Soundproofing apartment door

annR

I bought an apartment a few months ago and am quite happy with it, except a few weeks back some people moved in next door. They are quite noisy but not in a terrible way i.e. they don't wake me up at night and I don't hear them talking etc from my living room.

The one issue I have is that they constantly let the front door of their apartment swing shut and bang - the noise echoes around the hall and I do hear it, this morning I even saw the doors in my apartment all shake with the vibration. The front door is quite heavy.

I will ask them not to do this but I think it's probably a habit type thing, they probably don't even know they're doing it. I thought about telling them that this will cause cracks in the wall etc . might yet do that.

Can I soundproof my front door and what is the best way to go about it.

MorningStar

You probably have a fire door as is which might block more sound than your walls. I would doubt sound proofing will make much differnce just on the door. Sound transmission seems to be a genral problem in appartments but if this is your first problem I'd be greatful. They probably don't know it is bothering people.

rooferPete

Hi annR,

A nice way to approach this might be to casually ask your neighbour if they are having problems with the spring loaded closer on their door.

You have heard they can be troublesome, to keep you honest

Ann the closer on Fire Doors can give problems if they are not set correctly to match the weight of the door, sometimes it feels like it's taking the door forever to close and others just keep banging and can cause problems by cracking the plaster on the walls beside them.

.

Bamboozled

Im also having a problem with neighbours below and next to me with slamming doors (rocking frames on walls etc) and your comment about causing cracks in walls may happen if they dont realise they're doing it.

There's a crack in the wall in our downstairs door which is growing steadily every day thanks to next door slamming it. and there's a crack at the side of their own door also. Keep your eye on your own walls just in case and record a date if it does happen. As for the original problem of soundproofing, i'm sorry i cant help you. I would have thought the material they use for soundproofing doors would cause some problems with the effect of the fire doors. Any way good luck finding it, and if you dont find anything, I hope they dont get louder.

annR

Thanks for the advice. I will ask them have they had any trouble with the closer on the door and cracks appearing etc. Feel very shy about approaching them though - there seems to be 3 or 4 of them + baby in 2 bed apartment - it's not just one person I'd be having a quiet chat with.

JohnDigital

One way to lessen the noise would be to persuade them to fit a strip of the self adhesive draft excluder around the door frame where the door contacts the frame, this will cushion its impact when closed and reduce the noise considerably. Available in all hardware stores and looks like this, it only costs a few quid.

annR

Thanks. I've had another look at my own front door and when the light is on in the hallway I can see a gap all around the edges . . . surely it should be better sealed than this? If so, the builder should do it - might be a good way of getting it done for for my door and theirs Is it just a case of draft excluder . . .for a front door with a gap all the way around, should the builder not have a better solution?

JohnDigital

I think taht probably would be the builders solution with regard to closing that gap. There is little else that can be done in terms of sound proofing really.

annR

I had a look at the door - there is a draft excluder put on the door frame but it doesn't actually reach to the door, still leaving a gap around it. Really shoddy. Had to put up with another round of door slamming last night and this morning.

Builder is looking at it today and I will be personally telling him about the noise and making him feel like **** about it.

annR

Met the builder today. Turns out it's not a draft excluder that's currently in place, it's a fire feature - strip which expands with heat until it blocks the space between the door and the frame.

That's great but unless there's a fire I still have a big gap between the door and the frame all the way around. He says there's nothing he can do . . .built to specifications etc.

Looks like I will have to SOUNDPROOF the damn thing. I have read the other threads but they're all about walls - any suggestions welcome.

rooferPete

Hi annR,

An old rule used by the Clerk of Works was to run a penny around the top, side and bottom of the door, if the coin moved freely but without twisting then you got paid for hanging the door.

Now all you need is to find someone who has a pre historic oops decimal coin to test you door for a quality fit.

BTW I did not personally experience this method of Quality Control a carpenter who worked for my Dad used to use an old penny before he was happy with the job.

.

kadman

Does the strip have woolpile along it's length, or is it just a plain strip.

It is an intumescent strip, that expands during fire and performs to stop the transmittal of flame/smoke.

There should not be a huge gap between the door and frame, as this will prevent the strip from performing at its best.

If its just a plain strip, you could ask the builder to replace it with a strip with woolpile. This will act as an excluder, and may have some acoustic dampening properties. Fitting an additional excluder into the rebate will benefit your door closing noises, but will do little to your neighbours racket.

Depending on your door arrangement. It may be possible to fit a false screen , on your side of the door, similar to the old system of internal double glazing. Where you effectively have a sliding internal soundproof door, before you open the main door.

If the rest of your apartment is not soundproofed, it may be false economy to fit a soundproofing screen. It seems the best route is to try and encourage your neighbour to fit excluder into their frames to deaden the noise.

kadman

annR

Thanks. I have spoken to some people in Doras the door distribution company and gotten the specification for doors from them, so will see if my door complies.

I doubt if that will do much about the noise but I guess I should still do it to make sure the fire strip would even work in case of a fire.

For the noise, I'm going to ask the foreman to fit the draft excluding strip on the doors of the 3 apartments on my floor, and I'm also going to look at hanging a heavy curtain inside my door. A guy I spoke to yesterday told me that the special curtains they use in theatres solved a lot of problems for him when he was dealing with soundproofing. I kind of like the idea to be honest.

Also going to look at doing something with the hall foyer to make it less echoey but I guess I'll have to ask the management company about that.

MorningStar

The only thing that really stops sound is mass, it's really that simple. A fire door has a fair bit of mass. There are stage curtains etc that are meant to do the trick. When I worked in a bar they had the magic non mass curtains. They did work to an extent but had to be fit perfectly otherwise they seemed a bit useless. They were extremely expensive and ultimately a cheaper solution was better.
I already mentioned the fact the sound transmission through the walls may be as big a problem as the door. Before you spend a lot of money on it I'd try to add mass around the door just to check it will work. Towels and sheets around the door should work.