As the world awakens to the emergency of climate change, we must begin to look at every facet of life to see things that are right in front of us, but non-obvious. CO2 and other greenhouse gases have clearly and undeniably changed our climate forever. A rise in temperatures and sea level are guaranteed at this point. The question is not if, but when.
Americans in particular have enjoyed sprawling communities far from the workplace for the better part of 50 years. We have become used to large houses on quiet streets, far from the action and noise of the city. And we have become used to longer commutes, 25% longer than a few decades ago with some over 60 minutes in each direction. Wasting the little time we have and belching CO2 the whole way there…and back.
Recently, there has been a move back to cities, in high quality multifamily and mixed use communities, especially by the younger generation. They enjoy the activities, proximity to entertainment, and easy maintenance this style of living bring. And it turns out that this alone could reduce CO2 by 30% or more, very rapidly. High quality multifamily projects in urban environments help in several dramatic ways. To start, most people who live there also work close by. They take public transportation daily or walk or ride a bike. Taking millions of cars off the road every day.
The dwellings are beautiful and upscale but significantly smaller than a single free standing house. They are built tighter, with more insulation, and the heating can be very efficient with most heat loss occurring into an adjacent unit (this sharing some energy). The CO2 generated due to the heating and cooling of condo’s can be 70% less than a single family home.
The amount of lawn to water is close to zero (saving CO2 from pumping the water to the home and also saving precious clean water). And the amount of materials used to build a condo versus a single family home can be 30% to 50% less, saving in CO2 from manufacturing these items (a major source of CO2 actually) as well as the transportation to the jobsite and installation time and energy.
Without questions, one of the best moves a person can make to have a major impact on the environment is to purchase a condo or townhome in an urban setting. If everyone in the US lived in this way, we could cut carbon emissions by 1B metric tons or more. That is about what Italy and the UK generate as a whole combined.
But today, the number one complaint of occupants is noise. And it is this noise that keeps people from moving into urban environments, and thus continuing to generate more CO2. Noise from the street, noise from neighbors, noise when you are trying to sleep.
According to a 2007 report by the World Health Organization, excessive noise in everyday life is not only responsible for unhappiness, poor learning, poor concentration, stress, poor sleep and overall crankiness…but it is also responsible for deaths. Yes, you read it correctly, deaths. How many deaths? According to the report, 3% of heart attack deaths can be attributed to noise in everyday life. The stress and sleep deprivation caused by everyday noise in urban environments is responsible for tens of thousands of premature deaths annually. That is a wake up call.
What to do? Well, new technology now exists to deal with both street noise as well as neighbor (party wall) noise. Easily and cost effectively.
Street noise is being addressed by newer high STC windows and doors. Sound Transmission Class (STC) is a way to measure how much noise gets through. High quality dual-pane windows from most every major manufacturer typically have an STC rating of only 27 to 29. Fine for a quiet street, but not interesting for an urban setting. High STC windows from several manufacturers now exist which raises STC values to 38 to 42 or more. That is 50% to 60% less noise. Of course, if you don’t ask your builder for these you may not get them. They can cost 3X what low cost windows do. But it is worth it. You will sleep better and be less agitated everyday. And what is that worth? A few dollars a month on the mortgage…probably.
Party walls can be handled properly or poorly…and often it is poorly (unfortunately). Old techniques such as resilient channels often perform poorly or fail in time. Due to the advent of home theaters, party walls should be STC 60 to 65 or even higher. But the law, written decades ago, requires only STC 50 walls (or STC 45 after installation), which is barely enough to isolate simple conversation and not much else.
It used to be difficult to achieve wall STC’s of 65 or more, but that changed with the introduction of soundproof drywall (such as QuietRock) in 2003. This is a newer category of products that actually saves builders money and provides significantly improved STC values. STC 50, 60, 70 and even 80 walls have been built and tested for several years now using these products. And while the drywall itself is more expensive than standard drywall, it is overall cheaper to the builder to hit a given STC value than older methods (including time and labor) and is much more reliable. So you can save money and never hear your neighbor again.
Floor/ceiling systems can suffer from similar issues in units with neighbors above or below. And again, new technologies exist to deal with these including the use of soundproof drywall on the ceilings and damped subfloors above plus advanced flooring isolation.
What this leads us to is the important and undeniable connection between quiet living environments and climate change. According to a survey completed by the National Research Council in Canada in 2001, there is a direct tie between people wanting to stay and the STC values of party walls. As STC approached 60, some 75% of respondents were happy with their environment and wished to stay. As STC dropped to 40, a full 45% wanted to move out. And noise was the big complaint at that level. And if people are unhappy living in their condo, they will leave and tell others to stay away.
If we are to impact climate change through urbanization (and we must), we must also deal with the noise issue head on. This isn’t about saving a few dollars or doing it the old way because that is good enough to meet code. Instead, it is about significantly impacting CO2 while encouraging people to move into and enjoy quality urban settings. And they will only do that if builders address their number one complaint…noise. It is time all builders take responsibility and build-in high STC windows, doors and walls. And buyers take responsibility and ask for this as an amenity (or ask about STC ratings) before you buy. This may inspire builders to do what is right because you are asking for it. Otherwise, you’ll be in that 45% that want to move back out, and do more harm to environment…all due to a noise problem easily solvable today.
Save the planet…buy a (really) quiet condo.
More information on QuietRock and Quiet Windows can be found at www.quietsolution.com
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Friday, September 21, 2007
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
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
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