How to Prevent Doors From Slamming? (12 DIY Hacks That Work)

Doors slam for many reasons. Sometimes, slamming doors is intentional and, at times, mechanical. But, for whatever cause, slamming doors will have a tremendous impact on the house structure and people.

There are practical ways how to stop doors from slamming. Once you discover why your doors slam, it is much easier to make them quieter.

Before suggesting the best ways to keep a door from slamming, let us find the reasonable causes of why doors slam in the first place.

What Causes a Door to Slam?

A slammed door produces an unpleasant noise. You may want to avoid experiencing your door hit right in front of your face because that is super annoying!

Three viable reasons why doors slam:

1. Doors slam when someone intends to do it. That person could be angry, and it is through slamming the door they can only express their feelings. Nevertheless, it is unacceptable to slam a door, making it an object of hate. The slammed door has nothing to do with people’s emotions.
2. Uneven air movement or air pressure can be a reason why the door slams on its own. The difference in air current from the inside and outside may cause the door to swing in full force even if it is closed gently. Strong winds can push an open door so hard.
3. Mechanical errors in how the door is built change its alignment and cause the door to shut. Since the door is part of the house’s physical structure, any awkward movement will compromise its components.

Can Slam a Door Damage a Door?

Obviously yes. Slamming a door is one of the worst habits some people practice.

Your doors often become objects of anger when domestic rifts happen inside the home. Sometimes, slamming the door hard is only for convenience.

Whatever probable causes doors to slam shut affect a door’s stability. It will damage the parts that connect the door to its place.

Door jambs can misalign, hinges may fall out, and your door will eventually fail. Worse is when you lose a sense of security because, with repeated bangings, the door that serves as protection for your home will no longer serve its purpose.

To prevent your door’s integrity from crumbling, don’t let your anger focus on your door, and find something else to displace your frustration. Or look for ways to prevent further damage.

Next time you slam the door, something to look out for is the cost you are willing to spend for repair or replacement.

PRO TIP: Slamming doors can be dangerous to door structures and windows near them and even cause injury and lives.

12 Effective Ways to Stop a Door From Slamming

1. Check the Door Hinge

Hinges are pivotal door hardware attached to the door jamb’s side essential for closing and opening the door. Constant slamming will ‘unhinged’ or cause imbalance to the door’s vertical alignment, leaving a gap for air and moisture to escape or seep in.

Use anti-slam door hinges. These mechanical devices are securely attached to your door’s closing system and serve as door slam stoppers.

Anti-slam door hinges come in two types:

1. Mechanical hinge. Mechanical hinges can be no slam safety torsion hinges or soft close, concealed hinges. The latter is mainly used in cabinet door applications for noiseless and slower door closing to avoid shock against the door and the attached body.
2. Hydraulic hinge. The functionality of the hydraulic hinge focuses on the technical door-closing system from a fluid-pressure device. The hydraulic fluid controls the movement of the door’s hinges, preventing the weight of the door from shutting in speed and banging a loud noise.

Both mechanical and hydraulic hinges are more applicable for a heavier door.

PRO TIP: The more push is applied on a door, the more a hydraulic door hinge works, mitigating both shock and noise.

2. Install Hydraulic and Pneumatic Door Closers

1. Hydraulic door closers work in the same fashion as hydraulic hinges. The difference is that hydraulic closers have counterparts to allow door swinging. You can adjust the closing speed at a 90-degree angle maximum. The hydraulic type can also be used on a screen door or garage door.
2. Pneumatic door closers depend on air compression when opening and closing a door. These types are best for heavier doors as the pneumatic function releases the pressure when it closes.

Installing an automatic door closer, like the hydraulic and pneumatic types, lessens your burden to watch out for swinging doors.

3. Apply a Weather Strip

Weatherstripping doors are strips that help in sealing a door so it closes silently. These are strips of different material types used for indoor sill, thresholds, joints, or door frames.

Other than reducing the sound resulting from a door slam, weather strips are essential in excluding heat, snow, rain, and strong winds. Keep your storm door to withstand any strong force from nature.

Weatherstrips can be:

• Felt
• Metal
• Plastic
• Rubber
• Foam
• Aluminum or steel

4. Use a Pinch Guard

Pinch guards are commonly u-shaped small door devices to protect your fingers from getting pinched when captured with a slamming door. They effectively serve as a door slam stopper or door slam preventer and keep the loud bang away.

The typical use of pinch guards keeps your hands and fingers, especially the small ones, pinched when accidentally jammed. But their usefulness in such cases is also applicable in preventing doors from slamming.

5. Use Foam Strips to Dampen the Noise

Like seal strips, foam strips are foam tapes adhered all around the door jamb or frame to serve as a door seal to cover gaps and reduce sound.

The material in a foam strip effectively controls the noise as a result of the awkward opening and closing of doors.

Using foam strips is an added door damper for door materials that resonate with a loud sound.

6. Cushion the Door with Felt Pads

Felt pads are similar to strips in function, but they are placed along the door edge of the door frame to ensure effective cushioning when the door closes against the corners. The soft feel of the pads also slows down door’s speed, preventing it from shutting.

Adding felt pads enhances the door cushion.

7. Use a Rubber Band to Stop Door Slamming

A rubber band is one of the most practical and cheapest ways to prevent a door from slamming. This anti-door slamming device can be placed around doorknobs. Since it is a rubber, it is effective in reducing noise and cushioning the blow of a slam.

Rubber is a highly absorbent material and does much better in blocking sounds.

8. Lay a Draft Stop Cloth Below the Door

Sometimes called a dust stopper or draft stopper, the stop cloth is laid at the tip bottom of the door to seal the air gaps.

It serves to guard against dust, wind, light, and small insects and reduces the motion of a door, preventing it from producing a slamming noise.

9. Use a Doorstop

Doorstops can be any object made of rubber or plastic but placed underneath a door to prevent a door from closing. A typical door stop is a wedge that catches the edge of the door when slung open.

How do you stop the door from slamming in the wind? Installing door stops is the best answer. Doorstops are a practical solution if you want to keep your door open and avoid sudden door slamming when the strong wind blows or any force.

10. Install a Door Bumper

Door bumpers are protective devices attached to the wall to keep them from dents against door slamming. Bumpers can be plastic or foam adhered to the wall.

Door bumpers are effective small devices to keep the door from hitting the wall directly. Doors get damaged when hit with intense banging.

Door bumpers come in different shapes and types of material. They keep the door, especially the knob, from causing holes through constant banging when the door swings swiftly open and closed.

11. Use Anti Door Slam Products

Weatherstrips, felt pads, door stoppers, pinch guards, and hinges are anti-slam products that are also useful in many ways, such as filtering noise, dirt, and unwanted small creatures that may enter your home.

Any anti-door slam product you choose can serve its purpose. And all these items are mentioned here, anti-door slamming devices as practical tools used indoors to ward off loud banging sounds.

12. Inspect the Door Knob

A faulty doorknob will fail to latch the door to the frame. Checking your door knob’s condition ensures that the hardware is installed perfectly.

When a door doesn’t close properly due to the poor assembly of the doorknob, it is easy for it to be pushed by whatever force.

How to Prevent Glass Doors from Slamming

Compared to wooden doors, glass doors are more vulnerable to shattering. Though most glass doors are made of tempered glass, they still can break by any means wildly when poked by a loud bang.

Though glass doors have silicone sealant installed around the frame, they are still prone to break with slamming. Also, check the weak point of the glass and reinforce them with a thicker protective structure or use a larger jamb to keep the glass from swinging and banging.

Whether a result of extreme temperature, natural force, or human error, it is crucial to keep it from breaking due to slamming, as it will cost you for repair or replacement.

How Do I Politely Ask My Neighbor to Stop Slamming Her Doors?

Neighbors can either be friendly or hostile. If you notice or hear a constant door banging in your neighbor, it isn’t advisable to rush to their home and nag. Usually, they could be experiencing the same problems as yours.

Try to be a little nosy at times to investigate what’s causing the slamming of doors in their household. If you suspect that the loud noise and door banging result from domestic bickering, you should distance yourself.

Rude and inconsiderate people have no time for peaceful talk. Sometimes, telling them the problem in person would only aggravate the issue. Remember that everyone has his life issues to deal with, and you are not aware of that. So, be cautious.

PRO TIP: If you can’t politely ask your neighbor to stop slamming her doors in person, leave a short note at her doorstep. Written communication removes the prejudice present in saying your message aloud.

What household items can you use to soundproof a door?

Perhaps you have been called out by your neighbor, hearing the constant banging of your doors, and they want to leave in a quieter place. Now, the main reason why you want to prevent your door from banging is for soundproofing.

If damage from erratic doors isn’t your main problem, then your neighbor’s problem should be a wake-up call.

Practical items found in your home can serve as door silencers.

• Add rugs or carpets to absorb the banging noise
• Install foam floor tiles
• Put foam weatherstrips along with the door jamb
• Use a door gasket for sealing door cracks
• Use a soundproof door sweep
• Replace an old threshold with a new one
• Hang thick curtains or blankets in front of the door
• Install acoustic door plugs on the wall

Conclusion

Slamming and banging doors are annoying. Luckily, there are ways to stop doors from slamming. And to make your doors quieter a day after reading these hacks, follow these simple steps, and you will never hear any unpleasant sounds from your house anymore.

But if a sudden slam comes from your neighbor, no worries because our pro tips will help you get through.

If you think you need a significant budget to get the devices for your soundproofing, you might not be aware that you already have them in your home. What’s important is you know what to get, where to purchase them, and how to install them.

Keep your family safe, and give yourself less of the hassle of faulty doors by installing these DIY soft door closers.