For projects in Colombia
Hospital and healthcare acoustics in Colombia
Two duties at once: privacy where confidential conversations happen, and a lower noise floor where people are trying to rest. Hygiene and cleanability rule out a lot of products before acoustics is even discussed. Split units with condensers on facades and in light wells, running through a mild year round climate.
- Consulting room privacy
- Speech privacy between rooms, which is partition, door and ceiling void work.
- Ward noise floor
- Alarms, trolleys and staff conversation in hard corridors. Absorption at the ceiling.
- Cleanability
- Non shedding, non absorbent surfaces that survive a cleaning regime.
- Quote
- From a plan and a section, within 48 hours
01 / The material
What this material is and where it earns its place in Colombia
Two duties at once: privacy where confidential conversations happen, and a lower noise floor where people are trying to rest. Hygiene and cleanability rule out a lot of products before acoustics is even discussed.
Split units with condensers on facades and in light wells, running through a mild year round climate.
Work reaching us from Colombia is mostly offices, apartments, hotels, restaurants, hospitals, schools, studios.
- Concrete and brick construction Walls carry mass. The recurring problem is hard, live interiors and services noise rather than speech through a wall.
- The inland leg is significant The commercial centres are well inland and high up. We quote the port leg and the road leg separately so the programme runs on real dates.
- Growing hospitality sector Hotel and restaurant fit-out is a steady share of enquiries, and those rooms are judged when they are completely full.
- Consulting room privacy Speech privacy between rooms, which is partition, door and ceiling void work.
Full specification
Thickness, density, NRC by frequency, fire class, standard sizes and build-up detail for healthcare acoustics are on the main product page. This page covers what that means for a project in Colombia.
02 / The build-up
The build-up, layer by layer
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Layer 1
PET felt acoustic panels
A rigid non-woven panel pressed from 100% polyester fibre, a large part of it recycled. In Colombia, split units with condensers on facades and in light wells, running through a mild year round climate.
Direct to wall. Panel bonded or mechanically fixed flat to the substrate. Simplest, and the weakest at low frequency.
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Layer 2
Acoustic carpet and rugs
A tile carpet with a dense polyester face on a felt backing. In Colombia, church buildings, event halls and auditoria are hard volumes carrying amplified music at high level.
Zoned. Carpet in the circulation and meeting zones, hard floor elsewhere, so the treatment sits where the noise is made.
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Layer 3
Acoustic panels
The full absorber range rather than one product: plain PET felt, printed felt, grooved panels and fabric finishes, chosen by how the room is used and how it has to look. In Colombia, classrooms are concrete and tile with high ceilings, and covered play areas amplify break time noise.
Mixed finish. Plain felt where it is out of eye line, printed or grooved where it is seen.
We would rather argue about the build-up at design stage than on site. See how we support architects.
03 / Local conditions
What we see driving Colombia briefs
- Concrete and brick construction
Walls carry mass. The recurring problem is hard, live interiors and services noise rather than speech through a wall.
- The inland leg is significant
The commercial centres are well inland and high up. We quote the port leg and the road leg separately so the programme runs on real dates.
- Growing hospitality sector
Hotel and restaurant fit-out is a steady share of enquiries, and those rooms are judged when they are completely full.
- Two coasts to choose from
Cartagena on the Caribbean or Buenaventura on the Pacific, routed to whichever shortens the run to your site.
- Plant and HVAC
Split units with condensers on facades and in light wells, running through a mild year round climate.
04 / Room by room
What each space in a Colombia project needs
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Consulting room privacy
Speech privacy between rooms, which is partition, door and ceiling void work. Walls carry mass. The recurring problem is hard, live interiors and services noise rather than speech through a wall.
- PET felt acoustic panels, 100% PET non-woven, no added binder
- Ceiling baffles and clouds, 9 to 24 mm
- SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl, STC 34, 8.4 kg per sq m
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Ward noise floor
Alarms, trolleys and staff conversation in hard corridors. Absorption at the ceiling. The commercial centres are well inland and high up. We quote the port leg and the road leg separately so the programme runs on real dates.
- PET felt acoustic panels, 9, 12, 18 and 24 mm standard, tolerance plus or minus 5 percent
- Ceiling baffles and clouds, Made to the drawing, standard and custom
- SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl, 12.6 kg per sq m, STC on request
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Cleanability
Non shedding, non absorbent surfaces that survive a cleaning regime. Hotel and restaurant fit-out is a steady share of enquiries, and those rooms are judged when they are completely full.
- PET felt acoustic panels, 4 to 24 mm
- Ceiling baffles and clouds, Both faces work, which is why suspended area outperforms the same area laid flat
- SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl, 5 x 1.2 m, 6 sq m per roll
Designers get colour, pattern and CNC options with the absorption figure attached to each. See how we work with interior designers.
04 / Durability
The Colombia climate decides the material list
Colombia is warm and humid through most of the year, with a long wet season, and that narrows the material list before acoustics is discussed.
Humidity is the deciding factor. PET felt does not absorb moisture, shed fibre or feed mould, which is why it outlasts fabric-wrapped mineral wool in this climate. Wood wool and timber need a ventilated cavity behind them.
The failure we design against here is mould, sagging fabric finishes and swelling in timber.
On a Colombia job with a consultant involved, our part is material that matches the submitted data. See working with acoustic consultants.
06 / Worth knowing
Six mistakes that turn into a second fit-out
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Fabric wrapped products in a clinical area
Plant noise treated as a room problem is the most reliable way to spend a budget and change nothing anyone can hear.
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Absorption used where privacy was the requirement
Nobody has ever achieved speech privacy with a panel. Privacy needs mass, a sealed head detail and a door that actually closes.
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Ceiling void left open above a partition
Square metre for square metre the ceiling is the cheapest result in the room. Skipping it and buying wall panels instead is the most common way to overspend.
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Treating it as a generic Colombia job
Walls carry mass. The recurring problem is hard, live interiors and services noise rather than speech through a wall.
05 / Logistics
Supply into Colombia, start to site
| Ships from | Palwal, Haryana, India |
|---|---|
| Arrives at | Cartagena or Buenaventura, then road inland |
| Dispatch | 4 to 7 working days |
| Freight | Sea via Cartagena |
| Support | Drawings, build-ups, BOQ and material that arrives complete |
Standard items dispatch in 4 to 7 working days. The sea leg from India is long, so plan the full door to door window into the programme. We give real dates, not optimistic ones.
Sea freight into Cartagena or Buenaventura, then road inland. Air freight for samples and urgent quantities.
Questions from Colombia projects
What makes hospital and healthcare acoustics different in Colombia?
Split units with condensers on facades and in light wells, running through a mild year round climate. The commercial centres are well inland and high up. We quote the port leg and the road leg separately so the programme runs on real dates.
Where should the budget go first on a Colombia project?
Consulting room privacy. Speech privacy between rooms, which is partition, door and ceiling void work. Ward noise floor. Alarms, trolleys and staff conversation in hard corridors. Absorption at the ceiling.
Do you have an office or installation team in Colombia?
No. We manufacture in India and supply into Colombia. We give you drawings, build-ups, a BOQ and material that arrives complete, and we will tell you plainly when a job needs a local contractor we cannot be.
How does material get to a Colombia site?
ships from: Palwal, Haryana, India, arrives at: Cartagena or Buenaventura, then road inland, dispatch: 4 to 7 working days. Standard items dispatch in 4 to 7 working days. The sea leg from India is long, so plan the full door to door window into the programme. We give real dates, not optimistic ones.
What goes wrong most often on this kind of project?
Fabric wrapped products in a clinical area. Absorption used where privacy was the requirement.
What do you need from us to quote?
A plan, a section through the critical partition or ceiling, and what the room is for. From that we can give a build-up and a BOQ rather than a price per square foot.
Next step
Drawings in, BOQ and a delivered date out
A plan and a section is enough. We will come back with a build-up, a BOQ and a delivered date, and we will say so if what you are asking for will not work.