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how to best cheaply soundproof a door?


hangwire

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the band I started with yesterday practices in the keyboard player's studio loft... basically high celings and thick concrete walls. But, the door lets a lot of sound out.

 

I suggested a thick comfortor from goodwill/thrift store to cover the door and visible space between the bottom of the door and the floor.

 

Any better suggestions that are inexpensive?

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Weatherstrip any gaps between the door and the door frame. I did that to the door between my garage and the house and now it's nearly silent (not to mention does not leak in cold air). Get the cheap sticky-back kind from Home Depot and a tube of super glue.

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Originally posted by CapnMarvel

Weatherstrip any gaps between the door and the door frame. I did that to the door between my garage and the house and now it's nearly silent (not to mention does not leak in cold air). Get the cheap sticky-back kind from Home Depot and a tube of super glue.



good call... but how about something for the door... it barely holds anything in soundwise compared to a door at my house... it almost feels like it is hollow :eek:

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Originally posted by theoneandonlyme

huge piece of card board, hang it like a picture over the door and you can move it when your not using it.

works great for an insulator,you can even carpet it or do the eggshell thing to it for heavy sound insulation.

works great on walls too.

 

 

that's a great idea... a sheet of cardboard or plywood and covered with that eggshell stuff....

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Foam does nothing for soundPROOFING. It works fine for cutting down on the high end bouncing around in the room.. does nothing for what's LEAVING the room.

If the rest of the walls really are concrete, your best bet would probably be getting a heavy, solid door and sealing it off.

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Most of the styrofoam or padding will only deaden the reflections, but concrete and other solid mass objects will help stop sound from passing.

Wonderboard would work well to stop sound from passing through. It's thin sheets of a concrete material less than an inch thick that can be cut to the shape of the door, including the doorknob. Layer both sides of the door and I think it would help a lot.

Here's a site that showcases the Wonderboard's flexibility. Usually we set up showers with this stuff and then lay the tile over this.

Wonderboard

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Originally posted by gil1

Drill a hole in the top of the door, and fill it with cement.















:freak:



Actually... if you can seal it off and the door frame with support the weight.. fill it with sand. Seal everything off around it, too.

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You have a problem....

Sound acts like water... it will flow through any air gaps and "leak" out of the room. Additionally, all the people who have mentioned "mass" are dead on correct - the only effective way to deal with low frequency sounds (such as bass guitars and kick drums) is with mass - heavy walls, doors etc.

If it is an interior door, it may indeed be a hollow-core door. That means it doesn't weigh a lot, and can easily sympathetically vibrate and act like a diaphragm - kind of like a drum head or acoustic guitar top - and radiate sound out of the room. A solid core exterior type door will help a great deal - just remove the existing door and replace it with a solid core door - that should help a lot, especially if you weatherstrip it well. Don't forget the bottom - a good rubber gasket threshold underneath the door will help with that.

Ideally you'd want to build a sound lock - which would be a small hallway or "tunnel", with the door at one end and a second door at the other end, with each door being a solid core type door. You can then make the doors even heavier by adding a layer of wonderboard or limp mass vinyl (check www.auralex.com ) to one or both sides of the door. You may need heavier hinges to hold the extra weight. But it doesn't sound like you can do this type of construction...

So my advice is to replace the door with a solid core door, cover the new door with extra material to add additional mass, weatherstrip it, and maybe hang a heavy, quilted packing blanket (available from any moving truck rental place such as U-Haul, Ryder, etc) on one or both sides of the door so that it is suspended in front of and 'covering the doorway. It won't be ideal, but that's about the best you can hope for on a really limited budget and without being able to do any physical construction.

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Christ,Im sure if the guy had those kinds of funds he wouldn't even be asking...........why don't ya just build a bunker underground, on a ranch, in cordoba Texas, 200 miles from the nearest nieghbor, and cover it with an airplane hanger, filled with concrete, to deaden the sound......gimme a break ....dorkwads!

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