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door soundproofing kit in action

Exploring Door Soundproofing Kits: Beyond Simple Fixes

Door soundproofing kit is a search term that deals with noise transmission. Noise transmission is the process of noise or sound coming into our rooms through the air and then striking the walls of our rooms. Once it strikes the walls of our rooms along with the floor and ceiling. When we are searching for door soundproofing kit or some other noise transmission issue, we need to understand the principles behind noise transmission.

Noise transmission is the transfer of vibrations from the air borne energy and the vibrational energy it produces within our walls and windows along with the doors. If you are looking at a door soundproofing kit is only part of the equation to consider. We must first look at the noise we have to deal with before we look at any part of the door soundproofing its process.

door soundproofing kit

The Science Behind Effective Door Soundproofing Kits

Walls, doors, and windows are barriers against noise and the elements. Each has its own performance with walls and doors working better at restraining lower frequencies from leaving or entering the room. When you design a barrier or wall to attenuate noise, you must first find out the frequency and amplitude of the noise that will be an issue. Is it the noise (sound) leaving the room and disturbing others? Is it sound from outside the room entering the room and disturbing you when you are using the room? We must quantify and qualify the noise numbers.

We want to gather noise numbers for a week time period, so we look for maximum pressures along with the lowest frequency. At www.acousticfields.com, we have apps we send you and you download them onto your phone. You follow our instructions and take frequency and amplitude numbers twice a day for a week. You record the data on our on line data sheet and send it to use. We will design your barrier and send you a drawing.

sound barrier wall for garden

Key Steps Before Choosing a Door Soundproofing Kit

You can have a builder bid on the barrier build or you can build it yourself. Now, we can address the windows and the doors. Any discussion of a door soundproofing kit will also have to be the same discussion we have for a window. Doors and windows are “holes” in our barrier design which we painstakingly took a week’s worth of noise numbers in order to design and then build. If we are going to punch holes in our barrier, they need to conform to certain laws of our barriers.

Let’s first consider density in the discussion of a door soundproofing kit. If we punch holes in our barrier walls for doors and windows they must be the same density as the barrier itself. Noise (sound) is like water, it will find the weakest part and go right through that part. Windows and doors are the weak parts of any barrier wall design.

Low-Frequency Barrier Technology
Low-Frequency Barrier Technology

Integrating Door Soundproofing Kits into Overall Noise Control

When we design and build our barrier, we must look at our noise numbers and break the frequencies down into two main categories. We have noise frequencies below 25 hz. and noise frequencies above 125 hz. The barrier design for energy below 125 hz. is dramatically different then the barrier design above 125 hz. This is why it is so critical to measure your noise issue for frequency and amplitude.

We want to measure over seven days so that we get the lowest noise frequency with the highest strength or amplitude over the seven days. We then design for that lowest frequency and highest amplitude so that the rest of the frequency and amplitude issues will be covered. Barriers that are for noise below 125 hz, are much thicker in construction with many material types that have larger amounts of density than barrier designs for noise energy above 125.

Barrier graphic 1 1

Achieving Comprehensive Noise Control with Door Soundproofing Kits

With any noise transmission issue, you must measure the noise you are fighting over. Every material in a barrier design is directly dependent on the frequency and amplitude or strength of the noise that it must attenuate. With noise and barrier design you do not want to spend one dollar more than you have to address the frequency and amplitudes of your noise issues.

We will never get the cost to attenuate our noise issues back when we sell the building. Any barrier design and build is a permanent construction fix. Think of your noise room as a boat that you are building to place within the ocean. It must be strong enough to withstand the waves of energy and also it must not leak. Any small hole or break in a joint will negate the whole structure.

Dennis Foley

I am an acoustic engineer with over 30 years’ experience in the business. My technology has been used in Electric Lady Land Studios, Sony Music of New York, Cello Music and Films founded by Mark Levinson, and Saltmines Studios in Mesa, Arizona, along with hundreds of others.

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