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Sealing a Door to Make It Soundproof (Regardless of the Damage to the Door)

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  • Nov 27th, 2017 2:15 pm
Newbie
Nov 23, 2017
4 posts

Sealing a Door to Make It Soundproof (Regardless of the Damage to the Door)

Hello,

There are two doors in my room. The second door is between my room and the room of the other person. It is never used and is always closed. But there is noise coming from the other room. Can you explain how I can insulate the door to make it as soundproof as possible? Since the door will be removed and replaced with a wall at some later time, any temporary measures can be taken now regardless of the damage to the door. I need to find out what method works best in terms of reducing noise.
Doorway.jpg
14 replies
Deal Expert
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Feb 11, 2007
21239 posts
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GTA
First you need to seal all of gaps around the edges. There are various foam strips and floor sweeps for this. One concern with doing this is that it will reduce air flow out of your room, unless you have a vent and return in your room.
Assuming you have a hollow door, you need to install sound deadening on it to quiet things down. A cheap way to do this would be to screw/glue dense rubber mats to it.
Finally, you can hang a sound deadening curtain, or heavy blanket over the door.
If the door never opens, you could seal the door with caulking and just screw sound deadening drywall over it.
If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.
Deal Guru
Feb 9, 2006
13362 posts
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Brampton
Take the door and trim off and just dry wall over it with insulation in the middle. So much easier than making the door way sound proof.
Deal Expert
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Feb 11, 2007
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tebore wrote: Take the door and trim off and just dry wall over it with insulation in the middle. So much easier than making the door way sound proof.
Sounds like he wants a temp fix before it's removed and a wall is put in, but yea, may as well just remove it now. It's less work.
Otherwise the easiest and cheapest thing would be to just hang a blanket or 2 over the door until it's replaced.
If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.
Deal Fanatic
Nov 18, 2005
5110 posts
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Kitchener
Got a spare mattress you can put in front of it?
Deal Guru
Jan 25, 2007
12692 posts
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Paris
I could frame and wall that off faster and cheaper than dicking around with making it soundproof. That being said, caulk the door closed and then put a blanket or the like underneath so ZERO air or light is visible. Hang a curtain or blanket on both sides over the trim.
Deal Expert
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Sep 1, 2005
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Markham
What kind of noise? Seriously, buy some of that Roxul sound insulation and combine that with some plastic to hold it in place. Use a staple gun to tack the plastic to wall. Small holes like staples should be easy to fill later with something as simple as Toothpaste
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Newbie
Nov 23, 2017
4 posts
Thank you for explaining how the door can be insulated. The door transmits various kinds of sounds. Using strips, a door sweep, and a sealant is a good way to reduce the noise. I have a carpet which can then be hung over the door.
Are all sealants the same in terms of blocking noise in openings, or do I need to seek some special sealant or expanding foam?
Deal Expert
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Feb 11, 2007
21239 posts
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GTA
BerndStrauss wrote: Thank you for explaining how the door can be insulated. The door transmits various kinds of sounds. Using strips, a door sweep, and a sealant is a good way to reduce the noise. I have a carpet which can then be hung over the door.
Are all sealants the same in terms of blocking noise in openings, or do I need to seek some special sealant or expanding foam?
Expanding foams will probably work better, but are more messy. Cleanest would be the foam rod that you can stuff into the cracks, like this.
https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home/p.back ... 56193.html
If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.
Deal Addict
Dec 17, 2007
2625 posts
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Alliston, ON
Is this in a rental you're in? Or a home you own? If it's a rental I'd check with the landlord before doing anything as plans could change for removing the door or they may use the door elsewhere and you could be on the hook for repairs to it
Newbie
Nov 23, 2017
4 posts
The door is inside my house. So any changes can be made to it. Apparently I can use foam strips and a silicon or acrylic sealant to soundproof the door.
Deal Guru
Jan 25, 2007
12692 posts
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Paris
BerndStrauss wrote: The door is inside my house. So any changes can be made to it. Apparently I can use foam strips and a silicon or acrylic sealant to soundproof the door.
Honestly take the door out and frame in some 2x4s and cover it with drywall. Even if you need to hire to FINISH the drywall the framing bits are pretty simple and can be accomplished with basic tools.
Deal Addict
Feb 25, 2007
1566 posts
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Ottawa
If you're willing and able to make a trip to the hardware store, and the door is coming out anyway, like Jerico said the best solution - and really no more work than careful dicking around with sealants - is to remove the door pronto, stick some Roxsul in the cavity, and put drywall over on both sides. A building inspector might prefer a more careful solution (I don't know...), but if the door is a normal 30-34" x 80" frame size you probably don't even need to play around with reframing. Just take out the door and trim, down to the frame. Cut/squeeze some Roxsul into the cavity (optional but will improve soundproofing). Score and snap two 4x8 sheets of drywall to the right size, one on each side of the former wall. Attach with drywall screws; mud or just Polyfilla (or equivalent) and paint at leisure. All except the mudding/painting will take no more time than reasonably careful temporary sealing of the door.

The two disadvantages I can think of is i) you need a vehicle large enough to carry 4x8 drywall sheets -- or enough confidence in your measuring, scoring, and snapping to cut to size in the hardware store before bringing home, ii) you need access/cooperation of whoever is on the other side of the door. If ii) is a problem, then be careful about using expanding sealant around the existing door anyway, since if you're not careful it may well expand from your side onto the other side.

Any temporary solution with sealing the gaps around the door will help, but won't get around the fact that a (hollow core I assume) <1.5" thick door won't soundproof as well as a wall, with or without sound insulation inside it.
Deal Addict
Jun 2, 2012
1600 posts
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GTA
Jerico wrote: Honestly take the door out and frame in some 2x4s and cover it with drywall. Even if you need to hire to FINISH the drywall the framing bits are pretty simple and can be accomplished with basic tools.
Hell, even cheaper scrap the 2x4's... just frame and insulate as is... it's not like the door it self is structural.
removing it won't do anything..
Newbie
Nov 23, 2017
4 posts
Thank you for explaining how the door can be insulated. I can see that there are various ways to do that. The ways which work best are those which involve using solid material and tightly sealing all openings.

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