Soundproofing a bedroom door

This site popped up near the very top, when I Googled "soundproof door", so I wanted to boost it a bit, to help out other folks who might be looking for the same thing I'm looking for. I'm not building a studio; all I want is a substantially quieter bedroom, so the wife and I can sleep while the kids are talking or watching TV in the next room. There's some VERY useful info in the "door" thread on this board, here: viewtopic.php?t=1662 The main things I would add: (1) "MDF" stands for "medium density fiberboard". Basically, it's like sawdust held together by glue. It's denser and heavier than plywood, which makes for better sound absorption and deadening. (2) When I went looking for pre-made supplies (I'm in the US, in St. Louis, Missouri), I found that a US supplier (Trustile) makes MDF doors in 3 thicknesses, to any dimensions specified by a purchaser (to 1/8 inch tolerances). These thicknesses include standard 6-panel veneer on both sides. They sell only through local retailers; the Trustile directory provides names and addresses. The 1-3/8" thickness offers a major sound improvement over standard hollow-core doors. The 1-3/4" thickness has become very popular among people who want high-quality soundproofing, for things like bedrooms. A typical interior size weighs about 115 pounds. Cost - about $300. They also make 2-1/4" thicknesses; those are mainly for heavy industrial use, and sound studios. For more info on those types of doors, go here: http://www.trustile.com/techinfo/sound.asp These doors need to be installed with a specialized kit. The folks at Trustile recommended the "Package B" from: http://www.zerointernational.com/ Don't know the details of that yet. They said that a really good carpenter can usually get a 1-3/4" MDF door to fit into an existing door frame, but most carpenters will want to take a hard look at the frame structure, especially along the supporting side, and may want to redo that part of the frame, such as by replacing any pine studs with hardwood unless there is a double-stud structure. So . . . I hope that helps. And hey, this looks like a very nice site. Good stuff here. I used to have an ADAT system with a Mackie 1202 mixer in my basement, in an earlier house, mostly for MIDI keyboard tracks but with a small booth for guitars and vocals. If I ever decide to do something like that again -- but better -- I'll look here first. Cheers (but not too loudly) . . .!

"They said that a really good carpenter can usually get a 1-3/4" MDF door to fit into an existing door frame, but most carpenters will want to take a hard look at the frame structure," They would concern themselves with the jamb structure and how it is secured to the framing, or framing structure as you referred to it as. A typical hollow core door measures in at 1 3/8" so you would most likely have to change the jamb anyway. Blocking at integral points, usually at hinges, are required for a retro fit of a solid door into a conventional hollow core door frame, assuming that the door depth is not more than the existing door depth. Simple process to take off the existing trim, examine the jamb, block as required, usually solid from top to bottom for acoustical purposes, caulk joints that may exist, reinstall trim as required, caulk trim.

Brien - thanks for the info. Gonna give it directly to my carpenter. Got a couple more items of info, from Zero International. The salesman I talked to said that for a typical home installation, the top and sides of the door should use a gasket such as their part #485, shown below and at their webpage: http://www.zerointernational.com/catalo ... px?page=27 http://img217.imagevenue.com/loc651/th_56726_GASKET_485_122_651lo.jpg The rounded item which points left, labeled as "solid neoprene" is the flexible gasket that the door will press against (I mention this for homeowners; Brien already knows it, I'm sure . . . 8) ) Along the bottom of the door, unless you want a door sill (which most homeowners don't want, at a bedroom door, since the bedroom will usually be carpeted), use a gasket such as their part #328: http://img16.imagevenue.com/loc497/th_56727_GASKET_328_122_497lo.jpg The flexible hollow round gasket will slide across the carpet. Hope that helps the homeowner class of do-it-yerselfer. Now, one last Q - I don't think it will be worth the extra soundproofing value, to use special door handle hardware that does NOT penetrate the door (and which, presumably, uses a spring-mounted detente, instead of a latch). My carpenter has advised against that type of detente, since the rubber gaskets all around the door will be trying to push the door open, whenever it's closed, which could cause trouble for a detente. So, if I use a typical interior door handle, mounted in a hole cut through the door: (1) is there any particular type of door handle I should get? and/or, (2) is it worthwhile to squirt some "Great Stuff" (i.e., expanding polyurethane foam, which comes in an aerosol can, at any Home Depot or Lowes) into the door handle innards?

As mentioned under the "door" thread, I found this board near the very top of the list, when I googled for "soundproof door". I used to have a home studio, and might make another one some day, but for now, I just want to make a bedroom quieter. And along those lines, the stuff you guys are sharing here is great, and directly applicable. So, I hope no one minds that I'm going to "bump" this board up a bit, for anyone who goes searching the internet for "soundproof bedroom". A simple Q re: soundproofing an interior wall. I've got a great big air conditioning return vent that leads from the TV room, directly to a sheet of drywall that forms one of my bedroom walls. So, my carpenter is going to remove a sheet of drywall which faces the TV room, and put an extra layer or two inside that wall, to block the sound without blocking the AC air flow. Then he will replace the drywall that faces the TV room. The Q is: what is the best thing he can install, against the inside of a single sheet of drywall, to block noise? I'm going to guess some kind of heavy board, such as 3/4" MDF (which is medium density fiberboard, for any other bedroom-quieters who find this thread; it's denser and heavier than plywood). And I'm also going to guess -- here's the tricky part -- that it'll work even better, if some kind of ADDITIONAL layer gets installed between the MDF layer, and the drywall. And, I'm going to guess that the second layer should be a low-density material, such as a sheet of styrofoam, or fiberglass insulation, or "Great Stuff" (expanding polyurethane foam from an aerosol can). Or maybe a combination of those things, such as (1) several segments of styrofoam, to preserve the spacing between the MDF and the drywall, and (2) fiberglass insulation, to fill the rest of the space. How close are those guesses? Can anyone tell me what's the best thing to install, if I've got up to about 2 inches of "spare thickness" to work with, without hindering the AC air flow too much?

I've merged your two posts together - please don't start a new thread for every question.

Mr. Sayers - apologies for the inconvenience, and thanks for a great site. Re: the wall Q, Brien indicated that what I'm doing re: the wall is called "beefing up" a wall, and a quick search for "beefing" led to some good info. Basically, a layer of low-density "fluff", to separate MDF sheets, apparently is a bad idea, and I should put in more mass and bulk, instead. Such as 3 layers of 5/8" MDF, glued together by (and also sealed around the edges with) acoustic caulk. I would also add that I've heard that a slight angle, between two flat surfaces, will help prevent the surfaces from "resonating" together. So, I'll use some extra caulk, along alternating left and right sides, to give slight zig-zagging angles to the MDF sheets.

A door is a door and should not have, or rather, if built properly, will not have breaks or require acoustic or any type of caulk in making the assembly per the door specifically. So whatever you are trying to do sounds like something different than making a heavy door. Purchase a solid core door and be done with it...it's just easier and costs less.