The Cayman Condominiums near downtown Orlando were undergoing a renovation, its first in 20 years. While the existing structure and design were acceptable from an aesthetic and functional perspective, the contractor felt that they needed to address the one major complaint they were receiving – noise. The Orlando-based condo required soundproofing expertise to ensure that the STC performance of the walls and ceilings were acceptable prior to tenant takeover.
Over the past 2 decades, noise complaints had become somewhat commonplace in the association. While an IIC of 60+ is recommended for most luxury condos, very few of them achieve this rating without the use of heavy carpet and padding. However, in this case, the primary complaint was adjacent condo units, since the previous tenant tended to play louder and music and stay up into the later hours of the evening.
As is detailed in the Florida Building Code (including Orlando and central Florida), the STC requirement for adjacent condo units is 50+.
Condo Soundproofing in Orlando
Metal stud walls helped reach STCs in high 40’s and low 50’s, but the residents at this luxury condo location had higher expectations. During the renovation, they called Commercial Acoustics to review the existing design and as-builts, and bring some new ideas to the table.
While implementing a soundproofing membrane in the walls allowed a significant increase in attenuation between units, we also worked with the architect to re-specify doors that would not allow weak-link propagation paths from room to room (a major complaint that previous tenants had).
While the flooring contractor was already familiar with our attenuation underlayment, we still had a technical rep out on site to ensure flanking paths were addressed and installation quality met our standards.
Condo Soundproofing Results
By implementing additional soundproofing materials and auditing installation techniques, our team was able to achieve STC and IIC ratings in the unit at 58 and 60, respectively. The Wall Blokker Pro product was used primarily due to the heavy-gauge metal stud configuration, which provides a more rigid wall and therefore needs additional decoupling. On 20-gauge metal studs, Wall Blokker Pro provides an 8 STC improvement, aligning the soundproofing performance of the wall with the clients’ expectations.
