03/09/2026
HOT OFF THE PRESS FROM SOOKE WOODWORKING!
SOUND PROOFED DOOR SYSTEM FOR A CLIENTS HOME OFFICE.
WITH AN 80% REDUCTION IN SOUND TRANSFER!
This triple set of sound proofed doors I just built was a BIG success for my clients home office! They are built from beautiful face grain Douglas Fir to match the trim in the house.
They come with a set of triple glazed double laminated 6mil glass units, that are also gas filled in the two air spaces in between them.
The wooden structure is a combination of two layers of Fir on the outside layers. With a middle section of particle board.
The particle board is an excellent sound dampener because of the random particle size of the material.
It helps to dampen the sound actually better than the solid Fir itself, because the sound waves get interrupted due to the different random sized particles of the material which make the sound work harder to get around them.
This also goes for the glass components as well that make the sound work hard to adjust to both the gas filled spaces as well as the glue laminated 3 mil glass layers.
The client and I both spent a lot of time researching the different elements of the sound dampening aspect of these doors.
One thing we discovered, with the help of AI, was that using standard, less expensive, Face Grained Fir, was a more effective dampener than Edge Grained Fir. The reason being that the different layers and densities of the Winter/Summer growth rings of the tree make the sound have to work harder to go through all the different densities of these two wood growths.
They create multiple layers of dense Winter wood versus the softer less dense Summer wood growth rings to create multiple layers of sound attenuating qualities.
On the other hand the Edge Grained boards allowed the sound to travel more easily through the summer wood sections of the tree and simply bypass the harder Winter wood of the tree rings.
Combine this with my design of adjustable Rubber Gasket strips and the resulting sound dampening ratio was close to a whopping 80% REDUCTION in incoming sound waves!
Which was a huge success!!
This was a wonderfully enjoyable and rewarding project for me. Total time for the build was 285 hours. With about 20 hours in research.
Here is the clients final review/assessment of the success of the project construction posted on my Google Business Page:
Tom Murp. East Sooke BC
Local Guide • 21 reviews •
5 STARS. 5 weeks ago.
“Michael is a man obsessed with beautiful woodwork. He built me a beautiful custom set of doors that matched the look, style, and feel of the house, and that were also carefully and thoroughly designed to minimize sound impacts. The sound attenuation effect is remarkable - around an 80% reduction! Truly much better than I expected - and because Michael designed the doors rubber gaskets to be adjustable, to allow for wood movement, the soundproofing will continue for many years.
Additionally, when we had some challenges with budget, Michael stayed on track and didn't charge extra - he kept to his word.
I am extremely happy with the final product, and I now get my work done in peace and quiet - thank you Michael!"
