Page 24 - CooperatorNews NJ Expo 2022

22 COOPERATORNEWS NEW JERSEY —EXPO 2022 NJ.COOPERATORNEWS.COM Your guide through the often complex Federal, State and Local Laws governing your association. Call Anne P. Ward, Esq. at 973-854-6717 and discuss your legal issues or visit our web site www.EPGPRlaw.com 60 Park Place, Suite 1016, Newark, NJ 973-643-0040 89 Headquarters Plaza No., Suite 1459, Morristown, NJ 973-718-2229 555 Fifth Avenue, 14 Fl., New York, NY 212-643-2503 A T T O R N E Y S A T L A W E E HRLICH P P ETRIELLO G G UDIN P P LAZA & & REED P.C. attorneys lawgapc.com @ www.lawgapc.com NORTHERN NEW JERSEY 973-366-1188 CENTRAL NEW JERSEY 732-514-6601 SOUTHERN SO NEW JERSEY 856-533-2379 NEW YORK 212-374-9790 PENNSYLVANIA 973-366-1188 ATTORNEYS AT LAW ▶ Wills, Trusts and Estate Law ▶ Municipal Law ▶ General Litigation ▶ Commercial Law ▶ Business Startups ▶ Community Association Law ▶ Landlord Tenant Law ▶ Land Use and Zoning Law ▶ Disability Law ▶ Real Estate Law and Closings Experienced attorneys providing the right moves towards achieving your endgame STRONG ADVOCATES LISTEN ATTENTIVELY WORK RELENTLESSLY RESOLVE CONFLICT with soundproofing it’s about quantity, not It could also be roof felting, cork, or rubber.” quality,” he says. “We see cheap materials that aren’t installed correctly in new units, poured concrete floor itself is great for stop- and sometimes they don’t do anything to ping sound, but if it’s not thick enough, it decouple the floors, which is bad for impact will be terrible for footfall,” or anything else transmission.” White also notes that “with people work- ing at home because of COVID, we’re receiv- ing a lot of calls about buildings that have sound transference through studs. “It’s im- concrete decks—which you figure would be pregnated with non-toxic metals, and it’s soundproofed, but people are getting sound dense, to add flexibility. This doesn’t contain transmission through the concrete. To cor- rect the problem, we anchor in a new ceil- ing grid—basically a support system to hold sion loss factor than lead to eliminate sound, a new ceiling—and decouple it, so it acts and it’s only an eighth of an inch thick.” like a shock absorber and reduces the noise that’s traveling through the concrete.” The proliferation of glass residential coming? Marsh suggests putting up a ‘false buildings over the past two decades has wall’ between your place and the next apart- made sound problems both more com- mon and more acute. Glass does not act as inches of floor space, but might be well a sound reduction agent in any way. Many worth it for a good night’s sleep. Or you new buildings are constructed with shared could build a closet along the offending wall walls between units, as well as between units and use it to store clothes and toys, which and common areas, which adds to the like- lihood of both airborne sound infiltration and structural transmission. Solutions So, back to the cups and the string. Dr. than ever before,” says Schnitta. “A good Bonnie Schnitta, a national expert on sound example is a type of pad that you put down and president and owner of SoundSense, before you pour concrete for a foundation a national acoustical consulting and en- gineering company, says, “If we’re talking is one nearby. Knowing that resiliency is an about a wall, a floor, or a ceiling, there are important piece of the solution set for walls, certain things that improve or are success- ful in inhibiting sound. The criteria are that integral to the design to prevent connect- it has to be dense, must have some level of ing drywall from channeling sound. Also, flexibility or resiliency to it, and has to have a lot of attention to acoustic leakage points a complete seal. You can have the best wall like wrapping the backs of outlets helps. An in the world, but if it’s got a hole in it, it’s not acoustic muffler will inhibit sound from going to work.” The culprits when it comes to sound fully insulated cans.” transmission between apartments are often single studs and back-to-back electrical out- lets, which do little to reduce or interrupt plate that is connected to a diffuser or vent the flow of unwanted noise. Though strong- ly cautioned against by architects, develop- ers will often ignore these pitfalls for the hibit mechanical noise that comes through sake of saving a bit on construction costs. According to Barkman, “There are a or apartment to apartment through differ- couple different indicators as far as how we ent conduits and vents. “Essentially, \[it elim- measure these materials, and what we can inates the effect\] of hearing people in your expect from them in the field. We look at bathroom from an adjacent apartment.” the amount of sound attenuation that a cer- tain product has; how many decibels does is sound attenuation paneling for floors and it cut down? If you have a wall configura- tion built to have a 45 Sound Transmission “And they are effective. I’m using them in Class (STC), that’s a pretty high-performing some of my current assignments.” wall. In the uniform commercial code, walls are supposed to have a field-performing 40 the clamor, every little bit helps. STC, but that’s usually not the case. More of- ten we see walls performing in the mid- to high 20s, and that’s where you start to get into issues.” Gaynor adds that “Some soundproof- ing materials are used within the initial construction, and some installed after. The easy ones are after construction—things like carpeting and curtains. Resilient underlay- ment is used in floor construction to reduce sound conduction. It might be foam or fiber. Schnitta agrees, but cautions that “a thick with an impact on the floor, such as dropped articles. She recommends using a construc- tion material called loaded vinyl to reduce lead—remember lead walls?—which they used to use. This vinyl has a better transmis- But what if your building is already very much built, and the sound just keeps on ment, which could cost you a few square are sure to absorb the sound. What’s New & Improving? “More innovative sound control prod- ucts have been patented in the last few years that can even inhibit subway noise if there there are new clips that have neoprene pads coming through recessed lights that are not Another new patent is known as an eaves muffler, notes Schnitta. It’s a special acoustic with a one-inch space between it and the ceiling or wall. Its purpose is either to in- vents, or inhibit sound going room to room, Another new product noted by Gaynor ceilings. “They are quite attractive,” he adds. Clearly, when it comes to shutting out n AJ Sidransky is a staff writer/reporter for CooperatorNews, and a published novelist. He can be reached at alan@yrinc.com. SOUNDPROOFING... continued from page 21 See us at Booth 718 NEW JERSEY Your guide through the often complex Federal, State and Local Laws governing your association. Call Anne P. Ward, Esq. at 973-854-6717 and discuss your legal issues or visit our web site www.EPGPRlaw.com 60 Park Place, Suite 1016, Newark, NJ 973-643-0040 89 Headquarters Plaza No., Suite 1459, Morristown, NJ 973-718-2229 555 Fifth Avenue, 14 Fl., New York, NY 212-643-2503 A T T O R N E Y S A T L A W HRLICH ETRIELLO UDIN LAZA REED P.C. See us at Booth 309 NEW JERSEY