How to Soundproof an Apartment Door In 5 Easy Steps

As landlords and tenants, we know an apartment door is essentially a hole allowing sound into your apartment. To stop sound from coming in you need to plug that hole. As a renter, you need to be aware of what methods you use to reduce noise to not anger your landlord.

There are a few ways to soundproof an apartment door that won’t do too much damage. Some methods include sealing holes between the walls, filling cracks around the doorframe, and blocking noise through the door. Whether it’s a bedroom door, bathroom door, or even the main entrance door- we’ve got some great solutions for you to try out.

Best ways to soundproof an apartment door

1. Block noise using a heavy-duty blanket such as a moving blanket or soundproof blanket and hang it over the door. This is the most temporary solution and requires no damage to the door. However, using this method you may have to put it up and down daily to not block your door if it is a commonly used entrance. You can also add thick, heavy drapes over the doorway and add a hook to keep the drapes back when the door is being used.
2. Add a soundproof panel to the door, this method requires using an adhesive to the door, so you may want to clear this with your landlord. Adhering panels to the door can reduce noise coming in. You can buy these in a variety of forms, fiberglass and Styrofoam are the most used. Using Styrofoam tiles that use Velcro is the least damaging.
3. Ask your landlord if you can replace your door. Using a solid core door versus a hollow door can reduce noise coming into your apartment.

Below is a hollow core door in our place. Solid-core doors are made of solid wood or another material, heavy, and great at blocking out sound.

How do you seal an apartment door to soundproof it?

1. Adding weather stripping will stop air and drafts from coming into your apartment, however, it can also add some soundproofing. You can buy a weather stripping kit at your hardware store. This is usually inexpensive and easy to install, the materials commonly used are wood, metal, foam, and rubber. This can also help cool down your apartment in the summer, and keep it warm in the winter.
2. Add a door sweep to the bottom of your door. This will add extra soundproofing and keep out any drafts along the bottom of your apartment’s door. A soundproof pad can also be used at the bottom of the door.
3. Use caulking to seal all gaps and cracks in the door. This method is permanent, but if done correctly, it will not be noticeable to your landlord. You can find a noise-reducing sealant at a hardware store. For large cracks, you can also use expanding foam which is the same idea it is just more effective for larger cracks that caulking won’t be enough for. Ask your landlord’s permission before doing any of these more permanent solutions.

Can I soundproof my apartment’s floor?

Along with soundproofing a door, you can also add a heavy-duty rug to soften noises in your apartment. Adding a rug along the door can also reduce noise coming in from the bottom of the door. You can also buy interlocking floor mats. This is a temporary fix and a way to decrease noise without doing permanent damage to your apartment.

Soundproofing your apartment is a great idea if you expect extra noise like having a party, playing music, or even just living in a one bedroom apartment with a baby.

How do you soundproof a hollow apartment door?

1. Replace the door with a solid-core door if possible
2. Cover the door in heavy blankets, or even dense soundproof blankets especially made for this purpose.
3. Fill in any gaps with stripping, sweeps, or caulk if allowed by landlord.

For this we suggest a full replacement for best results, complaining about the noise to your landlord could help them to chip on for the cost, if not pay for it entirely. Replacing a hollow door with a solid door can reduce the amount of noise coming into your apartment. If your exterior door is a hollow door you may want to speak with your landlord about replacing the door with a thicker door to help with soundproofing.

The best tools to soundproof an apartment door

We already provided our favorite solutions, below are the best tools for the job.

• Carpets and rugs– can be used on the floor to reduce noise or placed in front of doorways.  
• Interlocking foam tiles. These can be tiles used in a child’s room or playroom- if adhered to the door can provide work as a noise-blocking material.
• Yoga mat– same as foam tiles, attaching a large yoga to the door can block outside noise.
• Thick, heavy curtains– adding a curtain rod over the doorway and hanging a thick curtain can block noise. This method can be an inconvenience if the doorway is used often. One way to fix this problem is to add a curtain hook on the side of the doorway to hold the curtain out of the way when not needed.
• Blankets or duvet covers– same as curtains, can be hung on a curtain rod and draped over the doorway or can be adhered to the back of the door as well to cancel out noise. If using adhesive if not something you are comfortable using, you can also use nails to hang the blankets. You will want to make sure it is a thick blanket to be effective.
• Silicone-based sealant– using any home silicone-based sealant can be used to fill holes and cracks to soundproof. This could be a bathroom sealant, as this type of sealant is meant for waterproofing it can also be effective in soundproofing.  

As landlords and tenants at one point, we know that apartments can transmit sound far too easily. We suggest talking to you landlord while you also follow the steps above to do everything you can on your end to soundproof your apartment’s door.

Added noise is an unfortunate part of apartment living when compared to being in a single-family home, but if you can take all the precautions, you can help to dampen or eliminate extra unwanted sounds.