Step into Quiet
By eliminating conventional wood framing, BamCore’s Prime Wall System not only improves the thermal environment of a building, but also improves the acoustic environment by significantly lowering sound transmission through exterior and interior walls. By a combination of material and design, the load-bearing BamCore Prime Wall System substantially reduces sound moving through both exterior walls, as measured by Outside-Inside Transmission Class (OITC) ratings, and through interior common walls (between apartments, offices, hotel rooms, etc.), as measured by Sound Transmission Class (STC) ratings. Sound pollution from the outside environment and from across common walls inside multifamily or commercial buildings has become a concern to owners and occupants. Typical approaches to attenuate the sound transmission through conventional walls requires expensive and complicated installation and framing techniques. The standard BamCore Prime Wall significantly reduces sound pollution compared to conventional walls without any enhancements. Acoustic tests from an independent ISO accredited lab demonstrated the superior performance of BamCore’s Prime Wall System in side-by-side tests of a comparable, but conventionally framed, wall as shown in the graph above.
Exterior Sound Sources. Outside sound pollution includes relatively low-frequency sounds that come mostly from cars, trucks, equipment, and planes. The prevalence of these lower frequencies sounds is weighted more heavily in the OITC rating. The standard BamCore exterior Prime Wall (without any finish siding) enjoys an OITC rating of 42, which compares to a conventional 2×6 stud wall of only 32. Because sound loudness is measured on a logarithmic scale and not on an arithmetic scale, this 10-point difference is quite significant and easily perceived. To improve the sound attenuation of a conventional stud wall, expensive and complicated materials and techniques must be added, like double framing with staggered stud placement or difficult to install resilient channels or c-clips between the studs and the gypsum.
Interior Sound Sources. Inside sound pollution includes relatively higher frequency sounds that come mostly from voices, appliances, media and electronic equipment. The STC rating weighs these internal source sounds more heavily. BamCore’s standard interior Prime Wall when clad with a single layer of gypsum on each side achieves a remarkable STC rating of 51, which surpasses the STC 50 required by the building code for typical interior common walls. Often builders and developers will strive for even higher STC ratings on interior common walls to acoustically isolate each apartment or office. Without complicated double framing or difficult-to-install resilient channels, adding just a second layer of gypsum raises the STC of the Prime Wall to 55.