As a homeowner or remodeling contractor, you are probably aware that flooring underlayments that can provide a diverse range of benefits. From moisture protection to support for tongue and groove connections, your home stands to gain a lot from underlayments. Many premium options today offer acoustical protection, which may mean the price tag will be a little higher. Many consumers discover that the benefits far outweigh the additional cost. Before potentially choosing an inferior product, be sure to find a sound-reducing underlayment that is tested to provide quality results. Sure, you can spend less, but remember that the long-term stressors associated with multi-family properties can impact your well-being. Even a single-family home may leave you up at night listening to loud footsteps!
When you are installing laminate planks to enhance the quality of your home, it’s vital to find a laminate underlayment that has a high enough acoustical rating to insulate against sound transference. Eco Cork Foam is here to deliver amazing acoustical performance for apartments, hotels, condos, and more. We like to boast that we have the best underlayment for laminate flooring, and the lab results back up our claims.
Sound can play a major part in you or your client’s quality of life. Today, we’ll take a scientific approach to explain the value of our laminate underlayment. After learning about the stressors that floor impacts and footsteps can have on your health, be sure to pick up ECF at your local Home Depot or order it on www.homedepot.com to hear the difference!
Effects of Sound on the Body
It can be fairly simple to explain what happens to us when we hear a sudden loud noise from a neighbor — surprise, normally followed by irritation. However, to quantify the results of this annoyance on the human body, researchers look to a few key measurements:
- Heart rate. Elevated pulse is an obvious indicator of stress or surprise. When something alarms you, a chemical reaction results, spiking heart rates, glucose levels, and adrenaline. This survival technique is very helpful when you’re in danger, but continually spiking heart rates in your home can have long-term consequences.
- Respiration rate. Defined as the number of breaths you take per minute, your RR will increase when you’re under stress. This is done to help deliver more oxygen to the body and the response is increasing the heart rate.
- Electro-dermal activity. EDA refers to the electrical response of the skin and sweat glands to emotions, including fear, anger, and startle response. Sudden flushing and increased sweating indicate changes in the body due to outside stimuli.
While someone dropping a fork at two in the morning may not sound like a real problem, for those with thin floors or inferior laminate flooring underlayments, it may sound as if that silverware bounced off your bedroom floor! Increased breathing, a faster heart rate, and increased sweating are all normal responses to stressors encountered throughout life. We’ve all lived in that noisy apartment — Eco Cork Foam was designed with customer needs in mind to minimize these negative effects!
What’s that Sound?
The source of impact sounds does not change the body’s response to noise. However, researchers ran tests with real sounds found in a standard home or apartment and determined you can split all sounds into two categories:
- Heavier impacts were used to simulate footsteps, children playing, moving furniture, and more. Often, these sounds are repetitive and long-lasting.
- Lightweight impacts consist of smaller, less weighted sounds such as dropped plates, the scraping of a chair, and so on. Normally, these sounds are more spread out and happen for short amounts of time.
All science and measurement techniques aside, it’s important to remember that acoustical underlayments help reduce the impact of sudden noises in your home. Failing to do so can result in two major responses: stress and annoyance.
Stressing Out
Loud events, footsteps, crowded spaces, and other circumstances can all lead to long-term stress for building inhabitants. In some complexes, up to a third or more of residents surveyed have complained about sleep loss associated with loud neighbors. Beyond floor transmissions, outside traffic, pedestrians, and a variety of other natural sources can combine to affect your peace and quiet. Nobody likes to cause conflicts with a neighbor, but continual disturbances to your sleep cycle can result in a range of unwanted health consequences. A superior laminate flooring underlayment is needed to provide the best acoustical protection for your space!
Dealing with Annoyances
While ambient noises such as nearby traffic and footsteps are generally unpleasant, studies have shown that sudden noises can cause more stress. Annoyance to sound transmissions may sound simple, but it’s important to remember that anticipation of hearing loud noises can strongly play into your irritation. Residents who deal with stressful sounds regularly may be more sensitive and alert to any sounds, increasing long-term stress levels in addition to reactionary anxiety.
Reduce Sound Stress
Whether you’re a homeowner hoping to keep your home as quiet as possible, or you’re a flooring contractor searching for a sound-reducing underlayment to back the quality of your work, it’s important to find a solution that has been tested for success. Small improvements to the acoustics in a space can provide amazing results for years, promoting peace and restfulness even in the most populated areas.
Eco Cork Foam has been tested by a third-party laboratory, and our results are impressive. Our 73 IIC, 66 STC, and 23 Delta IIC ratings are among the highest in the industry. If you’re planning on installing a new floor, be sure to consider the acoustic importance of the space. From single-family homes to condominiums, ECF is here to provide proven quality. Contact us today to learn more, or buy ECF to hear for yourself!