Browse Forums Building Standards; Getting It Right! 1 Nov 27, 2008 9:40 am I live on the ground floor of a six-unit strata building in Sydney, built in 1937. Using a tradesperson, the neighbour directly above us installed timber floors throughout their entire unit during renovations earlier this year. Are these floor renovations subject to BCA standards pertaining to noise-reduction? e.g. using an approved acoustic underlay, having an Lntw+C of no more than 62, etc. Our strata by-laws are subjective about noise between units (must not jeopardise 'peaceful enjoyment'), that's why I want to learn if non-subjective BCA standards apply in this case. Any insight is appreciated! Re: Timber floor installation subject to BCA standards? 2Dec 20, 2008 10:56 pm well it was built in 1937, so sound insulation requirements back then are not upto scratch with the requirements these days.
Anyway when assessing sound insulation, the floor is the only assessable bit. Not the floor coverings. Council can enforce building owners to upgrade old buildings to bring them into line with current standards in accordance with Clause 94 of the EPA reg. However, this only applies to fire safety issues. Therefore, there is not much you can do. Well u could install insulation on your roof or negotiate with your neighbour/strata. Re: Timber floor installation subject to BCA standards? 3Dec 21, 2008 4:59 pm I think you would have a better chance of getting things done under the existing Strata laws. This very thing happened to friends of ours and was dealt with by the Strata manager. Of course it all depends on the quality of your strata management company but they do wield quite considerable powers, its just hard to get them to exercise them sometimes.
Even the law talks about "peaceful enjoyment" so its not really that fluffy a concept. Re: Timber floor installation subject to BCA standards? 4Mar 28, 2009 8:02 pm I'd chase it up through strata and put the pressure on! Other issues are whether the owner/occupier submitted their proposal to the Owners Corporation for approval. While installing flooring might not require council approval, because it's a strata title, by-laws need to be adhered to, as has already been mentioned. I remember our strata laws mentioned the requirement to "place rugs or other soft floor coverings over hard floor surfaces to minimise disturbance to other occupants" or somesuch... Over the years I've heard of many by-law issues and they all take a very long time to resolve (I suppose in the end it comes down to how effective the strata managers are). My previous neighbour (when I lived in a unit years ago) was renovating when I purchased, and installed tiles throughout, and also partially knocked out a wall to enlarge a doorway into an archway in their ground floor unit. I asked the Strata Manager whether the neighbour had requested approval and whether the wall was structural, and the Strata Manager freaked out, however I never heard anymore about it. The scraping of furniture all day and night as they dragged chairs around was very loud as it transferred straight through the tiles, to the timber floorboards below (which I expect would've continued under the wall into my unit). There were also other unrelated issues with kids playing in stairwells, loud music, rubbish left outside unit doors etc etc etc. Any issues I raised with strata managers seemed to be put on the bottom of the pile, and the same issues were discussed at every strata meeting for years without resolution... Being the chairperson of the Owners Corporation didn't seem to have any weight, either. My lesson learned: never live in a strata-title complex ever again! Thanks Simon, I guess I'm no concerned with the volume of the noise rather that dead and hollow sound and feel that is associated with floating floors. But I'm not sure… 3 6085 Building Standards; Getting It Right! Don't think they are designed for double brick. WA has a particular way of building and unfortunately that's the way a large amount of sills are finished. 3 6986 I believe this is correct. From the picture you can see the power was put in last so the electrician knew where the water was. Really it's a common sense issue more… 4 5139 |