock instead of resilient channels and properly position your outlets and any other openings on back-to-back guestrooms, and you’ll get quiet rooms. I’d also recommend it for common walls in duplexes, condos and apartments.”

More information on QuietRock can be found at www.quietsolution.com