NOTHING drives me more crazy than a loud washing machine making noise throughout the entire house. Fortunately, I found an inexpensive fix that totally solved the problem.
I had this problem in our home because the washing machine and dryer were in the laundry room on the second floor. While this was a convenient floor plan, having the laundry room on the second floor means the sound from the washer and dryer really echoed throughout the house, so I knew I’d need to soundproof the door.
Step 1: Get Washing Machine Pads on Amazon
The first thing I did was purchase anti-vibration pads on Amazon. You’ll need to get two sets (they’re cheap) so you have one set for the washer, and another for the dryer.
We’ll discuss several other solutions for soundproofing the door itself, but that will mostly get rid of the higher pitched frequency noises. The low rumble of a washer and dryer is what we call “structural sound.” It’s sound that vibrates through the structure of the home and consequently is much more difficult to stop by just beefing up your door.
This is a 5 minute fix. Just get those anti-vibration pads and put them under the feet of both the washer and dryer. You’ll immediately find that you cut the noise by at least 30%–sometimes much more depending on your particular situation.
If you don’t want to spend any money at all, and you’re willing to not get quite as much sound absorption, then you could put cork pads underneath, or even a hand towel folded up. These won’t be as good, but it will still reduce the sound somewhat.
Step 2: Reinforce the Door
Most doors inside a home are hollow, which means they are LOUSY at blocking sound–especially the low pitched sounds that come from a washer and dryer.
The easiest and least expensive fix is the attach a soundproof door blanket (Aff. Link to Amazon.com) to the inside of the laundry room door (the side inside the laundry room so it won’t look weird). It’s a very absorbent material that will soak up a LOT of sound, and only takes a few seconds to install. It has heavy grommets (metal rings) and you just tack 4 nails into the door and hang it. I think you’ll see a HUGE improvement with the sound blanket.
If you don’t want to make it simple with the sound deadening blanket, you could go to Home Depot and custom order new doors, but door sizes are not standard. You have to measure everything exactly to the 1/16″ and get it perfect in order for it to fit.
Step 3: Cover the Door Sweep
Okay, if you want to go really crazy and totally cut out the sound, another option is to put something under the door sweep. No matter how sound absorbent your door is, if there’s space between the door and the floor, the sound will still pass through quite easily.
Check your door and see how closely it hugs the ground. If there’s a big gap, you can get a simple door sweep and put it under the door to block out the last bits of sound.
At this point, you’ve really done everything possible to cut out the sound. Anything else (like putting sound absorbent panels on the walls), is just WAY overkill. You’re not a crazy person, right?
Conclusion
It’s worth taking some efforts to make your home more peaceful and quiet. I’m a bit of a soundproofing fanatic (my family can attest to that), but it’s totally worth spending a little money and time to make a house peaceful and quiet in my opinion.
Good luck on soundproofing your laundry room door. Hopefully these tips I shared will help.
Hi, I am placing a washer and a dryer in a closet. It will need some opening for the heat and moisture exchange… does it make sense to sound proof the closet even if to work well needs some opening? Thanks