Slamming a door can be an incredible way to make a statement. Think of all the times you’ve seen someone slam the door in a play, film, or TV show, and what a dramatic scene-stealing statement it makes.
There’s just something about “the sound and fury” that comes with slamming a door that, far from “signifying nothing,” can mean a whole deal on stage or onscreen.
That said, those of us not living an overly dramatic Tennessee Williams or Quentin Tarantino life probably don’t want to deal with the loud annoying sound of a door slamming.
After all, slamming a door can be quite disruptive (that’s why all those writers and directors and actors do it, after all), which can spoil your peace and quiet. Disrupting domestic tranquility may be great for winning Oscars and Tonys, but it certainly won’t win you positive attention from family members and guests.
That’s why you’ll want to do everything in your power to stop your doors from slamming.
Unfortunately, this can be easier said than done. Even if you remove the human factor and get everyone in your home to stop slamming doors intentionally, everything from weak hinges to gusts of wind can let doors slam shut without your meaning them to do so.
There are many ways you can obstruct airflow or otherwise try and block those gusts of wind from blowing your door shut.
However, here we’re going to focus on the measures you can take that involve altering the door or hinges in such a way as to stop it from slamming.
1 – Foam Strip
One of the biggest questions that you’ll have to face throughout this door silencing journey is how far you are willing to go to solve that slamming issue once and for all.
Are you willing to invest in and install specialty products, or are you more interested in just cobbling together a more makeshift option that can be fashioned from items lying around your home?
Foam strips are a nice middle ground to these extremes.
On the one hand, it isn’t as crude or basic an option as some of the others on this list. If applied properly it can serve as a long-term solution, and save you from having to buy something new (assuming you already have foam strips of some kind).
On the other hand, it is by no means as elaborate and expensive as some of the specialty options on this list.
2 – Pinch Guards
Now, let’s start getting into some of those aforementioned specialty options, starting with pinch guards. The premise behind these devices are simple. They pinch either side of your door or door frame, so that when you close the door, it is physically impossible for it to slam shut.
While this may make it harder to close doors overall, it can be really effective in eliminating the suddenness and noise that comes with slamming a door.
Another nice touch is that, because pinch guards stop doors from closing fully, they can be great for baby proofing a home, as they ensure that your baby or toddler cannot accidentally slam the door shut on their fingers.
In addition, while other options on this list are more expensive, or only come singly and would require buying multiple units for multiple doors, pinch guards are quite affordable and come in packs.
3 – Hydraulic and Pneumatic Door Closers
The most surefire way to stop your door from slamming is to make it as physically impossible as possible.
The two most common causes of slamming doors is someone getting in touch with their inner stage diva and slamming it out of frustration or carelessness, or else a gust of wind blowing it shut. Either way, turning to a hydraulic door can resolve those issues.
It is worth noting that this is easily the most expensive and elaborate option on this list. Chances are it isn’t the choice you’ll want to make if you have a minor door slamming problem, or if it’s a door that you don’t tend to use very often.
Unless this is a main door in your home or you are a business and don’t mind paying a bit more for the professionalism of a hydraulic option to rid your premises of slamming doors once and for all, you’ll probably want to try one of the other options on this list.
If hydraulic doors are right for you, however, they can be a great way to solve your slamming door issue once and for all. These doors are powered with fluid that allows them to close shut with a tight seal, thereby preventing them from blowing open.
Pneumatic door openers work the same way, substituting the power of pressurized air for the hydraulic fluid.
In addition, these doors come with a remote control that is used to open and shut the door.
4 – Rubber Bands
At the complete opposite end of the spectrum from pneumatic and hydraulic doors are rubber bands.
While the former are easily the most elaborate and expensive items on our list, requiring professional setup and being best suited to professional spaces such as businesses, rubber bands are as inexpensive as it gets and almost certainly something you have lying around already.
If you’re looking to fix a slamming door with minimal effort, it’s hard to beat rubber bands.
All you have to do is wrap the rubber band around the door handle, and then extend it in such a way as to ensure that it covers the reverse side of the door as well. Of course, if you place too much pressure on a rubber band, they’ll snap.
For the best results, therefore, you want to select a rubber band that isn’t too stiff or old, but is fresh and broken in just enough to give it a bit of flexibility.
This will make it easier for the rubber band to stretch far enough to allow you to wrap it around the latch. In doing so, you’ll create a bumper that will stop the door from slamming.
5 – Rags and Towels
Along with rubber bands, rags and towels are as accessible and affordable a door slamming solution as you can imagine.
Even better, where rubber bands can easily snap or wear out, rags and towels are obviously a lot more durable. You would have to really try to tear or damage these towels while using them as an anti-door slamming measure.
The methodology for using these is pretty self-evident. Simply split them into the gap created by your door, the hinge, and the wall. In so doing, you prevent your door from closing all the way and, thus, creating that slamming sound.
In addition, you might want to consider using the rag or towel at the bottom of the door as a doorstop. To do this, you’ll need to make sure that it is wadded up sufficiently as to stop the door from slamming.
Overall, this method is less effective than the other, though it does potentially put less stress on the cloth being used.
One thing to note about this method is that it is obviously temporary, which can be a blessing or curse depending on your needs. If you only need to stop the door slamming shut for a few minutes, this can be a nice stopgap measure without having to resort to the lengthier projects listed elsewhere on this list.
That said, if you are looking for a way to permanently stop a door from slamming, you’d be better off considering some of the other options.
6 – Felt Pads
We’ve already mentioned attaching foam strips, which can be very effective for heavier doors. If your door is on the lighter side, however, and you don’t feel like messing around with foam strips or similar materials near your door, felt pads are a viable alternative.
These pads are typically applied to the bottom of furnishings to eliminate the danger of them scuffing up your floor or vice versa. The reasons they are so effective at that are the same reasons that make them effective solutions for doors that slam too much.
Their softness can create a nice soft barrier between your door and the frame-hinge area. This slows things down, cushions the blow, and makes it easier to absorb the sound, thereby eliminating the slamming.
Another positive aspect of self-stick felt pads is the fact that they are incredibly easy to apply and reuse. While this is true of other options on this list, felt pads really are as simple as “peel and apply.”
As long as the stickiness on the bottom doesn’t wear out, you can also remove and reapply them to different doors as needed.
These pads essentially perform the same function as pinch guards, minus the ability to keep the door open so as to spare your baby’s fingers. If you don’t have infants and do happen to have felt pads for your furniture on hand, they can make a fine substitute and spare you an extra expenditure.
How many felt pads you use is up to you. One alone may be sufficient, as long as you place it directly over the place where the door, lock, frame, and hinge all meet.
That said, to really make sure that your door doesn’t accidentally slam shut on you, it is advisable to place a few more felt pads up and down the door or frame.
7 – Replace the Hinges
So far, all of our suggestions have been predicated on the idea that what’s allowing your door to slam shut has to do with the way it closes. However, there could be deeper problems afoot. If there is something wrong with your hinges, it can likewise cause your door to slam.
This can be the case if your door’s hinges are worn down. This can occur as the result of usage over time or else as the result of weathering from rainwater or other factors seeping in and damaging your door and door frame.
In addition, there is always the possibility that your door, frame, hinge, or some combination thereof were not properly installed to begin with.
You will, therefore, need to check to see if your hinges are balanced and installed properly. An easy way to do this is by opening your door and using a leveling device to see if the door or frame lacks balance. If they are balanced, you’ll want to check the hinges themselves.
If your hinges are indeed the culprit, you’ll need to replace them. Take a screwdriver or drill with the appropriate size head and remove the screws keeping your current hinge in place.
Now that you have it free, it’s time to decide whether you want to install a new hinge that is exactly like it or change models. If the model you have used has worked fine for some time, and has simply become worn or damaged through no fault of the model, you’ll likely want to opt for the former.
Otherwise, you’ll want to do your research and see which type of hinge best suits your type of door.
Once you have the right hinge for the job, it’s time to attach it, making sure that it remains properly aligned with your door.
8 – Weather Stripping
Similar to the foam strips, weather stripping can be a great way of killing two birds with one stone. First, they can get rid of your door slamming problem by placing a nice cushion at the point where your door and frame meet. Second, they can help with your home’s insulation.
That second point is their primary function, after all, and something that can help solve your door slamming dilemma as well. After all, as we have touched on several times by now, one of the primary causes of doors slamming is gusts of wind blowing them shut.
An effective way to deal with that is to stop wind from being able to blow into the area in the first place.
A tight seal is what’s needed to stop this from happening, and that’s what weather stripping is all about.
There is yet one more additional benefit to using weather stripping – soundproofing. After all, it isn’t just that doors slamming is potentially bad for the frame, it’s also quite loud.
You can, thus, take care of both of these issues by attaching weatherstripping to your door frame.
9 – Door Seals and Filters
Some call them Door Seals, others call them Door Filters. Still, a Door Slam Preventer by any other name is still a good chance to stop that annoying slamming noise once and for all.
This is another case where you’ll be using something that may not be designed to stop doors from slamming per se, but which can nevertheless be effective in achieving that end.
Door Filters are a term for filtering strips that can be attached to the bottom of your door to prevent nasty odors from seeping inside. Those filters control how much air rushes into your home.
Just as they can keep foul odors from wafting into your home, so too can they stop strong gusts of wind – and as we know by now, that can be an effective way of stopping your door from slamming shut.
These types of filters are also pretty easy to install. Simply follow the instructions and place the filter along the bottom of your door. They also tend to be easy to remove, so if you ever need to move it to another door, you should be able to do that with ease.
10 – Doorstops and Bumpers
Last, but not least, we once again come to a pretty obvious option. Whether you’re a professional carpenter, DIY enthusiast, or just someone with common sense, chances are you’ve probably already thought of using a doorstop.
It’s a pretty simple solution to the problem, and while it can’t prevent anyone from slamming the door and may not work in particularly gusty areas, it’s still worth a shot.
One thing you’ll want to make sure of is that any doorstop you choose is the right size for the door in question. Make sure the small part of the doorstop that is supposed to wedge neatly under the door is a tight, firm fit. If it’s too loose, it will simply be pushed aside and the door will swing free and slam away.
Doors slamming shut can be incredibly frustrating.
It can be just as frustrating to feel as though there is nothing you can do about it.
However, as we have demonstrated, not only is doors slamming shut an issue that you can address, you have a wealth of options for doing so depending on how much you’re willing to spend and how creative you’re willing to be.
Leave all that door slamming drama for the stage. No matter your choice, you are sure to find something on this list that can solve your door slamming problems once and for all.
I have a bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Systems and over 10 years of experience working in IT. As a homeowner, I love working on projects around the house, and as a father, I love investigating various ways to keep my family safe (whether or not this involves tech). I’ve also played guitar for almost 20 years and love writing music, although it’s hard to find the time these days.