insulation between floors (new extension)

[brugnospamsia]

Dear Group,

I googled for this first ... maybe I'm too lazy .....

My brother in law has just built a small 2 storey extension - the downstairs of which is an enlargement of the kitchen with a 10 foot opening. The architect specified 100mm of fairly dense rockwool between the 18mm chipboard and the 12.5mm ceiling board.

Since the kitchen is not a garage or similar, presumably this is for sound insulation ?

The rooms above are a bedroom and a study

Since the existing half of the kitchen ceiling (seperated by steel beam) has no insulation, is this required by building regs and subject to BCO inspection ? (and what are people's experience of its effectiveness at whatever it is designed to achieve ...)

thanks

Jeremy

[Hugo Nebula]

On Sat, 05 Mar 2005 18:10:55 GMT, a particular chimpanzee named "brugnospamsia" randomly hit the keyboard and produced:

Yes. The requirements for sound insulation was extended in 2003 to cover internal floors and some internal partitions. It is mostly satisfied by mineral fibre between the joists.

It only applies to new work, therefore there is no requirement to insulate the existing floor.

[Mike]

I've had a good read of part E and the 2004 amendments and it only appears to apply to completely new parts of the building. However somebody mentioned he was asked to do this for a new internal partition wall in an existing building. Can you confirm this is not required in this case, or point me to the paragraph that covers this.

Many thanks.

[brugnospamsia]

and you'd think they'd let you off where it's a bedroom over a kitchen ...

In my case it would make sense as I try not to heat parts of the house I don't spend that much time in.

[Hugo Nebula]

On Mon, 7 Mar 2005 19:43:50 -0000, a particular chimpanzee named "Mike" randomly hit the keyboard and produced:

See the Building Regulations, Regulation 4

"Building work shall be carried out so that... it complies with the applicable requirements contained in Schedule 1". This includes Part E (Sound insulation). Building work means, "the erection or extension of a building [or] the material alteration of a building".

So, Part E applies to any work which involves the construction of a new floor or applicable internal walls.