New Home Theater - Door Ideas

[popcornninja]

Building a new home and we have a dedicated home theater room (bonus/upstairs) 20x16 in dimensions. It was fairly well planned out, power outlets in ceiling, pre-wired for 7.1, network/hdmi cables ran in ceiling tubes, insulated, etc.

But I have overlooked one part. The door.

In trying to get the most space out of the room I asked builder to leave the doorway open, no framing of door. If framed in I would have lost some critical sq ft space. Unfortunately the doorway is quite larger than I originally thought so even a "barn" door solution (which I originally thought of doing is out of the question.

Thick blackout/noise reducing curtains was one idea I had. Does any one use thick curtains in place of doors?? I'm trying to think of ideas so let me know what any of you have.

[Mr.Poindexter]

No curtains are going to replace the effectiveness of a door. You want to have a solid core exterior door with weatherstripping and a threshold or some form of seal on the bottom in addition to the top and sides to be able to keep a high level of sound isolation. You can build a theater without it, but it is a huge deficiency that cannot fully overcome with drapes, regardless of how thick the fabric is.

[Flatnate]

Wait, what's wrong with or doesn't work with the barn door idea? I know they make some modern looking ones as well (sliding ones, with a less Barn like feel to them), I found a cool one in a smaller hotel room that I stayed in while in New York the other week, it was in a very modern decorated space.

[Mr.Poindexter]

He may have an open plan type of entry into the room that basically has a, 8' opening parallel to the hallway. I had one in my theater but I built the wall and framed in a door. Depending on how his room is laid out, it might not really work for what he is trying to accomplish, but if that is what he has, I can see how a barn door won't work - way too long.

Certainly there are some lovely barn door options, but if they don't work, it doesn't matter. Barn doors are hard to get perfect for sound isolation.

[popcornninja]

Originally Posted by Mr.Poindexter

He may have an open plan type of entry into the room that basically has a, 8' opening parallel to the hallway. I had one in my theater but I built the wall and framed in a door. Depending on how his room is laid out, it might not really work for what he is trying to accomplish, but if that is what he has, I can see how a barn door won't work - way too long.

Certainly there are some lovely barn door options, but if they don't work, it doesn't matter. Barn doors are hard to get perfect for sound isolation.

Sorry for slow response ( thought I subscribed to this and didn't see posts)

Correct, the doorway is huge and the ceiling is also slanted on both sides so I don't see anything sliding will work. As you mentioned I will have to probably figure out how to frame in something down the road. For now I'll just have to use fabric to block out light but from what has been said and I've researched it will be a minimal decrease of sound.

Thanks for thoughts!