Metropolitan Floors is challenging acoustic rating requirements in condominiums. The Toronto, Canada-based manufacturer and distributor warns that increasingly demanding Impact Insulation Class (IIC) standards are often unattainable in real-world conditions. The company aims to educate industry stakeholders about the gap between laboratory test results and actual building performance.

“Over the years, Metropolitan Floors has witnessed the rise of unrealistic acoustic requirements from condos and strata boards,” said Dave Sandover, president of Metropolitan Floors. “Originally, acoustic ratings were developed from lab-tested environments that closely replicated real-world conditions to provide accurate results.”

Central to this issue is the importance of underlayment, the layer of material placed directly beneath the floor that absorbs and reduces noise. This is vital in multi-level buildings. 

"We used to see legitimate numbers around the high 50s IIC, (Impact Insulation Class) which was expected based on the common building constructions like concrete or wood frame structures," said Mike Sahli, technical services manager of Metropolitan Floors. “It’s important to recognize that developers continue to use realistic ratings,” he added.

Demand for underlays with higher and higher IIC ratings is a constant challenge in the flooring industry. Unrealistic expectations based on a fundamental misunderstanding of what is required on site to achieve a high (60, 70 or 80) IIC is driving the problem, the company said.

“Ten years ago stratas were publishing bylaws that required much lower IIC ratings,” said Chris Maskell, CEO of National Floor Covering Association of Canada. “Fast forward to today and we are seeing numbers as high as 80 in Ontario."

In recent years, regulations from condo boards and councils have started demanding acoustic ratings that are not achievable in typical construction design. Metropolitan Floors said the numbers are "often impossible to meet without highly specific and costly building materials that are not used in everyday construction."

“If you are in the market for an acoustical underlay and you find one with a high enough IIC rating, check the test standard under which it achieved that rating," Maskell said. "Without a standard you have nothing to compare it to."

Developers use realistic ratings in their specifications based on the construction of a building. However, once the building is complete, condo boards are often approached by manufacturers promising unachievable acoustic values through various floor covering systems, Metropolitan Floors said. These unrealistic expectations can result in homeowners being misled, causing frustration when their real-world conditions fail to match the promised lab results.

"The problem started over two decades ago when some underlay manufacturers began generating really high ratings in lab settings which led to a 72 IIC becoming condo requirements,” Sahli said. “As a result, standards shifted, requiring increasingly unattainable acoustic values.

Metropolitan Floors said it's on a mission to educate the industry and the public that lab tests allow you to achieve almost anything, but they do not translate into the real world. True standards do exist and developers want strata councils to get back to using real numbers.

“Ultimately, it’s about being honest with consumers, condo boards, and developers about what can be achieved,” Sandover said. “We want to lead the industry in ensuring that homeowners get accurate information and that the systems they invest in deliver what’s promised.”