Sound transmission loss of tiled brick walls

Walls made from hollow bricks joined with mortared joints are often found in the construction of buildings. Brick walls are also used as noise barriers. Over time, mortared joints develop gaps and cracks that reduce the noise-reduction capability of a brick wall. Ceramic tiles or a combination of plaster and ceramic tiles can be applied to the surface of a brick wall to improve the noise reduction as well as the visual appearance of the wall. This paper reports the results of measurements of the sound transmission loss of test specimens of brick walls faced with ceramic tiles. Tiles were applied to the surface of the bricks by two methods: (1) with dabs of a sand-cement mixture and (2) by means of a commercial tile adhesive. For some test configurations, a coating of plaster was first applied to the surface of the brick wall. Wall test specimens were constructed using 70-mm-thick or 110-mm-thick hollow bricks. The greatest improvement in sound transmission loss (and in the corresponding sound transmission class [STC] rating) was provided by wall test specimens where both sides were coated with plaster and with tiles applied to one side by dabs of the sand-cement mixture. (c) 2005 Institute of Noise Control Engineering.