Sound testing in renovated flats

[ormeyd]

Hi all,

I am new to this forum but hoping to get some advice after receiving some conflicting information.

We are in the process of renovating a block of 4 flats. We have not altered the number of flats and the property was used as a block of flats prior to our purchase. The only thing we have done structurally is add a new corridor on the first floor to allow access to one of the flats as previously we had to gain access to this flat via another property.

My question is, do we need to undertake sound testing or not? Our architect has submitted this on the plans which have been approved by building control but now we are nearing the end of the project and having had a more detailed review of the regulation I think we may not need to.

I would welcome any advice regarding this.

Many thanks in advance.

[Flashback1966]

When you say renovate. Did those works include sound proofing?. Did your builder put in sound proofing? Did he do it to all the flats or just the new corridors. Don't waste money on sound testing, if your builder has not done any sound proofing work. It will fail on the tests. Then you will have to waste thousands trying to rectify and then get it re-tested.

Sound proofing can be applied to walls or sound proofing to floors (or ceilings).

In my opinion, your works don't need sound testing as this is an alteration of walls. Do they just want to test the new walls (transmission of noise between the new walls of the flats)?

What does your builder think?

In my opinion, it is good idea to have sound proofing, but sound testing is a waste of money.

Speak to your architect again. It would be up to the Building Control Officer if they think it is needed. They have to sign off on the works. May be they can be persuaded the Sound Testing in unnecessary in this instance.


I will leave it to others to come up with better answers....

[Tipper]

Whilst I can't answer your question I can say that any new dwellings created from an old building need sound insulation between dwellings to meet the building regs. The sound insulation has to be applied between dwellings whether they are side by side or one above the other.
We created three flats, one above the other, in an existing building and needed sound insulation within intermediate floors and a sound test to prove it worked. The building inspector needed a copy of the sound test report before issuing a completion certificate.
In your case maybe the new corridor is seen as a new part of a flat being adjacent to another?

[ormeyd]

Thank you both for your responses. I've had a response from building control this morning to say that only the new construction needs to be tested which is certainly better than the whole building.

Next steps is to find somebody reasonably priced to do this. From previous forum posts I've read this looks rather expensive!

[ash72]

For renovating an existing building testing is not required, but if you plan on managing the properties afterwards, it is a good idea to have sound proofing as will avoid issues later when the T's move in.