The day you will embark on soundproofing your home, remember to start with the windows and doors. Really? Yes, these are potentially notorious entry points of the noise from outside.
It is surprising how guys have overlooked doors in their soundproofing projects. Yet, a door is top on the list of the common ways which noise can enter a home.
Without knowing this hard fact, you keep on wondering why even after soundproofing your home with expensive materials, you still hear footsteps, loud children and neighbors next-door.
It can be irritating and demoralizing. Especially when you can’t sleep or do your work without disturbance.
But as I told you, doors can spill so much noise inside your home. Some of the reasons they do so are that they are thinner than the walls and have tiny gaps between them and the frames.
That’s why you need to learn how to soundproof a door from outside noise.
How Does a Door Let Noise in?
Besides the windows, doors can add to the levels of noise in your home. I know not everyone is unaware that doors can leak in many decibels of sound at any given time.
But just in case you had not known that that’s the truth.
The doors can allow noise inside your home through the following ways:
- Thin and Hollow Doors:
The structure of an ordinary wooden door in many apartments comes with a hollow inside/core. The hollow traps air in it and therefore is a great medium for the transference of noise coming from outside.
- Gaps Between the Door and Frame
It is obvious that partial gaps exist on the door and frame – even with your newly-acquired soundproof door. Remember, any tiny spaces will let in all manner of noise, sounds waves are really opportunistic.
Here are 10 Cheap Methods to Soundproof a Door from Outside Noise
There are many, many ways you can implement to soundproof your door, whether it’s an apartment door or bedroom door. Let us look at them in detail right next.
1. Get All the Spaces and Gaps on the Door Sealed
I talked about these gaps.
It is important that you do not forget to start here. You probably know that it’s pretty easy to overlook these spots especially when you get tired from the heavy soundproofing job of the entire home.
Now, the other trick about the gaps and cracks in the door is how to locate them. Sometimes they are extremely tiny that you will need to improvise ways to find them.
But first off, you could switch off all the lights in the house or apartment. Then using a light source held from the outside of the door, it will be possible to see some light rays sneaking through those gaps into the room.
Soundproof your door by sealing off these spaces using a proper sealant. It is an easy job to do. To be specific, you need an airtight sealant with great sound deadening properties such as this Great Stuff Filler 157906 Insulating Foam Sealant.
Great Stuff is highly water-resistant and will ensure that even the biggest gaps or cracks are effectively sealed. You could as well paint it while you are painting the entire door with the same colors.
Keep in mind that the variations in the size of the gaps are a key thing to note. The smaller gaps may need another sealant for that matter – preferably this Red Devil 0913 Foam &Fill Small Gaps & Cracks.
2. Install Soundproof Blanket
Soundproof blankets can be efficient and yet cheap materials to use in a soundproofing project. Usually, these blankets are created from awesome sound absorbing materials known as fiberglass.
You need to ensure that the blankets are thick and heavy enough to block as much noise as possible. These blankets are sometimes known as moving blankets.
The wise thing to do is consider taking the grommeted blankets for hanging on the door. Honestly, installing these blankets is one of the easiest tasks to do.
So for your diy soundproof door, consider using this cheap method and together with other approaches, you will be surprised how fulfilling the outcomes will turn out to be.
Don’t worry if the blankets do not come with grommets. You could still nail them on the door. The ugly thing about these blankets is that they are never going to create the expected aesthetic impressions; don’t be frustrated.
There are many blankets you could try out but just as a quick guide, you may consider getting the Cheap Cheap Moving Boxes Deluxe Moving Blankets for your door project. These come with a professional touch to your task.
Apart from blocking extra sound waves into your home, they help trap moisture and dirt that try to get into the house.
3. Try to Rearrange Your Furniture – a Free Method!
One of the cheap ways to soundproof a door entails simply rearranging the furniture in the house. In fact, it is free.
From other posts I’ve created regarding soundproofing, you probably came to learn that furniture is great sound blockers. But only if you set them up correctly.
They act as obstacles in the pathways of sound and limit the speed and effect of these noises. For example, you can place your couch, bookshelves, sofas or closet next to the door, but you have to do it smart I will repeat that.
With this method, however, I don’t see huge success for reasons well known: you can easily block your doorway and no one wants this either. The other out-and-out reason you don’t want to try this method is that its feasibility is doubted – give it a try in the living room and you will see what happens.
4. Using Soundproof Curtains
I spoke about blankets earlier but in case that was a bit uncomfortable for you, curtains would be a good upgrade. Especially if you want the visual appeal of your project to come to the fore.
These professional sound deadening and absorbing curtains can be an effective solution at hand. Don’t think they are the window things only; you can definitely use them on your doors as well.
These curtains are designed to be denser and thicker. Properties that combine to make them a real force in stopping sound waves penetration into the house.
Soundproof curtains can work as insulation for doors. They will trap heat within their fabrics and help in heat retention during the winter.
What’s more, these curtains do block off light also – a handy element if you don’t love much of it spilling in your home more often.
Installing the curtains on the door just needs you to have already placed rods above the door. Then you will hang them over.
5. Treat Your Door with Soundproof Foam Panels
Soundproof foam panels are basically the acoustic foam panels that are widely known for their solid sound deadening capabilities. It is rare to hear someone talk about soundproofing projects without mentioning these materials.
You will need to learn a few things and understand the small technicalities behind installing these foams on your doors. So, be patient and don’t attempt to glue them on the doors directly as they can be extremely troublesome to remove.
Instead, a cardboard panel is the one you need to attach the foam using glue. Then fix the cardboard panels on the door using appropriate bonding agents like this Velcro Brand that comes with superior holding properties.
What you will need to follow closely are the instructions that come along with these materials to ensure proper and correct use when implementing your soundproofing projects. The later steps won’t be a hitch per se.
Just remember that nailing the foams on the door can damage it and render your entire project useless. As with many other soundproofing materials, no much can be expected on the visual appeal.
6. Seal Existing Gaps with a Weather-stripping Tape
Those gaps and spaces that exist between the door and its frame can be sealed by weather-stripping. The material you need here is called the weather-stripping tape which is mostly made of the fiberglass.
You can get this tape in different forms; adhesive-backed foam, rubber, felt or vinyl. Depending on your needs, make a choice which one type would work best for your project.
Each form of the weather-stripping tape has its pros and cons as well. Find this information as deep as you can.
For example, rubber is right in the middle as far as suitability is concerned – it’s durable, not as pricey as vinyl and yet it will still do a great job for you. If you will be trying out with the foam version, it comes out as a temporary measure, cheap and kind of ugly on the door.
Applying weather-stripping on the door is not the hardest thing to do. So don’t start imagining of a long day for the work.
I would recommend the Duck Brand Self Adhesive Foam Weatherstrip Seal for Small Gaps. At just about $5, you’ve got yourself an easy to work with agent here.
7. Apply Door Sweeps
Another method to try and minimize noise coming from below the door is taking care of the space between the door and floor.
I know you have come to get used to using these sweeps to prevent insects crawling their way into the house. But, without mistake, the sweeps can help seal the “open” bottom of your door and prevent any noise sneaking through your house from outside.
This is one of the simple ways on how to soundproof your door that can come as an additional measure to the ones you have already tried out. The sweeps can trap heat and help warm your house, worth a try right?
While door sweeps are made from awesome sound-absorbing materials, they aren’t the 100% guarantee. And installing them can take you hours – you will need to be patient, keen and skillful to get them on the door.
I want you to get this one as it is stable and durable.
8. Use a Rug
The other strategy is to place a rug on the door. These will have to be heavy rugs with a suitable thickness that can effectively block off or rather absorb most of the sound waves.
As a stand-alone method, don’t expect any magic sound dampening. But use this place these rugs to improve on another method and you can see an appreciable difference.
When placing your materials, make sure that it is on both sides of the doorway. This way, the rugs can do a great job by absorbing all echoes and consequently reducing the impact of noise.
My recommendation here for you if you are interested is this common Safavieh Hudson Shag Collection Rug, a popular five-star rug liked by many people around the globe.
9. Install Door Gaskets
I won’t write much about the door gaskets. This is much more like the weather-stripping method.
The difference between gaskets and weather-strip seals is that the former is used on the doors with a metal skin. Since the gaskets are magnetic, they affix seamlessly to the metal sealing the gaps in the process.
Try this gasket, the magnetic and compression door gasket seal set. It is a perfect fit door compression gasket.
10. Install the Mass-Loaded Vinyl
Mass loaded vinyl is one of the most effective soundproofing technologies to get a diy soundproof door. The vinyl come with great thickness and are designed to offer high protection of your door against loud noise from outside.
There is a bit of work you must do to get installation of the vinyl on your door. To install the mass-loaded vinyl, make sure to cut the material to sizeable pieces that fit on your door.
Attach on the door using either staples or a strong adhesive. Once you are done, you could add on the door your cool set of curtains – the monotonous black color of the vinyl can be boring.
Try out this vinyl and experience outstanding sound deadening outcomes. The only downside is that it is expensive.
Final Thoughts
To read this post until the end is a good effort on your side. Anyway, have you found what you were looking for?
As you have seen, there can be so many ways on how to soundproof a door from outside noise. These options are not guaranteeing you 100 % success: some of them will even amount to very little.
Try to combine different methods and you will have the door well-treated from noise. And if you think they are not grinding out the kind of results you want, you could go for the ultimate solution. Which is to buy a new solid-core door.
