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Soundproofing Doors at Home Depot

The walls of my listening room are pretty solid, but a fair bit of noize seems to leak out underneath the door, which then echoes into the hallway which is acoustically bright and reflective.

Consulting websites which are devoted to soundproofing, I have found some impressive but very expensive solutions: seals which move up and down, lead lined recording studio doors, door sized covers etc etc.

For my purposes, I would greatly appreciate any advice on how I might install a simple, inexpensive solution for this old wooden door which has a gap of at least an inch.

Would home depot have a seal that you would recommend? A heavy rubber flap for the door jam?

Has anyone had success doing this yourself?

cheers

cwlondon
cwlondon
gs5556
1,234 posts
 
How about hanging a heavy drape over the door? Push it aside when your done.
ksales
228 posts
 
I used sounddeadening doors. Heavy wood core with tremendous fire rating. Rubber gasketing around the frame with a base that drop seals when the door closes. Really tighten up the room. You can reach high sound levels and these can not be heard outside the room. I don't really believe treating the hall would be helpful at all.
rwwear
2,867 posts
 
The exterior door is the way to go. Just make sure you use a threshold with a seal.
bulldogger
274 posts
 
The exterior door with seals all the way around it the way to go. No offense but I do not believe some of you have any experience with sound reduction. Drapes would to nothing for something like this. To block sound, you have to stop air transmission and that mean seals and that means mass. The heavier the door the better. Even a metal door with seals is better than an interior door without. When the door is installed, also caulk around the perimeter of the frame before you put up the trim. If you do not, your sound proofing is only as good as the thickness of the trim,which usually is not thick, that you install.
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
No offense taken -- the light-duty suggestions aren't supposed to hermetically seal off the room, just cut down HF reverberation a bit, in keeping with CWL's expressed wish for ideas that A) are inexpensive and B) keep the present door intact. I agree that this approach can't be of greater than middling effectiveness, but I don't think more is possible unless those two preconditions were to be removed, in which case have at it. But I can't really tell whether his main priority is alleviating a residual annoyance inside the listening room, or making the rest of the house quieter...
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