Sounds From Upstairs

The woman who answered last night said it was her kids. I'm at a loss, what else can I do here? I have been fortunate enough to never liver below someone before, always being upstairs or in a townhouse. The previous neighbors had three teenage children, and I could hear them roughhousing at times, but it was not as bad as the new neighbors, and it ended when the kids went to bed by midnight.

I do not know how many live in the house or their ages, only the older 50s? I did try earplugs last night and it helped with the conversation noise, but not the loud stomping noises. I'm not sure white noise either a fan or a machine would help either. We do have a noise ordinance in my area, but I do not think they are over the 55 db limit from 60 yards away. Also, I don't know how responsive the police are to noise complaints anyway.

The main factor that makes this difficult is that these are condos with individual owners - there is not an apartment manager who can do anything.

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My lease is up at the end of September and I do plan to move at that point, but is there anything I can do so that I do not go on 4 hours of sleep nightly for the next 7 months? I should note that I am not a super quiet neighbor. I practice my guitar using Rocksmith on my PC a few times a week, including last night for about an hour 8: My girlfriend can be loud during our intimate times, which is only times per week for min I'm estimating , usually around The coffee grinder in the mornings can be loud also at least to half-awake me standing right in front of it.

I can't think of other noises that I would make that might bother them. I do try to keep my noise down though. A white noise machine and getting used to it are your best bets. The police aren't going to put a very high priority on a residential noise disturbance of this kind. And really, what could they DO? Ask them to keep it down - you've already done that.

You're not entitled to silence outside of the noise ordinances, which they don't seem to be breaking. Sure, you need sleep, but yours are not the only needs here and your neighbors are just as entitled to their habits within reasonable limits as you are to yours. This is just life in an apartment building with upstairs neighbors. Unless it's so egregiously loud as to really be breaking the noise ordinance, dealing with it somehow is your only option if they're not receptive to keeping it down.

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Are the floors in your building hardwood or pergo or otherwise hard flooring? Possibly your old neighbors had better or more rugs than the new ones. Best you can hope for in that case is some kind of regulation from the Condo Board on percentage of floors to be covered with rugs Some people are just heavier walkers than others. Nothing to be done about it except to get some kind of earplug or sound machine for yourself.

Alternately, depending on the layouts of the condos, you could switch your sleeping area to a part of the condo that is quieter at night.

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We did this when our upstairs neighbor worked second shift and liked to come home and lift weights at 3am. Is there a condo board or HOA? As a renter, you might not have a lot of sway, but your landlord might be willing to help you out, and at the very least be able to tell you if there are any bylaws requiring floor covering or building quiet hours. White noise machines come in varying degrees of effectiveness and can take care of the vibration aspect of noise for me.

For daytime noise, which may become a problem too, the white noise immediately put me to sleep though. So using sound defeating too big to sleep in headphones was my daytime answer. At night I used those super cheap hearing protection earplugs--rolling them to a small diameter between my fingers before putting them in place increases their usefulness.

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Beyond that all I can suggest is bribery. You know the noise they're creating, can you offer to buy them something to ameliorate it? For a hundred bucks it might be worth a shot. I was all set to be all GRAR on your behalf. We had upstairs neighbors who enjoyed loud parties and eventually got themselves evicted due to my numerous noise complaints. I'm talking about Nikki Minaj at 2AM, not foot steps.

Blocking Sounds in Floors and Ceilings | HowStuffWorks

Green Glue is a viscoelastic compound that's used to block sound in walls, floors and ceilings. Green Glue is an incredibly effective sound blocker, eliminating about 90 percent of noise [source: For noise that's coming from upstairs, install a drop ceiling in your home. Use resilient channel, and invest in acoustical tile that's designed to block noise. Because the drop ceiling is situated below the original drywall ceiling, the plenum space in between helps isolate noises from footsteps or similar sounds.

The acoustical tile itself helps absorb and dissipate the remainder of the noise before it gets into your home. If you don't like the look of drop ceilings or aren't willing to invest in one, you can simply double up the drywall on your existing ceiling. Use resilient channel to create a space between the two layers, as this is a great way to isolate sound waves. For further sound reduction, add a layer of Green Glue or an acoustical mat product between the drywall layers [source Manfredini ].

Sometimes the sounds heard at night could be due to the expansion or contraction of connected materials. Members of Parliaments of various districts said they get fewer than 10 complaints a year of unexplained noises at night.

Can you block neighbor noise in a townhome or condo?

It sounded like furniture shifting. Once the plumber secured the pipe, the noise stopped. However, other sounds were harder to resolve, he said. Residents are usually unable to record the sound or predict when it will occur. The source of the sound can also be difficult to trace. Dr Lily Neo, MP for Jalan Besar GRC, said there was a resident who kept hearing the neighbours opening the metal gates of their front door at night, when the unit in question was empty.

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That's when people concentrate more on their own thinking and perceptions. It's good to have that foundation of neighbourliness so when someone finds an issue, they can discuss it. It's really down to trust, talking to one another and forming those relationships. Select the perfect wall decor, and injects colour and depth into your home while adding character and a cosy atmosphere to the space.