For projects in Colombia
Office acoustics and soundproofing in Colombia
Three separate problems get called one problem: speech carrying across an open floor, meeting rooms that leak, and hard rooms that ring. Each has a different answer and mixing them up is how budgets get wasted. Split units with condensers on facades and in light wells, running through a mild year round climate.
- Open plan
- Distraction distance, not reverberation time. Ceiling absorption plus screens at the desk.
- Meeting rooms
- Privacy between rooms. That is partition and door work, not panels.
- Cabins and calls
- Short RT so a call sounds clean. A small amount of well placed absorber.
- Quote
- From a plan and a section, within 48 hours
01 / The product
What this material is and where it earns its place in Colombia
Three separate problems get called one problem: speech carrying across an open floor, meeting rooms that leak, and hard rooms that ring. Each has a different answer and mixing them up is how budgets get wasted.
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.
- Open plan Distraction distance, not reverberation time. Ceiling absorption plus screens at the desk.
Full specification
Thickness, density, NRC by frequency, fire class, standard sizes and build-up detail for office acoustics are on the main product page. This page covers what that means for a project in Colombia.
Office and conference room acoustics Acoustic office screens
02 / The build-up
The stack, in the order it is installed
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Layer 1
Ceiling baffles and clouds
PET felt suspended from the soffit, vertically as baffles or horizontally as clouds. In Colombia, split units with condensers on facades and in light wells, running through a mild year round climate.
Horizontal clouds. Flat rafts over the occupied zone, which also reflect early speech energy back down where it helps.
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Layer 2
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, church buildings, event halls and auditoria are hard volumes carrying amplified music at high level.
Mixed finish. Plain felt where it is out of eye line, printed or grooved where it is seen.
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Layer 3
SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl
A limp, high density sheet that adds mass to a partition, floor or duct without adding depth. In Colombia, classrooms are concrete and tile with high ceilings, and covered play areas amplify break time noise.
Floor, floating. Membrane under a resilient layer and a floating deck, so impact energy is broken before it reaches the slab.
If you are specifying for a Colombia project, we can give you a section, a BOQ and the honest limits of each layer. See how we support architects.
03 / On the ground
What decides the build-up in Colombia
- 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
Space by space, for Colombia briefs
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Open plan
Distraction distance, not reverberation time. Ceiling absorption plus screens at the desk. Walls carry mass. The recurring problem is hard, live interiors and services noise rather than speech through a wall.
- Ceiling baffles and clouds, 100% PET non-woven, the panel family
- Acoustic carpet and rugs, 4 mm
- Acoustic panels, Cut pattern in PET felt, adds visual rhythm without changing the absorber
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Meeting rooms
Privacy between rooms. That is partition and door work, not panels. 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.
- Ceiling baffles and clouds, 9 to 24 mm
- Acoustic carpet and rugs, High density polyester
- Acoustic panels, ASTM C423
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Cabins and calls
Short RT so a call sounds clean. A small amount of well placed absorber. Hotel and restaurant fit-out is a steady share of enquiries, and those rooms are judged when they are completely full.
- Ceiling baffles and clouds, Made to the drawing, standard and custom
- Acoustic carpet and rugs, Felt
- Acoustic panels, 9 to 24 mm, 1220 x 2440 mm standard, up to 2440 x 4270 mm, 1200 to 3600 GSM
Interior designers tend to arrive with the look already decided. We will tell you which finish gets there without losing the acoustics. See how we work with interior designers.
04 / Conditions
What the Colombia climate rules in and rules out
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.
Where a consultant is already engaged on a Colombia project, we supply to their specification and send the test reports rather than describing them. More on working with acoustic consultants.
06 / Read this first
What we watch go wrong on jobs like this
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Lining every wall while leaving the ceiling bare
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 a privacy problem with absorption
Privacy is a transmission problem. Absorption makes the room sound nicer and does not stop anyone hearing through the wall.
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Glass cabins specified without a door and head detail
Soundproofing fails at the gaps, not the materials. One unsealed service penetration can undo a correctly built wall.
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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 / Supply
Getting it to Colombia, with real dates
| 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 office acoustics and soundproofing 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?
Open plan. Distraction distance, not reverberation time. Ceiling absorption plus screens at the desk. Meeting rooms. Privacy between rooms. That is partition and door work, not panels.
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?
Lining every wall while leaving the ceiling bare. Treating a privacy problem with absorption.
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
Send what you have. We will give you a layer by layer build-up, a bill of quantities and a date material lands, and we will flag anything in the brief that will not achieve what you want.