Boral Partiwall independently assessed to meet Discontinuous construction

One of the provisions of the Building Code of Australia (BCA) Vol 2 Part 3.8.6 ‘Sound Insulation’ requires a separating wall in a Class 1 Building to have impact sound performance in the situation where a bathroom, sanitary compartment, laundry or kitchen in one dwelling abuts a habitable room (other than a kitchen) in the adjoining dwelling. Impact sound performance is achieved by the separating wall having 'Discontinuous construction'.

Discontinuous construction means a wall system having a minimum 20mm cavity between two separate leaves, where, for other than masonry there is no mechanical linkage between leaves except at the periphery.

In the absence of a definition for ‘periphery’ in the BCA, it became open to interpretation. Consequently, a number of Building Surveyors and Certifiers alike had interpreted periphery as the external envelope of the building. This meant that Partiwall clips located at the mid floor of a two storey town house did not comply.

In response, Boral Plasterboard worked with BCA Illustrated (developed by the Hendry Group under license by the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB)) to independently review Boral Partiwall with respect to meeting Discontinuous construction.

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