Wood Frame Building Noise

Wood frame construction is one of the most widely used methods to build residential commercial and industrial buildings.

Wood frame building noise.

Wood has low thermal mass. Wood frames are not only very economical to build but are also resistant to extreme climatic variations and offer residents a high degree of comfort. That said several acoustically tested mass timber floor assemblies include wood sleepers on top of the panels and noise barriers such as sand or batt insulation. However there is a clear difference in the nature and extent of the problem in these two constructions.

While gypsum concrete is often added to wood frame assemblies one can expect an obvious drop off in airborne noise control when compared with the mass of a six inch. Although it is common to add noise barriers within light wood frame assemblies e g batt insulation in a floor cavity this method is much less common in mass timber assemblies. Added to that wood frames are sustainable and absorb carbon and offset. Footstep or impact noise is observed both in buildings of concrete construction and wood frame construction.

On january 1 2015 wood frame construction became even more attractive when changes to the ontario building code obc raised the limit from four to six storeys for wood frame buildings. As mentioned earlier mass is a necessary part of noise control. Wood frame construction by its nature can present noise control challenges. This is a catch up since most european union and several north american jurisdictions including british columbia already allow six storey wood frame.