Noise pollution isn’t something people talk about, but it can be a real issue. If you’ve ever lived near a noisy bar, struggled to sleep during a stay in the big city, or been distracted by shouts from a nearby sports game, you’ve been inconvenienced by errant noise!
To keep noise down, commercial buildings can rely on spray acoustical insulation. This can also help spaces increase the sound quality inside a building — a boon for theaters, concert halls, and performing arts centers!
Learn moe about why to apply spray acoustic insulation, and what its best uses are.
What is Spray Acoustic Insulation?
Spray acoustic insulation is an insulation product primarily used to dampen noise. It absorbs sounds, reduces echoes, and controls noise within a space.
Spray acoustic insulation is typically made of recycled cellulose, held together with a binder. It also usually includes fire retardants, as fire safety is very important for commercial spaces.
What Types of Buildings Need Spray Acoustic Insulation?
Schools & Universities
Spaces like lecture halls and auditoriums are big open spaces where sound quality is important. Students need to be able to hear a teacher speak, while performances or ceremonies in auditoriums will also benefit from better acoustics.
Beyond that, dorm rooms, study lounges, and libraries need acoustical insulation to prevent noise from traveling.
Dining and Hospitality Spaces
Ambient noise is nice in some areas, but too much and a nice restaurant can sound more like a dive bar. Hospitality spaces and dining establishments can benefit from acoustical insulation, which can reduce echoes and keep kitchen noise, music, or patron chatter from infiltrating other spaces.
Theater and Art Spaces
Sound quality is important in these spaces — and spray acoustical insulation is vital to prevent echoes or reverb from ruining the performance. In addition, you want to keep noise from outside the museums or theater from leaking in and disturbing audience members and performers.
Offices
Noisy offices can be detrimental to the operations inside — employees need quiet spaces for thinking, phone calls, and confidential conversations. Ensuring the office itself is well insulated from outside noise is important, but beyond that, conference rooms, private offices, and amenity spaces like onsite fitness centers or cafeterias also need to be planned for when thinking about how noise travels.
Parking garages
Parking garages are notorious for their echoes. Though a parking garage may not be a destination that requires noise control for the enjoyment of its users, it’s important for safety that noise be controlled. Parking garages often have spray acoustical insulation to help drivers hear other vehicles and pedestrians by dampening the sound from levels above and below.
Multi-family and hotels
In areas where people share walls, whether for living or traveling, spray acoustical insulations helps prevent noise transferring from units and hallways. This makes a space more peaceful and desirable from residents, guests, and other occupants.
Where Do You Install Spray Acoustic Insulation?
Ceiling
The ceiling in a space has a very big impact on how sound bounces around and escapes a space. Sprayed acoustical insulation can be used with an exposed ceiling finish, without any other material required, which is both convenient and cost-effective. You can also choose to apply a finish material over it for a certain aesthetic. On a ceiling, acoustical insulation also reduces reverb, which improves sound quality.
Walls
The cavities within walls act as echo chambers, which allows sound to escape between rooms, such as in apartments or hotels. By applying spray acoustical insulation to these interior walls, it eliminates those hollow areas where noise is amplified and creates a quieter space. In office buildings or larger commercial spaces, this can be helpful to create specific quiet spaces.
Floors
Spray foam insulation doesn’t dampen impact noise as well as it dampens airborne noise. For instance, heavy footsteps on a surface create vibrations within the structure, versus sound waves in the air. However Spray acoustical insulation can help deaden the vibrations and provide a benefit when applied between floor joists.
Does Spray Acoustic Insulation Also Provide Temperature Insulation?
Spray insulation is typically made of cellulose or fiberglass, which are commonly used in regular thermal insulation as well. That means that your spray acoustic insulation may also be able to provide all the thermal insulation you need.
It all comes down to R-value. R-value is a measure of how resistant insulation is to thermal transfer. A higher R-value is better. Ask your commercial insulation contractor if spray acoustic insulation is recommended by itself, or if you need to pair it with another insulation type.
Need to Reduce Noise? Find a Commercial Insulation Contractors
Oaks Brothers, Inc. is a family-owned commercial insulation contractor that operates in the Southern U.S. With experience installing spray acoustic insulation, we can develop a plan to reduce noise leakage and create better acoustics inside.
