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For projects in San Francisco
HVAC, plant and machine noise control in San Francisco
Noise with a source. Almost every honest fix is at the machine, the duct or the plant room, and almost nothing useful happens by lining the far wall of the occupied space. Packaged rooftop units and ducted forced air are standard, so noise arrives through the duct rather than through the wall. Lining the first three metres of duct and treating the return path is usually the whole job.
- At source
- Enclosure, barrier or anti vibration mounts at the machine.
- In the path
- Duct lining, attenuators and lagging on the first run out of the plant.
- At the receiver
- Only after the first two, and only for what is left.
- Quote
- From a plan and a section, within 48 hours
01 / The material
What you are buying, and what it fixes in San Francisco
Noise with a source. Almost every honest fix is at the machine, the duct or the plant room, and almost nothing useful happens by lining the far wall of the occupied space.
Packaged rooftop units and ducted forced air are standard, so noise arrives through the duct rather than through the wall. Lining the first three metres of duct and treating the return path is usually the whole job.
Work reaching us from San Francisco is mostly victorian conversions, tech offices, apartments, studios, restaurants, clinics.
- Timber Victorians Light framed, over a century old, and divided into flats. Low frequency passes easily and footfall travels straight down.
- Depth costs real money At local rates a wall growing into the room is a significant number. A dense thin membrane usually beats a thicker framed build-up on total cost.
- Designed to move Seismic detailing requires junctions that stay flexible, so the acoustic layer must not stiffen across them.
- At source Enclosure, barrier or anti vibration mounts at the machine.
Full specification
Thickness, density, NRC by frequency, fire class, standard sizes and build-up detail for HVAC and plant noise control are on the main product page. This page covers what that means for a project in San Francisco.
02 / The build-up
The build-up, layer by layer
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Layer 1
Soundproofing materials
The blocking side of the range taken together: mass loaded vinyl, resilient layers, cavity absorption and the build-ups they belong in. In San Francisco, packaged rooftop units and ducted forced air are standard, so noise arrives through the duct rather than through the wall. Lining the first three metres of duct and treating the return path is usually the whole job.
Resilient bar. Where a full independent leaf will not fit. Effective, and very easy to short circuit with one wrong screw.
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Layer 2
Wood wool acoustic panels
Wood fibre bound into a rigid board with an open texture. In San Francisco, churches, school gyms and multipurpose halls double as performance spaces, which means a room designed for neither speech nor music has to carry both.
With a porous backing. Board over mineral backing where the room needs more than the board alone gives.
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Layer 3
Acoustic foam and BassBloc
Open cell foam shapes for high frequency control, and BassBloc, a high density absorber built for the low mid range where ordinary foam does nothing. In San Francisco, public school buildings run long corridors with hard floors and lay-in tile ceilings that were chosen for cost, not for speech. Classroom reverberation and corridor spill are the two complaints, and both respond to ceiling area rather than wall panels.
Behind a fabric frame. Where the room has to look finished, absorber inside a frame rather than foam on show.
For a San Francisco practice, the useful thing is a detail you can put in a drawing set, not a brochure. See how we support architects.
03 / Local conditions
What the buildings in San Francisco do to the specification
- Timber Victorians
Light framed, over a century old, and divided into flats. Low frequency passes easily and footfall travels straight down.
- Depth costs real money
At local rates a wall growing into the room is a significant number. A dense thin membrane usually beats a thicker framed build-up on total cost.
- Designed to move
Seismic detailing requires junctions that stay flexible, so the acoustic layer must not stiffen across them.
- Oakland is close
A short road leg after the port keeps landed cost and timing predictable.
- Plant and HVAC
Packaged rooftop units and ducted forced air are standard, so noise arrives through the duct rather than through the wall. Lining the first three metres of duct and treating the return path is usually the whole job.
04 / Room by room
What each space in a San Francisco project needs
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At source
Enclosure, barrier or anti vibration mounts at the machine. Light framed, over a century old, and divided into flats. Low frequency passes easily and footfall travels straight down.
- Wood wool acoustic panels, 1200 x 600 mm
- Acoustic foam and BassBloc, 20 mm
- Ceiling baffles and clouds, Made to the drawing, standard and custom
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In the path
Duct lining, attenuators and lagging on the first run out of the plant. At local rates a wall growing into the room is a significant number. A dense thin membrane usually beats a thicker framed build-up on total cost.
- Wood wool acoustic panels, 20 mm
- Acoustic foam and BassBloc, 100 kg per cubic metre
- Ceiling baffles and clouds, Both faces work, which is why suspended area outperforms the same area laid flat
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At the receiver
Only after the first two, and only for what is left. Seismic detailing requires junctions that stay flexible, so the acoustic layer must not stiffen across them.
- Wood wool acoustic panels, 400 kg per cubic metre
- Acoustic foam and BassBloc, 100 to 500 Hz
- Ceiling baffles and clouds, ASTM C423
Designers get colour, pattern and CNC options with the absorption figure attached to each. See how we work with interior designers.
04 / Climate
Durability in San Francisco, before acoustics is discussed
San Francisco is mild summers and cold, wet winters, and that narrows the material list before acoustics is discussed.
Cold external walls and long heating seasons make condensation behind a lining the thing to design out. PET felt is unaffected by damp air.
The failure we design against here is condensation and cold bridging behind new linings.
Where a consultant is already engaged on a San Francisco 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
The six errors that cost the most
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Absorption on the office wall for a plant room problem
Noise with a source is fixed at the source. Treating the receiving room is the expensive way to get a small result.
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Lagging a duct that is carrying the noise as breakout from the fan
Noise with a source is fixed at the source. Treating the receiving room is the expensive way to get a small result.
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Ignoring structure borne vibration through the mounts
This is the one that comes back as a second fit-out rather than a snag.
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Treating it as a generic San Francisco job
Light framed, over a century old, and divided into flats. Low frequency passes easily and footfall travels straight down.
05 / Logistics
Getting it to San Francisco, with real dates
| Ships from | Palwal, Haryana, India |
|---|---|
| Arrives at | Oakland, then a short road run across the bay |
| Dispatch | 4 to 7 working days |
| Freight | Sea via Oakland |
| 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 Oakland, then a short road run to site. Air freight for samples and urgent quantities.
Questions from San Francisco projects
What makes HVAC, plant and machine noise control different in San Francisco?
Packaged rooftop units and ducted forced air are standard, so noise arrives through the duct rather than through the wall. Lining the first three metres of duct and treating the return path is usually the whole job. Light framed, over a century old, and divided into flats. Low frequency passes easily and footfall travels straight down.
Where should the budget go first on a San Francisco project?
At source. Enclosure, barrier or anti vibration mounts at the machine. In the path. Duct lining, attenuators and lagging on the first run out of the plant.
Do you have an office or installation team in San Francisco?
No. We manufacture in India and supply into San Francisco. 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 San Francisco site?
ships from: Palwal, Haryana, India, arrives at: Oakland, then a short road run across the bay, 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?
Absorption on the office wall for a plant room problem. Lagging a duct that is carrying the noise as breakout from the fan.
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.