Summary
• Provian Construction used ElecoFloor in the construction of student accommodation.
• It is suitable for use with all types of floor joists.
• The SoundBar System comprises Finnforest’s Finnjoist, the SoundBar board and an anhydrite screed from Lafarge Gyvlon.
• The SoundBar System exceeds Part E requirements.

An accusation sometimes levelled at timber floors is that, because they are less dense than concrete, they fall down in the sound attenuation stakes. However, the new breed of acoustic timber flooring systems redresses the balance.

When Provian Construction built three, four-storey student accommodation blocks at the University of Greenwich’s Medway campus last summer, it chose an acoustic floating floor produced by Eleco Timber Frame.

Provian specified ElecoFloor, a BBA-certified composite panel acoustic floating floor system that is laid onto decking boards, which are fixed to floor joists in the usual manner. It can be laid over metal web Ecojoists, manufactured by sister company Gang-Nail, but is equally suitable for all other types of floor joists – and even for masonry build.

Four components

A shallow one-piece composite panel, ElecoFloor comprises four components: a moisture resistant tongue and groove flooring grade chipboard, an acoustic membrane, a moisture-resistant MDF board and an acoustic felt underlay. Each layer is bonded together, forming a composite panel that is delivered to site ready for installation.

The system is installed with glued tongue and grooved joints in the same way as a typical chipboard floor, but no fixing down is required. The whole composite system floats on the structural sub-deck, usually an OSB board.

Its manufacturer claims ElecoFloor can be installed in half the time taken to install a conventional batten system and that, once in place, it takes up a third of the overall thickness, delivering material savings and reducing the overall height of the building.

When Persimmon Homes wanted to employ sound reduction measures in the construction of a development in Leicestershire, which included the construction of a number of flats above garages, it turned to the SoundBar System.

The system is constructed from Finnforest’s Finnjoist, the SoundBar board – an acoustic board exclusive to Finnforest – and an environmentally-sound anhydrite screed from Lafarge Gyvlon. The latter is pumpable, quick-drying and self-levelling and delivers the performance of a solid concrete floor.

Impressive credentials

The SoundBar system has impressive credentials: it has NHBC and Zurich approval, is fully CERAM tested and approved for structural performance and has passed a full BM TRADA Technical Assessment. Last year it added Robust Detail EFT-4 status to its credentials, making it the only I-joist based flooring system with a dedicated screeded solution to achieve this – and the inclusion of underfloor heating does not affect the system’s Robust Detail status.

Like ElecoFloor, the SoundBar System enables housebuilders to construct a shallower compartment floor than more traditional systems and can unlock savings both in the floor make-up and installation and in the reduction of brick coursework. And Finnforest claims a time-saving of up to two-thirds.

Acoustic performance is the real name of the game, however: “The SoundBar System is exceeding the requirements of Part E relating to noise transmission by 5dB for airborne sound and up to 10dB for transmission sound in residential compartment floors,” said Kevin Riley, Finnforest’s head of building solutions. “It provides a solution to developers of apartment buildings and other high density housing schemes, but is also suited to any building design where airborne or transmission sound is an issue for consideration, so it could be suitable for care homes and, potentially, for commercial buildings,” he added.