Is Acoustic Insulation Worth It? And How a Contractor Can Help

With­out insu­la­tion, res­i­den­tial and com­mer­cial prop­er­ties would have a hard time reg­u­lat­ing their inter­nal tem­per­a­tures, and much ener­gy would be lost. How­ev­er, ther­mal ener­gy isn’t the only type of ener­gy that war­rants thor­ough insu­la­tion. Vibra­tional ener­gy (i.e., sound waves) can be a cause for con­cern, too. Any­one who lives in a major city under­stands the pit­falls of noise pol­lu­tion. A reg­u­lar excess of noise is at best a dis­trac­tion and at worst a health and safe­ty haz­ard – either way, it’s impor­tant to keep unwant­ed noise out. As its name sug­gests, acoustic insu­la­tion pro­vides a degree of pro­tec­tion from said noise pol­lu­tion, and it’s com­mon­ly sought after in com­mer­cial spaces.

But is invest­ing in acoustic insu­la­tion real­ly worth it? Let’s dis­cuss the pros and cons of acoustic insu­la­tion and how the right con­trac­tor can help make your deci­sion that much easier.

What to Know About Acoustic Insulation

How Well Does Acoustic Insu­la­tion Work?

In order to deter­mine whether or not your facil­i­ty needs acoustic insu­la­tion, it helps to under­stand its effec­tive­ness. Of course, not all sound­proof­ing mate­ri­als are com­posed of the same mate­ri­als, and some are thick­er and more durable than oth­ers. To make mat­ters eas­i­er for con­sumers, all acoustic insu­la­tion mate­r­i­al receives a stan­dard­ized rank­ing known as its Sound Trans­mis­sion Class (STC) pro­vid­ed by the Insu­la­tion Insti­tute. The high­er a material’s STC rat­ing, the more effec­tive it is at damp­en­ing noise. An STC of 25 or low­er is con­sid­ered weak, while an STC of 50 or high­er (65 is the max) is con­sid­ered strong. So, if you’re look­ing for an effec­tive noise-damp­en­ing solu­tion for your facil­i­ty, you’ll want to invest in mate­ri­als with a high STC rating.

Ben­e­fits of Acoustic Insulation

We’ve already estab­lished the pri­ma­ry pur­pose of acoustic insu­la­tion. That said, you might won­der why reduc­ing noise lev­els in your facil­i­ty mat­ters so much. For starters, most busi­ness­es pre­fer to keep cer­tain infor­ma­tion with­in their walls – if you share a build­ing with oth­er busi­ness­es and your space isn’t thor­ough­ly sound­proofed, out­siders might hear bits and pieces of pri­vate con­ver­sa­tions. More­over, you’ll like­ly hear what they have going on, too, which can become a seri­ous dis­trac­tion day in and day out. Out­side sounds aren’t the only nois­es you’ll want to tamp down, either. Your facil­i­ty might be plen­ty loud in its own right, espe­cial­ly if it fea­tures high ceil­ings. Fre­quent loud nois­es can do real dam­age to people’s eardrums and also dis­tract employ­ees from their work, decreas­ing pro­duc­tiv­i­ty. In mixed use build­ings, with com­mer­cial or park­ing facil­i­ties below res­i­den­tial areas, noise reduc­tion is a sub­stan­tial mat­ter of comfort.

In addi­tion to reduc­ing noise from inside and out­side your build­ing, high-qual­i­ty acoustic insu­la­tion is designed to deliv­er effec­tive ther­mal insu­la­tion, too. More­over, most fire­proof­ing mate­ri­als are com­pat­i­ble with acoustic insu­la­tion, so you can keep your facil­i­ty both safe and sound­proofed with­out hassle.

Acoustic Insu­la­tion Setbacks

Despite all its advan­tages, acoustic insu­la­tion has its set­backs, too, most­ly hav­ing to do with cost and acces­si­bil­i­ty. Because acoustic insu­la­tion is gen­er­al­ly denser than reg­u­lar insu­la­tion, it tends to cost more. On top of that, it’s usu­al­ly hard­er to find high-qual­i­ty sound­proof­ing mate­ri­als than it is to gath­er basic insulation.

How a Rep­utable Con­trac­tor Can Help

For­tu­nate­ly, work­ing with the right insu­la­tion con­trac­tor can great­ly ease any bur­den asso­ci­at­ed with acoustic insu­la­tion instal­la­tion. At Kaloutas, for instance, we have access to all the right mate­ri­als, so you don’t have to wor­ry about back­o­rders and unrea­son­able prices. We also offer a wide vari­ety of insu­la­tion options, includ­ing spray acoustic insu­la­tion, fiber­glass-based ther­mal-acoustic insu­la­tion, acoustic floor insu­la­tion, and more. No mat­ter the type of insu­la­tion in ques­tion, our instal­la­tion process is effi­cient so as to pre­vent inter­rup­tions and min­i­mize down­time. Our con­trac­tors are also skilled at main­tain­ing both acoustic and ther­mal insu­la­tion so your facil­i­ty remains secure through and through.

The Ver­dict

So, is acoustic insu­la­tion worth it? Though this par­tic­u­lar class of insu­la­tion is more expen­sive than reg­u­lar insu­la­tion, it’s invalu­able if you work in a loud envi­ron­ment, desire more pri­va­cy, and wish to increase pro­duc­tiv­i­ty, morale, and health out­comes. Let the experts at Kaloutas set you up with the right insu­la­tion solu­tions for your needs. To learn more about us and all that we do, con­tact us online or give us a call at 978−532−1414 today.