Sound-proofing a door in an apartment building??? (1 Viewer)

[DaViD Boulet]

Hey all,

Just got my new studio apartment where I'm going to set up my HT! The building was built in the 1920's and has poured-concrete walls that are pretty darn sound-proof. The landlord knows about my HT goals and insists that sound should not be a problem...

HOWEVER...

the wooden door to the living room (my HT room) that opens to the public hallways transmits sound like a guitar-sounding board. So despite the room being near sound-proof in every other respect, sound just penetrates the wood door and is *very* audible in the public hallway.

Good news: I have two doors that access this apt...so I plan to enter through the kitchen and 'cover' the door in the living room with some sort of soundproofing material.

That's where you guys come in.

What should I do? What should I use? I need minimal cost and I need to be able to easily reverse the process when I move out with minimal/no damage to the existing architecture. I know I've seen some sort of heavy-vinyl-looking stuff that you can use underneath drywall...I was wondering if I could cut a strip into the shape of the door and "velcro" it to provide a good seal all-the-way-around?

dave

p.s. yes, if there are already a zillion threads on the topic please just point me to a link or two

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

The first thing you can do is make sure the door is sealed air-tight all the way around, including the threshold.

The next thing is to have a heavy, solid-core door.

Beyond that it’s going to involve some expense and construction. In most posts of this nature someone ends up recommending recording studio-styled room-within-a-room construction as the absolute best soundproofing method. Since you have concrete walls you don’t need anything that drastic, but it might be viable to incorporate the inevitable double pass-through doors you have with room-within-a-room.

You could construct a miniature enclosed entryway just inside the front door. The frame-out a second interior doorway wouldn’t have to be more than a foot or so from the existing door. Use 2x6” boards and double layers of 5/8” sheet rock on both sides, with the interior wall stuffed full of insulation.

The trick would be to securely anchor the new structure to the existing wall and floor, especially if you’re worried about removing it all later.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Eric Eash]

i'm in the same boat. everything in my place is perfect except for the door leading to the common area. unfortunately, i live in government quarters and they are very strict on what i do to the interior. that being said, i plan to use some weatherstripping to seal the door better and then use acoustic foam to diffract what noise i can. good luck,

eric

 

[DaViD Boulet]

I'm going to order this noise-canceling vinyl sheeting. If it works and can be installed in a "removable" form that won't alarm any landlords etc, and if it's effective, I'll post back here...

-dave

 

[Eric Eash]

sounds cool, please do. i won't be able to purchase any foam for a few months, but i'll then post impressions. if both of ours are good, maybe i can combine them.

eric