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Hard Surface Flooring

As an apartment owner, if you’re considering over-hauling your flooring, there is important legislation you need to be aware of. All areas within an apartment, other than the kitchen, laundry, toilet and bathroom, must have adequate floor coverings or treatment to prevent the impact of noise, such as footsteps, furniture being moved and children running, from carrying to another apartment. This stray noise has the potential to disturb the peace and tranquillity of neighbouring residents.

The Strata Agency takes pride in protecting the residents’ peaceful enjoyment of their lot and has therefore implemented a policy that no timber or hard surface flooring is permitted to be installed without proper consideration by the Owner Corporation. All proposed hard surface flooring installations must receive written approval prior to commencement of the works; including any conditions imposed by the Owners Corporation.

Most owners would be familiar with this requirement as stated in By-Law 14 of Schedule 1 of the Strata Schemes Management Act (1996) and By-Law 14 of the Model By-Laws for residential schemes in the Strata Schemes Management Regulations (2005). The By-Laws state:

1. An owner of a lot must ensure that all floor space within the lot is covered or otherwise treated to an extent sufficient to prevent the transmission from the floor space of noise likely to disturb the peaceful enjoyment of the owner or occupier of another lot.


2. This by-law does not apply to floor space comprising a kitchen, laundry, lavatory or bathroom.

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/ssma1996242/sch1.html

Some schemes may have by-laws which differ from the Model By-Laws so it is important to firstly check what applies to your building before proceeding.

But how does one adequately assess whether the hard floor surface you intend to lay will not cause a disturbance?

The Building Code of Australia (BCA) sets a standard for impact noise transmission not greater than (Ln,w + CI = 62dB). This is a measure of the noise produced by the hard floor surface.  Therefore, the first thing you should do is to request written confirmation from your supplier (together with a copy of a laboratory certificate) confirming that your hard floor surface will meet that standard.

Even if the hard floor surface meets that standard, this does not automatically mean that you will comply with the By-Law because there is a minimum standard that may not be sufficient for your class of building. The BCA acoustic standard is recognised as the minimum standard however noise at that level may prove unacceptable for adjacent residents and therefore satisfactory for use by your strata plan as a baseline for installations.

Noise transmission between two vertically adjacent apartments is affected by 3 factors:

1. The quality of the underlay used in the floor above
2. The thickness of the concrete slab
3. The thickness of the drop ceiling in the apartment below (if installed)

The Association of Australian Acoustical Consultants (AAAC) has published a star rating guideline that provides information on appropriate acceptability standards for buildings of different quality.  For example, if you consider your building to be a five star building then the acceptability standard is for impact noise transmission not greater than (L’nT,w = 45dB).

http://www.aaac.org.au/au/aaac/downloads.aspx

So is it possible for timber flooring, for example, to satisfy the standard imposed by the By-Law for impact noise transmission?

Depending upon the construction of the building, the use of floating floors and acoustic underlays may provide the necessary insulation.

Renzo Tonin & Associates, www.renzotonin.com.au, is a national firm of acoustic consultants who are experts in this field.

“We are continually involved in giving expert evidence in legal disputes between owners, one having installed hard surfaces and the other claiming the noise is unacceptable,” said Renzo Tonin.

“Once the floor is installed, the owners’ positions become entrenched and it becomes very difficult to mediate a settlement.  Therefore, it’s my advice to owners to make all necessary inquiries prior to installing hard floors and to get appropriate advice before committing to purchase.”

Accordingly, we recommend that our strata plans under management consider engaging a firm such as Renzo Tonin & Associates to advise on a minimum standard for suitable hard surface flooring products for use with their strata plan, to ensure that clear guidelines are created for installations to protect the Owners Corporation and residents from possible problems in the future.