For projects in Prague
Office acoustics and soundproofing in Prague
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. Mechanical ventilation in newer buildings and radiator heating in older stock, so duct noise is a newer problem than it looks.
- 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 / Start here
What you are buying, and what it fixes in Prague
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.
Mechanical ventilation in newer buildings and radiator heating in older stock, so duct noise is a newer problem than it looks.
Work reaching us from Prague is mostly hotel conversions, apartments, production and studio spaces, offices, restaurants, clinics.
- Protected buildings, internal fixes only In the centre you often cannot alter the structure or the facade. The work has to be internal, shallow and ideally reversible, which rules out most thick framed systems.
- Conversions into guest rooms Old buildings divided into hotel rooms and short lets put beds either side of walls that were never separating walls. Door and corridor details cause more complaints than anything else.
- A production city Stages, edit rooms and post production spaces need the shell to isolate before anything else is decided. There is no partial credit on a room like that.
- 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 Prague.
Office and conference room acoustics Acoustic office screens
02 / The build-up
How the layers stack, from the structure inwards
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Layer 1
Ceiling baffles and clouds
PET felt suspended from the soffit, vertically as baffles or horizontally as clouds. In Prague, mechanical ventilation in newer buildings and radiator heating in older stock, so duct noise is a newer problem than it looks.
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
PET felt acoustic panels
A rigid non-woven panel pressed from 100% polyester fibre, a large part of it recycled. In Prague, concert halls, church buildings and civic rooms are long-decay volumes in stone and plaster.
Direct to wall. Panel bonded or mechanically fixed flat to the substrate. Simplest, and the weakest at low frequency.
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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 Prague, school buildings are hard surfaced with long corridors, and gymnasiums double as assembly halls.
Floor, floating. Membrane under a resilient layer and a floating deck, so impact energy is broken before it reaches the slab.
We would rather argue about the build-up at design stage than on site. See how we support architects.
03 / In this market
What we see driving Prague briefs
- Protected buildings, internal fixes only
In the centre you often cannot alter the structure or the facade. The work has to be internal, shallow and ideally reversible, which rules out most thick framed systems.
- Conversions into guest rooms
Old buildings divided into hotel rooms and short lets put beds either side of walls that were never separating walls. Door and corridor details cause more complaints than anything else.
- A production city
Stages, edit rooms and post production spaces need the shell to isolate before anything else is decided. There is no partial credit on a room like that.
- Hard stone, long reverberation
Stone, plaster and tile in tall rooms hold sound for a long time. Speech stops being intelligible well before the room sounds obviously wrong.
- Plant and HVAC
Mechanical ventilation in newer buildings and radiator heating in older stock, so duct noise is a newer problem than it looks.
04 / Room by room
Where the money goes on a Prague project
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Open plan
Distraction distance, not reverberation time. Ceiling absorption plus screens at the desk. In the centre you often cannot alter the structure or the facade. The work has to be internal, shallow and ideally reversible, which rules out most thick framed systems.
- Ceiling baffles and clouds, 100% PET non-woven, the panel family
- Acoustic carpet and rugs, 4 mm
- SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl, STC 34, 8.4 kg per sq m
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Meeting rooms
Privacy between rooms. That is partition and door work, not panels. Old buildings divided into hotel rooms and short lets put beds either side of walls that were never separating walls. Door and corridor details cause more complaints than anything else.
- Ceiling baffles and clouds, 9 to 24 mm
- Acoustic carpet and rugs, High density polyester
- SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl, 12.6 kg per sq m, STC on request
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Cabins and calls
Short RT so a call sounds clean. A small amount of well placed absorber. Stages, edit rooms and post production spaces need the shell to isolate before anything else is decided. There is no partial credit on a room like that.
- Ceiling baffles and clouds, Made to the drawing, standard and custom
- Acoustic carpet and rugs, Felt
- SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl, 5 x 1.2 m, 6 sq m per roll
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 / Climate
The Prague climate decides the material list
Prague is cool and damp, with long heating seasons and cold external walls, and that narrows the material list before acoustics is discussed.
Cold wall build-ups and long heating seasons mean interstitial condensation is a real risk behind any lining. PET felt is unaffected by damp air and will not feed mould where a fabric-faced mineral product would.
The failure we design against here is condensation behind linings in older, poorly insulated stock.
If a consultant has set the target, we will quote against their figures rather than ours, and stay out of the scope they own. More on working with acoustic consultants.
06 / Worth knowing
The six errors that cost the most
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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
A gap undoes the partition it sits in. Sealing is the cheapest line on the quote and the first one to get cut.
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Treating it as a generic Prague job
In the centre you often cannot alter the structure or the facade. The work has to be internal, shallow and ideally reversible, which rules out most thick framed systems.
05 / Getting it there
What the route into Prague actually looks like
| Ships from | Palwal, Haryana, India |
|---|---|
| Arrives at | Hamburg, then rail and road into Prague |
| Dispatch | 4 to 7 working days |
| Freight | Sea via Hamburg |
| Support | Drawings, build-ups, BOQ and material that arrives complete |
Standard items dispatch in 4 to 7 working days. Grooved panels and custom colours take longer, and we say so before you order, not after.
Sea freight into Hamburg, then rail and road into Prague. Air freight for samples and urgent quantities.
Questions from Prague projects
What makes office acoustics and soundproofing different in Prague?
Mechanical ventilation in newer buildings and radiator heating in older stock, so duct noise is a newer problem than it looks. In the centre you often cannot alter the structure or the facade. The work has to be internal, shallow and ideally reversible, which rules out most thick framed systems.
Where should the budget go first on a Prague 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 Prague?
No. We manufacture in India and supply into Prague. 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 Prague site?
ships from: Palwal, Haryana, India, arrives at: Hamburg, then rail and road into Prague, dispatch: 4 to 7 working days. Standard items dispatch in 4 to 7 working days. Grooved panels and custom colours take longer, and we say so before you order, not after.
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
Send a plan and a section, get a real build-up
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.