Add door to top of staircase?

Question

We would like to add a door to the top of this staircase, for privacy in the basement when kids have friends over.

We are having trouble coming up with what/how a door should be implemented without a major renovation.

Any easy solutions here?

Answer 1

Consider a pivot door. The mounting hardware attaches to the floor and ceiling, and the door pivots on those fixed points rather than a wall hinge (I see your wall paneling finish you probably want to keep intact.)

This door needs to be at the outer corner wall, not directly above the steps, because you should have a landing space in the direction of the door swing (so you don't open a door and fall down the stairs)

Since it wouldn't really create "real" isolation I would consider a louvered door so that you get airflow even when it's closed. However if you wanted better sound isolation you could put in a solid door with some sort of brush gasket around the sides to block as much as you can without having "real" door frame stops.