How To Choose the Right Home Theater Door

Home Theater Construction: Doors

Doors are a very important part of your
home theater, you need them to get in and out of the room and
you need a good q uality door to keep the STC ratings that you
put so much effort into achieving with your wall construction
& design.

Solid Core Home Theater Doors:

Solid Core doors are your best value for economical sound control and dec

ent STC ratings. When used in conjunction with a solid frame and threshold these doors provide the best sound protection for the pri

ce. Home Depot & Lowes cary lower end solid core doors, however you will probably have much better luck calling a specialized lo

cal vendor who can provide matching seals, threshold and installation help for the same price.

Professional Home Theater Doors:

Several manufactures specialize in quiet room and home theater doors. These are generally found at your local cinemas,

hospitals, lawyer offices, executive offices and conference rooms. These are very expensive, very heavy and usually require professi

onal installation from manufacture or supported contractors to achieve ratings that they guarantee. Highly regarded doors for those

with the cash to spend, but usually out of budget for most home theater room designs. If you can afford these types of doors, by all

means don’t fret at the expense, they are worth it!

DIY Home Theater Doors:

Well, you would like to do it yourself and save money? Our number one recommendation is to go to your local hardware sh

op and buy a solid core exterior door that includes the seals, threshold and frame. This way you can mount it, caulk the seems, inst

all the threshold and have a fairly air-tight / quiet door. Beware though that some places sell cheap hollow steel doors that don’t

to much other then keep the weather outside – you still want to look for SOLID CORE or highly rated STC doors when building your hom

e theater room.

Remember: Don’t skimp on your door especially if you are building a room for high stc ratings. Your

door is one of the most difficult areas of the room to control regarding sound control. Don’t let your door leak all of your effort

of expensive walls and ceilings!

Tip: Go with a 32-36″ door! It is hard to move equipment and furniture in and out of anything smaller. Remember so

me day you may want to upgrade to those cooshy movie chairs or put in some nice couches!