When evaluating flooring underlayment sound deadening and acoustical ratings are one of the things homeowners or hoa considers it all begins with how sound is generated and the medium it transfers through.
R rating sound transmission of floor coverings.
The lowest iic rated floors ceiling assemblies come in at around 25 and the highest rated systems can come in at 85 and up.
The higher the stc rating the better sound isolation the wall assembly is to achieve.
Sound transmission class stc is an integer rating of how well a building partition attenuates airborne sound in the usa it is widely used to rate interior partitions ceilings and floors doors windows and exterior wall configurations see astm international classification e413 and e90.
Sound absorption of floor coverings may be measured on two of those scales.
Sound transmission is rated using three different standards each defining a different way in which sound is transmitted.
The higher the number the better the sound isolation.
Sound transmission class stc is a rating of sound isolation of a building wall assembly.
This is called impact sound transmission.
Floor coverings with a high iic rating help to reduce impact sound transmissions to lower levels thus reducing or eliminating those bothersome noises.
Stc is widely used to rate interior partitions ceilings floors doors and windows.
The third covers room to room transmission more appropriate for walls.
Impact sound complaints are common on floor ceiling assemblies that meet the bare minimum requirement of 50 decibels iic.