Specialty Doors has unveiled new acoustic doors and panels designed for commercial and defence projects, targeting rising demand for compliant building solutions.
Australian door manufacturer Specialty Doors is set to release a new range of acoustic doors and panels for the commercial construction industry. The product range is designed to meet a growing demand for acoustic compliance in the Australian market, with the potential to offer best in category products for international projects.
The range includes acoustic panels, doors and entry systems, with a focus on security standards compliant with SCEC. Director Marcus Bastiaan believes Australian manufacturers have an opportunity to develop class leading products as part of Australia’s defence big build.
“Defence projects demand suppliers to prove performance, and rewards manufacturers who put the effort into developing products,” he said.
Testing has been done during development with support from acoustic consultants and the building industry. Bastiaan believes the challenge for acoustic products is finding performance improvements without always relying on increasing density.
“During product development, our focus has been to avoid relying on mass law and instead looking at introducing material mixes, which complimented panel performance rather than continually adding more weight,” he said.
Specialty Doors has three separate products to meet RW ratings 35, 40 and 48. Each of the product categories have door panels and fixed panels, which can be combined to acoustically insulate various spaces. Through the development process the company has continued to refine the product design to improve performance and make installation easier for site trades.
“These are engineered products, which must be installed millimetre perfect to ensure performance,” said Bastiaan. “Often site carpenters are working around issues with floors and ceilings slightly out, being able to account for this at the manufacturing stage is essential to achieve the results.”
Products developed for defence are now finding their way into the residential market with a growing demand for acoustic-rated doors in domestic projects.
“We are regularly seeing acoustic ratings specified in luxury homes, the versatility of our new range means we can wrap the panels in almost any finish. Making what is a commercial door into something beautiful,” said Bastiaan.
Specialty Doors has been manufacturing acoustic rated products for many years, with the company’s earlier range tested by the CSIRO in 2000. In an example of history repeating the new range is scheduled for similar lab-based testing by the CSIRO in the middle of the year. Bastiaan reflected on the journey the company has gone on to design and develop the products.
“Getting positive, site-based acoustic tests from consultants like Marshall Day is very positive, but that final tick from the CSIRO gives us a market-leading product. Our development team has put the work in over several years and we are excited to offer the product to the market,” he said.
The test at the audio secure area was carried out by Marshall Day Acoustics engineer in accordance with ISO 16283-1:2014 Acoustics – Field measurement of sound insulation in buildings and of building elements- Part 1: Airborne sound insulation. The target between two small meeting rooms and the corridor was 40 dB Dw. There is no airlock to those rooms, therefore the sound insulation rating was dependent on the performance of the door. Initially, the doors required adjustments to improve the setting and seals. Following all adjustments, a 41 dB Dw rating was achieved on both tests.
In MDAs experience, doors are the weak link to audio secure areas and other rooms requiring a high level of sound insulation. Acoustically rated doors require very careful installation and fine tuning of the perimeter and threshold seals to maintain the rated performance.
The product range is currently being supplied to commercial projects through Specialty Doors network of resellers, while sister business Specialty Acoustics works directly with acoustic consultants on defence projects.
.png){kind=small}
.JPG)
