If you are considering installing acoustic ceiling tiles in your office or work space it is worth understanding the pros and cons before you make the investment.  Like everything in your business you want your capital to work hard for you and you shouldn’t spend money in an area where you are not going to get the return you hoped for.

Acoustic Ceiling tiles have a very specific purpose and should be installed to accomplish very specific goals.  Acoustic ceiling tiles are specially designed tiles that will change the acoustical characteristics of your room.  Sound moves through your space in the form of pressure waves in the air.  These pressure waves move just like any other wave and will bounce off any smooth hard surface in your office.  As sound waves bounce off floors, walls and ceilings they can cause unwanted noise and irritation for your employees, customers and other businesses sharing the space.

The easiest way to stop noise in your office is to reduce the places that sound can easily bounce or reflect off of.  The floor is one of the largest flat surfaces in your space so it can be a main culprit for the bouncing of sound, especially if you have hard flooring.  Adding soft items to the flooring can help stop footfall noise.  Consider adding area rugs, padding under overlaid flooring, or even wall to wall carpeting to quiet down your space.  Walls also are large flat spaces that can reflect a lot of sound.  Adding sound deadening material to your walls, or even pictures and drapes can help keep the noise down.  For some more great ideas on how to use your walls to trap sound, check out this article on soundproofing your walls.

Studio Soundproofing Panel

Lastly, your ceiling is one of the main places that reflects sound in a room.  Similar to your walls and floors your ceiling is a large flat surface that will easily reflect sound waves.  Also, your ceiling’s orientation to your work space makes it particularly efficient at making your space loud as it will reflect sound directly back down into your work or retail space.  Unlike your floors and walls, you cannot simply add carpeting or pictures and drapes to help deaden the sound.  To finish quieting down your space you need a ceiling that will absorb sound waves rather than reflect it.  Acoustic ceiling tiles do exactly this.  Acoustic ceiling tiles are often made from a fibrous or porous material but can also be made of metal, wood, cork or a composite.  Depending on your needs acoustic ceiling tiles can be very high performance tiles that reflect almost no sound, or can be made to be very elegant or aesthetically pleasing to help your retail space look exceptional while still being quite.

Acoustic ceiling tiles can be installed in a wide variety of ways from standard drop ceiling grids to multilevel arrangements and even directly on existing drywall or hard ceilings.  Acoustic ceiling tiles can be arranged for maximum sound deadening or strategically to help a room sound just the way you or your audience would like it to.  For help in designing the acoustics of your space contact Carolina Service Inc. today at 843-566-1210.  For more information about the services we offer, visit our construction services page.

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Studio soundproofing panel by Daniel Christensen – Own work. Licensed under Creative Commons.  Original Link