Energy efficiency still commands the headlines, but should we also be focusing on the acoustic properties of windows and doors? We report.

We have seen a seismic shift since the start of the coronavirus pandemic to a greater focus on the home, which resulted in a surge in demand for home improvement projects.

Lockdown meant that people were literally staring at their walls for most of the day, but it also meant a re-evaluation of the work-life balance for many. Since then, many have chosen to work from home when they can, which has resulted in the necessary adjustments in their properties.

Primarily, these were about redressing the lack of space, and home improvement companies reported a spike in interest for loft conversions, conservatories, orangeries, and extensions. But homeowners also saw the need to improve what was already there, since more time was being spent in the home, and this included bringing thermal performance up to standard as well as aesthetics.

“Thermal performance, whether in domestic retrofits or in commercial residential developments, has been the key focus for anyone specifying window and door products for over 20 years now,” says AW Louvers managing director, Wayne Irvine. “Part L of the Building Regulations has been continually tightened to drive this, and latest revisions in June this year came with the warning that U-values will continue to drop dramatically.

“What hasn’t had the same amount of attention given to it, despite the effect it has on people’s health, is acoustics.”

Wayne argues that in the rush to tighten U-values – helped along by the unfolding climate emergency and rocketing energy prices – less thought was given to the importance the acoustic properties of products.

“The revisions to Part F of the Building Regulations, which came into effect at the same time as the revisions to Part L, increased the likelihood that more background noise could enter a property,” Wayne adds. “This was an oversight, and not an issue that was properly considered.

“In the months and weeks leading up to the June 15 – when the revised regulations were due to take effect – the discussion in the trade press and on social media centred on how trickle ventilators would weaken windows’ thermal performance, and not their acoustic performance.”

Wayne says that now more people are spending more time in the home, the poor acoustic properties of windows and doors are going to come under greater scrutiny.

“People are choosing to spend more time in the home for a number of reasons,” Wayne says, “but comfort is certainly going to be high on that list. If their property has been fitted with non-acoustic trickle ventilators, then their working-from-home experience is going to be severely disrupted, especially if they live in an urban environment.

“Significantly, while thermal performance gets all the attention, measuring it after installation is not easy. Poor acoustic performance on the other hand is – you quickly find out if your new windows are letting the sound in.”

The SSH 2500EA acoustic trickle ventilator from AW Louvers is a market leader product for trickle ventilators. It has a slot height of just 11mm and can provide a sound reduction of 46Dnew in one acoustic model in open position, and 48Dnew with two acoustic models in open position.

“It’s important the ventilation specifications reflect the sound reduction in the open position, not the closed position, because you only get ventilation in the open position,” Wayne says. “The performance levels in the closed position are somewhat academic.

“But by specifying an acoustic product, such as the SSH 2500EA acoustic trickle ventilator, then you are helping to create properties that people will want to spend more time in. You are also less likely to receive call backs from homeowners unhappy that homes are not as peaceful as they anticipated.”