reducing-noise-transmission / Green Building & Sustainable Home Renovation Information & Advice

Before embarking on any structural changes, it is most important to understand that the sound isolation between two homes is not determined only by the common wall or floor. All the other parts of the construction - side walls, ceilings, floors under walls - can transmit sound. Flanking sound transmission (see below), ...

The key to building smaller homes which don't sacrifice quality of life is ensuring that they are designed to make the best use of their space no matter how limited. However, you must also ensure that there is sufficient privacy by eliminating unwanted sound transmission through walls. In this way, smaller homes can g...

The first step to controlling sound transmission in buildings is assessing the situation. What kind of noise is it? Noise in buildings is usually assigned to one of three classes: Airborne sound: Sound such as voices, TV or stereo sounds. The source does not strike or vibrate against the structure of the building. Stru...

Noisy baseboard heaters -yeah, it's a thing... Over the years we’ve had many questions about ticking, humming, popping or even banging or clicking noises coming from electric baseboard heaters or hot water heated baseboard heaters. The main complaint is that they are loud enough to wake people up – or subtle enough to ...

A new cement block manufacturing process developed by an American company named Solidia Technologies® produces 40% fewer emissions during manufacturing than conventional concrete, resulting in a dramatically lower environmental footprint. Solidia’s concrete is formulated with less lime and is cured at lower temperature...

How to save money on hot water: We will discuss a number of ways to conserve water, particularly hot water, but all of that starts with using less in the first place! Choosing low flow fixtures and toilets will save a considerable amount of water and money, and probably the quickest and cheapest way to save hot water i...

What is gray water? Or indeed grey water! The term “gray water” refers to all domestic waste water that is drained from sinks, showers, bathtubs and washing machines. While gray water can be reused, water from kitchen sinks or dishwashers is generally not recycled as it contains substantial amounts of grease and organi...

Mitigating climate change at home, get on your bike! As we look for ways to mitigate climate change, improving home energy efficiency and decentralising power generation is something we can do to reduce our personal energy consumption and carbon footprint. Theoretically then moving towards home solar, wind power and ev...