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I'd like to make one of my bathrooms that one special place where a guest can go about their business in peace. Essentially, I am going to be soundproofing/insulating my entire bathroom, but the doors are an area I need a little help with.

Right now, both doors are light, hollow doors with about an inch and a half of space beneath them. The first order of business is to get heavier, denser doors and also lessen the space between the bottom of the door and the floor. That I can handle, but there's inevitably still going to be a small space left over and I want to make sure even that is sealed up.

I conceptualize a hard, rubber-like strip that is installed on the floor beneath the door. Alongside the bottom of the door is another strip that butts up against the bottom strip, creating a tight seal. I don't know if something like this exists on the mainstream market and, if it does, what it's even called so that I can look for it at my local hardware store.

Perhaps you could offer your own ideas as to how I can soundproof my doors much more efficiently.

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    Have you installed a fan? They tend to be quite effective at providing some "cover noise." Try to get some cloth-like surfaces in the room as well. Hard, slick surfaces are going to bounce the sound around, whereas things like towels, rugs, soundproofing panels (you could disguise them pretty well), etc. will absorb noises.
    – Michael
    Sep 20, 2011 at 17:29
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    Honestly, I'd recommend against sealing every crack in the bathroom door. You want air to circulate in there to avoid a buildup of humidity.
    – BMitch
    Sep 20, 2011 at 18:58
  • @Michael: This is why my wife does not like the idea of the fancy high end bathroom fans that are virtually silent.
    – auujay
    Sep 20, 2011 at 21:51
  • The Japanese came up with a different solution: youtube.com/watch?v=q8ur73Be8pk
    – BMitch
    Sep 21, 2011 at 14:38

2 Answers 2

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You're looking for a Door Shoe

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A Door Sweep

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Or a Threshold with a vinyl seal

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Or a combination of these.

These products are typically used to weather seal an exterior door from the elements, but should work just as well in your situation. They should all be available at your local home improvement store.

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You need to have a fan in your bathroom to vent moisture (and smells). For the fan to work, it needs easy access to air flow. You WANT a gap under your bathroom door to provide that.

If the goal is to mute toilet sounds, I'd think soundproofing will be difficult if not impossible. I'd suggest getting a fan that has some noise instead. Let the fan act as the muffler.

I never did understand the silent fans. To me, the main benefit of a fan was always the noise it made. ;)

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  • Silent fans are nice when you use the bathroom late at night and the builder wired up the fan and lights together. I think the Japanese toilets with built-in sounds would be a good option, too.
    – BMitch
    Sep 21, 2011 at 14:37

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