Building a custom door questions/idea

[ThaArtist]

Ok so I need a door to my home made studio/room but I can't frame out the doorway and make a swinging door. More likely I need to get bifolding doors like most closets have.

So do you think I should get a solid wood bifolding door or get some 703 and build my own doors with the 703 inside?

Which do you think would sound proof better?

[mshilarious]

Solid wood, but you would need to find a way to gasket/weatherstrip the door to get any soundproofing at all. Why can't you frame the entryway? It should already have a header above it.

[chugheshc]

ditto on the solid wood, gaskets.
You can't put a regular door in? what gives?
btw msh - mics are great.
C>

[ThaArtist]

Well its not my house so I'm not sure if I could frame the door. Plus the doorway is at the end of a hallway so I'm not sure how that would be done. I guess it wouldn't be much different then framing out a door that seperates too rooms...

I'll see about that though when this house was remodeled everything had to be up to some pretty strict codes so the doorway should be in a way that should make framing it pretty easy...

Thanks tho! Now that I know solid wood would be better I'll go that route...

Thanks!

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

I don't understand something here. Are you cutting a new opening in an existing wall between your studio and a hallway? If so, where is the door to the studio now? Can you post a drawing of this studio and hallway, showing where you want to put the door and where the existing door is. If this is a standard framed house, and there is enough room, it should be quite easy. And btw, forget the bifold door. You can't seal a bifold and they have no mass.
As to the door itself, if you can cut the opening big enough to frame it for a SOLID CORE door, which is much heavier than a standard hollow core interior door and requires a more robust framing, then do so. You can purchase a solid core door premounted on hinges/jamb fairly cheap. Since its an interior space, you can probably get away with a 30-32". Make your framed opening 2" wider than the door itself, which will allow the jamb and 1/4" on each side for shims.
Make the opening height 1-2" higher than the door itself, but possably higher, as you will have to allow for a threshold/seal as well, which you need to purchase at the same time to know how to allow for this thickness when framing.

But let me add a couple of caveats here. I don't know the conditions of the spaces you are trying to isolate from each other, but there is an isolation caveat that states any time you modify a space or wall/cieling/floor and or door to improve the transmission loss, your solution is ONLY as good as the "weakest link". In effect, this means that should you do this project, it may NOT improve anything, as existing wall/cieling/floor/HVAC conditions may be have a weaker transmission loss factor than the assembly you are adding. Which means, you may be wasting your time and money putting in a solid core door. Without knowing ALL the existing conditions/construction and your potential SPL of the music, a hollow core door may be the way to go, as it might be a waste to install a solid core door.

Secondly, since this is not your house, without permission to do this, you may jeaprodise your rental agreement, if not downright be a precurser to evicrtion and or repair costs But thats up to you.
fitZ

[ThaArtist]

Yeah we'll probably get a preframed door. As for it nto being my house... I have my one room studio at my fathers house right now and plan to keep it there because it works with my schedule etc.

Now this house was just rebuilt due to a fire in 2000 so i know everything is up to building code (which i guess were some pretty tough codes). So the door way is at the top of some stairs but theres no door. I need a door for all the many reasons we all can think of.

So I haven't measured the doorway yet but I know we won't be reframing with 2x4's etc because it's already framed out and dry walled. We'd just have to cut the drywall modify a light switch and hang the door. That's all I can really do since this isn't my house and really I haven't even asked to do that yet. I'm just assuming it will be ok. Haha.

So thats the best possible right? Just get a solid wood door preframed and throw it in?

Thanks for your detailed response RICK FITZPATRICK, I gave ya some rep points.

[TexRoadkill]

Originally Posted by ThaArtist

So thats the best possible right? Just get a solid wood door preframed and throw it in?

That's pretty much how it's done. If the opening is too small for a standard door at Home Depot then you can frame the inside of the opening with 2x4s. Cut a solid core door blank to fit and attach it to the new 2x4 frame.

[ThaArtist]

yeah im sure a standard hung door will fit in there if not... i used to work at home depot and i know they make a few different sizes to an extend... (uhhhh im pretty sure anyway) but yeah my house is all up to the city codes which are pretty strict soo.... imma just go with the prehung door method... once i get my door hung and acoustic panels in imma take a panoramic picture and post it up to see what everyones helped me build within the past 2 years...

[knightfly]

Door at the top of the stairs - is this EXACTLY at the top of the stairs, or is there a landing? Codes require a landing at tops and bottoms of stairways when there is a swinging door, might wanna check on this... Steve

[ThaArtist]

yeah there is a landing... not sure how big but there is one... our house was just completely rebuilt on the inside in 2000 and i know a lot of everything was prolonged beause the codes were so strict... i think they just didnt put a door there because the contractor was eventually trying to cut corners and save himself some money which is why its kinda cool that the code inspector made him do shit right....

I'll look into it though... thanks!