The rules: Flooring details

and less risky.

New robust standard details

The RSDs were written in response to changes in Part E of the Building Regulations, which are intended to raise the standards of sound insulation in dwellings and habitable buildings. In the Part E consultation document, the government stated that all new homes should be tested to ensure they were complying with tougher standards. Housebuilders collectively balked at the idea. They claimed that testing would be expensive and time-consuming, and they feared having to carry out extensive work on hundreds of homes if sample dwellings failed testing.

After lobbying by the HBF, the government agreed to give housebuilders a year to prove that they were capable of building robust floor and wall details without the need for testing. The HBF has spent the past nine months designing and testing new separating wall and flooring details that they felt would comply with the tough standards.

So far, the HBF has revealed 13 RSDs, four of which are separating flooring details. These appear in a RSD consultation document that the government issued in August, and if the proposals remain intact, housebuilders will be able to use these RSDs from 1 January. If they don't, housebuilders will have to go down the testing route.

The flooring details represent three flooring types: concrete, timber and steel (see right). Each detail must be used in conjunction with a separating wall RSD as laid out in the robust standard document. The RSD programme is ongoing and there are more RSDs in the pipeline, including six flooring details: three concrete, one timber, and two steel. The programme also allows details to be submitted for inclusion in the future.

Each RSD is described on a six-page specification sheet and checklist. This includes the RSD's performance in decibels and guidance for the site workers as well as the specifier and architect. The advice is intended to prevent poor workmanship that may lead to the failure of the construction.

Each RSD also contains drawings (see diagram above) and notes on junctions between floors and wall types.

A checklist on the final page allows site managers to check the details have been constructed correctly.

Dwelling conversions and other habitable buildings such as hotels, hostels and student accommodation are not affected by the RSD programme and from 1 July this year had to undergo post-completion acoustic testing to ensure compliance with Part E.

Flooring RSDs