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Hello.
My audio room is also my living room, and I'm building a door to keep the music inside so I can listen while the kids are asleep. So it needs to isolate noise and look good, and be a DIY project. Please help with building/materials advice.
I'm using Everest's Master Handbook as guidance, where he describes one door.
I'm using two sheets of laminated wood for each side, 3/8" each. Everest suggest using sand inside. While I can understand his goal for achieving mass and use a material that adds friction, I'm wondering if sand is a good material long term. I wonder if a few years down the road this sand will settle to a point it will behave as a solid block (no friction anymore). Should I use sand, a PVC mat, other? How thick?
Second, I'd like your feedback as for the contour of this door. Everest suggests keeping them hollow and filled with glass fiber + a perforated piece of wood around the sides. I wonder if I'll miss much if I just make solid edges with wood.
I'm hoping to keep the total thickness in the 2 to 3" range.
Any and all feedback will be very welcomed!!
Thank you!
Horacio
Everest's book was written before the big explosion of home theatre. There are now a number of products available that are intended to block sound transmission through walls and one of them is probably a good choice for the interior of your door. I'm in Australia and there's probably a different range of products here so you're better off searching for local materials than relying on anything I could suggest.
Instead of adding a door to the living room, have you considered soundproofing the door/s to your kids room/s or soundproofing it in addition to adding a door to the living room?
Also, soundproofing doors is fine and will reduce noise transmission but the benefit of that will be minimised if sound can still escape your living room by transmission through the walls. You may need to consider further soundproofing down the track in order to achieve the result you want if there is significant sound transmission from the living room via routes other than the doorway.
David Aiken
David,
Thanks for the quick reply.
You make a good point about soundproofing the kids' doors. Maybe I can add something there too, but it wouldn't be a new door, though.
I live in a brick/concrete building, so while there is always some sound leaking, I believe it is really minimal. No central air conditioning, or other such internal connections.
OK, so I reckon the range af products available in Australia is different from where I am (Argentina). Would you mind elaborating some on the kinds of products you are thinking about for this application?
Seems like sand is out of the question.
Any comments as for the door edges?
Thanks again!
Horacio
Well, here in Australia we have some batting products made from materials like dense cotton wadding or polyester which are intended to block sound transmission. Fibreglass batting should also work but you'd want to make sure the door cavity is sealed to prevent fibre escape.
Brick and concrete will certainly reduce transmission but are the internal walls made of brick or concrete, or are they dry wall or some other construction? Sound can also travel to other rooms via ceiling cavities.
The biggest problem with sand as a door fill is simply its weight. You're going to need strong hinges to support the mass of the door and the bottom edge of the door is also going to have to support the mass of the sand. I'd rather go with something a lot lighter if I could or you could end up with a door coming off its hinges or leaking sand, neither of which are good outcomes.
For the door edges simply try products used for weather sealing doors. They should do a good job of sealing the gaps and minimising sound escaping that way. You could do that at the kids doors also but it will prevent air flow so you're going to want some other ventilation source like a window or the rooms may become stuffy.
David Aiken
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