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Board construction assembly for reducing sound transmission and methodBoard construction assembly for reducing sound transmission and method description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20070175173, Board construction assembly for reducing sound transmission and method. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
BACKGROUND [0001] The subject matter disclosed herein relates to an underlayment for supplementing one or more mechanical properties of conventional wall, ceiling, and/or floor boards; to the wall, ceiling, and/or floor assemblies that include the underlayment disclosed herein; and to the method of fabricating and installing such assemblies. [0002] Current practices for constructing walls, ceilings, and floors of residential and commercial buildings (hereinafter sometimes referenced as "horizontal and/or vertical building components") typically utilize conventional wall, ceiling, and floor boards, such as, but not limited to, gypsum boards, cement boards, and wood fiber boards (e.g., OSB boards, particle boards, and plywood). While horizontal and vertical building components constructed with these conventional wall, ceiling, and floor boards meet the basic requirements for residential and commercial horizontal and/or vertical building components, certain applications arise where it is necessary or desirable to provide horizontal and vertical building components with mechanical properties not provided by these conventional construction boards or not provided by these conventional construction boards to the extent required or desired for the applications. A mechanical property necessary or desirable for certain applications and not provided or only partially provided by conventional construction boards includes, but is not limited to, sound transmission reduction. For example, it might be necessary or desirable to have the external walls of a living portion of a home or working areas of a commercial building or walls between the living portion of a home or working areas of a commercial building and an attached garage that have greater sound transmission reduction when compared to walls made of conventional wallboards. It might also be necessary or desirable to have ceilings and/or floors of a home or commercial building that have greater sound transmission reduction when compared to walls made of conventional wallboards. [0003] In addition to being able to supplement the mechanical properties (enhance the existing mechanical properties and/or add new mechanical properties) of conventional wall, ceiling, and/or floor boards used in new building construction and enhance the performance of these construction boards and the horizontal and vertical building components made with these construction boards, it would also be advantageous to be able to enhance the performance of horizontal and/or vertical building components in existing building structures without having to remove the existing wall, ceiling, and/or floor boards forming the walls, ceilings, and floors of these existing structures. [0004] Accordingly, there is a need for wall, ceiling, and floor boards having improved mechanical performance characteristics, including greater sound transmission reduction, when compared to horizontal and/or vertical building components made of conventional wallboards. [0005] The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings. SUMMARY [0006] The following embodiments and aspects thereof are described and illustrated in conjunction with systems, tools, and methods which are meant to be exemplary and illustrative, not limiting in scope. In various embodiments, one or more of the above-described problems have been reduced or eliminated, while other embodiments are directed to other improvements. [0007] The subject matter disclosed herein provides an underlayment for supplementing one or more mechanical properties of horizontal and/or vertical building components and especially for supplementing one or more mechanical properties of conventional wall, ceiling, and floor construction components. The underlayment may be used to enhance the performance of horizontal and/or vertical building components in the construction of new buildings and in the renovation of existing buildings without having to remove existing horizontal and/or vertical building components forming the walls, ceilings and/or floors of existing buildings. Wall, ceiling, and floor assemblies that include the underlayment and the method of fabricating and installing such assemblies on site are disclosed herein. [0008] The underlayment disclosed herein is a compliant material that exhibits one or more mechanical properties that can enhance the performance of horizontal and/or vertical building components, especially walls, ceilings, and floors made with conventional wall, ceiling, and floor construction components. These wall, ceiling, and floor construction components include, but are not limited to, wall, ceiling, and floor construction boards such as, but not limited to, 4.times.8, 4.times.9, 4.times.10, and 4.times.12 foot gypsum boards; cement boards; and wood fiber boards (e.g., OSB boards, particle boards, and plywood); concrete walls, ceilings, and floors; decorative wall and ceiling construction components, such as, but not limited to, laminates with decorative surface layers (e.g. hardwood or simulated hardwood surface layers, fabric layers, etc.); and decorative floor construction components, which may be a permanent component of a floor or an unattached or readily removable floor construction component that overlies conventional permanent floor construction components, such as, but not limited to carpeting, cushioned carpeting, rugs, cushioned rugs, vinyl flooring, cushioned vinyl flooring, tiles, flexible or vinyl tiles, and flooring laminates with decorative surface layers (e.g. hardwood or simulated hardwood surface layers, tile or simulated tile surface layers, etc.). The underlayment disclosed herein enhances one or more mechanical properties of these wall, ceiling, and/or floor construction components by supplementing the mechanical properties of these wall, ceiling, and/or floor construction components. For example, when the underlayment is combined with a wall, ceiling, or floor component to form a wall, ceiling, or floor construction component/underlayment assembly, the underlayment can supplement the mechanical properties of the construction component by enhancing one or more existing mechanical properties of the construction component and/or by adding one or more new mechanical properties to those of the construction component. The supplemental mechanical properties imparted to a construction component/underlayment assembly by the underlayment disclosed herein include mechanical properties such as, but not limited to, enhanced sound transmission reduction. [0009] In one embodiment, the horizontal and/or vertical building component/underlayment assembly for use in a horizontal and/or vertical building component includes a first and second horizontal and/or vertical building component which each have mechanical properties and the underlayment component which has at least one supplemental mechanical property for supplementing the mechanical properties of the first and second horizontal and/or vertical building component. The components of this construction component/underlayment assembly are permanently affixed to each other for the service life of the assembly. The first and second wall, ceiling, or floor construction components of this construction component/underlayment assembly may have the same or different mechanical properties and may be made from the same type of construction component or a different type of construction component. For example, the assembly may include first and second construction components that are each wall, ceiling, or floor construction boards. The assembly may include first and second construction components where one construction component is a wall, ceiling, or floor construction board and the second construction component is a decorative wall, ceiling, or floor construction component. The first and second construction components are permanently secured to each other with the underlayment component sandwiched between the first and second construction components to form a wall, ceiling, or floor construction component/underlayment assembly with the supplemental mechanical property or properties of the underlayment. [0010] In one embodiment, the underlayment component is first secured, e.g., with an adhesive or mechanical fasteners such as staples, to one of the construction components and the construction components are then permanently secured to each other to form the construction component/underlayment assembly. Typically, one of the construction components is already secured to structural members of a wall, ceiling, or floor that may be a wall, ceiling or floor of a building under construction or under renovation. However, fasteners securing the first and second construction components together can also be used to secure the underlayment component to the construction components and/or to secure the entire construction component/underlayment assembly to structural members of the wall, ceiling, or floor. [0011] In another embodiment, a floor construction component/underlayment assembly of the subject invention for use in floor construction includes a first and second floor construction components which each have mechanical properties and the underlayment component which has at least one supplemental mechanical property for supplementing the mechanical properties of the first and second floor construction components. The components of this construction component/underlayment assembly are not permanently affixed to each other for the service life of the assembly. The first and second floor construction components of this embodiment of the construction component/underlayment assembly typically have different mechanical properties and are typically made from different types of construction components. For example, the assembly typically includes a first construction component that is a floor construction board, a concrete floor construction component, etc., and a second construction component that is a decorative floor construction component that overlies, but is unattached to or readily removable from the first construction component. Such decorative floor construction components include, but are not limited to, carpeting, cushioned carpeting, rugs, cushioned rugs, vinyl flooring, cushioned vinyl flooring, tiles, flexible or vinyl tiles, and flooring laminates with decorative surface layers (e.g. hardwood or simulated hardwood surface layers, tile or simulated tile surface layers, etc). The underlayment is sandwiched between the first and second floor construction components to form a floor construction component/underlayment assembly with the supplemental mechanical property or properties of the underlayment component. [0012] In one embodiment, either the underlayment component is laid over the construction board component, concrete floor construction component, etc., and then the decorative floor construction component is laid over the underlayment component or the underlayment component and the decorative floor construction component are an integral subassembly that is laid over the construction floor construction component, etc. Where the underlayment component, the underlayment component and the decorative floor construction component, or the underlayment component and decorative floor construction component subassembly are secured to the floor construction board component, the concrete floor construction component, etc., they are removably secured with an adhesive, staples, or other fastening means that enables the underlayment component, the decorative floor construction component, or the underlayment component and the decorative floor construction component (held in place primarily by gravity) to be easily removed from the floor construction board component, the concrete floor construction component, etc. [0013] In general, the underlayment is a compliant material and the construction component/underlayment assemblies disclosed herein can be manufactured by incorporating the underlayment to provide contractors a product available for purchase. Furthermore, the compliant material and the construction component/underlayment assemblies disclosed herein can be made at the job site by incorporating the underlayment to provide contractors a product with great flexibility and cost savings. In one embodiment, contractors would only need to stock and utilize standard relatively low cost construction components when constructing or renovating buildings. Where select portions of a building require construction components with mechanical properties that are not provided by standard construction components, rather than having to purchase and stock relatively expensive construction components to meet these application requirements, the contractors could utilize construction component/underlayment assemblies that are made with standard building components. [0014] For example, in multi-occupant buildings, such as apartment buildings, the walls separating the rooms of an apartment typically can be constructed with standard gypsum board. However, the walls between apartments utilizing only standard gypsum board in the wall construction transmit sound at undesirable levels. With the on site fabrication of construction component/underlayment assemblies as described herein, which are made with standard gypsum board and an underlayment that provides reduced sound transmission properties, contractors would improve the overall acoustical properties of the resulting apartment units and reduce overall sound transmission from one apartment unit to another. [0015] The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the methods and compositions disclosed herein will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. It should be appreciated that the conception and specific embodiment disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the methods and compositions disclosed herein. It should also be realized that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the methods and compositions disclosed herein. The novel features which are believed to be characteristic of the methods and compositions disclosed herein, both as to its organization and method of operation, together with further aspects and advantages will be better understood from the following description. [0016] In addition to the exemplary aspects and embodiments described above, further aspects and embodiments will become apparent by reference to the drawings and tables and by study of the following descriptions. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0017] Exemplary embodiments are illustrated in the referenced figures of the drawings. It is intended that the embodiments and figures disclosed herein are to be considered illustrative rather than limiting. [0018] FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view of a conventional wall structure showing a conventional gypsum wallboard construction. [0019] FIG. 2 depicts one embodiment where a compliant material or underlayment is positioned between two layers of gypsum wallboard. [0020] FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view of a wall structure incorporating the gypsum wallboard--compliant material--gypsum wallboard configuration as shown in FIG. 2. [0021] FIG. 4 depicts the results of a standardized airborne sound transmission test comparing a conventional 0.625 inch gypsum wallboard and a 1/4 inch gypsum--compliant material--1/4 inch gypsum wallboard configuration. Continue reading about Board construction assembly for reducing sound transmission and method... 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