Aboriginal communities offered housing solutions
Understanding acoustics before the project begins
Aboriginal communities offered housing solutions
Native Journal recently spoke with Art New, President of Showhomes Canada, to find out what they were offering Aboriginal communities.
NJ: Art, how can you build and deliver new homes in 60-90 days when I’ve heard that other builders are taking up to a year?
Art New: Because Showhomes Canada represents two of the largest independent manufactured housing dealers in Western Canada; A-1 Manufactured Homes and Best Buy Homes. These two dealers are able to draw on four different manufactured housing plants in order to meet tight delivery deadlines. Showhomes Canada is the link between Aboriginal communities, these two dealers and their four factories.
NJ: What do people like most about your homes?
Art New: I would say, without a doubt, that they like the open feeling of the homes. They are amazed at the feeling of spaciousness when they walk in. I believe that the 8’ walls and cathedral ceilings contribute to this feeling. But they also comment that they really like the 8’ walls in all the other rooms as well.
NJ: All your advertising recommends larger homes. Why do you think that larger homes are so important?
Art New: This is what people have told us at the Band level, that many Aboriginal families are large and therefore need more bedrooms, more private space, and especially two bathrooms. In fact, all of our homes come with two full bathrooms, except for our very smallest model.
NJ: I can see how two bathrooms can be popular.
Art New: Yes, imagine if you are the smallest person in a large family, trying to get into one bathroom. Good luck! At least with two bathrooms, you stand a fighting chance.
NJ: But don’t large homes cost a lot more money?
Art New: Yes, and no. For example, our 1440 sq. ft. home, let’s say, delivered to Regina costs $105,900 or $74 per sq. ft. Now, our smaller, 1248 sq. ft. home costs $99,900 which is $6,000 less or $80 per sq. ft. Therefore, if we do the math, the extra 192 sq. ft. only costs $31 per sq. ft. That is why I would say that the extra bedroom and extra space is well worth this small extra cost.
NJ: That’s interesting. I always thought that the larger the home, the more it would cost.
Art New: This is generally true with stick built houses. However, when you build a house in a factory, you use an assembly line in much the same way that your truck is built. If you had a stick built truck, so to speak, the price would probably double or triple. What I’m saying here is that the factory process allows us to build a much larger house at a very reasonable price.
NJ: You’re saying bigger is better, but won’t it cost more to heat?
Art New: No, I don’t believe it will, because our insulation is for northern climates. We have built in, at a standard cost, the Northern Insulation Package which gives R-44 in the ceilings, R-22 in the walls and R-30 in the floors. In addition, the homes have high efficiency furnaces with built in humidistats. This is coupled with low E windows. Our homes also have above average construction methods which means you won’t have the air leaks that usually come with other homes.
NJ: But don’t you need a turn-over of air to prevent mould?
Art New: Yes, you do and that is why our homes have high efficiency furnaces with their own humidistats. It draws air from the outside, heats that air and circulates the air in the home. In addition, each bathroom has an automatic humidistat, so as soon as the humidity reaches a certain level, the automatic humidistat goes on without anyone having to switch it on.
NJ: You keep referring to your Superior models as a “big bang for your buck”. What do you mean by that?
Art New: When I talk about the Superior model being the “biggest bang for your buck” in Western Canada, I mean that the Superior model provides many features which come as part of our base price. With most other builders, most of these features are options and cost extra above their base price.
NJ: Can you give me a few examples?
Art New: Well, actually, we have about 25 features that are included in our base price. Here are a few of the main ones:
- 8’ walls throughout home;
- Cathedral ceilings in living room, dining room and kitchen;
- OSB on both exterior and interior sides of outside walls;
- 12’ web truss floor joists systems which allows the homes to be placed on a basement or on blocks and, of course;
- the Northern Insulation Package
NJ: How do you guarantee quality construction?
Art New: All of our homes have a built in quality control system. What I mean is that our factories are CSA (Canadian Standards Association) approved. This means that they are subject to third party inspectors and if they do not meet CSA standards, as well as the local provincial building code, then the factory can be shut down. All of this to say, that our homes are built at an A-277 code level which meets, or often in our case, exceeds Canada’s National Building Code. This also means of course that these homes are eligible for CMHC financing.
Understanding sound and "noise" control before the project begins
It will usually save time, money, and many headaches to consider the acoustical needs of a project during the design phase. The wait-and-see approach to acoustics can be detrimental and potentially significantly more expensive.
Acoustical materials perform one of two acoustical functions. They either absorb (or diffuse) sound, or they block its transmission. Therefore, one must determine: is the goal to control noise and the acoustical environment within a room, or to reduce the transmission of sound from one room to another? Quite often both objectives need to be met. For example, speech intelligibility (sound absorption) is very important in a board room. Equally important, is blocking the information in the board room from being heard outside (blocking sound transmission).
What is considered to be "noise" is quite subjective because what is disturbing and unacceptable to one person or a particular room application, may be acceptable to another.
The human ear is able to hear from 0 to 130 decibels (the average pain threshold). This range of sensitivity is comparable to a bathroom scale capable of measuring from 1 ounce to 300 million tons, which helps demonstrate the challenges involved in effective noise control and acoustics. The hearing range of the human ear is from 20 to 20,000 Hz, with the upper range decreasing with age while the frequency range of speech is 125 to 8000 Hz.. The figures help give one some insight into the complexities of dealing with "simple" sound control issues.
The frequency of a sound wave is dependent on its length. The lower or deeper frequency of 125 Hz has a wavelength of 9 feet. Conversely, a higher frequency of 8000 Hz has a wavelength of 1 3/4 inches. The lower frequency sounds are more difficult to control because of their longer wavelength (think - foghorn !). This is why, when loud music is played in an adjacent room, the high frequencies may be blocked, and you only hear the thumping of the bass.
One must be careful when selecting an acoustic control product based on its NRC alone. NRC tests do not include the values below 250 Hz or above 2000 Hz. therefore two materials may have identical NRC ratings, but very different true absorption characteristics.
Reflection (the occurrence of sound striking one or more surfaces before reaching its receiver) is attributed to the shape of the space, as well as the material on the surfaces within the space and can have unwanted (or even disastrous) consequences to clarity in a given space. Reflective parallel surfaces such as occur in conference rooms, board rooms, school gymnasiums and many classrooms (which often are made into music rooms) and similar premises lend themselves to a unique acoustical problem called flutter echo. This is when sound ricochets back and forth between the same spots on parallel surfaces.
Reverberation (the prolongation of a sound in a room) is caused by continued multiple reflections. In an enclosed space, when a sound source stops emitting sound, it takes some time for the sound to become inaudible. The length of the reverberation needs to be addressed to ensure proper acoustics.
The multiple reflections in reverberant (live) spaces build upon themselves, actually causing the noise level to increase. The more absorption in a room, the more unwanted reverberant noise levels will be controlled however over-treatment may cause a room to become flat or "dead" sounding so a balance must be achieved. A project that has a significant noise source may require several (differing) noise control procedures.
The effects of reverberation time on a given space are crucial to a clarity of music and speech. A reverberation time that is optimum for a music program could be disastrous to the intelligibility of the spoken word. Conversely, a reverberation time that is excellent for speech will cause music to sound "dry" and "flat". The optimum reverberation time is dependent on the use of the space. Reverberation time can be determined through testing in existing spaces or through calculations of a planned space. The amount of absorption material required will depend on its respective NRC as specified by an acoustical consultant.
Sound Absorptive acoustical materials such as FABRILOK® or other are used to reduce the noise level, eliminate unwanted reflections and control the room's reverberation time (typically measured by the NRC of the material used).
Absorption is a quality in materials that combats unwanted reflections. When sound waves strike a material, part of the sound energy is absorbed (essentially converted to heat energy) and part is reflected. All materials absorb some amount of sound energy. This amount is expressed in terms of a Sound Absorption Coefficient (SRC) which is the percentage of sound absorbed by a material at a particular frequency. If a material has a sound absorption coefficient of 0.90 at 1000 Hz, it means that 90 percent of the 1000 Hz sound striking that material is absorbed, and only 10 percent is reflected.
When multiple reflections in a room are reduced through absorption, the noise level of the room is reduced and the degree of reduction is relative to the amount of absorption material used and its NRC (Noise Reduction Coefficient). The NRC equals the average of SRCs (at 250, 500, 1000, 2000 Hz.) . Depending upon the use of the room, reflective parallel surfaces may cause flutter echo and this ricocheting effect of sound and other occurring multiple reflections must be considered and can be treated by changing the shape of the room and/or by adding absorption. (It is noteworthy that reducing the noise levels within a space through the use of absorption material will also reduce the noise level available to be transmitted through the walls thereby somewhat reducing transmission to other spaces.)
Sound reflections caused by domed or cylindrical spaces are some of the most acoustically challenging. Although reflections themselves are often desired in musical spaces or to add in voice projection, concave surfaces (especially domes) focus the sound, resulting in an area with an annoying over-abundance of reflections and leaves the remaining spaces without enough reflection to enhance the music. A surface treatment such as FABRILOK® is one of the few acoustical products than can be installed to accurately conform to a desired shape, while maintaining the aesthetic integrity of such a feature.
Sound Transmission Class (STC) information has some limitations and must also be utilized with caution. It is roughly the combination of the Transmission Loss values for the product at the various frequencies. However, it ignores frequencies at the extremes, which can result in some walls which show high STC ratings that may not block low frequencies well at all. Construction procedures also greatly affect a system's ability to block sound, resulting in lower STC values in the field than in the lab. For instance even a very small air gap can significantly degrade the acoustical integrity of a wall. More complex multi-layered systems tend to have higher STC ratings, thus when properly installed, they usually do a better job at attenuating sound between spaces. A single material may block only a specific range of frequencies, while allowing others to pass through virtually unobstructed while a wall construction composed of several different materials may have the ability to block a larger range of frequencies.
The following is a list of common errors made in acoustical design:
- Acoustical ceiling tiles are designed to be absorptive. When painted without proper acoustical considerations, sound reflects off the paint, degrading the tiles' ability to absorb sound.
- It is a common myth that carpet is highly absorptive. Carpet can do an excellent job of reducing impact noise caused by footsteps, but it has a low absorption coefficient compared to other acoustical materials. For example, a newly constructed Performing Center was designed with a dome. During the construction, the owners were assured by the architect that "when the carpet is installed the acoustical problem will be solved." The carpet installation did not solve the problem and the architect was fired from the remaining five projects.
- Fabric by itself is not an effective absorber.
- The difference between Noise Reduction Coefficient (NRC) and Sound Transmission Class (STC) is often confused. Just because a material has a high NRC rating does not mean it will have a high STC rating. Usually the opposite is true.
- Be careful when using manufacturers' published NRC ratings. Be sure that frequency ranges and mounting procedures are applicable, for accurate comparisons.
This article has been provided by The GWP WALLWORKS GROUP INC. a full service company providing Noise Control, Acoustic and Architectural Specialty systems worldwide. (www.wallworks.com).