Featured Products: Secura™ Interior Flooring, James Hardie Acoustic Flooring

In answer to New Zealand’s housing crisis, sky-rocketing house prices, and an increasing population, more people are turning to medium density housing all around the country.

In these medium density developments, intertenancy walls and floors need to meet stringent New Zealand Building Code (NZBC) acoustic performance and fire rating requirements. Not only that, but these homes need to be affordable, easy to construct, make creative use of smaller land sizes, and maximise light to create high quality living environments with materials that are built to last.

James Hardie's new lightweight Acoustic Flooring is a logical choice where intertenancy floors are required. The system utilises a timber joist construction method with Secura Flooring fixed to steel battens over a rubber cradle system. This forms a structural floor system that provides excellent fire and acoustic performance, required for intertenancy floors to comply with NZBC.

The flooring system underwent field testing by Marshall Day Acoustics in August 2016; achieving scores of 60 FSTC and 55 FIIC, both scores are well above the minimum requirements of NZBC. BRANZ testing also confirmed the system achieved the required 60/60/60 fire rating.

In their Sierra Terrace’s project, Cameron Baker, Design manager for Jalcon Homes says this flooring system allowed the highest fire safety and acoustic rating possible to be achieved while also avoiding the use of concrete in the structure. James Hardie Acoustic Flooring was specified because it ticked all these boxes. “With constraints such as extremely tight sites and narrow roads, we could lift most of the product up by hand if we needed to do so. It was a solution we could work with on site.” During construction, James Hardie representatives were on hand to provide support. “They helped us a lot, especially in the early stages providing us with testing and details, and helping us to find the right flooring solution,”

James Hardie Acoustic Flooring offers an all in one solution. Secura flooring can be tiled directly without the need for underlay, saving time and money on the build, which also contributes to affordability. Its rigidity gives a squeak-free, solid feel under carpet, tiles or vinyl, and the system helps absorb sound.

“James Hardie Acoustic Flooring met the brief perfectly with our project.” Says Cameron.