Lure Apartments, Nelson Bay

The dream of a quiet, serene, luxury apartment within a brand new prestigious development in Nelson Bay, NSW is now a reality with a new, easily installed acoustic barrier from ARDEX Australia.

Developers of the prestigious LURE apartments stressed the importance of creating an effective sound barrier between each apartment that would not impede on strict completion deadlines or create undue strain on projected costs, yet still provide a high quality finish.

The project comprised 900 square metres of tiling over both bathrooms and external balcony areas. Local tilers, Newcastle Tiles, utilised a system of compatible ARDEX products for all aspects of the tiling and soundproofing which streamlined the process of specifying, ordering and seeking on-site technical advice during installation.

ARDEX WPM 002, a fast-setting two-part waterproofing membrane, was applied first to both balconies and bathrooms to create a waterproof barrier. This was followed by the combination of ARDEX X 56, a highly flexible tile adhesive, and ARDEX DS 40, an impact sound reduction system, to form the soundproof barrier. Tiles were then fixed directly to ARDEX DS 40.

The ARDEX DS 40 impact sound reduction system was a pivotal product in the overall project due to the pre-cut mats being a consistent thickness of 4.5mm, meaning an overall lower build height was achieved. In addition to providing an excellent uniform acoustic barrier that is essential in helping prevent noise travel between apartments, it is also an extremely fast and easy product to install, using pre-cut mats compared to traditional, messier methods. Field tests have shown that ARDEX DS 40 can reduce noise by 14dB and 18dB when used in conjunction with ARDEX X 56 flexible tile adhesive (as was the case in the Lure apartment project). Utilising the ease of application, Newcastle Tiles was able to have apprentices installing the pre-cut mats while its more experienced tilers laid the tiles – hence reducing installation time and costs.

LURE Apartments were completed on time and to great acclaim.

Jim Haworth of Newcastle Tiles puts it this way: “ARDEX constantly provide reliable, premium quality products and we were delighted with the installation of the ARDEX sound reducing system which, with its many benefits, allowed us to complete the project on time and with cost savings”.