How to Soundproof a Door
Author: Eric Zuck
Last Updated: October 18, 2024
Read Time: 13 Minutes
How to Soundproof a Door
Author:
Eric Zuck
Last Updated:
October 18, 2024
Read Time:
13 Minutes
Author: Eric Zuck
Updated: Oct. 18, 2024
Read Time: 13 Minutes
Doors are like people; if you want them to open up, you’ve got to be prepared to listen! There are many different types of doors and they can create a real sound leaking problem that can be the undoing of good wall.
Soundproofing your door will undoubtedly improve privacy and focus. On top of that, with a properly sealed exterior door, you can reduce thermal transfer and save on energy bills.
There are many door soundproofing solutions ranging from poor to excellent. We'll touch 'em all in this article and help you decide which makes the most sense for your situation and your budget. Reach out to a Second Skin soundproofing professional with any questions!
Doors are like people; if you want them to open up, you’ve got to be prepared to listen! There are many different types of doors and they can create a real sound leaking problem that can be the undoing of good wall.
Soundproofing your door will undoubtedly improve privacy and focus. On top of that, with a properly sealed exterior door, you can reduce thermal transfer and save on energy bills.
There are many door soundproofing solutions ranging from poor to excellent. We'll touch 'em all in this article and help you decide which makes the most sense for your situation and your budget. Reach out to a Second Skin soundproofing professional with any questions!
Overview of Door Soundproofing
Having doors that meet your soundproofing needs means keeping unwanted noise out and private conversations safe behind closed doors. There is also a major need for soundproofing bedroom doors so you can get the quality of sleep you need and deserve. Offices also have a need for bathroom door soundproofing to limit distractions and improve privacy. Before we get into how to soundproof a door, it's important to understand why doors need soundproofing in the first place.
Why do doors need soundproofing?
Naturally, doors are not reliable barriers on their own because they're designed to open and close. Gaps on the sides and under the door leave lots of room for sound to travel. Imagine sound waves like a river, and your door is a dam trying to slow it down. How strong the dam is and how well sealed it is correlate with its ability to stop water. Even a tiny crack can be its undoing. The same can be said for doors.
In scientific and sound-related terms, mass and the how well sealed it is work together to make up the door's Sound Transmission Class (or STC) rating, the measurement used to determine how much airborne sound a material or construction (wall, door, window, etc.) is able to stop. The higher the STC rating, the more sound is blocked.
Keys to Soundproofing a Door
In scientific and sound-related terms, the Sound Transmission Class (or STC) rating is the measurement used to determine how much airborne sound a material or construction (wall, door, window, etc.) is able to stop. The higher the STC rating, the more sound is blocked. The two keys factors for determining a door's STC rating are mass and the how well sealed it is.
More Mass Means More Soundproof
Blocking sound comes down to mass. The typical wall in your house has an STC rating of about 32. Some types of doors have a much lower STC rating, making it the weakest point in the wall. To give you a quick idea of how bad of a weak point some types of doors can be, check out the table below.
Type of Door | STC Rating |
Louvered Door (25% open) | 12 |
Hollow core door with 1/4" air gap | 19 |
Solid core door with 1/8" glass vision panel, gaskets, and drop seal | 29 |
Solid core door with gaskets and drop seal | 34 |
- Louvered Door: Your typical louvered door is about 25% open. You’re done before you even start. Might as well leave the door open… Come on in!
- Door with a Vision Panel: Standard glass is a weak point, reducing the door’s Sound Transmission Class (STC) rating. But you can have glass if you want it! Just make sure to use thicker glass (1/4”+) or double paned glass for the window.
- Hollow Core Door: Commonly used in residential homes, these hollow doors are made of fiberboard or laminated wood and (true to their name) are mostly empty inside. These hollow doors are lightweight, easy to install, and budget friendly. On the downside, hollow core doors are fragile and do little to stop sound from passing through.
- Solid Core Door: These doors are significantly heavier, made up of a combination of solid wood and wood byproducts, and are usually used to partition your home or apartment from the outdoors. They’re more expensive but thanks to their density, wooden core doors are able to do a better job of blocking out noise. For an STC rating of 24, a solid door will be about 1 ¾” thick and 4.5 lb/sq ft.
Check out this video that gives a great demonstration on the density of these different types of doors!
Eliminate Air Gaps to Soundproof a Door
Air gaps are the enemy of soundproofing and must be eliminated. Sorry, but I feel the need to say that again. NO AIR GAPS! If you have any gaps, you have what us soundproofing folks call a “sound leak”. A sound leak means that it doesn’t matter how awesome your wall or door construction is. You are capped out at how well you can block sound, because you have an air gap that's still allowing noise right on through.
There’s a quick and easy way to check and see how big your gaps are around the door. Turn off the lights and see where outside light enters. If you see light, you have gaps, and your door could be sealed better. We recommend our Sound Lock™ door seal kit applied to a solid core door, or for a more budget-friendly option, our Sound Lock™ gasket seal kit will ensure everything is airtight.
Sound Leak (% of Total Surface Area) | Max Transmission Loss by the Barrier |
1% sound leak | 20 dB |
0.1% sound leak | 30 dB |
0.01% sound leak | 40 dB |
Pro Soundproofing Tip
Be sure not to confuse sound absorption with sound blocking. Sound absorption, which acoustic panels are great for, will reduce echoes and reverberations inside a room, but will do nothing to block out noise from outside. Purchasing acoustic panels or sound absorbing foam to soundproof your door is a huge no-no and a giant waste your money.
How to Soundproof a Door (10 Solutions!)
Now that we know the keys to soundproofing a door are mass and an airtight seal, let's put them to work. But first, check out our door soundproofing checklist!
We'll compare different door soundproofing solutions: how effective they are, how much they cost, and more! Select the solution that matches up with your needs and we'll give you the pros and cons and how it's done.
Door soundproofing solutions
Solution | Noise Reduction | Cost |
10+ dB | $$$ | |
10-12 dB | $$$ | |
5-10 dB | $$$ | |
8-10 dB | $$$ | |
6-8 dB | $$$ | |
5-7 dB | $$ | |
3-7 dB | $$ | |
2-4 dB | $ | |
0-2 dB | $$ | |
0-2 dB | $ |
RECOMMENDED SOLUTION: Solid Core Door WITH A SOUND LOCK™ DOOR SEAL KIT
One of the main keys to soundproofing a door is eliminating air gaps. Our Sound Lock™ door seal kit will keep noise out by sealing up those air gaps around the door. You can experience up to 10 additional STC points. Door seal kits are the most budget-friendly way to soundproof a solid core door and are simple to install with just a few tools. Not sure if the installation is in your wheelhouse? Check out the video below to see how it's installed:
PROS: 50-75% perceived noise reduction, excellent seal, barely noticeable, door remains accessible, durable, DIY friendly
CONS: Requires solid core door, not compatible with carpet without hard transition, can be pricey
premium solution: SOUND LOCK™ SOUNDPROOF DOOR (STC 56)
This isn’t your typical door. This is the door all other doors aspire to be. Our Sound Lock™ Soundproof Door is an acoustic door specifically designed to have an extremely high STC rating (up to STC 56) and unmatched noise blocking. We recommend these for high performance jobs like government buildings, hotels, and recording studios. You can either install it yourself with the help of a few friends (these babies are heavy!) or hire a contractor and enjoy a cold beer while he or she installs it. You do you.
Watch the video below for more on our Sound Lock™ Soundproof Door:
Alternative door soundproofing solutions
Before you do anything, be sure to seal up any cracks, gaps, or seams around the door jamb with acoustical sealant and then take on the next step. We understand everyone has a different need. If you have a hollow core door and plan to stick with it, we have a few options for you. If you've got (or plan to get) a solid core door, there are some solutions that offer a range of benefits depending on your goals.
Solution One: Sound Lock™ Gasket Seal Kit
With a solid core door in place, our gasket seal kit can be used to seal up your door for slightly less than our adjustable door seal kits with a little less performance. Still, it's a great peel & stick option if you don't want to screw into the jambs. It comes with the door bottom seal for a full perimeter seal.
PROS: 40-60% perceived noise reduction, excellent seal, no screwing into the jamb, barely noticeable, door remains accessible, durable, DIY friendly
CONS: Requires solid core door, not compatible with carpet without hard transition
Solution Two: Replace a Hollow Core Door with a Solid Core Door
Remember, mass is key to soundproofing, and hollow core doors don’t have much of it, making them poor sound blockers. Replacing a hollow core door with a solid core door can give you as much as 10 STC points, and that may be all that you need.
PROS: 30-50% preceived noise reduction, many options available
CONS: Not DIY friendly for all, still leaves some air gaps
Solution Three: Quiet Quilt™ Sound Blankets
A lot of people already have hollow core doors and don't want to get a solid core door AND further soundproofing measures. If you want to keep the hollow core door, soundproof blankets are a DIY fix for doors as long as you make sure it seals up over the door as much as possible. These blankets are heavy enough to block sound, giving them an STC rating. Moving blankets and others like it don't have enough mass to block sound.
The blankets do block access to the door, so this works better if you don't plan on using the door as often. You will also have to be okay with the industrial look for the blankets.
PROS: 35-50% perceived noise reduction, compatible with hollow core and solid core doors, DIY friendly
CONS: Door no longer accessible without removing blanket, pricey, industrial looking
Solution Four: Mass Loaded Vinyl Door Cover
Similar to the soundproof blankets, you can use mass loaded vinyl for doors to create a door cover over both hollow core and solid core doors. MLV is loaded for mass so you can get modest noise reduction. We highly recommend extending the mass loaded vinyl over the door jamb for a more complete seal, but if easier access to the door matters to you, you can get creative with cutting it to the exact size. Just know that you'll be compromising on performance if it's not sealed properly.
Support the MLV by adding metal framing around the door and use industrial strength magnets to completely seal the entryway. Watch the video below, to see we use MLV to create some privacy in an attached Airbnb rental. An absorptive material (like CelluZorbe™ or EcoVerb™) is installed between the MLV and the door to increase the barrier's overall effectiveness. Again... it's a bit unconventional, but it’s a budget friendly way to block noise!
PROS: 30-40% perceived noise reduction, lower price point, compatible with hollow core and solid core doors, DIY friendly
CONS: Optimal performance requires covering the door access, industrial product
Solution Five: Sound Lock™ Bottom Door Seal
If you have a solid core door that needs some soundproofing help, the Sound Lock™ bottom door seal is a great way to close the gap without a big hit to the wallet. Easily add up to 5 STC points to any solid core door.
PROS: 20-35% pereceived noise reduction, lower price point, seals bottom, barely noticeable, durable, DIY friendly
CONS: Not compatible with carpet, requires solid core door, doesn't address perimeter seals
Solution Six: Weatherstripping
Adding weatherstripping is all about sealing the gaps. Most common for exterior doors, weatherstripping can help insulate your doors and prevent sound leaks around the perimeters. When paired with a threshold, this might be all you need to keep annoying traffic noise from getting in your living space. There is something out there called soundproof weatherstripping, which will have a little more mass to it. Standard weatherstripping may yield less results.
PROS: 15-20% perceived noise reduction through exterior door, DIY friendly
CONS: Only modest improvement to solid door, peels off and needs to be replaced often
Solution Seven: Acoustic Panels on the Door
Remember when we said mass is key to soundproofing? Acoustic panels aren't designed to block sound. They're typically porous and light and engineered to absorb sound to improve the sound quality of a space. Please don't use acoustic panels for door soundproofing. HOWEVER, we do have an acoustic panel that doubles as a sound blocker called BlocknZorbe™. With an STC of 9 or 13 (1" vs 2"), BlocknZorbe™ can be attached to the entirety of your door to slightly improve sound blocking. The trade-off with adding acoustic panels of any kind to a door is that it can kind of look silly. Still, if you use BlocknZorbe™, it may fit the bill for you.
PROS: BlocknZorbe™ offers 20-30% perceived noise reduction at 100% coverage, not much else
CONS: Regular acoustic panels don't block sound, not aesthetic, not price sensitive
Solution Eight: Door Sweeps
Door sweeps have been sweeping the nation with subpar results for years. While there is a wide range of door sweeps, the ones we've field tested just don't do anything for blocking sound beneath a door. It's a way to insulate better, but there needs to be mass there if sound is going to be stopped. The good news is you don't have to spend much to get one.
PROS: Cheap
CONS: Ineffective
Frequently Asked Questions about Soundproofing a Door
How much do weak points matter in wall construction?
We have a visual for you! The image below shows transmission loss through a weak point in a wall. A solid brick wall is dense and effective at blocking sound. If a noise is 100 dB on one side of the wall, it’ll be 50 dB on the other side. On the other hand, glass is not a good noise barrier. 100 dB on one side of a glass wall will be reduced to 80 dB on the other. Now, let’s turn 1/8 of the brick wall into glass. The result is that 100 dB is only reduced to 71 dB on the other side. The overall effectiveness of the wall is pulled WAY down. So, yes, weak points matter big time!
You can apply this same principle to doors. Even though the door is a small percentage of the wall, it has an outsize impact on the overall soundproofing. A room with a hollow core door is like a high school with no adults — loud and in need of help.
What door is best for soundproofing?
The Sound Lock™ Soundproof Door is the best option for an interior soundproof door. With an attractive, wood finish and an STC rating of up to 56, this beefcake is as soundproof as they come. We combine our proprietary construction and an airtight seal to meet the highest specifications, ranging from recording studios to gun ranges. If you’re looking for “the best”, you’ve found it.
That may be more than you need, though. Read our comparison breakdown for help choosing the best door for soundproofing!
Are heavier doors more soundproof?
As a general rule, heavier, denser doors are better at blocking sound. Hollow core doors are much lighter than solid core doors, therefore less effective at reducing noise transfer. Solid wood doors are also good at reducing noise transfer. Sound can still flank through openings in or around a heavy door, as total mass is not the only factor that determines how soundproof something is.
Are steel doors soundproof?
Steel is a heavy material, which makes it good for soundproofing. Steel doors are often hollow filled with some kind of fibrous or limp material. With a bottom seal, many steel doors will have an STC rating between 40 and 50. By comparison, a solid core wood door is often about 10 STC points less than a steel door, but the quality of the seal it has will determine how good it is.
Can you soundproof a hollow door?
Sorry, but you can’t soundproof a hollow core door without blocking it. You can use a soundproof blanket or mass loaded vinyl to increase the mass of the door, but again, you'd be blocking access. For that reason, we recommend replacing the hollow core door with a solid core door. Hollow core doors simply lack the density needed to effectively block noise.
How do you make a solid core door soundproof?
The best way to soundproof a solid core door is to seal the perimeter of the door using our Sound Lock™ Door Seal Kit. Simply measure your door to make sure you get the kit that's the right size for your door. The door seal kit improves the STC rating of a solid core door by 10+ points.
If you budget or if you don’t have the space for the adjustable jamb seals, we have our Sound Lock™ gasket seal kit, which includes the bottom seal and our gasket tape that you’ll use to seal the perimeter of the door.
How do you get a soundproof exterior door?
The number one thing you can do to soundproof an exterior door is ensure that it’s completely sealed. Most exterior doors are solid core. The also have a rubber gasketing and a threshold to keep them sealed, mostly for thermal reasons. If the door has gaps, our Sound Lock™ Gasket Tape can be used.
Can you soundproof French doors or double doors?
You can soundproof double doors by sealing it with our Sound Lock™ Door Seal Kit with the astragal seal add-on. You’ll need to give us a call or email us to request a quote. Soundproofing double doors follows the same principles as any other door - you just have two of them.
French doors do have the added complication of the window panes being a weak point. If you really want to keep the natural light look you get, give us a call to discuss how you might use a Fantastic Frames™ window insert to soundproof those windows. We go into more detail on French doors in our article on soundproofing double doors.
Can glass doors be soundproof?
Yes, glass doors and doors with windows can be soundproof. Doors with a single view pane will have diminished soundproofing, but give us a call to discuss how you might use a Fantastic Frames™ window insert to soundproof those windows. For full glass doors, the thickness and mass of the glass will determine how soundproof it is. There isn't much else that can be done to help them.
Are fire doors soundproof?
Yes, most fire doors are extremely heavy and well built with a good seal around it. These will work for many noise issues, but if you don't have a great seal on your fire door, you can add a door seal kit to improve that.
Is there a DIY soundproof door solution?
Most of the solutions we provided above are considered DIY friendly, but in case you missed them, look out for our DIY friendly tag in the pros and cons for one that you like!
Can you use blankets to soundproof a door?
If you’re willing to move a blanket each time, heavy curtains or a moving blanket will generally block ~3 decibels (20% reduction). We consider that inadequate soundproofing. If you want a more effective soundproof blanket, the Quiet Quilt™ Acoustic Blanket will reduce sound through a hollow core door by 6-8 decibels (35-40% reduction). The acoustic blanket is still an STC 19, and it weighs 15 lbs relative to the ~50 lbs of our heaviest blankets - making it a more practical solution for doors. Just remember that any blanket will be much less effective if you have air gaps around the blanket.
Does weatherstripping work for door soundproofing?
Weatherstripping can be part of an effective door soundproofing strategy. Consider our Sound Lock™ gasket tape for a more effective alternative to standard weatherstripping to both seal and insulate your door. Where weatherstripping comes up short, though, is sealing the gap below the door. It should be combined with a Sound Lock™ Bottom Seal to create positive pressure on the floor below the door. Our Sound Lock™ gasket seal kit has both!
Are door sweeps soundproof?
Most door sweeps are primarily design to seal the door from weather and thermal transfer. When it comes to soundproofing, we need to create "positive pressure" to fully seal the gap below a door. The typical fabric or foam door sweeps won’t cut it! At the very least, we recommend our Sound Lock™ Bottom Seal, although our full seal kit on a solid core door will get you the best results.
Can you use a door bottom seal on carpet?
No, our Sound Lock™ door bottom seal is not compatible with carpet. If you have carpet, you’d need to add a hard transition beneath the door so the bottom seal can drop and create an airtight seal.
How much do soundproof doors cost?
Soundproof doors can range greatly in price. Generally, you're paying more the heavier the door, and the heavier the door, the more soundproof it is. Whether you plan to price out a soundproof door or you want to do a cost comparison with different door modifications, we have plenty of soundproof door cost data to look at to help you decide.
Sound Lock Door Seal Kits: Cost-Effective Door Soundproofing that WORKS
The typical door can have up to 1 square foot of airspace around it. The Sound Lock™ Door Seal Kit is fully adjustable to seal off those air gaps below your door and around the entire perimeter. By adjusting the neoprene seal to the contours of your door, you can soundproof it without breaking the bank.
- Used to soundproof any solid-core door
- Durable, adjustable, and customizable lengths
- Neoprene rubber seals in anodized aluminum casing
- Free shipping and made in the USA
Control Your Doors to Stop Unwanted Sound
You can make a huge difference in your home or office by filling air gaps and taking steps to soundproof entryways. Whether the noise you want to get rid of comes from inside or outside the house (or your garage door), soundproofing the right door(s) will help. When you're ready to close the door on noise, give us a call. We're here to help.