Preliminary Design Considerations-Basement Aspiring to Amaze

[gullfo]

the GG is an option. whichever one is within your reach and budget. worst case, you can do without and dampen externally with an absorber on it.

on the seals - a stepped seal with the 3/4" and rubber is a good choice - consider using an automatic threshold on the bottom to achieve a reliable seal there because a stepped seal on the bottom will experience a lot more wear.

on keeping the door closed - consider the weigh of the door (likely > 100lb) so you want to install a door closer (like Norton etc) which will ensure the final few inches of closure are slow and controlled. secondly this could be enough to keep it pressed on the seals - however adding the ball catch may also be useful. you can always add the ball catch later if the closer unit doesn't meet your needs although in most cases it should be just fine.

[danieljvogel]

the GG is an option. whichever one is within your reach and budget. worst case, you can do without and dampen externally with an absorber on it.

Ah, got it. I have a bunch of Green Glue so may just go with that, but that makes a lot of sense.

on the seals - a stepped seal with the 3/4" and rubber is a good choice - consider using an automatic threshold on the bottom to achieve a reliable seal there because a stepped seal on the bottom will experience a lot more wear.

That also makes a lot of sense, though they do like kinda pricey. Do you by chance have any you would recommend in the $50 range (preferably surface mount)? I suppose worst case I could always do that after the fact if the stepped seal wore down really quickly. Though I could also always just replace the bottom strip periodically.

on keeping the door closed - consider the weigh of the door (likely > 100lb) so you want to install a door closer (like Norton etc) which will ensure the final few inches of closure are slow and controlled. secondly this could be enough to keep it pressed on the seals - however adding the ball catch may also be useful. you can always add the ball catch later if the closer unit doesn't meet your needs although in most cases it should be just fine.

Got it, I've seen that elsewhere and will definitely look into it. This may be a basic question but I will want to keep the doors open most of the time - can something like a simple wedge door stop keep such a heavy door open? I know they make closers with arms that hold them open but that seems a little fiddly, and I would worry about pinched fingers.

Last question - any thoughts on using a solid wood door with 3/4" plywood instead of solid core and MDF? This is mainly for aesthetics and my aforementioned distaste for MDF. Just thinking I may be able to find pretty cheap solid wood doors at the building re-use place, and then I could varnish the plywood and it would look pretty sharp.

Thanks so much for the reply, this is great advice!

[gullfo]

the door closer is to stop pinched fingers highly recommended.

if you're leaving the door open... isolation?

yes, you could create the bottom stop as part of the threshold so moving over it is easier. Pemko makes several versions of an automatic threshold seal for around $50.

you can use a solid wood door and plywood or you could use plywood over the MDF (ala veneer) to hide it.

[danieljvogel]

Awesome, thank you!! Hopefully I’ll be getting the first door installed in the next month or so, so I’ll be sure to post updates. Getting pretty excited and as for the doors being open, it would be when I’m not in there making music. Basically the main two doors are the pass through to get to our laundry area so it would be nice to keep them open so when you’re carrying a laundry basket you don’t have to open two doors to get there.