apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

A friend of mine, whose apartment door opened into an entrance hallway, installed a curtain rod above his door and hung floor to ceiling thick lining, double-sided heavyweight fabric curtains in front of it. This reduced his noise problems tremendously.

Another idea you might try is injecting foam into the door's interior cavities. Most metal apartment entry doors are hollow and usually have holes along the sides, top and bottom of the door. You may be able to reduce some noise transmission by injecting a low-expansion insulating foam into the door interior cavities through the holes. Do not use higher expansive foam as its expansion properties could warp or destroy your door.

This AT post links to places that sell felt and how to make felt doors. You might be able to attach a large piece of felt to your existing door to dampen noises.

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/how-to/how-to-build-felt-sliding-doors-016848

First of all, if you haven't done it already...

INSTALL A DOOR SWEEP

Everyday I walk through my building and see light through the bottom of entryway doors I wish I could tell everyone to do this.

If you can see light through a space it will allow sound to pass through.

Before I attached my door sweep I put my ear to the crack below the door. I could hear a steady wooshing sound. Just by laying the door sweep in place and lifting it up and down was like cupping your hands over your ears--noise, silence, noise, silence, etc., etc.

That's the first step.

If you can afford to buy the soundproof kit I would say go for it.

I put a lot of research into soundproofing and and have found that it is an expensive undertaking.

Felt itself is not a cheap product. If you were considering buying thick felt at bulk and then getting it to fit your door nicely you may end up spending close to this kit above and depending on your skill level will hopefully end up with a clean fit.

In my research I realized where a lot of sound proof felt goes. To the auto industry. It's used on the floor and firewall to dampen noise from the road and engine.

these products will definitely help with vibration -- which often equates to noise issues... we've used many similar products to soundproof our home (drywall, "green glue", etc). however, it's a big piece of black foam that you'll be gluing to the inside of your door. you might think about entryway rugs, something on an opposite wall to help with sound absorption (bookcase with items of varied shapes and textures). you also might think about is john's idea above... you might need to drill your own holes in the top of the door, though... and it'll take 3-4 cans to fill a door (look for the foam made to use around windows... often in a blue-wrappered can).

The recommendation made above by Art is spot on.
Adding a door sweep will make a HUGE difference. Another thing to try is to get the soft weather strip made for doors and use it all the way around the door frame. The key is that there should be no gaps to allow sound through.

I used to work in a noisy data center and am now VERY sensitive to noise - I have done all the above and still get some sound through the door. As my apartment door is 2ft. from my open plan kitchen counter/ dining surface I need a solution to dampen the remaining noise that also looks good.

Has anyone ever lined the inside of a metal apartment door with a solid lead sheet to cut down noise? Do they make metal apartment style doors that are soundproof? Any sources? I own so will spend the money if I must but prefer a cheaper DIY solution. One constraint is that the door must match the generic NYC metal apartment doors.

Anyone know if this helps the other way around--I'd love it if people standing in the hall waiting for the elevator could not hear what is going on in my apartment...

That's hilarious cherrybomb!

JPK,

They do make doors but they are really expensive. They also make window inserts which are really cool. They fit into your existing window frames.

There's just no "cheap" way to get the absolute best results. But lke you said, weatherproofing around the entire door frame in addition to the sweep might be good enough for most people.

And rugs, shelves, furniture, etc. also huge.

McMaster Carr has sound proofing materials if you are looking for a source. I'm intrigued by the soundproofing canister that hangs from the ceiling.

Oh and I think I'm going to try the expandable foam idea. Do you attack the door from various sides? Do you use "great stuff?"

A warning if you decide to use expanding foam - John H is right when he says to use minimally expanding foam. I've seen products like Maxfill and Triple Expanding Foamfill (high expanding foams) break 1/2" plywood and lift a cast iron bathtub a few inches off the floor -- these products will very likely damage your door beyond repair.

In the real old days, people would use leather on the inside surface of wood doors to keep sounds out and in. That would be really pricy today I guess.
I did most of these suggestions to my door and still I hear noice from the hall---but I do think the hall does not hear my noise much at all now.
I always thought metal doors had cardboard on the inside of them? I would be reluctant to drill holes into the side of my metal door. Perhaps if I were to add moldings to the inside of the door, I would drill some holes to put foam into first and then cover them with the molding.

I used Art's and JPK's idea when I first moved into my place, mainly to mitigate any noise I was generating into the common area. Also to keep the heat in during the winter. Using the Sweeper and weather stripping the door didn't completely contain my noise level (TV or radio) but reduced it and that's fine by me. The weatherproofing also softend the "slamming" my door would make. And being on the ground floor near a utility room and the front entrance, the Sweeper kept the sneaky crickets from crawling underneath my front door. It also hides my presence behind the door since there's no light passing underneath. Now the only way you know I'm there is if the light blinks out behind the peephole.

I wonder what really nice looking 12x12 vinyl floor tiles would do for keeping out the sounds---perhaps even 2 layers used. The non shinny looking tiles.