Metal Firedoor (1 Viewer)

[Sankar]

I am considering possibilities for the 2 doors in the HT I am building (room within a room construction) in our basement. I notice that the boiler room has a metal door that is fire rated. It looks and feels pretty solid and appears to prevent sounds from the boiler room coming out.
Has anyone tried using metal firedoors such as these to block sound from escaping?

 

[Mark McGill]

If you notice the fire door you have also has a seal around it along with a metal sill (step). These items keep more sound contained than do a solid core door. Don't get me wrong, a solid core door does help in sound, however it is the sealing of the door that does the most. In addition your boiler room is most likely insulated and depending where you live may have 5/8 drywall instead of 1/2. All those things will reduce sound outside of the room. Good luck.

 

[Sankar]

Thanks Mark!

Yes, the door does indeed have a rubber seal around it along with a metal sill. I'm constructing the room with a room within a room design + acoustiblok, so there should be a minimal amount of sound escaping through the walls. I am wondering whether I should use a solid wood door (with rubber seals) or spend some more and go with a metal door.

 

[Sankar]

I think that I'll go with exterior metal doors for the HT. However, I am now wondering whether I should anchor the door to the exterior frame or the interior -- I have a room-within-a-room construction, so there are 2 frames.
Wouldn't anchoring the door to the interior frame make it vibrate a lot more than if I were to anchor it to the exterior? If so, is it better to anchor it to the exterior frame?
I recognize that putting 2 doors would be better, but space and aesthetics (aka WAF) make that undesirable.

Second question: Does it matter if the return line for the AC is from the the bottom of the room? I suppose that it would be better to have it near the ceiling since hot air rises, but again it will be easier to hide a return vent drawn near the floor.

 

[Mark McGill]

AC returns should be up as high as possible. Cold air sinks so you want to draw off the hot air up high and hopefully pull some cold air up so you so don't get cold feet and a hot head.

 

[Roy Brooks]

I noticed that your in NY,so I assume you will have both a heating and cooling season. If the cold air return is used in both the heating and cooling systems then upper and lower cold air returns would be best. An ideal situation would be upper and lower cold air returns that could be opened and closed as needed for the heating/cooling seasons
The cold air return for my room will be at floor level as the room is in the basement and I'm more concerned about being warm in the winter when the room will get the most use than cool in the summer. Since the room is in the basement it is cooler in the summer to begin with.