Solid door on top of hollow apartment door to reduce outside noise?

Question

To reduce hallway noise I'd like to replace my hollow apartment door with a solid one, but I'm renting and can't do that (I tried mass loaded vinyl, movers blankets, etc.; it's not enough).

So I'm thinking putting a solid door against it. To avoid having to bore holes for the lock I'd choose a narrower panel (e.g. a 80x32 solid pine slab against the 80x36 hollow door). Would that work, and how would you attach it?

Wood is not a great sound insulator. It’s also pretty odd the door would be hollow. Is this a problem all day long or mostly a problem when sleeping? — UnhandledExcepSean, Mar 17 '19 at 19:46
Most apartment doors are hollow. Solid wood is considered good for sound : link — JeanB, Mar 17 '19 at 19:50
Actually, most apartment entry doors are solid with a substantial fire rating. — isherwood, Mar 18 '19 at 15:48

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 17 '19 at 20:04

I doubt if adding a smaller door would make any difference.

In “sound control”, you want to attack the weak link. That’s why you’re suggesting fixing the door problem rather than improving the sound control in the wall.

Too bad you can’t temporarily replace the hollow core door with a solid core door, but perhaps 1) adding a screen door, 2) adding weatherstripping, 3) adding insulated panels to the inside to cover the entire doorway, etc. will help.

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 18 '19 at 10:14

1

Rigid foam insulation would block more sound without adding weight. Could mount it to the door with double sided tape and remove it later.

As other’s suggested it could be coming through the walls too, not just the door. Foam might help here too.

answered Mar 18 '19 at 10:14

Joe Webster

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My understanding was that to block noise you need weight. Some people say Fiberglass works much better than rigid foam for sound attenuation (link) – JeanB Mar 18 '19 at 19:11

Solid door on top of hollow apartment door to reduce outside noise?

2 Answers2