Q: How can I soundproof a door?! I live in a long, narrow apartment. The layout is bedroom 1, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom 2, all connected by a hallway. My bedroom (bedroom 1), used to be a living/dining room, so my bedroom has a door right next to the kitchen. Because of schedule differences, my roommate often pops something into the microwave for a late night snack, an hour or two after I've gone to bed, and wakes me up as I am only 6 feet from the microwave.
How can I better soundproof that door?
Sent by Bethany
Editor: Bethany- having lived with noisy roommates in the past, we sympathize with your dilemma. You can find some pointers on soundproofing a door here that might help you out. You might also want to consider rearranging so your bed so is across the room from the shared wall with the kitchen which should help reduce the noise. Readers, do you have any additional advice for Bethany?
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I'd consider switching rooms with the roommate, moving the microwave away from the kitchen door, or moving the bed away from the kitchen door first.
I was going to say the same thing -- switch rooms.
floor to ceiling heavy lined drapes across the entire wall.
replace the microwave with a toaster oven.
Is there a way to silence the microwave? Talk to your roommate about making quieter snacks? Get a white noise machine for your room?
Move your bed to the other side! Not only will it get rid of the sound almost completely but it's better feng shui and you'll feel better about having your bed on an outside wall!
Is it the dinging sound that's keeping you up? Ask Roomie to open the door before it goes off.
Check home depot - there should be insulation that can be used on the door jamb, which will help reduce the sound that comes through. Also, look into options for the space below the door (which is probably about 1") while you are at home depot. But, even doing this may not be enough to eliminate the sound transfer that is waking you.
I'd egg crate foam the wall, then hang heavy drapes. I'd also move my bed to the opposite side of the room. Then, I'd sleep with a small fan on. As a last resort, I'd put earplugs in at night.
Can you tell I've had horribly noisy roommates?
you need a solid core door number one. and gapstoppers around the door. can you move something like a bookcase in front of the door whether in the kitchen or your bedroom or both.
Consider contacting a company that specializes in sound-proofing: http://www.acousticalsurfaces.com/index.html
Get a small, cheap, cute microwave for the roommate's bedroom for Christmas. Much cheaper and easier than pretty much anything else. And move your bed anyway. The poor roommate probably can't get a glass of water without waking you up with that bed arangement.
Also, put a row of bookcases on the wall you share with the kitchen. Books are good insulators.
those squishy foamy orange ears plugs have got to be the cheapest solution!
I'd suggest just moving the microwave to the roommate's bedroom. Or if it's a built-in (or you like to be able to use it too when you're not trying to sleep), do as Blue_Eyed_Snack suggested above and buy an inexpensive second microwave for the roommate's room. That's going to be much cheaper and easier than trying to soundproof a door.
The most obvious solution so far is to switch rooms - but then again you could bother her during her sleeping hours.
Can't you move the bed where it's not sitting right next to the kitchen? It seems a little awkward where it's placed. Rearranging your own room would be cheaper than being drastic enough to ask the roommate to get a microwave for her room (or shelling out the money to buy one yourself).
So currently, I'm tacking it down as you being whiney if you refuse to move your bed.
If it's a hollow door, I'd cut a section out of the top of the door and fill it with denim insulation (said to muffle sound better than regular insulation). Then I'd put the cut-out section back on top of the door. No one looks at the very top of the door anyways. If you don't have carpet in your room, I'd put a draft blocker or rolled-up towel at the bottom of the door to block the sound traveling on the ground.
For something a little easier, you could always put soundproofing panels across that wall.
As a full time sound engineer I have a few pieces of advice:
First of all, sound dampening (heavy drapes, crate foam, etc.) is really the last step and will be mostly ineffective by itself.
The first step is to block any direct air passage into the noisy area. This is as simple as adding weather stripping around your bedroom door until you get a tight seal. Check to see if there are any vents/air-ducts that are directly connected to the kitchen. Depending on their function you should block these or create an acoustic baffle to try to cut down on the sound while still allowing air passage. Something like this:
http://www.soundproofing-direct.com/pc/Acoustic-Vents-16p22.htm
This could be easily DIY'ed into an existing vent using dense acoustic foam.
The second step is adding mass. You could either add insulation to your existing (guessing hollow) door, or get a new (or used!) solid door. Installing a new door is pretty simple stuff and shouldn't require any irreversible modifications.
Anything beyond these steps requires a pretty serious investment in time and materials (double sheet-rock walls with acoustic suspension, floating floors, and other recording studio tricks).
CVS has comfortable, spongy, green-colored earplugs. A friend told me about them because I was getting so little sleep due to my husband's snoring. Thank god for them! They've saved my life!!
I'm guessing you don't want to invest a ton of money. If you can't replace the door, do as others have said and insulate around it. Also I've seen doors that have been upholstered, and they look really cool. You can replicate that look if you could find some cheap fabric. Attach batting and fabric with staples to a foam core board or other light board and then attach to the door with velcro. Hanging curtains the full length of the wall will also help...though that much fabric can be expensive. I had a similar situation a few years ago (okay, 10) and I used a white noise machine. I have a loud neighbor now, and I run a fan at night, which helps somewhat. Do check and see if the beeping can be turned off on the microwave. I wish I could turn mine off.
I know exactly how you feel! My room used to be a porch or something because I have a door directly into my roommates room. First I went and got a piece of plywood cut to fit perfectly into the space where the door is. Then I got foam batting, a spray adhesive and fabric. I sprayed the foam to stick to the wood and to keep the fabric from slipping then I used a staple gun to attach the fabric to the back. Basically I used the same idea one would use when making their own headboard, but used it as a pretty sound buffer. Now it didn't completely muffle the sound, but it does help tremendously!
This link should help.
http://soundproofingwithdave.com/2007/06/soundproofing-exterior-door.html
I’d recommend soundproofing drywall, like what QuietRock offers, for instance. It’s better than any of the more traditional methods.
http://www.quietrock.com/quietrock-drywall.html
I have a similar problem; I have a very small room with a door next to my bed that leads to my housemate's bedroom. I rent, so I can't do any major renovations. Although the door is solid wood, there are a lot of spaces around it (I can even hear her turn the pages while reading). I don't want to spend a lot of money, and was thinking of trying to stuff some kind of material into the spaces or creating a panel of some kind. Any suggestions for sound-absorbing filler material? Would green glue be worthwhile if I'm making a panel? What kind of material should a panel be made of?