Door material/design for home theater room/living room

[arvban]

Hi- I have my HT set up in a room which is doubling up as a living room. This is the main entrance room to my apartment as well. Room dimensions are 16"*12"*9". I have an opening of about 6" width and 7" height on one of the walls which leads into dining area. This opening is towards the wall where front speakers and others gears are located. I am planning to put a foldable door to close this opening while watching movies but keep it open during rest of the day. Can someone recommend few things?

1. Is there any alternative instead of a door which can be closed and open as necessary?
2. If I go for door then what kind of material I should use for this, I am currently planning for plywood and venner to match rest of the interior but was also thinking of fixing glass in a wooden frame. Can you tell me whether glass will be a problem? Like ratting or something specially watching movies at high volume?
3. Any other alternative material to constrct this door which will provide better sound proofing/acoustics? This door is costing me about Rs.500/sft including material & labour so any option within this price range will work.


Thanks.

 

[vinay]

There are fold able/collapse able door options available, in order that you get better ideas, it will be important if you provide us the picture of room.

In my case my door thickness is nearly double the size to normal size, i have put glass wool sandwiched in door with hole sizes as per cones of speaker sizes, instead of veneer i have put fabric based on acoustic lines. For a theatre door it is best not to use floor spring, the use should be only of hinges.

V.

 

[arvban]

There are fold able/collapse able door options available, in order that you get better ideas, it will be important if you provide us the picture of room.

In my case my door thickness is nearly double the size to normal size, i have put glass wool sandwiched in door with hole sizes as per cones of speaker sizes, instead of veneer i have put fabric based on acoustic lines. For a theatre door it is best not to use floor spring, the use should be only of hinges.

V.

Thanks. I am attaching the pics to give you an idea of how this opening looks like both from living and dining area. Can you suggest any pointers from where I can buy these good quality foldable doors?

 

[cmsajith]

You can easily use a folding door w/ acoustics (folded towards the left side wall in the 1st pic).

 

[arvban]

You can easily use a folding door w/ acoustics (folded towards the left side wall in the 1st pic).

Thanks. Can you give me pointers to buy these doors with acoustics?

 

[cmsajith]

I dont think you will get any ready made doors. You have to custom-build it.

 

[arvban]

I dont think you will get any ready made doors. You have to custom-build it.

Oh ok. That's what I was planning to do so I guess my next question is what material should I use in making it? Initially I was thinking Plywood and Veneer but on second thought I was wondering if I could use glass in a playwood frame. But worried if glass would rattle during moving watching. Do you think if I should use glasswool or any similar material in making it. My carpenter does not know how to make a door from acoustics point of view so any suggestions are hugely appreciated.

 

[cmsajith]

You can make it with ply and acoustics inside.

Depth could be 4" (2 inch high density glass wool board since it is at the corner side and 2" gap at the backside.). The backside can be made with 19mm ply (there are also some plys available with sound isolation properties (rubber sheets b/n the layers)). The front side can be covered with suitable cloth. Also dont use glass in this area as it will reflect the sound back to the room. Also to get the maximum benefit, it should be made in such a way that it seals all the sides when it is opened.

If you are looking only for sound isolation, 2" depth is enough for the door and stuff with glass wool and close both the sides in ply painted with the same wall paint or with veneer.

Another option instead of a folding door is to make a false wall to the left side wall and make a similar sliding door which will be hidden inside the false wall when not in use.

 

[arvban]

Thanks a lot for providing so many options. Sounds like you are an architect/designer yourself . So just to understand a bit better, I think one option is to use something like 8 mm ply on both sides to make a 2 inch thick box kind of frame and fill it with glass wool? Is this correct?

I did not quite understand your last suggestion on false wall? Can you please elaborate on this. Thanks a lot for your guidance here.

 

[santhosh]

Hi arvban,
Here is how I have made my Home Theater door. I made a frame with 4 inch depth and on the side facing the Home Theater, I have used Anutone absorbtive boards and covered it with fabric that I have used for rest of the room. Here is a pic:

I turned the door around and filled it with High density fibre glasswool. I then closed it with 19mm plywood. On the outside, I got some decorative work (american velvet with some thick foam) done by a local sofa chap, I had to leave the door with him so he could get the correct fit and finish. Add some lights and here is how it looks:

To make the door heavy, I have used lot of bracing with waste pieces of plywood. Also, I have another normal wooden door in front of the HT door. To enter the HT, one needs to open the wooden door, then the HT door. This has been done to provide an air column for sound proofing. Ensure that the door closes tight without any air gaps. Vinay is right about using steel hinges as the door gets really heavy once they are stuffed. Make the door as heavy as possible, it helps. I have read on avsforums, that many have used Fire doors for the weight and airtight quality.

 

[santhosh]

Thanks a lot for providing so many options. Sounds like you are an architect/designer yourself . So just to understand a bit better, I think one option is to use something like 8 mm ply on both sides to make a 2 inch thick box kind of frame and fill it with glass wool? Is this correct?

I did not quite understand your last suggestion on false wall? Can you please elaborate on this. Thanks a lot for your guidance here.

In addition to his day job as a techie, cmsajith is also into interior design, hence his detailed posts.

8mm ply will not suffice, idea is to get more mass. So use 19mm or higher for building the door.

 

[cmsajith]

Thanks a lot for providing so many options. Sounds like you are an architect/designer yourself . So just to understand a bit better, I think one option is to use something like 8 mm ply on both sides to make a 2 inch thick box kind of frame and fill it with glass wool? Is this correct?

8mm is not a std thickness. 6mm or 12mm is not sufficient, 19mm is better, if possible try the acoustic ply as i had mentioned before. All the gaps should be closed.

I did not quite understand your last suggestion on false wall? Can you please elaborate on this. Thanks a lot for your guidance here.

See the attached pic. A false wall is another wall on top of another wall to hide the door when not in use. The dark grey is the portion where the door will be hidden. The other darker shades are the optional area where you can close at the aesthetic point of view. The cross section pic will give you a clear idea (door is represented in brown) Imageshack - falsewalldoor.png
The door will be moving on channels and you can seal the backside edges of the door or the false wall to prevent the sound leaking through the gaps.

Also its better keep the false wall end open to prevent any cavity resonance.

 

[vinay]

It is always better to have minimum glass in the room.

V.

I was wondering if I could use glass in a playwood frame.

 

[vinay]

I have used imported rubber sealings at the door and other important places.

Among the reason to use door hinges is better because there is near to minimum gap at the ground level while if we use floor spring then there is gap for sound to travel outside and most importantly the gap is such that during the afternoons when you are watching a movie in your dark room you will see ray of sun light at the ground level and this is quite bad.

I have done the mistake of using floor springs therefore i have been suggesting others not to do this mistake.

V.

 

[manishk13]

Hi Santosh, CJSmith

I need to also get a 8 by 2.5 door made. Here is what I learnt from your posts:

- Use 19 mm ply on both sides and sandwich glasswool/anutone synth in between. As per cj's advice, I managed to find acoustic ply where they sandwich rubber in between 2 plys to make it sound proof. The thickness will be around 19-10 mm so I think they use ply of 8 mm on both sides and press rubber in between. So I should be ok if I use 2 of these acoustic plys on both sides and sandwich synth in between? How many mm should I leave for the synth in between ? The door is already heavy in its spec i.e 19 * 2 = 38 mm . It seems to me that if I provision for 20-30 mm for glasswool/syth I should be ok ? So the total door thickness will become approx 60-70mm. Is that ok ? Do I have to get special door frame made for it and also use special hinge? Any guidance will be truly appreciated. I guess I also need to provide rubber sealings too around the edges ?(Anutone has those)

Thanks
Manish

 

[poohpiglet]

Doors have always been the weakest point, in such an attempt. The mass, damping and stiffness of the home cinema door will determine its resistance to the passage of any sound waves. A doors ability to reduce noise is given by its Sound transmission Class. This means, the higher up the Class the better the efficiency.

 

[sujiro]

There are lot of design which affects relationships. If you were to create home cinema design, it should be something that gets your appetite. Something that your family or other members of your family or even friends that they will not get bored on the place where they rest or sit while they watch something.

 

[Cherian]

Hi,

Have just moved to a new apartment where I share a door with the land lord. The plywood door leaks enough sound to hear coughing/muffled voices etc at night. I plan to have a 5mm rubber-strip to seal the top, bottom and side of the door and duct tape the door edges to the frame. The keyhole has been taped shut.

Now I'm wondering what is the best way to cover the surface of the door for sound proofing.

Will an inch of thermocol sheet fronted with fabric over the whole the door be effective? Any other material suggestions that wont cost about the same and work better?