Hollowcore planks are a popular flooring and roofing solution for multifamily residential buildings due to their ability to achieve longer spans and support higher load capacities. Residents of buildings constructed with hollowcore also enjoy many benefits, including high-quality sound insulation.
How Sound Insulation Works
Precast concrete is a dense material with an inherently high mass. These properties allow for high levels of acoustical and vibration dampening. Concrete absorbs, rather than reflects, noise.
Structures built with precast concrete do not typically require additional treatments to provide adequate sound insulation, and they are less likely to admit noise than structures built with alternative materials, such as steel or wood.
Comfortable Residential Structures
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) states in its “Noise Guidebook” that as America becomes an urbanized country with advancing technology and growing levels of noise in our environment, building sound-insulated structures is increasingly important to the well-being of our communities.
HUD cites improving the sound-attenuating properties of major building elements, such as roof, floor, and wall construction, as an important solution for communities that are vulnerable to high levels of noise pollution. Minimizing unwanted noise within a building can create a more comfortable living space or a more productive working environment. Hollowcore can contribute to this goal for commercial, multifamily, and municipal applications.
The Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute offers valuable technical resources as part of their Designer’s Notebook series for designers and engineers who construct with precast concrete. To learn more, refer to their publication, “Noise Reduction with Precast Concrete.”
To use County Prestress & Precast’s Hollowcore for your next project, contact us at (708) 562-7700.
