Convert interior door to wall - or similar - to make separate unit

Rehabbing & House Flipping

Convert interior door to wall - or similar - to make separate unit

J. MartinPro Member

Rental Property Investor · Oakland, CA · Member since 2011 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes

I have an interior doorway/door that I would like to seal off to make the room on the other side more private. I'm thinking at least for the next 6 months to year, but maybe longer. I would like to leave the existing doorway and framing in tact.

The main objective is to reduce the noise between the two rooms. The doorway frame has about 4 inches of depth to fill with insulation or something else to dampen the noise, or about 6 inches of depth if I remove the door (OK too.)

Objectives:

1) Reduce noise between two rooms. Sealing this doorway is OK and expected. Not needed as entrance/exit
2) Not remove or ruin existing doorway. Repainting and light repairs to replace are OK. Door can be removed
3) Cost under $200 ideally, including $25/hr labor. But flexible on price depending on solution
4) Look good. The rest of the apartment is remodeled, and the finish needs to look good. Not patchwork. No exposed tape. Nice!

What are your ideas?

Preliminarily, I was thinking:

1) Leave the doors, add a bunch of insulation, then add drywall or something similar over the outside, flush with the doorway.
2) Replace with some super low-noise door with weather and sound stripping around edge of door. Right now, there is about a half-inch gap on the bottom, due to settling of the building..

IDEAS form you handy folks out there?

, have a suggestion?

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Fort Worth, TX · Member since 2013 · 59 posts · 13 votes

12y

Remove door and trims. Toe nail 2x4 into header and new bottom plate. Fill with insulation and install 5/8" or 1/2" drywall for noise reduction. Rough up seams on existing before tape, mud and texture to match. Cheapest and easiest to do while producing great result.

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Kevin Tran
Fort Worth, TX · Member since 2013 · 59 posts · 13 votes
12y
Remove door and trims. Toe nail 2x4 into header and new bottom plate. Fill with insulation and install 5/8" or 1/2" drywall for noise reduction. Rough up seams on existing before tape, mud and texture to match. Cheapest and easiest to do while producing great result.
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J. MartinPro Member
OP
Rental Property Investor · Oakland, CA · Member since 2011 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes
12y
Originally posted by @Kevin Tran:

Remove door and trims. Toe nail 2x4 into header and new bottom plate. Fill with insulation and install 5/8" or 1/2" drywall for noise reduction. Rough up seams on existing before tape, mud and texture to match. Cheapest and easiest to do while producing great result.
So it sounds like, in essence, make it a wall..? lol Appreciate the detail Kevin.
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Val Csontos
Rental Property Investor · Annapolis, MD · Member since 2014 · 214 posts · 140 votes
12y
@J. Martin
I have done something very similar in the nineties.
Here is how we addressed it at the time:
(We needed a temporary situation to seal off a room for a 12 months lease. )
With our method when you need to bring back the door way, you will only have screw holes and painting to do. Probably no more than 2- 3 hours of labor.
We left door / molding in place, (door handle has to come off) ,
So with precise cut we placed a 3/4 inch plywood over the door, but inside the molding, just carefully screws on to the door, on one side and to the door frame(in angle) on the opposite side and use the rest of the plywood to cut strips placed them over drywall next to door. For best result find studs.
Than place dry wall over the entire surface, Make sure the edges of the dry wall lines up pretty well and has little clearance at the ceiling and the side walls.
To make the project a temporarily one do not use joint compound at the inside corners(where your temporarily wall meets the permanent ones) rather just caulk the corners. This way when its time to remove you can do it in 30 minutes with almost no sign of the old wall, just some caulking lines on the ceiling/walls and lots of screw holes.
Good luck with your project.
Val
1 Reply
Arlen Chou
Investor · Los Altos, CA · Member since 2014 · 942 posts · 1k+ votes
12y
It depends on the size of the rooms and the use. I have done this in the past with an older unit that I had owned a long time ago. I bought a cheap self assemble"armoire" that I bought at Ikea. You could also get the white melamine boards from HD used for closets and build a temporary closet against that wall. I used the furniture route because it was movable and it was easily usable for other projects in the future. I used sheets of foam that i cut down to fit the door and temporarily attached them to the door, I used painters tape. I removed the door knob. Then I placed the furniture in front of the door and attached them to the wall with long sheet rock screws. It sounds a little ghetto, but it looked fine and nobody could tell that a door was there. Think Anne Frank hide away room... I think that this might cost you a little more than $200, but at least you will be able to use the pieces again for a future project. Good luck with what every solution you choose!
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J. MartinPro Member
OP
Rental Property Investor · Oakland, CA · Member since 2011 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes
12y
@Arlen Chou ,
I was going to put a TV on something over there, so I like the idea of sealing it off with something that provides some sound protection, then just putting an armoire for the TV in front of it. Then they can use the space as storage.. This is a bit of "dead space" too, so that would be perfect.. Thanks for the idea!
@Val Csontos and @Kevin Tran , thanks for the tips. I will do something like that when closing it off.. The armoire will help cover it up too if it's not perfect..
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