Doorbells are essential for letting you know if someone’s coming to visit, if you are receiving a package, or if someone’s at the door for whatever other reason.
But some of the older models of doorbells can make a lot of noise and may even bother your neighbors or wake up the baby.
In today’s article, we’re looking at how to silence or reduce the noise of a doorbell using a few simple methods.
How To Make A Wired Doorbell More Silent
There are a couple of ways to quieten a wireless doorbell effectively:
1. Use A Chime Cover
An easy method is to use a chime cover (see below).
Chime covers are typically insulated with foam which will slightly dampen the sound of the chime making it less disruptive but still audible.
Using a chime cover is ideal as it quickly clips off allowing easy access to the chiming unit in case of a malfunction occurring.
2. Use Tape
To silence your doorbell using tape simply cover the unit with either painter’s tape or masking tape.
Avoid duct tape as this will leave residue on the chiming unit.
Ideally, you should replace the tape at least once a month to prevent it from becoming difficult to remove without damaging the unit.
Tape can be used in conjunction with a chime cover if needed, simply cover the chiming unit with tape and then fit your chime cover over it.
The good thing about using tape is that if you are unhappy with how loud the chime is you can simply add more tape until the volume is sufficiently reduced.
3. Using Magnets To Muffle A Wired Doorbell
This is perhaps the most complicated method that we are describing in this article because it actually requires you to take the chiming unit apart.
Most of the older wired doorbells come with a solenoid whose purpose is activating the chimes.
Others can be equipped with two sizable metal chimes on each side which are in charge of making the sound whenever the button is pushed.
Between these two chimes, there are typically two electromagnetic switches, and they come in contact with the chimes.
Placing a magnet between every chime and the pressure switch will automatically dim the sound (before you do this ensure that you turn the doorbell off so that you don’t get a shock).
The magnets that you use should to be flexible so that you can fit it between the two structures as best as possible. Its size should also be small enough so that it can ‘cover’ the chimes.
For this reason, you can safely use any type of refrigerator magnet.
Once you are all done, you can simply turn the doorbell back on and see how it sounds.
4. Box The Chime In
If covering your chime grille doesn’t seem to do much in the way of making your doorbell sound quieter, perhaps it’s time to take a more drastic measure.
As we previously mentioned, you might be able to find commercial chime covers online, but since not all units have the same size, you will still have to make some adjustments.
Instead, you can build your own chime box with a material of your choice.
Wood or MDF usually offer pretty good results, and if you also add some soundproofing insulation on the inside, the noise will be much more tolerable.
More often than not, using even a thin material such as cardboard or a thin layer of wood (plus some acoustic foam) is sufficient to block out some of the noise and prevent your doorbell from bothering you as much in the future.
Silencing A Wireless Doorbell
Making your wireless doorbell quieter is a lot easier.
Depending on the model you own, it might even come with a mobile app that can give you complete control over the volume.
Ring doorbells are one of the most popular wireless doorbells on the market right now, to make your Ring doorbell quieter follow these steps:
- Open the Ring doorbell app and click the gear icon in the top right corner.
- Go to your Doorbell Kit settings, select the model you own.
- Then you can either lower the volume or completely turn off the doorbell.
With some Ring doorbells, you only have the option to turn their chime off, but newer models give you the option to customize their sound level.
In that case, you have to go to your Ring Doorbell device in your app, look up ‘Configuration options’, go to ‘Doorbell tone volume’, and then adjust the latter.
Unfortunately, if you have a Nest doorbell the Nest app doesn’t include a volume control at all, which means that you only have the option of turning your doorbell sound on or off.
Final thoughts
Whether you want to get in there and use your DIY skills as best as possible, or you simply want to silence your doorbell by placing some tape on the chiming unit grille, we hope that our article gave you some tips on how you can make the noise quieter.
Traditional doorbells are going to become obsolete at one point or the other since modern models are so good at letting you know who’s at your door and whether you want to open it or not.
These modern devices are much safer, and they also give you a lot of freedom in terms of customizing the volume and even type of doorbell sound.
When everything else fails, you can simply try to put up a sign next to your doorbell with a message asking people not to ring within a specific time span, such as after 9 pm.
If you live in an area that might concern you due to the amount of crime that happens in your neighborhood, you might have to research how you can turn your wired doorbell into a wireless one, install a camera, or add several other safety features that can put your mind at ease.
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