KEENE provides a very unique service to owners. We have worked with some of the most successful apartment and condominium developers in North America. We approach a project with the idea of providing an owner with an analysis of the specified floor-ceiling design. The developer is responsible for providing the future renters and buyers with code-compliant floor and wall systems.
Architects design to code minimums using tests supplied by product manufacturers. Unfortunately, in the noise area, it is the entire wall and floor that require ratings. No one product has that rating; so, as a sound product supplier, KEENE must test with joists, insulation, finishes and gypsum board components supplied elsewhere. There are a lot of alternatives.
Our goal is to provide a developer with code-compliant testing that allows the greatest flexibility in finishes. We take an assembly from a developer and build it in the lab when working on new construction. We build a field box for retro applications, and test old wood structures. We understand how subtle modifications like insulation thickness, resilient channel spacing, and subfloor thickness influence the overall performance of the structure.
KEENE typically tests all of the finishes that might be included on a project so that an entire package can be presented during code check. Today, that might not seem important in Nebraska, but in California and Washington, cities look for systems that have been lab-tested prior to allowing construction to begin. The architect is responsible for assuring that the system has been LAB-tested to show code compliance. FIELD TESTS ARE ACCEPTABLE FOR THE PROJECT TESTED, but can’t be used to clear another project. Only lab tests are suitable for judgment of code compliance on multiple projects. That is written in the code.
KEENE does the testing, and the developer gets the benefit of a specific test with all the subtleties. We use that information when the assembly happens to pop up on another project. We learn what the differences mean, and everyone benefits.
We’ve completed some new project testing recently on our muffling technology. In New England, we tested three sound systems on an old loft apartment building. We tested four floor finishes and provided the developer and GC with the least expensive system to achieve code, along with systems that are considered “luxury.” Our competition did a similar round of tests a few years ago, and found a system that was code-compliant and $10 per square foot.
We started testing with our high-performance QQ 55/025 MC MT and found passing grades with bare gypsum. We moved to the new QUIET QURL 65/075 N MT, a 0.75” nominal mat with our muffling technology, and provided high 50s for all surfaces, including bare gypsum. For some of the largest developers in North America, we’ve built the specified system in the lab and then tested it in the field too.
So here is what we achieved in New England:
- QUIET QURL 55/025 MC MT/Old wood frame and no ceiling/IIC 47 bare gypsum
- QUIET QURL 65/075 N MT/Old wood frame and no ceiling/IIC 57 bare gypsum
- QUIET QURL 65/075/Old wood frame and no ceiling/IIC 52 bare gypsum
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At KEENE, we do go the extra step in making things right. At least five other systems were tested to compete for the project. Two systems passed with a field 47 FIIC. None were in the same cost arena as the systems from KEENE.
Sounds good, doesn’t it?