How To SoundProof a Door ?

F

fweyd

New member
Sounds are coming out of my studio currently mainly at the door... anyone have any ideas how to soundproof a door ?? maybe Acoustic Board will help??

P.S : I cannot build a Door within A Door.... or a Double Door..
 
Replace the door with a solid-core exterior door, with a threshold and weatherstripping.

Also if it's an exterior door, adding a screen door with a glass panel might help too.
 
anyone have any ideas how to soundproof a door ?? maybe Acoustic Board will help??
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If your existing door is a HOLLOW CORE door, your best bet is to replace it with a SOLID core door, add seals at the jamb and a tight fitting threshold and seal at the bottom. There is no such thing as "acoustic board" that reduces transmission loss through boundarys. Acoustic board such as rigid fiberglass is for just what it implys.....ACOUSTICS. If you can't replace the door, add one or two layers of MASS, such as 3/4" MDF to the existing door, although if its a hollow core, it may not help very much as the layers will be mounted to a lightweight layer that is flush on the face to the wall, which means the layers of MDF would ....nevermind. I don't think it will be worth the effort in this case. Adding mass to a solid core door will make it even better, but if you have other transmission flanking paths such as windows, HVA C ducts etc, or thin walls, it won't help with those,and you might even be wasting your time.
 
I was actually able to do a surprising amount with a hollow door the other day. I'm replacing the door that comes into the studio from the stairwell with a solid core door, and I moved the hollow door to the laundry area which is not mission critical to any kind of soundproofing. But just as a test, I wanted to see just how well this door would do at "soundproofing" the laundry room. I remember reading in Acoustics 101 that it's not totally the door itself that lets sound through, but mostly the perimeter around the jamb and at the bottom. So after I moved this door back to the laundry area I caulked around the jamb first to seal that up. Then I used some closed cell weather stripping all around where the door actually meets the jamb. On the hing side I put the weather stripping where the side of the door closes. The bottom of the door is rubbing pretty badly on the carpet, so I let that be. This area is always loud because it has the laundry, furnace, and hot water heater. After I treated the door with just a couple simple methods, I was seriously surprised at how much sound it actually stopped.

Now, I'm not necessarily recommending that you keep the hollow core door, I just wanted to illustrate how much treating the edges of the door will help stop sound.
 
This is just a question based on what I thought I had heard. Wouldn't a hollow core door just act as a large resonating box actually making the sound louder in either direction, and tampering with your natural acoustics if nothing else?

Ben
 
Yup; a standard hollow core door has an STC rating of around 23 dB, but at low end (anything below abo350 hZ) it's clear down to around 10 dB - and that's if the perimeter is SEALED.

You can beef up such a door using MDF glued to both sides to increase the mass of each side; using 5/8" MDF both sides would change the STC to around 43 dB, with the low end leveling out to around 25 dB isolation from about 150 hZ downward. One of our members used this idea for one of his studio doors here

http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4773&start=45

(Note Andy's comments about half-way down the page)

Sketches here

http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1662

HTH... Steve
 
Obviously the best solution is to use solid core doors, but if you're on a TIGHT budget and aren't prepared for installing a new door, use some weather stripping. It'll by no means be ideal, but it'll get you by until you can afford the right stuff.
 
actually, I have a Solid Core door.. Its just Its not properly sealed. I mean, when im in my drum room.. if i turn off the lights, I still see lights sipping through ... maybe a strip of MDF board or something like CORK board ??

whats MDF btw ?? and will CORK board be also good? I know a place where I can get them.
 
MDF = Medium Density Fiberboard. It's sawdust that they glue together and compress under extreme pressure. It's very dense, but not the strongest thing in the world. And when you cut it, it turns right back into saw dust and creates a MESS.

If you're seeing light that means you need to go to the hardware store and get some closed cell foam weather stripping with adhesive on one side. Do what I said I did in my first post and that should help a lot. Then the only other thing is the bottom of the door, you need a threshold to seal up against.

And by the way, don't ever ask if cork board is good for soundproofing again! :D Do a little research on that one and come back to us.
 
fweyd said:
actually, I have a Solid Core door.. Its just Its not properly sealed. I mean, when im in my drum room.. if i turn off the lights, I still see lights sipping through ... maybe a strip of MDF board or something like CORK board ??

whats MDF btw ?? and will CORK board be also good? I know a place where I can get them.
Click to expand...
no you want a dense foam weatherstipping, possibly two separate strips of it. Cork or MDF will not conform to the irregularities of the gap.

Then, another place to look is inside the door knob. Most door hardware from an isolation standpoint is a two and a half inch hole with a thin piece of metal on each end. Caulk it up as much as possible while still allowing it to work.
 
He was talking about adding the MDF to the surface of the door to add mass... I think... ? But yeah, to actually seal up the perimeter of the door use foam weather stripping. Just make sure the foam is being compressed when the door closes or else you're wasting your time. And seal up the bottom!
 
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