Soundproofing a door?

[varkam]

Okay, so I live in a 1BR, and the door to the hallway is reinforced with metal. The problem with that, though, is that metal carries sound waves really well and so I can hear my neighbors in their apartment. I've been wanting to soundproof my door for a while now but have decided to do it because I'm really tired of hearing about the drama in the teenager's life next door. Any ideas?

[NV Whino]

1. You can buy sheet foam for insulation

2 or 3 inches thick, 4 x 8 foot sizes. Not a great solution, but you can glue it to the back of the door. If you want to get crafty and have a fun looking pattern, use egg cartons. I suspect the foam would work better. It's somewhere between $20 and $40 a sheet. If you rent, as it sounds you do, maybe make a frame for it and attach frame to door with a few screw rather than gluing foam to door.

[zanne]

2. You could just buy some really nice material to cover the sheet foam.

Mix it up a little. (I know how you feel about hearing other people's private conversations. Creepy.)

[varkam]

3. Thanks for the suggestions, folks.

I got some styrofoam board, but glue isn't holding it on (at least not my glue). I think I will get some sort of cloth to hang over it when it is said and done, though.

:hi:

[harmonicon]

5. cloth is a good idea

Depending on what your doorway is like, just hanging a thick and heavy curtain can help a lot. I mean, if there is room to put a pole/curtain rod that's at least as wide as the door in, you can hang a curtain - enough so that there are several pleats in it - on there. It may even be better if you have a hallway and can put some space between the curtain and the door. This sort of stuff is used in theaters and really works. I guess you could get the real deal sort of cloth, but I bet it's expensive. I think any really think velvet or felt would work. Also, if there's any space between the door and the door jam, you should cover that. You can put a piece of cloth, foam, rubber, etc. where the hinge is, if your door opens into the apartment, attached to the door and to the wall, but with room to fold. Putting some sort of padding on the bottom of the door would also be good, or just one of those little door pillows (I don't know what they're really called) that are used to keep out drafts.

[midnight armadillo]

8. NO! FIRE HAZARD!

Remember the Station fire? Yeah, egg crate foam there. Rigid foam insulation cannot be left exposed and must be covered with drywall for fire safety per every building code in the US. Heck, the stuff's basically solid gasoline.

On top of that, it's not the best sound proofer.

Far better would be cork-coated Homasote, which is a very effective sound deadening product.
http://www.homasote.com/cork.html
The cork gives it better fire rating than plain Homasote. You can just nail up the panels. Plain homasote works too but needs a fire-rated covering, like drywall.

[NV Whino]

9. Thanks, good to know

By the way, I wasn't talking about egg crate foam, but rather real egg cartons. Same difference though as far as fire hazard I bet.

[varkam]

11. Egads! I haven't put the foam up yet, and so I don't think I will.

Thanks for the heads up.

Where can I get homasote? I mean would places like Home Depot or Lowe's have it in stock?

[midnight armadillo]

13. Home Depot

That's where I've bought it in the past. Last time I used it the application was a soundproofing box for a 1/2 hp pump. it worked well, and was covered with 1/4" plywood.

[Duer 157099]

4. Hi neighbor!!

(kidding. I hope.)

But I often wonder if my neighbors enjoy hearing about the drama in my teen's life. I'm sure they don't.

[Whoa_Nelly]

6. info

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&suggon=0&as_q=%22how+to%22+soundproof+door&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&num=10&lr=&as_filetype=&ft=i&as_sitesearch=&as_qdr=all&as_rights=&as_occt=any&cr=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&safe=images

[Schema Thing]

7. A material called "homasote" is probably what you need

it comes in 3/4 inch thick 4x8 sheets.


Any leftover makes for a pretty good bulletin board, too. In fact it is sold under a different brand with cork laminate.

You'll need something fairly dense, so I wouldn't count on foam to make much of a difference.

Another option might be to find a deal on a solid core wood door.

[SacredCow]

10. Perhaps some automotive sound dampening materials?

This is what I'm going to be putting inside of my Beetle.

http://www.secondskinaudio.com/

[CreekDog]

12. can't you drill a hole in the top and put in some insulation?

don't go doing this without actually checking. :shrug:

[snailly]

14. Wow. I've never heard of you here.

HI THERE! LOVE ME!

Can you tell the little spoiled bitch to shut the fuck up? Maybe put signs around their door saying "Quiet voice zone" or something similar. Other than that I think you are screwed til you move to a pasture somewhere.