The door is the main opening of our bedroom so sound waves easily travel from this huge opening and that’s why the soundproofing of a door is very important.
Now the question is how to soundproof an apartment door?
Well, for soundproofing a door you should have to use at least a 1.5-inch thickness solid core door and for this wood is the best option.
Why it is so because a solid door prevents the sound waves to pass through as well as the wood is affordable to our pocket as compared to other options.
Now here we are presenting some best ways how to soundproof an apartment door or office door or home door,
How To Soundproof An Apartment Door – 5 Easy Steps
The biggest opening of any room in your home or office is the door so it is important that the door be soundproof. Here I will be talking about 5 best easiest way how to soundproof an apartment door or office door,
1. Use A Solid Wood Door Instead Of Hollow Door
Generally, we use solid doors to our main entry and exit. Hollow doors we mostly use for our bedrooms, washrooms, and storerooms.
Mainly hollow doors made of thin wooden, or fiberboard, or PVC sheets, and these hollow doors are empty from inside and that’s why these doors are not enough sufficient to dampen the sound.
Few years before I was also used hollow doors in my room but now I changed them into solid wood doors because the wood has sound dampening properties.
The solid wood door doesn’t completely dampen the sound, but it dampens the sound very effectively as compared to hollow doors.
If you club this method with some of the following methods then you will be able to block most of the sound easily.
2. Fix Small Cracks Or Holes In Door
Actually sound travels through the air and air can easily pass through the small gaps or cracks available in the door so always fix these small cracks or holes on a priority.
If you do not find any holes or cracks in your door then do the light test. Now how do we do this test?
Switch on the light of your room and you go outside of the room then close the door of your room and check any light come out from the door if you see any light coming out from the room then mark that spot.
Now you have to fix this hole or cracks with the help of a joint compound or all-purpose filler or spackling joint compound or wood filler, whatever you feel good.
3. Attach Door Sweep To The Bottom Of Door
Generally, you can see that there is always a gap on the bottom side of the door, and as I said above that sound waves easily travel through any gap and this may disturb your sleep, study, and your privacy.
If you have to rid of them then you must have to attach a door sweep on the bottom side of the door. Which will help you to keep away not only the sound but also from the dust and insects.
I found one door sweep on amazon which I personally feel good for the door and that is a “commercial grade door sweep” of M D products. This door sweep covers the bottom side gap of the door perfectly and ensures that you have minimal noise coming in from the other side.
This door sweep helps to stop outside air away and prevent inside air to go out. This door sweep also helps you to save energy as well as reduce electric consumption.
This door sweep is made of metal and rubber as shown in the above image. You have to screw this strip into the door with the help of screws. Now you have done.
4. Install Weatherstrip For Door
Weatherstrip is one another way to soundproof the door. In this method, you have to stick these weatherstrip onto the corners of the door frame, why it is so because when you close the door then you will find the gap in between the door and the door frame.
And you know very well that the sound waves can easily travel through this gap and that’s why you have to seal that gap with the help of weatherstrip. Weatherstrip is also used to soundproof a window from traffic noise.
Remember, you have to use these weatherstrip even if there is no gap in between the door and the door frame because solid surfaces are never soundproof so if there is no gap or a very small gap then go with a thin weatherstrip.
This weatherstrip is self-adhesive so you have to peel off it from one of the corners. Now you have to stick this weatherstrip onto the door frame along the facing edge of the door. Now you have done.
This weatherstrip does not block the sound completely but somehow it dampens the intensity of sound easily.
5. Use Acoustic Blanket
The soundproof blanket is another option to make the door soundproof. In the market there are two types of blankets are available in this category and that is a moving blanket and a soundproof blanket or acoustic blanket or sound absorption blanket.
Moving blankets are the blanket that has some sound deadening properties but it does not completely block the sound. Remember this is a MOVING blanket for moving objects/furniture from one place to another and was not made for sound deadening purposes.
A Soundproofing blanket is a blanket that has sound-deadening properties and that’s why this type of blanket is used for the sound deadening purpose. But this soundproof blanket is not completely dampened the sound but it is better than a moving blanket.
Soundproofing blankets are thicker, heavier, and denser than moving blankets. When you will go to take soundproofing blankets in the market, then you will be shown moving blankets in the name of soundproofing blankets, so be careful.
This type of blanket comes with an NRC rating. Nrc stands for noise reduction coefficient and it is always in between 0 to 1. If the rating is 0 then the noise reduction coefficient is worst and if the rating is 1 then the noise reduction coefficient is good.
So before buying, always check the Nrc rating for this type of product and It should always be greater than 0.8. This type of blanket even comes in grommets.
In this method, you can attach the blanket to the door with the help of velcro or you can hang it with the help of hooks to the door or some blankets comes with screws so that you can screw this type of blanket into the door. Now you have done.
6. Use Mass Loaded Vinyl
“Mass loaded vinyl” is used to block the sound. It is used in the home, studio, theater as well as in-vehicles to reduce noise and vibrations.
“Mass loaded vinyl” is made up of 100% recycled PVC. It has a 32 STC rating. STC is the measurement factor of sound or noise. It stands in between 0 to 100, if it is 0 then it is the worst STC rating and if it is towards 100 then the STC rating is good.
Attaching “mass loaded vinyl” to the door means that added an extra mass to the door which helps you to reduce the noise by 6 to 11 dB. Just ensure that all the gaps in the door are properly plugged.
Installation of “mass loaded vinyl” is very simple. First, you have to take out the accessories of your door which as a door handle, door stopper, or door closure, etc. Take the measurement of your door and cut the MLV according to that measurement.
Then you can stapled it, or glued it, or nailed it, or screwed it to the door. Now fit the accessories of your door, If required you can cut the MLV as per your requirement.
Now your MLV is ready for paint, if you want to paint to the MLV then you can go with latex paint so that it’s looking good and the smell also can vanishes. If you are feeling MLV is expensive and smelly then you can go with a mass loaded vinyl alternative.
7. Use Soundproof Curtains
Well, soundproof curtains are a simple and easiest way to block the outside noise. They do not completely block the sound but they reduce its impact in your room and make the audio quality better as well as not interfering with your peace.
Soundproof curtains are made of multi-layered. These curtains are thicker, heavier, and denser than single-layered curtains. These curtains have better soundproofing as well as energy-efficient than our normal curtains.
Soundproof curtains have many characteristics such as
- Multilayered Multi Weave curtains
- Thermally Insulated curtains
- Blackout curtains
- Noise-Reducing curtains
So whenever you are going to buy soundproof curtains then always ensure the above characteristics of curtains properly. These curtains help to reduce noise by 7 to 12 dB.
So these all are the best ways how to soundproof an apartment door.
Yes, you can soundproof your door by applying any one of the methods from the above methods but if you use more methods from the above methods then you could get a better result.