What Is The Best Soundproof Door
Aug 22, 2022You might be wondering which door design will be the most sound isolating. In this article I want to give you my ideas as to which door design will be best if you are in need of some serious soundproofing.
1) The Three Types Of Soundproof Doors
a) Communicating Doors
Communicating doors are two solid core doors that you put on either side of your entry way to and from your studio. The idea is that the mass of the two doors plus the air space in between will act as a mini airlock and greatly reduce the amount of sound that can travel from one room to the next. You must also make sure both doors are airtight for this system to work properly. Here is a diagram below.
b) Super Heavy Door
The super heavy door is what I did in my studio. It requires only one door, but you must make that door very heavy. To do that we used a solid core door with 8 pounds per square foot of sheet lead on the back of it and then put a 3/4" piece of plywood over the lead. The door weighs close to 300lbs and certainly stops most sound coming through it. You must also make sure this door is airtight as well.
c) The Airlock
Now the airlock is the best soundproof door option because it provides so many extra layers between the outside sounds and your studio. Let's take a deeper dive into what the airlock door system is.
2) Why Would You Need The Airlock Door System
a) You Are Building A Studio In Your Backyard as a stand alone structure.
If you are building a studio in your backyard like I did then I would recommend using the airlock method because noises from the outside are much louder than noises that travel through your house first. You will have lawn mowers, helicopters, airplanes, and maybe subwoofer bass from cars to contend with. For this reason I think the airlock is the best design option.
b) You live in very loud neighborhood or are near an airport
If you are building a soundproof studio in your basement or within your home, but are near a very loud area then you may want to incorporate the airlock system into your design. This will ensure that your walls and doors are both soundproof enough to keep out those loud noises.
3) How The Airlock System Works
So now that you know that the airlock system is the best, let's take a deeper dive into how it works. You can see in the diagram below that the best option would be to create an L shape so that the doors do not face each other. You want to use two solid core doors and make sure to use weather stripping and magnetic weather stripping around both doors so they are airtight. Then you will use a double wall system to ensure your airlock itself is soundproof. The double wall system consists of building a new framed wall one inch from your outer wall and then adding insulation and two laters of 5/8" drywall with green glue around the entire airlock. This will ensure that the room of the airlock is soundproof and will enhance the isolation of your door system.
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