Dynamat for the Dishwasher

Is your dishwasher ridiculously loud? Have you thought about replacing it with a fancy quiet model, only to wake up hours later after you apparently passed out from sticker shock? {Really, the dishwasher I priced was $1K at Sears. The Sears OUTLET mind you!}.

Well, in this post, I am my husband is going to show you how to quiet down your tractor-pull wannabe dishwasher for less than $20. Andrew Jackson, you’re my hero.

To get started, you’re going to need:
-your dishwasher, of course
-necessary tools to remove the interior panel {the part where you put the detergent in that little cup}.
-scissors, razor blade, box cutter, etc
-Dynamat {the secret ingredient!}



Let’s talk about Dynamat. This stuff is generally used to quiet the interior noise level of a vehicle. See, that’s Chip Foose {famous car guy} right there on the box telling you how awesome he is now that he has Dynamat installed in his car! It comes in thin sheets that look like aluminum foil, but are much heavier and have a peel and stick coating on one side.



My husband bought a whole box of 36 Sq Ft. (9 Sheets) for $140. He only used about 4 Sq Ft {about $15 worth} for this project, but the rest will be installed in one of his cars. Since I can’t imagine that a lot of my readers are also gearheads that would appreciate leftover Dynamat lying around, I suggest checking eBay for smaller packages.

The application is simple. Cut, peel, stick. Let’s get started.

First, open your dishwasher and inspect the interior panel of the door for fasteners that you can undo to take the panel off. Ours had Philips head screws, so we only needed a Philips head screwdriver. It was also necessary to take off the latch mechanism {the part that locks the door while the dishwasher is running}. Be careful here, because if the front of your dishwasher is plastic, it’s probably going to fly up and slam without the weight of the panel to hold it down. Just keep that in mind.




Next, clean the reverse side of the panel so that the Dynamat sticks well. Then you’re going to lay your Dynamat sheets {don’t peel the backing off yet!} on the panel and mark where you need to cut so that it fits perfectly. You can draw directly on the material and cut out with scissors, or just cut little notches on each end as a guide and then use a razor blade to cut.




Then, working with one piece at a time, peel the backing away and position the Dynamat on the panel. Press it down to stick and then smooth it down. It will probably be necessary to cut more notches as you go to accommodate for all the little plastic nooks and crannies. Hubby used the handle of the scissors to help smooth the pieces down, but you could use whatever blunt object you have that can fit in the little confined spaces. Be patient here, this step could take a while depending on what your panel looks like.




Once you’re done with the last step, stand back and admire your {husband’s} hard work. Pat yourself your husband on the back and dance around with joy as the panel magically gets re-installed.



Finally, have someone else load the dishwasher {or maybe do it yourself since you didn’t do any of the work on this project}, turn it on, and rejoice in the fact that you outsmarted Sears and their fancy, super quiet right from the factory, million dollar dishwashers.

Does this project look like something you would conquer on your own, or would you rather just deal with the noise level {or buy a new dishwasher}? Are you lucky enough to already own a quiet dishwasher? Do you wish you even had a dishwasher, no matter how loud it is? Let me know in the comments!