Carpets and Acoustics – Textile Flooring as a Perfect Solution for Offices, Hotels and Other Commercial Areas

Whether in a home, at work, eating out or shopping in the city: for many people, strolling around the shops: for many people, what should be fun for us quickly turns into strained nerves and bad mood when it's just too loud.

And that often goes faster than you think! Starting at volumes of 75 decibels (dB), many of our fellow human beings feel uncomfortable. By comparison, a normal conversation is just under 60 dB. A lot of scope is therefore not given for ensuring a quiet background noise. However, having the right flooring can be more influential on your mood than you might expect!

A Silent Floor for Every Room

Finding the right floor for your premises is not just a matter of visual aesthetics. If you want a quiet room, a hard surface floor is not recommended. Although many resort to coverings such as laminate due to its particularly easy laying process and price performance ratio, choosing a click-laminate floor with a floating installation can also have a disadvantage. There is a thin layer of air between the substrate and the floor covering in which sound has the ability to travel through. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that such floors are always laid in combination with footfall sound insulation. But even then, wood is considered an extreme sound conductor and helps to spread the vibrations both vertically and horizontally.

In the area of floor coverings, a distinction is made here between so-called footfall sound and walking/ room sound. The impact sound primarily refers to the sound that is carried to the adjacent rooms, whereas the room sound describes the sound transmission in the room. These include, of course, footsteps, but also music, your own speech or the sound of the TV. If the room sound is poorly isolated, these sounds are not just loud, but above all booming and unpleasant.

Perfect Against Sound – Carpets and Carpet Tiles

When it comes to better room acoustics and sound insulation, carpets and carpet tiles are the favoured option. These have a soft, flexible surface on which sound does not reverberate. What’s more, such flooring absorbs even the sound that is transported in free space. That even applies to noises from the street or the neighbours! Additionally floating installation is even possible since they usually feature a back layer which is also of a textile nature and additionally insulates. Therefore, the type of installation is not so significant when considering sound impacts.

In contrast to hard floor coverings, you do not have to rely on additional footfall sound insulation, especially since the sound reduction of high-quality products usually have better values than a simple, underlying mat. If you want to get everything out of impact sound insulation from your floor, a full-surface bonding of the carpets is recommended. For comparison, to achieve the same result for hard surfaces, you would have to lay a 60cm thick hard floor.

Experience Balsan Confort and Sonic Confort - Innovative Back Coatings for Acoustic Comfort

The French producer Balsan distinguishes itself from the crowd and impresses with innovative textile backings that focus on barefoot comfort. Here, the company differentiates once more between its wide sheet goods and its products in tile form, in order to precisely meet the needs in the various rooms.

Balsan les Green & Balsan Signature Pamper with the Practical Confort + Back

Balsan Signature, come standard with the high-quality Confort + back. This is made of 100% recycled polyester. This not only feels pleasantly soft, but it is also resource-saving and environmentally friendly. The back combines the advantages of a classic foam back with those of a double back. This makes it easier to lay the web goods but also remove them again and has a longer life. With a weight of 300g/ m², it offers a pleasant tread surface in addition to the wear layer. The Confort + back achieves a partial reduction in impact sound of 26dB - 33dB.

This fits in perfectly with the noble Balsan Les Greens, with its soft surface made of soft suede. Thanks to its high utility class 23 or 32 for the commercial sector, this floor is perfect for your home, as well as smaller commercial areas. With the large range of 50 variants, you can design your space to your liking. This product has an impact sound of up to 29dB!

Balsan Signature, on the other hand, can be used everywhere with a high use class 33. This is ideal for the commercial sector since its industrial wheelchair suitability and other features make it the perfect companion in the office, where constant phone calls and other noises can quickly lead to a lack of concentration. This collection has a selection of 28 decors.

All other collections can be equipped with the Confort + back on request!

With the Sonic Confort You can get High Quality Carpets Yourself!

Selected collections, such as Balsan Bolero, Stoneage and Pilote² were equipped with the strong Sonic Confort, a double textile backing, which ensures a pleasant rest. Here, the eco-friendly felt layer of 80% recycled polyester fibers is applied to a first step. Above all, as always, the soft textile layer has great sound absorption.

Balsan Stoneage and Pilote², with their surface structure made of high-quality loop fabric, are designed especially for heavily frequented objects, where you benefit particularly from loose laying. Thanks to the double back, the layer of air underneath is barely noticeable, so you can count on sound reduction from 24 dB to 26 dB.

You can get even more footfall sound insulation with the Balsan Bolero collection, which reduces footfall sound by as much as 27 dB. Although you can also use this product with its use class 32 for medium commercial use, it is also suitable in your home thanks to the luxury class 4 and the soft crimp surface.

The Sound Insulated Foam Back of the Carpet Tiles of Milliken

For carpets with a high sound absorption, you should also take a look at the manufacturer Milliken. This is based on a foam backing, which consists of up to 85-90% recycled materials, which also makes this back ecologically sustainable. As a result, the Milliken Laylines collection, for example, achieves incredible reductions in impact sound of 30 dB. The stylish antistatic equipment and chair roll suitability is therefore considered an excellent choice for commercial premises.

Despite impressive values, the company tops its own products. For example, Milliken Formwork achieves a soundproofing improvement of 34 dB and, thanks to its anti-microbial treatment, is particularly suitable for sensitive allergy sufferers. But nothing beats the foam backing ComfortPlus® by Milliken Juxtapose. The combination of high flammability, industrial wheelchair suitability, comfortable underfloor heating and a high usage class make these carpet tiles a real all-rounder. Particularly impressive is the 37 dB strong impact sound improvement of the modular layouts, which you will otherwise receive with hardly any product!

Discover the Large Selection of Noise Reducing Flooring Now at BRICOFLOR!

As you can see, you are offered all sorts of opportunities when you are out to be surrounded by complete tranquillity. While our carpets and carpet tiles are particularly suitable for this, you will also find a large selection of hard floors with great sound insulation. Discover our wide range now and order today!

Thank you and see you next time!

Your team from BRICOFLOR!