Alternate door solutions

[fwoelper]

I am renting a house, and am trying to soundproof one room, and in particular, the door. Currently mounted in the doorway is a cheap, hollow core door. I have read the door page on your site throughly, and have used several of the concepts there, however I am hesitant to go out and purchase a fairly expensive MDF for my purpose.

What I am wondering instead is if there is a suggestion for some material I can put inside the hollow door to reduce the sound passing through. I can easily open the top of the door and drop things in that way, but I wondered if there were particulars to doing something like this I should be aware of.

Thanks for your help and very informative site.

[joel]

Hello fwoelper,

There are no "Particulars" to doing what you mention.  However, here is an idea to consider.



When you open up the top of the door what do you see?  Most hollow core doors will have some type of filler inside - honeycomb kraft paper, styrofoam panel, etc.  If there is an open space into which you could slide a composite that is 1" to 1 1/2" thick, you may be able to do something that way.  You can make your own composite and save money.  Use 1/8" (1Lb/ft2) and glue 1" or 1 1/2" SSP Mat to it and then slide into the open cavity.  This will act a sound absorber/barrier inside the door.  You will need to glue the insert at least to the top of the door inside to keep it from slipping down.



Joel