The high acoustic performance of aluminium joinery
While the aluminium verandas, windows and sliding glass doors are renowned for their excellent thermal performance, their sound insulation deserves the same attention. Indeed, thermal insulation and acoustic insulation are inseparable in order to offer optimal living comfort inside the home.
However, as with the thermal issue, the acoustic issue can be complex to understand and digest. Since 1969, France has had regulations designed against noise pollution. The New Acoustic Regulations (NRA) entered in force and it specifies the acoustic attenuation of the different equipment based on their material, their position on the building, and the configuration of the external environment.
Acoustic insulation, why?
Today, more than half of French people living in towns and cities complain about noise pollution, particularly from the outside. In rural areas, there are also many sources of disturbance: highways, air traffic, agricultural machinery, etc.
This noise pollution is the source of many negative effects on well-being and health, particularly among young children. They can cause or aggravate stress, sleep disorders, migraines or even heart disease.
How does noise pollution spread?
Noise pollution is nothing other than sounds, coming from inside or outside the building. All sounds are propagated by vibration, first in the air, but also in the surrounding materials. We are talking about a sound wave. Depending on its ability to vibrate, its molecular structure and its thickness, each medium is more or less permeable to certain wavelengths.
The shortest wavelengths correspond to high-pitched sounds, and the longest wavelengths to low-pitched sounds. The latter usually have longer propagation distance, which explains why one can be bothered by the thud of a distant motorway or by aircraft flying at high altitude.
However, the intensity of the sounds, and thus the nuisances, does not depend solely on their wavelength, but rather on their emission power and their distance from the receiver. It is measured in decibels, or dB.
An update on acoustic insulation
By definition, acoustic insulation isolates a room or a house from external noise pollution by attenuating the decibels perceived by the residents. The principle of acoustic insulation is to restrict the propagation of sound between two environments, here the outside and the inside of the house.
To do this, the insulating materials create an intermediate environment, between the interior and the exterior of the house. By carefully selecting the materials used, their thickness and their arrangement, it is therefore possible to extenuate or stop the propagation of sound vibrations, and therefore to stop the noise nuisance.
According to the RNA, the minimum sound attenuation of a facade must always be 30 dB. This corresponds to the portion of the sound coming from outside that is absorbed by the facade.
Insulation of Aluminium Joinery
The sliding door, verandas and glass extensions of the house are now integrated into the living spaces. They must therefore be insulated in the same way as the rest of the house. As with thermal insulation, joinery usually represents the weak point of the facade sound insulation. This is because they are movable elements, and above all much thinner than walls.
Ensuring good acoustic insulation of windows requires working on both frames and glazing. Unlike walls, which can accommodate several layers of insulating material, it is only possible to vary the thickness of glass and structures to a certain extent.
The sound insulation of windows, large glass doors and verandas require more technical expertise and therefore a particularly careful design. The internal arrangement of the materials plays an essential role in the absorption of sound waves. The window frames can be made of especially sound-proof materials. The asymmetrical double glazing, using two different thicknesses of glass, can also attenuate a wider spectrum of different wavelengths.
Depending on the selected materials, it is possible to obtain a noise attenuation of around 40 dB for complex joinery, especially the aluminium!
The advantages of customised aluminium joinery in terms of acoustic insulation
In all circumstances, the use of customised aluminium joinery ensures optimum performance in terms of acoustic insulation.
The high malleability of the material makes it suitable for all projects. The correct arrangement of the different glass elements, and a design that takes into account the external environment, contribute greatly to the reduction of noise pollution.
The aluminium profiles designed by Installux incorporate insulating technologies that considerably reduce heat transmission and sound conductivity. The thinness of aluminium makes it possible to reduce the size of the frames, and therefore the of exchange areas with the outside that need to be insulated.
Finally, aluminium joinery accepts all types of glazing optimised for excellent acoustic insulation, particularly asymmetrical double glazing.