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Perimeter Isolation Strips: What Are They & How Do You Install Them?

Click Here to Go Straight to the Installation How-To If you’ve ever been in the market for an acoustic underlayment, you’ve probably been reminded to use perimeter isolation strips in conjunction with the mat. And you probably didn’t. It’s okay, you’re not alone.  I’ve come across so many people- from amateur DIY-ers to professional contractors- who don’t think this extra step is necessary or worth the additional cost or effort.  On the contrary, for just a little bit of extra effort and for an additional $0.25 or so per linear foot, you will be safeguarding the effectiveness of your investment in acoustical insulation.  Here’s why you need perimeter isolation strips: Acoustics Question: What’s the speed of sound in air?Answer: 1130 feet per second. That’s fast, right?  But what’s faster is the speed of sound in common building materials!  Once sound gets into the structure of your building, it will be traveling 10-15 times faster than it does through air.  Take a second to consider how fast that is.  When you are having a face-to-face conversation, how would you describe how quickly you hear them?  The word immediately comes to mind for me.  So, if immediate can be used to describe something traveling at 1130 feet per second, what does something traveling at 16,000 feet per second mean?  If you’re in the business of multifamily homes, high turnover, complaints, and even lawsuits might come to mind.  All this is just to show you that structure-borne sound transmission can be incredibly difficult to contain.  So in this case the old adage rings true: (more…)
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{Case Study} Utah Valley University Student Life and Wellness Center

Utah Valley University (UVU), a once small vocational school founded in 1941, has since expanded its mission and focus, growing into a sizeable and respectable university that fosters the education of more than 33,000 students each year. In addition to its focus on academics, UVU also recognizes the importance of recreation and athletics. In order to promote health and wellness on its campus, UVU created its Student Life and Wellness Center (SLWC). Among the SLWC’s expansive list of upgrades are three basketball courts, a climbing wall, fitness areas with cardio and free weights, a bowling alley, an indoor track, game and dance rooms, a massage room, and a reflection center. Construction of the SLWC began in September 2013, and its doors officially opened on April 17, 2014, offering its students, faculty, and staff access to a quality campus recreation facility. As stated in the SLWC’s mission statement, its goal is to “enrich the quality of life for students, faculty, and staff by providing a broad range of recreation, wellness, and student engagement opportunities that complement the academic experience.” “[The SLWC] is a state-of-the-art building,” said Kevin Hirschi, President of Mountain Heights Hardwood, the company involved with supplying the surfacing for this project. Hirschi notes that this building is truly innovative, standing at an impressive four stories tall. One of the main considerations of GSBS Architects and Jacobsen Construction, the two firms involved with SLWC’s construction, was how to reduce sound transmission from the noisy, upper-level athletic arenas to its quiet, (more…)
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Made in USA Certification!

With the rampant supply of lower quality acoustical underlayments being manufactured in other countries, we recently decided to pursue a third party, Made in USA Certification for our line of acoustical underlayments- QT Sound Control and are so happy to announce that QT has been found to be certified as 100% Made in the USA!! For our certification, we chose to use Made in USA Certified®, the nation’s leading 3rd party independent certification source for USA-Country of Origin claims.  Other companies who have also chosen to trust Made in USA Certified® include Walmart and Shop Vac.  The certification process included an in-depth supply chain audit to verify what percentage of the product-from raw materials to packaging supplies- is sourced and processed in the USA.  Once the audit is complete, Made in USA Certified® will award a specific seal, certifying the percentage of components that are assembled and manufactured in the US.  The various levels of certification range from 51% or more to 100%.  ECORE is proud to say that our product was certified 100% Made in USA, meaning that “100% of the product’s components (value) and 100% of the product [is] assembled & manufactured in the US.” PDF View Our Made in USA Certificate Here ECORE’s roots date back to 1869, when GW Dodge formed a cork manufacturing company in New York.  Less than 10 years later, this company was relocated to Lancaster, PA and was renamed Lancaster Cork Company.  Despite the various name-changes and improvements to manufacturing processes since then, ECORE is so proud to still (more…)
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Quiet As Carpet!

We are so excited to share with you the results of a semester-long research study in hospital acoustics conducted by graduating acoustical engineering seniors at the University of Hartford. Students, Adam Paul and David Arena, studied the acoustic benefits of our recycled rubber-backed commercial flooring options and found that ECORE has managed to make a smooth surface flooring as quiet as carpet! They’ve been awarded the 2014 Leo Beranek Student Medal for this work. Kudos to Adam and David! PDF Click Here for ECORE’s Quiet As Carpet White Paper PDF Click Here for ECORE’s Quiet As Carpet Infographic White Paper (more…)
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Need to reach a certain IIC rating? Read this before you contact an acoustic consultant.

This is something that comes up every day in my line of work: IIC [and STC] ratings of floor-ceiling assemblies.  I get calls from homeowners, architects, contractors, developers, product distributors- pretty much anyone involved in flooring whether they’re on the design side, sales side, or construction side.  Almost always, it goes the same way: Customer: I need to reach IIC — (usually it’s a 50 to reach code minimum, but sometimes it’s a 60). Which underlayment should I use? This is where I try my hardest not to sound disinterested or condescending, because I really don’t feel that way- it just requires a conscious effort not to sound robotic when you’ve gotten used to asking the same questions.  Chances are, other acoustic consultants may have a similar experience, so here’s some sound advice to prepare yourself with before you contact an acoustic consultant. IIC and STC ratings are dependent on entire assemblies, not any single element. This means that you’ll need to have all of the details of your floor-ceiling assembly before you can expect real advice from an acoustician.  Ideally you’ll have an architectural drawing calling out each element and it’s thickness in the assembly, but if not, I usually email a list like this for them to fill out: – Floor Finish – Underlayment – Subfloor system (concrete slab?  wood joist?  truss?  spacings, thicknesses, gauges, etc.) – Batt insulation in the ceiling cavity? – Resilient channels? – Ceiling details (material, number of layers, thicknesses?) The science of predicting (more…)

Press Release: Ecore & Pliteq Lawsuit Settled

Ecore, a company that transforms reclaimed waste into unique performance surfaces, has successfully settled a lawsuit against Paul Downey and Pliteq, a business that sells building products for commercial sound control. The lawsuit arose as a result of Pliteq buying Ecore products through third parties and selling those products as its own manufactured product. “We discovered that Paul Downey and Pliteq were having third parties buy our products and having them shipped to a warehouse in Allentown, Pa.,” said Arthur Dodge, III, President and CEO of Ecore. “We learned from an employee of that warehouse that Pliteq was instructing the warehouse to take the Ecore labels off of our products and replace the Ecore labels with labels identifying the products as being manufactured by Pliteq.” Pliteq was simultaneously representing on the Pliteq Web site that the material was manufactured by it in Lancaster, Pa. Once Ecore learned of the relabeling activity, the company initiated a lawsuit against both Downey and Pliteq. A federal judge issued an immediate order requiring Downey and Pliteq to stop the activity of identifying the Ecore manufactured product as being made by Pliteq, which Pliteq agreed to. Ecore’s lawsuit continued and, shortly before trial, Ecore and Pliteq settled. Downey and Pliteq agreed to never engage in the activity of relabeling or representing any of Ecore’s products, including Ecore’s manufactured sound control underlayment, as their own products or implying that Ecore’s products were manufactured by them. “We are pleased to put this matter behind us and ensure (more…)

We Made the Cover!

Check us out on the cover of the December 2014 issue of Sound & Vibration magazine!  It’s an image of Ecore Commercial Flooring’s Forest rx getting ready to be tested at the Architectural Testing/Intertek lab in York, PA for Impact Insulation Class and Sound Transmission Class (ASTM E492, E90).  Pictured in the photo is our friend and ATI/Intertek Project Manager, Jordan Strybos, recent graduate of the University of Hartford. (more…)

Not all rubber underlayments are created equal

In 2007, our company went from being Dodge-Regupol, Inc. to Ecore International, LLC. Today in 2014, we are still facing many challenges related to this change. Ecore Acoustics, in particular, has been trying to clear up the confusion in the marketplace related to the QT brand of sound control underlayments. Prior to 2007, we (Dodge-Regupol) were the only company manufacturing this form of recycled rubber acoustic underlayments. In 2007, the one brand spawned 2 more competing brands. So today, those in the market for a recycled rubber underlayment will probably have to make a decision between 3 brands, all of which seem very similar: Ecore, Regupol, and Pliteq. I’ve discussed this with many acoustical consultants around the country, and for the most part, they agree that QT, GenieMat, and Regupol Impacta are equivalent products. While we can’t make any claims related to the Regupol or Pliteq brands of underlayments, we can provide information about what sets Ecore QT apart from the others to help you make a more educated decision. Similarities: Composition: recycled rubber Color: black + various color specks Thickness: various options Application: may be used under a wide variety of floor finishes to reduce impact sound transmission What’s unique about Ecore QT? Manufacturing: – Ecore QT is Made in America Certified.  +Read more about this here+. – Ecore continues to manufacture solely out of it’s Lancaster and York facilities in Pennsylvania- just as it did when it was known as Dodge-Regupol.  Our cleaning and processing of the rubber does (more…)

Sound Advice: Sound vs. Noise

It’s something that I did not understand after earning a master’s degree in mechanical engineering with a concentration in acoustics. Neither did I get it during my time working in the noise group at Boeing Commercial Airlines. Even in my first year as an architectural acoustic consultant, I didn’t really get it for a while, much to the chagrin of my boss. It’s the reason for the quotation marks around the word noise above. It’s not complex or difficult, but it is subtle. It’s the difference between “sound” and “noise.” I first took note of this distinction when my old boss would edit my reports.  Almost every time I wrote “noise” she would change it to “sound” and say, “Noise is subjective.”  Initially I thought she was just being nit-picky, but eventually I got it. Take the timeless example of a classical music-loving parent who doesn’t understand their teenager’s taste for loud rock music.  To some, it may be the most epic guitar solo of all time, and yet to others, simply noise. It isn’t always so easy to make the distinction between sound and noise.  In architectural acoustics, a high background sound level might be considered noisy in some cases, or it may have been intentionally designed that way in others. (more…)

{Case Study} The Slate in Omaha, Nebraska

Founded in 1988, the NuStyle Development Corporation (NDC) has undoubtedly transformed and revamped the Omaha, Neb. built environment. Today, just over a quarter century later, the NDC is fully owned and operated by Todd Heistand and his wife, Mary. The NDC is most recognized for its impressive refurbishing of seemingly dilapidated properties in downtown Omaha. Throughout the years, Hesitand and their developers have compiled quite the portfolio of renovated buildings, restoring the historic value of the city and attracting commercial attention to the area. The efforts of the NDC have not gone unnoticed by the city of Omaha. In 2013, Heistand’s company was awarded the Omaha by Design’s Laurels Award, which is presented annually to “the organization or business that has made significant contributions to the creation of great public spaces in the metro.” Amongst the many remarkable buildings restored by the NDC is The Slate on N. 19th Street, featuring 117 units and costing developers $13,035,115 to renovate. In addition to the building’s aesthetically pleasing and rustic living spaces, The Slate also provides its tenants with several amenities, including a rooftop deck, a community area, and a fitness center. NuStyle developers approached ECORE International, a company that transforms reclaimed waste into unique performance surfacing, to suggest flooring options for the fitness center in The Slate. They wanted a flooring system that would prevent weight room noise from traveling to rooms below the fitness area. Choosing to start with a more conservative approach, the developers decided to use approximately 1,300 square-feet of 5-millimeter (mm) QT Sound Control Underlayment (scu), ECORE’s original recycled rubber underlayment, in The Slate’s fitness center. The floor system features a loosely bound shoe thread mat with (more…)