Solid core steel doors

[judecca]

Does anyone have a good source for steel doors? i need 36" doors. i need an entry door, and two for the passage between the live room and control room. any other door suggestions would be appreciated as well.

ryan

[goldstar]

Ryan

Are you sold on steel? Solid core wood is more massive for the $, cos most inexpensive steel solid-cores have foam in the middle. Best bang for the buck is a prehung 1 3/4" exterior solid core wood; it has some seal/weatherstrip already installed, and you just need to beef up the threshold or add a drop-down sweep.

Frank

[Sean Shannon]

I second the vote for pre-hung exterior doors. Both the doors between the control room and the studio here are full length glass, were easy to install, and provide excellent isolation and full view. They were fairly inexpensive, too, like $280 or something at Home Depot. The iso booth also has one, but it is half glass.

[Professor]

I can't say I've directly compared the two, but a solid wood door is likely going to be a single, solid (or perhaps laminated) piece of wood which would transmit sound directly through it. A 'solid core' steel door will indeed be a steel shell filled with foam, but that's most likely going to be better at controlling sound tranmission since it is a dense surface, an absorbant filler, and another dense surface - exactly what you would want for isolation.
You should be able to find them also in a prehung setup at someplace like home depot or any local construction products store. 36" steel solid cores would probably still be considered a 'stock' item since they would consider that a standard size for an exterior front door, though you might not find one that doesn't have some kind of small window. Though if the window is double glazed and small, that might be kinda handy.

-Jeremy

[goldstar]

Jeremy's got a point, but I still think the extra mass of the solid-core wood will give more isolation. Like the steel, which is usually made up of 2 20 ga. (or so) steel skins over foam, the "solid core" wood doors are usually 2 1/8" veneered layers of ply over a particle board core. If the steel were heavier, I'd agree, but shopping at the Depot (feh), that'd be my pick. Check 'em out yourself at the HD; you can kinda tell by the weight.

Don't forget to check your local lumberyard for prices, too. They're usually competitive on price, deliver, and you'll have a way better chance of ordering something from a person who's got a fighting chance of knowing what they are talking about.

Frank

[JohnDavisNYC]

what about a solid core door, then a layker of rubber, then a layer of 3/4 furniture ply... it's a pain in the ass, but that seems like it would be really good. i'm asking because in the spring i plan on renovating my apt into a proper studio (ish) and and thinking of a way to get nice big thick heavy doors like in a 'real' studio... avatar, etc.. you know, the doors that are a foot thick....

john

[Sean Shannon]

Double sealed exterior doors with air space between them should be pretty good isolation, wood or metal. Some studios glue 2 solid core doors together, use a massive hinge, and then double up with 2 doors with air space between them. There comes a point where there is enough isolation, only you can decide how extreme to go.

[judecca]

thanks for the input guys. i found a lot of six solid core steel doors on ebay for pretty damn cheap ($99 for all). i think i'll go that route. i'll still have enough $ left to by some sound barrier rubber mat and adhere it to the doors. i could always add the 3/4" ply later if needed. btw: my wife is in the national guard. she says their security doors are like 600 lbs. and bulletproof. now that would be a sweet entry door.

ryan

[TapeOpLarry]

I hope the eBay doors are within driving distance! (Duh, I assume so, just trying to be funny).

[judecca]

I hope the eBay doors are within driving distance! (Duh, I assume so, just trying to be funny).

shipping would have been insane (doors were 85lbs each!). i had to go to dayton, oh from peoria, il for them. total cost with expenses for six doors was $185. lowes sells similar fire doors for $275 each and up. BTW: my wife and i were in portland recently and ate at a place downtown called "jakes". i'm sure you've heard of it, but i felt required to pass along the location of the best calamari steak i've ever had.

ryan

[versuviusx]

does anyone have any ebay auctions numbers so i can see what they look like?

[judecca]

does anyone have any ebay auctions numbers so i can see what they look like?

here's a link to the auction that i won for the doors (has pic's). he did have six more, though i picked out the best six. i believe he has a current auction running for the other six.

ryan

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... %3AIT&rd=1

[rockstar_not]

I can't say I've directly compared the two, but a solid wood door is likely going to be a single, solid (or perhaps laminated) piece of wood which would transmit sound directly through it. A 'solid core' steel door will indeed be a steel shell filled with foam, but that's most likely going to be better at controlling sound tranmission since it is a dense surface, an absorbant filler, and another dense surface - exactly what you would want for isolation.
You should be able to find them also in a prehung setup at someplace like home depot or any local construction products store. 36" steel solid cores would probably still be considered a 'stock' item since they would consider that a standard size for an exterior front door, though you might not find one that doesn't have some kind of small window. Though if the window is double glazed and small, that might be kinda handy.

-Jeremy

Jeremy,

Not necessarily true. The mass-law transmission loss effect of the solid wood would do very nicely, if not significantly better, in comparison to the lighter weight expandable foam core that will be inside the steel door. Just do the density calculations, 1 3/4" of wood is much more dense than the steel shell/foam core of a 'solid' core exterior door.

Here's some links on the effects of mass for reducing sound transmission:

http://www.cwc.ca/design/building_scien ... l/mass.php

http://www.kemt.fei.tuke.sk/Predmety/KE ... ssion.html

In short, you have to hit a solid core wood door (where it's actually dense wood as the core, not a foam core) with a ton of sound to get it to go into resonance and pass the waveforms through - simply due to the mass of the door itself. Proper seals are necessary to cutoff the airborne component as well. The sound waves have to actually move the mass: more mass = less movement = less sound transmitted through.

-Scott