John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

John, you will probably need to mount the hinge side of your seal to the door jamb itself, so it doesn't get pushed sideways when the door closes - I'll know more when you post a pic or sketch of what's what... Steve

Thats what I thought Steve, problem was the gap between the hinge and the door is about 5-7mm and the rubber I have is 12mm. It just would not compress that much when I shut the door.
I think I will just but some wider (door width), thinner (hindge gap thickness) rubber for the jam the hindges attach to like you suggested and then run cleats around the bottom, top and handle side jams (other three sides).
Thanks and heres the photo showing the cleat and door. As you can see with 12mm rubber on this "hindge" side cleat it will get knocked of when the door closes. Possible fixes are triangle shape rubber or thin, wide rubber stuck directlly to the jam over top of where you see the hindges sow when the door shuts it compresses into the gap.
JohnG

No, pop off that piece of door stop (thats the unpainted wood in your picture) attach the closed cell foam seal to the frame of the stop first, slide it loosely into position, close the door all the way where you want it, and nail the stop with seal attached back to door jamb nice and tight up against the the door in it's closed position. I just did this today

That's what I did but when I pushed the foam up it compressed by about 20% against the door. When the door opened the foam expanded by this 20% and when I went to shut it again this expansion was just enough to catch the inward swinging corner of the door.
Maybe I compressed the seal/foam to much? but I thought this was important to get a really tight seal. How much did you compress your foam? What's the seal like - soundproof?
JohnG

Ohhh, I think I get it. Maybe the solution is to put the seal not on the cleat or stop, but on the frame between the cleat and the room. This is only on that side -- the seals would be on the cleat for the other three sides. I hope that makes sense!

In my opinion you don't need that much compression. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong anyone, but all you need is a "tight" seal (no gaps) not alot of compression. Besides closed cell foam doesn't compress that much anyway. Are you sure you're using closed cell?

This is what I did

no picture

JohnGardner wrote:no picture

I'm looking at it. What do I have that you don't?

No pic here...

Just a square w/ a red X.

I went to my other computer and I can't see it either. I'm workin on it to see why.

http://www.msnusers.com/Publicfile/shoe ... &PhotoID=1
This will have to do for now until I figure how to post pictures on this site.

Finally got the door seal sorted and square rubber was fine after all.

The trick is to:
Stick the rubber to the cleat first
Then shut the door
THEN screw the cleat into place.

Another tip is to start with the opposite side to the hinges as this is where the seal is more likely going to fail so if you get this nice and tight the rest of the door should fall into place.

Here's a shot looking down at the bottom of the door. Left seal installed, right to be done.

Hope this helps someone.

JG

Awesome! The photos really complement the story too, John. Thanks for sharing!

Thats exactly what I meant. Good job!