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For specifiers

Details, data and a straight answer at design stage

Architects, building designers and project managers get the same thing here. What the system will achieve in your building, documented well enough to specify, and early enough to be useful.
Request the packAcoustic partitions

Where we help

Earlier is cheaper

Concept

Whether the opening can take an operable wall at all. Head structure, stack space and floor level, checked before it goes on the drawing.

Design

The achievable Rw for the real building, including what has to happen above the ceiling for the number to mean anything.

Documentation

Details to trace over, a Revit family to place, and clause text you can drop into the spec without rewriting it.

Tender

Budget rates and lead times early enough to be useful, and a written scope that makes the tenders comparable.

Design tool

Set the Rw target before you draw the wall

The most expensive mistake on an operable wall is specifying the rating too low and finding out at handover. This gets you to the right band in three questions.

An architect drawing a floor plan, the stage at which an operable wall is easiest to get right
  • Answers in the band you would write into a spec, not a single false-precision number
  • Tells you when a rated wall is not warranted, rather than upselling one
  • Flags the ceiling void, which is what actually limits most installations

What rating do you actually need?

Three questions. The answer is the band to write into your spec, or sometimes that a rated wall is not what this room needs.

1. What happens on one side?
2. And on the other side?
3. How often are both sides in use at the same time?

Answer all three and the target band appears here.

What limits the rating

The wall is rarely the weak point

A partition is tested on its own, in an opening with no flanking paths. The room it goes into has several, and the ceiling is the usual one.

  • A continuous void over a suspended ceiling joins both halves of the room
  • Sealing it is usually a builder item, so it belongs in the scope at tender
  • The floor and the jambs are the next two paths to check
Section through an operable wall showing the ceiling void above itA cross section of two rooms divided by an operable wall. Above the suspended ceiling a continuous void runs over the top of the wall, connecting both rooms. An arrow traces sound travelling from the left room, up through the void, over the wall and down into the right room. The drawing notes that a wall rated Rw 50 installed over an unsealed void can behave like Rw 35, and that sealing the void is usually a builder item that has to be in the scope.Structural slabSuspended ceilingSound goes over the topRoom Ain useRoom Balso in useContinuous voidSeal this, or the ratingnever reaches the roomOperable wall

A wall rated Rw 50 installed over an unsealed void can behave like Rw 35, and nothing about the wall is at fault.

The wall is rarely the weak point. Sealing the ceiling void is usually a builder item, and it has to be in the scope before the wall is worth its rating.

Specifier pack

Tell us what you need and we'll send it

We email the current revision rather than publishing a folder that goes stale. It also means we can mark a detail up for your actual opening instead of a generic one.

If your project has a specific opening, include the dimensions and the target rating and we will come back with the detail adjusted rather than the standard sheet.

Budget rates for a tender estimate can go in the same email. Ask, and say what stage the project is at.

What do you need?

Tick everything relevant. We send the current revision rather than a stale download.

Target Rw, opening dimensions, stage of the project, tender dates.

Working to a program?

Send the opening and the dates. We will tell you the lead time and what has to be resolved by whom before it can be ordered.

Get a quote03 9331 7376