We are the "loud neighbors"

[Anonemous]

Reminds me of my old crazy neighbors upstairs, he would complain about the noise and stomp like a jackhammer (which shook the room and we also had pieces of the celing coming down) when he got upset. Funny thing, he would say we were making noise at 5am when we were clearly asleep.

The douche would also walk like a horse and had a little kid that would run around the apartment imitating his daddy. Apartment leasing office were afraid of him and did nothing telling me the dude would move out. They basically told me that the noise is part of apartment living.

 

[mrblotto]

I'd ask to go down there while your GF does some normal stuff in your apartment so that you can hear what they are talking about. Maybe bring a cell phone so they can know that she's really just walking around. .

This

 

[SearchMaster]

I feel for you. When I lived in an apartment I had a downstairs neighbor who called the cops 3 times for watching TV on a Saturday afternoon at normal levels. And this was back in the days well before home theatre, just a normal crappy 25" console set.

The third time, the cops went down and told him HE would be arrested if he did it again.

 

[dabuddha]

Easy. Just start complaining over and over about how loud they're being.

 

[dwell]

I live in a 1BR in Manhattan and play electric guitar and play loud music all the time. Neighbors be damned, I'm in a condo not a co-op.

 

[CPA]

Hate apartment living, absolutely hate it, and, if I can help it, will never live in an apartment again.

 

[Fingolfin269]

Hate apartment living, absolutely hate it, and, if I can help it, will never live in an apartment again.

This.

 

[BabaBooey]

Poison brownies,wait for new neighbors,profit ?

 

[rasczak]

Our combined weight is less than 260lbs. Not sure about walking heavy... I've never thought about that. I am flat footed, though, so maybe.

So your GF weighs 200lbs?

j/k tell the neighbors to bite the big one. There's nothing you can do about it.

 

[roguerower]

Shit, at least your neighbors actually talked to you. I got the cops called on me three times in a week for playing music while I was cooking dinner at 6pm. And I was in the bottom unit.

Fucking pricks.

 

[JTsyo]

Ask them to spring for some rugs.

 

[alent1234]

I live in a studio apartment in Manhattan with my girlfriend. Small place, like 350sqft, but we are comfortable.

Problem is, the couple who lives below us can't handle how "loud" we are. Which is strange, because we are some of the quietest people I know. We don't have people over, we don't play loud music... we both have full time jobs during the day and our time at home is spent cooking and eating dinner, sitting in front of the computer, or talking to each other.

Tonight the girl from the couple below us and complained about how loud we were being (her boyfriend had already come up twice before in the last few weeks). She said it sounded like we were "doing a ton of coke and walking around, and dropping shit," and for the past several months we had been making so much noise and she was at her breaking point. In reality, I had just finished taking a shower and had walked to and from the bathroom a couple times. My girlfriend had been washing the dishes... I mean we don't really do much else.

I was so dumbfounded, all I said was "sorry I didn't realize we were making so much noise." But now that I think about it, it's kind of ridiculous that us peacefully living our lives can be that much of an annoyance. I mean, we literally can't be any quieter short of not being at home.

At this point we don't really know how to work this out. The neighbors downstairs seem like real assholes. Should we go down there and just be all "sorry, you are ridiculous, live with it." Should we be passive aggressive about it? Does it make any sense to involve a third party? What would you guys do?

Thanks.

had the same problem years ago when living in a 7 story red brick building in queens. brick and wood and the floors squeaked. my wife and i only buy in concrete buildings and never had a problem after that

 

[Macamus Prime]

Lets see,....
- hard wood floor
- NYC apartment built back when they used cardboard thin materials
- irrate/stuck up downstairs neighbor

,... ok, I see what the problem is here! The woman downstairs wants to live in the suburbs! Hand her the the real estate section from various towns out on Long Island. Tell her to go nuts.

I don't understand people who aren't used to the city life,... but still live in the city. If you want to live in a city that never sleeps, expect noise. Or, just roll into the city like the rest of the suburban trash, get drunk/high and head on back home to mommy and daddy in your picket fence house to throw up all the junk you took in.

 

[nanette1985]

When we lived in Manhattan our upstairs neighbor decided to take up roller skating/roller dancing. He put in a beautiful wood floor and started to skate for hours and hours every day.

He was one of the nicest people in the world so we got used to it really quickly. Funny what difference it makes if you really like your neighbors.

Downstairs neighbor was a drummer Also very nice. Didn't practice very often, and when his band came over to jam he always asked us for permission first.

 

[SagaLore]

In reality, I had just finished taking a shower and had walked to and from the bathroom a couple times. My girlfriend had been washing the dishes... I mean we don't really do much else.

With no insulation between the upper and lower floor, and shared plumbing and heating/cooling conduits, then just quietly moving around and using water is going to loud below.

I suggest you call your landlord and let him/her know that the people below are complaining, but its not because you're being loud or obnoxious, but because its probably from lack of insulation. Landlord will probably not do anything, but at least you're proactively defending yourself.

The only thing the landlord could do with least amount of expense is pull up your carpet and re-pad it with a better quality pad and put the carpet back down. Then open up the wall where the plumbing is and wrap it in insulation, and do the same under all the sinks. If the apartments are using central air, then you can also put in simple filters in all the vents so sound isn't echoed and amplified from one room to another.

Now if just simple moving around is bothering them that much, then just imagine what they're hearing when you're having sex.

 

[GotIssues]

I've gone by this rule: Between the daytime hours of 9am and 9pm, noise shouldn't matter (with some minor exceptions), on Fridays and Saturdays, as long as the noise tailed off (not necessarily quiet, but not loud) by midnight or so.

I've had several loud as hell neighbors, but most of them tended to, whether on purpose or accident, be fine under this rule. The one that didn't I just flipped out at one night after the 3rd weeknight party in a row and they were quiet from then on out.

If they are complaining about daytime noise, they need to stfu. If they are complaining about nighttime noise, look into it further. It may even not be you, but a neighbor to either side of you (sound can travel strangely in some buildings).

Oh, and renting blows for this epic crapshoot. Getting a bad neighbor in an apartment building/condo is far worse than getting a bad neighbor when you own a house. I have a "loud" backyard neighbor who has a fair number of pool parties in the summer, and just closing my window blocks out 95% of the noise.

 

[PingSpike]

Weight doesn't matter.

A girl, all of 100lbs, used to live above me and it sounded like a horse stomping around whenever she walked.

This is true, I work with a woman who is probably 5'2" 100 pounds soaking wet and she sounds like a budweiser clydesdale. There's an old guy who has gout in our office and walks with a limp...he's like a ninja and sneaks up on my all the time. Its just walking style I guess.

 

[lokiju]

I'd try to appeal to reason and use logic and offer for him to witness first hand how you're walking and have him see it from both your place and then his. Just show him it's only because you live in a shitty apartment and not because you're a asshole upstairs neighbor like he things.

Take the anger out of it and out of him. Make him just realize and understand nothing can be done so you both need to just live with it while there.

 

[Baked]

Find out the rules for what time you can make noise. Make as much noise at possible during the allowed time frame. If they come up again, tell them to go fuck themselves and slam the door in their face. If you're not making noises after certain times, they can't do shit about it.

 

[PingSpike]

I had a neighbor with a screeching kid in our last apartment and it was just insane I think there was something wrong with him other than him being 2. Then she played loud music all the time...I'd ask her to turn it down but I don't think she understood the concept of bass. She'd turn the music down but the bass was clearly cranked on the stereo so even at a reasonable volume it would thump through the walls. I had two neighbors on either side of me and I never heard anything from them besides some noise in our mirrored bathroom occasionally. The neighbor before her might have been dead for all I knew, they didn't even make any noise while they were moving out! I finally just bought a house and left.

I think its idiotic how they build apartments and condos with paper thin walls. I'd say it would be well worth the extra cost to a landlord to install soundproofing thick enough a shotgun blast couldn't be heard by the adjoining neighbors but they probably contract out the crew to build them who could give a shit what happens in the place a year after they've finished.

Anyway, if you're really only doing what you're doing it isn't your fault if its loud to them. I mean, washing dishes and eating dinner during normal evening hours is to loud for them? Well, to bad. Are you even sure you're the neighbor making the noise? Their coke line is a sure fire way to get told to fuck off. If you were really on coke you would have stabbed that guy by now.

 

[DrPizza]

350 sq feet? How the heck do you even walk around? That's like saying that a beta fish does a lot of swimming in one of those tiny bowls. I'm in the middle of turning my garage into an apartment - you can come live on the other side of NY; double your square footage; I'll only charge you $650 a month, including heat, electric, cable (satellite), internet, water, off street parking, . . .

 

[Imp]

We live in a circa-1915 built semi-detached house. Never been insulated or heavily renovated. The walls and floors are effing thin.

Tell them to deal with it, or let one of them go up to your apartment and walk very softly around while the other listens.

Or ask them to pony up the money to put in a floating (?) hardwood floor. Foam beneath the hardwood should cushion the steps and act as an additional sound barrier. Looks like $1/sq. ft. if you go for the cheapest.

http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/categories/departments/workspaces/14699/