Soundproof door

McMajik

McMajik

New member
So I've just moved into a new house, and I'm looking to soundproof a room. The room is in an extension, so the original thick outside wall is between me and the rest of the house, but naturally the door is the weak point.

I've been looking into soundproof doors, but nowhere seems to be quoting prices and I have no idea what to expect, what sort of price/how much reduction would I be looking at? (Based in the UK, so some ultracheap american company that then costs hundreds in shipping would not be ideal)

The door is recessed into the wall quite far, so installing a second door with an air gap of just over a foot is also an option.

Thanks,
Lewis
 
I just looked into acoustical doors recently and I just about shit myself when I saw the cost of a retail "soundproof" door (more like a door with a reasonably high STC rating). Overly Doors was the brand recommended to me, and holy crap they're pricey. Upwards of $5000 for the whole assembly. Not in my budget!

What I've seen recommended is to take an average solid-core door and add mass to it...like 8 lb/sq. ft. sheet lead, mass loaded vinyl, cabinet-grade plywood, etc. The problem is that a standard door jamb isn't built to sustain the weight and wear that a massive door has. So then you sink more $$$ into the jamb, the hardware, airtight weather stripping, a door-assist (to allow the door to close slowly, keeping people/kids/pets/fingers/toes from being smashed accidentally), and you're up in nearly the same $$$ territory.

I'm going with a double-door solution, myself. 2 solid-core doors with an air gap in-between. Not exactly practical for a residential house, but a hell of a lot cheaper in my situation. And if you already have a recessed door, that might be a good head-start on a double-door system. I'll be doing all I can to stop air flow around the doors.

As I'm finding (and many before me), reducing sound in and out of a room is tough. It sounds like you have a good head-start with your formerly exterior wall, if keeping sound out of the rest of the house is your goal. Keeping environmental sound out and not pissing off your neighbors, may be another story altogether. Keep asking around here, there are fellows with a lot of experience in just this area. I'm just speaking from my own beginner perspective!
 
Just use a standard solid core door and good seals, available at good hardware stores, if you want better use 2 x doors each side of the frame. Most internal house doors are cheap hollow doors which offer no sound proofing at all.

My solid core studio doors also have a layer of lead back vinyl attached to them as well, but it makes the door very heavy.

Cheers
Alan.
 
witzendoz said:
if you want better use 2 x doors each side of the frame
Click to expand...

Didn't think of that. Most of the frames in the house couldn't do that, but this one does have room for a door to be mounted on either/both sides.

A door sized sheet of lead ~25kg/m2 looks to be ~£100-£150, which I would imagine would be bloody wonderful. If I could get one door to do what I want (Say, a solid door with lead attached to one side), I would be ~so happy~, but I imagine the frame may have trouble supporting that. How could I deal with that? Would just...lots of hinges help, or would I need something more heavy duty?
 
Fire doors are a more manageable alternative, and a couple of these, back to back work pretty well - in fact the seals are the critical element. Not as good as something with more mass and designed in sealing - but so much better than the standard UK type interior doors.
 
McMajik said:
Didn't think of that. Most of the frames in the house couldn't do that, but this one does have room for a door to be mounted on either/both sides.

A door sized sheet of lead ~25kg/m2 looks to be ~£100-£150, which I would imagine would be bloody wonderful. If I could get one door to do what I want (Say, a solid door with lead attached to one side), I would be ~so happy~, but I imagine the frame may have trouble supporting that. How could I deal with that? Would just...lots of hinges help, or would I need something more heavy duty?
Click to expand...

My doors only have 2 hinges, but good ones, if in doubt you could put 3 hinges on the door or just buy some heavy duty hinges. Solid core doors are fire rated (though solid core with a steel covering is higher fire rated), some countries call them fire doors.

Alan.
 
Some good ideas so far.

Every professional installation I've seen has had the "two doors with an air gap" solution. This air gap has been as little as about six inches and as much as a six foot vestibule. Your 12 inches should be find.

Beyond that, as Witzendoz said, go with heavy, solid core doors and good seals. The studio doors I've seen actually have magnetic seals around all 4 edges, mating with a strip on the frame. Don't forget that you need a "step over sill" at the bottle to seal there too.

I've never seen more than two hinges used per door...just good heavy duty ones.
 
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