Learn about what an acoustic door rating is and how to seal doors.
Written by Esme
2nd November 2021
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An acoustic door rating is a certification awarded to a door or its complementary parts based on how well sound is contained.
They are tested to different decibel levels; and assigned an acoustic rating in decibels (dB). The higher the acoustic rating, the louder the sound it can contain.
Acoustic Rating
Location
29dB Rw
Dwelling houses, flats and rooms for residential purposes
30dB Rw
Schools: all spaces except music rooms
35dB Rw
School music rooms
Why do you need an acoustic door rating?
Acoustic door ratings are needed to ensure the safety and comfort of people using a building. They are especially important in public settings such as schools, in musical settings, and for confidentiality purposes. They are also used in residential settings to ensure residents are not unreasonably disturbed by neighbours or outside sounds.
Ratings are important in order to benchmark a door, or the seals used around it, so that we know it meets certain criteria specified by building regulations and so that this can be regulated across buildings and applications or settings.
How to seal your internal doors
The best way to acoustically seal a door is to use an acoustic door seal around the two sides and top of the door, accompanied by a drop-down seal along the bottom. This means there are no gaps for sound to easily transmit from the room.
If there is any glass in the door, use an intumescent glazing system to prevent the glass from rattling or allowing sound to leak around the edges of the glass.
You could also use a threshold seal so that when the drop-down seal drops, it creates a perfectly clean surface and therefore a perfectly clean seal.
We stock a range of acoustic door seals that also provide cold smoke protection in the event of a fire. For advice on how to acoustically seal your doors, please get in touch with our expert team who will be happy to help.
