"Soundproofing" door and window

[Thi Them]

I'm looking for ways (preferably inexpensive) to reduce sound traveling through the door and window in a room.

For the window, I'm thinking of creating a plug using a soundboard (the kind you find at Home Depot or Lowes). I will have a projector in the room, so it's good that the window is covered. Sound at reference level traveling out the window doesn't seem to be that much of a problem, but sound from the neighbors coming in can be audible and distracting when watching a movie.

The door seems to reduce the sound by around 25%. Can I add something to it or should I get a new door?

Thanks.

~T

 

[John Prator]

Thi,
I had a similar problem with two windows in my HT. What I did was:
I built a frame in the inside of the window frame with 2x2's. I then cut 3/4" MDF to the dimensions of the inside of the window frame. I laid the MDF on top of 1/2" Sound Stop board and cut the Sound Stop the the size of the MDF plug and glued the two together. I was a little worried about moisture or mold forming so I bought an item commonly used in gun safes to keep humidity out. It's a simple little rod that plugs into the wall, works well. I mounted this in the window and left the plug hanging out so I could plug it in as needed. They are made by a company called "Golden Rod".

Back to the window plugs, I used scrap MDF and sound board and made a spacer about 10" x 10". I used this to measure how far the frame needed to be into the window frame so as to keep the plug flush with the wall. I then screwed the frame to the inside of the window frame. After that I just put the MDF/Sound Stop plug into the window and screwed it to the frame. Texture, paint, done. It works very well and I hear nothing coming in from the outside. I did use some caulk to seal around the plug/wall as I couldn't get a perfect fit but after painting and texturing it is almost un-noticable. When it comes time to remove the plug I figure(hope) that all I will have to do is repair a few small screw holes in the window frame.

Hope this helps you. Good luck.

 

[Andrew Stoakley]

Thi,

Owen's Corning makes an accoustical door system. Check out their website owenscorning.com to find out more information. You can order their products at the local Home Despot.

Cheers,
Andrew

 

[SethH]

For the door, make sure it is airtight all the way around. Go the Home Depot or Lowes and buy weather-stripping and if you need something at the bottom they have stuff for that too. The main thing is to get it airtight all the way around. If too much sound still gets through then look into solid doors, metal doors, fire-doors, etc.

 

[Thi Them]

What does MDF stand for?

~T

 

[David Strand]

Medium Density Fiberboard. It's the most common stuff to make speaker boxes out of as it's pretty dense, cuts good, and isn't crazy heavy.

 

[gene c]

This is a much more expensive option but others may be interested. Try "soundproofwindows.com". It's basically a second window mounted inside the original but I have heard a demo and they work pretty well. Mainly used to keep outside noise out but I would think it should work the other way around as well.

 

[ChrisWiggles]

If you want to prevent sound from getting through, your windows and doors need to be very airtight, and very dense. A novel idea for a cheap door would be a hollow-core door filled with sand, and sealed shut with refrigerator magnets and maybe some extra weatherstripping all the way around.