sound proof interior doors

[johnapril]

We are turning an exterior porch into an interior space. One thing we would like is to put French doors in the bedroom opening onto the new space. We would like these doors to block the sound from the rest of the house, however, obviously so that anyone sleeping would not be disturbed. Does anyone know about French doors that block sound? How well do they work? Right now we have 40-year-old sliding glass doors (dual glazed) in that space but every sound travels right through them.

Thanks in advance.

[jimbo]

Double glazed glass panels provide excellent sound isolation, compared to single glazing. Probably do not compare to a solid door. Doors with excellent vinyl weatherstrip on all 4 edges will help.

[johnapril]

Jimbo, where should I look for the best soundproof solid door? What thickness? What material?

[hj]

ONe thing you have to consider if you are trying to make the room "soundproof". The heating system requires a means of circulating the air, which is usually the space under the door. If you are sealing the door, then the room has to have its own return air ductwork.

[jadnashua]

Just an actual solid door may have some resonances and transmit sounds in certain frequencies. It is important to seal all gaps. If you have ever been to a well-designed music practice room, it is nearly impossible to hear them outside. The doors have a retractable sweep that drops when the door is closed, and while it looks like a solid door, is actually a sandwich of various materials to absorb sound. If you want to go that far, you'll probably have to search out for a specialty supplier.

[jimbo]

The Masonite molded panel doors are very attractive, inexpensive, and are available in the "Safe and Sound" series solid interior doors. These are very good.

Sound proof is a relative term. We know you are starting with an exterior wall, so presumably it has some insulation. We don't know if you are planning to have a Hooter's convention in the other room, and expect that sound not to travel.

[Cass]

I helped a friend sound proof a movie room once and we used rock wool. When we were done I could scream at the top of my lungs and outside the room you could barely hear anything. Great stuff that rock wool.

[Mikey]

I bought 10 Masonite interior doors for our remodel at home. The doors were mostly OK, but the millwork associated with their prehung package was crap. Hinge mortises look like they were done freehand, lockset setbacks varied by up to 1/4", hinge screws were self-drilled at varied angles, some jambs were split following the insertion of the middle hinge screw, and in one case the jamb was simply not wide enough to contain the door at the top end. I had to fix all that, and would have been better off buying the door slabs and making my own jambs. Quality might be dependent on the factory -- these all came out of Tampa, I think.

[johnapril]

Folks, thank you for all your suggestions. My contractor has proposed a solution that I will post in detail once he and I go over it on paper. For now I will say it involves a 1-3/4" 20-minute fire door. When the door shuts, a "button" at the bottom of the door will activate a seal for the gap between the bottom of the door and the floor. I think he plans a couple other modifications. Also, the insulation in the walls (which are already insulated) will be upgraded. All experiences and comments with such tactics are welcome. No Hooters conventions. Just the desire to keep the bedroom quiet from kitchen/TV/4-year-old son sounds going on in the rooms adjacent.

[jadnashua]

If you can afford the thicker wall, a second layer of drywall, hung with noise isolation clips can help. Sometimes they get a little lax about the amount of screws for the drywall, too. You don't want the panel to be loose at all - makes a big drumhead. Basically, no voids anywhere. Any holes - outlets, switches (electrical boxes) that penetrate the wall offer a conduit for noise to enter the room. Particular attension to this can help, too.

[johnapril]

The plan is to install a 20-minute firedoor with a seal for the bottom that slides out of a notch, activated by a button when the door is shut. He will employ a single rabbeted jamb.

[TexasTitanium]

I have the same problem and wanted to know if it is working for you?

would you do it differently?

[gdog]

Hey Tex,

This is a very old thread so don't know if any of the original posters will respond but since you raised the topic again, i will throw my $.02 in...

After re-windowing two houses with vinyl dual glazed Milguard windows I happened upon a trick to significantly makes the windows quieter.

When ordering the windows specify that one of the panes is thicker than the other; typical is have one pane 1/8" and the other 3/16" thick. The theory is that because of their different thicknesses, they will resonate at different frequencies thereby cutting down on sound transmission over the human hearing frequency range.

I'm telling you, it really does work! Now the problem is a lot of glass door (or other glass) manufactures won't do this for you; i recently tried to get my skylights built with this configuration and Velux said no-way. All my windows in my current house are this way except for one, and when my neighbor is out there with his lawnmower, i can hear it much louder when I'm next to that one window (even if he's not closest to it) when compared to the others.

Has anyone else tried this?

[GabeS]

Check out this website:

http://www.soundproofing101.com/soundproofing_3.htm

[gdog]

Nice site Gabe!

They actually vindicated what i said about windows pane thicknesses here:

http://www.soundproofing101.com/soundproofing_201_2.htm

Next time i'll go for the 1/4" panes! Wonder how spendy it is though.

There's lots of good info there, though not very scientific; since sound/noise is measured on logarithmic scale, not sure what they mean by "10% to 25% noise reduction..."; that's kind of subjective...

Still, lots of good basic info on the topic of noise reduction!

Thanks!