Elevator Noise

Elevator noise is the cause of much consternation these days as more people work from home and those who are at emptier offices are more aware of surrounding sound. We are often called in to reduce the noise and vibration impact on the surrounding apartments and offices (these days, often one and the same). Usually when a call comes into Cerami’s Site Assessments team, it begins with “the noise from the elevator is driving me nuts”. And we get it.

Signature Solution: In general, we review measured noise and vibration test results and compare to the applicable NYC Noise Code Limits. One project in particular showed that the night time limit was greater than 7 dB, which violated code as it was deemed “unreasonable noise … that disturbs the peace, quiet or repose of a reasonable person of normal sensitivities…”.  In that case, we developed noise control design concepts after observing the steady state noise. You probably don’t want to hear about those pipe risers and how they were hitting the floor slabs each time the elevator was called into action. What you do want to hear about is with the right barrier material and decoupling it with a layer of fiberglass in between, the building is now quieted down (and up!).