Anyone who's ever shared a wall with someone else has probably wondered if the walls were intentionally thin, or the neighbors intentionally loud. Often the assumption is that the walls between dwellings simply need to be thicker to muffle sound. The fact is that the design of the wall, not the size, can be a contributing factor in transmitting sound from one side to the other.
Consider how walls are constructed in most multi-family housing units. Basically, they are made of gypsum board firmly attached to both sides of a wood frame. When sound waves hit one side of the wall it causes the gypsum board on that side to vibrate. Since the gypsum board is rigidly connected to the frame, the vibration is transmitted right through the framing to the gypsum board on the other side. Those same vibrations travelling through the wall frame can also send sound throughout adjacent floors and ceilings. Noises will radiate through the structure because there's almost nothing there to cushion or absorb the sound waves.
In order to significantly dampen those approaching sound waves, United Plastics Corporation’s dB-3 Pro can be installed between one of the gypsum walls and the frame. The United Plastics Corporation dB-3 Pro, which is made of 100% post-industrial materials acts as a shock absorber in this system, muffling vibrations coming from either side of the wall. United Plastics Corporation’s dB-3 Pro is an improvement over the resilient channel system’s that are routinely used to improve the sound ratings for walls and are especially effective in floor/ceiling constructions.
Resilient channels typically add 3 to 5 Sound Transmission Class (STC) points to an otherwise identical wall or ceiling, whereas United Plastics Corporation’s dB-3 Pro up’s the ante by adding between 3-5 Sound Transmissions Class (STC) points per layer. This can most often is more than enough to meet the STC and Impact Insulation Class (IIC) ratings required by the project design goals or local codes. In California, the building code specifies minimum lab tested ratings of STC 50 and IIC 50 for partitions in multi-family dwellings.
In fact, the IIC 50 rating required by the building code is easily achieve using the dB-3 Pro wall material when hung in the ceiling in a multi-family project. Unless the floors are completely carpeted (which is rare for kitchens and bathrooms), it is very difficult to achieve IIC 50 ratings without using resilient channels and batt insulation in the floor-ceiling construction
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