There are many reasons why you might want to soundproof your toilet, bathroom, or washroom. For me the main reason was that it was directly adjacent to our dining room, and it just made sense to soundproof so not to embarrass any family members or guests who were using it.
I’ve also got really noisy kids, so take any opportunity I can to soundproof my home, with the toilet being one area I’ve recently completed.
Sound will escape from any gap, with the toilet door being the main issue when soundproofing the toilet room.
You might also want to explore soundproofing the walls of the toilet, but 9 times out of 10 if you can the toilet door soundproofed then you probably won’t have to do anything else.
In this guide, I will tell you how you can soundproof a toilet door at a very cheap cost, plus also offer some more expensive alternatives including my approach to the walls.
Further down the page there is also an added bonus, where I show you how you can even go as far as soundproofing your toilet seat.
But without further ado, let’s get into it.
How to Soundproof a Toilet Room
Making a toilet soundproof can be done very cost-effectively. You don’t need to be adept at DIY, and most of this stuff you can do without the need to employ a handyman.
Step 1: Soundproofing Your Toilet Door
The first thing that I always recommend you look at doing is the door, as this is the main aspect to the toilet room where sound will escape.
Sound is a very crafty element, and looks for any crack or way to escape (or enter). With that in mind my recommendation is to always address the door first with any soundproofing project, test that, and then move onto the rest.
You can spend a lot of money or a not a lot of money. Believe me when I say that often the cheapest way will suffice, so let’s try that first. Here’s how you soundproof a toilet door cheaply.
The Cheap Way
Image credit: diylife.com
The first thing you should do is buy something called a soundproof adhesive weather strip (yes, they can be used indoors).
All it does it stick at the vertical and top aspects of the door with the door jam, take a few minutes to install, and can prevent sound coming in or escaping.
A soundproof weather strip will mean that the crack in the sides and top of the toilet door are covered, but will still let you close and open the door.
Essentially what we are doing here is almost making the sides of the door airtight.
Now what about the crack under the door? Well you can use a draft stopper which will slide over carpet and laminate for this, and the product I recommend would be the Twin Draft Guard draft stopper.
So, what do you end up with if you have done both of these tasks?
- Adhesive strip on top of door and door jam
- Door sweep on bottom of the door
The Expensive Way
So that’s an easy way, and a cheap way if you want to know how to soundproof your toilet door, but there is a more expensive solution if you want something very robust, and if the above doesn’t work to your satisfaction.
The pricier route is to completely take the door out and replace it with a purpose-built solid-core soundproof door.
Most toilet doors in modern homes and hollow-core. Give it a rap with your knuckles. Does it feel hollow or solid?
Hollow-core doors in toilets are notoriously bad for letting sound out and in, but a solid-core door will do a far better job.
But you will have to pay more money.
My advice would be to measure up and buy from Lowes or Home Depot.
You might only have to spend around $100 dollars, and if you can hang the door yourself you will save even more money.
If you do get a new toilet door, then I would still recommend a soundproof weather stip (view on Amazon for latest prices).
Just One More Idea
I know that the look and feel of your toilet can be very important, which is why if you do decide to do the following you will need to really do it well.
The idea?
A soundproof blanket.
These can completely eliminate noise coming through a door, as long as you have the side and bottom gaps covered.
The soundproof blanket I recommend for doors is the Singer fibreglass blanket on Amazon.
It will soak up plenty of noise, but you will need to tack it on really well, and take some care to make it look seamless with the interior design of your toilet.
Step 2: Soundproofing Your Toilet Walls
You’ve soundproofed the toilet door, but what about the toilet walls?
This is a slightly more drastic measure, and will require some assistance potentially from a handyman – the method is call drywalling.
Drywall is different to plaster and works a lot better for sound insulation.
You will need to apply a second layer of drywall onto every wall surface in the toilet. What it will do is help create an additional layer of thickness of around one inch.
This probably doesn’t sound a lot, but the difference in sound pollution will be incredible.
You will need to install sound channel and sound isolation clips between the drywall layers as this will help to stop noise coming in. I would also recommend water resistant drywall for this project.
How to Soundproof a Toilet Seat
A further soundproofing tip you might want to consider is soundproofing the actual toilet seat. I live in a very busy house with children in it, and one particular thing that really irritates me is hearing the toilet set crash down after the kids have been in there.
Yes, as you can probably tell I am extremely noise sensitive!
All you need are two sticky gel pads (buy on Amazon).
You will need to place one pad on the bottom of the toilet seat cover. You will want to place the other gel pad on the top of the cover where it makes contact with the lid when raised. The photos below should demonstrate what I mean.
This means whether the toilet seat is placed up, or placed down, it will have the protection of the sticky gel pads and absorb the noise. They are also very easy to clean, so are hygienic to a certain extent.
If you need further guidance on this then please check out the video below which is where I got this inspired hack from.
Conclusion
Adding soundproofing to a toilet is one of the more common questions I am asked about, and it stands to reason why you might want to do this.
My advice is to address the door first.
That might be all that you need to do so hopefully you won’t need to start looking at soundproofing the walls.
Have you any different ideas? I would love to hear them!
