Apartment noise question

[donheld]

What is appropriate when over head noise is unbearable. My upstairs neighbor and his kid sound like they are rough housing till way late. At 1:30 a.m. they were still going at it tonight seems to be headed that direction too. The guy says the child, about 2, has trouble sleeping due to their recent move. I have to be up by 5:30 am to drive public transit. Saturday I'll look into getting a white noise machine or something. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Kat45]

1. Those white noise machines are good at blocking noise

My boyfriend has one and we used to use it all the time, though I'm not sure if it will help if there's physical shaking from them running around upstairs. I've lived in several apartments, and it seems that it was understood that there should be quiet after a certain time of night, though I'm not sure what time.

[donheld]

2. It's like constant thunder

[travelingtypist]

3. If you live in a large town, there will be a noise ordinance.

Quiet time between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.

http://articles.directorym.com/Noise_Law_FAQ_Portland_OR-r935210-Portland_OR.html

If your city does have such a law and talking to the neighbor and your landlord doesn't work, you can call the cops.

[blueamy66]

21. Call the cops because a toddler cannot sleep?

I don't know about that...

[we can do it]

24. Why Should Age Matter?

[blueamy66]

25. Um, what?

A two year old doesn't understand that he/she is making a racket and disturbing the downstairs tenant.

A 25 year old, on the other hand, does.

My co-workers downstairs' neighbor called the cops on his 2 kids...both toddlers. The cops came and asked to search the house....found out it was to check on the "welfare" on the children. My co-worker told them to come on in. Check on the "welfare"? You call the cops and more shit can happen.

Did you really ask that?

[we can do it]

26. Yes

[blogslut]

4. Until then

Try here:

http://www.simplynoise.com/

[snagglepuss]

5. You have my sympathy. Having noisy upstairs neighbours is pure stress.

You have a right to silence after 11:00 pm. What I did several times that was successful was slipping a friendly and courteous note under the door of people walking on bare wood floors in shoes, I signed it "Your Sleepy Neighbour'. I think the somewhat lighthearted notes were more effective than face to face requests I've made in other circumstances.

If that doesn't work talk to you landlord, perhaps a carpet needs to be installed. If noise persists send landlord a registered letter citing your right to quiet and infer that you may need to resort to legal action.

I've never had a white noise machine but I'm using a Honeywell industrial fan to block noise from a construction site that is just yards from my window. It completely blocks the noise and the motor hum is actually soothing even though it's relatively loud. The trick with such a fan is to place it near the head of the bed and direct the air flow away from you.

What is good about using a fan is that its dual purpose ie fan plus a noise blocker.

[jobycom]

8. My downstairs neighbor came up to confront me one morning around 1.

I was reading, my daughter was in the second bedroom on her computer. Dude knocks on the door and politely but significantly asks me if I could keep it down, my television was keeping him awake. I invited him in, asked him where the television was, asked him if he could pinpoint the noise he was hearing... He left looking very confused and apologetic. Weird thing was, every now and then I would hear someone's voice like it was in the apartment with me, just talking in a normal voice. I could make out every word of the conversation. Then it would stop, not like they had stopped talking, but like the noise was turned off. Had to be some kind of venting system thing, but I never could figure it out. I never even knew where the voice was coming from, and it was a different voice sometimes. For all I knew it was two apartments over. I also once got a notice from the apartment manager that if I ever threw cigarette butts off my balcony again, I'd be evicted. I don't smoke, I've never had anyone in my apartment who did smoke, but they swore someone saw someone smoking on my balcony... Weird place.

I do the same thing with a fan you do. I can't sleep without it anymore. :)

[snagglepuss]

11. That is one great story. I rate it 10 on my spook-o-meter.

:scared:

[MilesColtrane]

6. I'm a light sleeper.

The combo of earplugs and white noise (HEPA air purifier) helps.

Of course, I'm screwed in the event of a night time burglary/home invasion.

[ChoralScholar]

7. We only had upstairs neighbors once...

and, all hours of the night it was:

thmp-thmp-thmp-thmp-thmp-thmp-thmp-thmp-thmp-thmp--------SLAM!

or

squeek-squeek-squeek-squeek-squeek-squeek-squeek---------THUD!

I don't think they were having sex... sounded more like they were jumping on the bed.

And then after they moved out, the next guy played 'Night Ranger' at full volume.

I complained a few times, and then he finally came down to see how loud it was... (of course it was at a quiet part then)... and then, right after he told me he couldn't hear it:

dum-dum-dum-dum

dum-dum-dum-dum-

Motorin'! ----- What's your price for flight!


It was classic.

[marzipanni]

15. :)

I'd love to have seen the expression on his face !!!

[TorchTheWitch]

9. Talk to them

Most loud neighbor problems like this are because they have no idea how loud they are as they aren't aware of how their noise sounds in your apartment. As long as you're nice about talking to them about it they'll probably be contrite and try to calm down their noise level. Of course, there are those neighbors that just don't give a crap about how much noise they make and those are usually also the ones that are the first to whine about the noise of others.

That's the biggest thing I hate about apartment living. Seems like apartments since the beginning of time aren't built with even the bare minimum of sound proofing. Being able to clearly hear someone in another apartment sneeze or take a piss is completely unacceptable.

[Crystal Clarity]

10. When my daughter was little, and she'd get to running around

too much or at inappropriate times, I'd say to her, "calm down, Gary (our neighbor) is downstairs trying to sleep". She was about 4 or 5 when we moved to our own place, but for the heck of it, I'd still use the 'Gary is sleeping' line. It took her nearly a week to catch on, since had become so used to hearing it. :evilgrin:

Sorry about the neighbor issue. If the white noise thing that others have suggested isn't enough, maybe you could nicely approach the upstairs neighbor? Perhaps as pleasantly as possible ask that he try to keep the noise level down between certain hours? :shrug:

Definitely a tough situation to be in. I wish you the best of luck w/it.

[Inchworm]

12. What am I missing here?

Move to the country? :P

:hi:

[guitar man]

13. You go up

Beat the shit outta the door and when they answer, tell 'em to knock it off or you'll break their damn kneecaps. :evilgrin:

[DeadEyeDyck]

14. Ain't you ever watched the Honeymooners?

Ya beat on the ceiling with the broom and yell, "Watcha doing up there? Boweling?"
Forget about it!

[Cripple Creek]

17. Used to watch then all the time

Funny

[pacalo]

16. When my husband worked nights, he used a box fan to drown out noise.

If it could block out noise coming from two boisterous toddlers, maybe it could work for you, too?

[dmr]

18. That's what I used when I worked nights.

I'm a light sleeper & it worked, too. I didn't think it would, but it did!

:hi:

[pacalo]

23. Snagglepuss mentioned something important, though: be sure to move the fan

away from your face! It's the noise that's important. My husband even liked to loosen the screws for the extra noise!

:hi:

[Skittles]

19. I can hear my upstairs neighbor, and I am a night worker

I have one of those vornado fans for white noise, and styrofoam earplugs

[Moondog]

20. Free white, pink, and brown noise MP3 and WAV downloads here -

http://whitenoisemp3s.com/free-white-noise

Just loop them.

Or, lower tech - tune a radio into a space between stations. Adjust the volume as needed.

And try those foam earplugs. They are remarkably effective.

[FamousBlueRaincoat]

22. the memories

I once lived above a guy who thought he was a rock star. He was actually a waiter, but at home he played a rock star. Playing his guitar till 3 AM, having friends over playing as a band - the bass shaking my bed. I put up with it for too long, and when I finally angrily confronted him about it he apologized, and stopped playing at 10 every night until he rented practice space elsewhere and then it was complete quiet. I assumed he realize that playing rock music out of amplifiers at 3 AM disturbed people. He didn't. Some people are just stupid, they don't think their actions affect others. Crazy thing is that he claimed he's been doing that for like 10 years and nobody ever complained to him before. I believe it, since he was playing so loudly for months before I complained, and apparently nobody else in the apartments touching his complained - since he stopped as soon as I asked him.

Fast forward: I move to an apartment that is super cheap, super nice, and owned by this lady who rents through word of mouth only, so that she only gets good tenants. Everything is well, until the woman moves in upstairs whose boyfriend had just committed suicide. She was a lunatic. Depressed and manic. She was an alcoholic. I think she was on meth too. Stomping all night, unbelievably loud eurotrash music for up to 48 hours straight (followed by a day of silence, despite the fact that she was home). I complained to her. I complained to the landlord (who was an older woman, slightly senile). Nothing ever changed. Most miserable time of my life. Luckily I was on month to month, so I eventually just moved. Moral of that story: some people are assholes and nothing can change them.

But don't be afraid of politely letting him know there's a problem if that's what it comes to. Depends on how bad of a situation is, and whether you want to risk making things awkward over something that's not that big of a deal. Right now I live in a really quiet building, despite the fact there are people above me, below me, and on my left and right. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'm the type of person who thrives in silence.

[petronius]

28. Spot on - very nice post (I like your writing style)

I've had both of those situations as well (although not so severe as your second) and you're right, some people really have no clue at all that sound travels through walls and disturbs people. More importantly, the vast majority of those are receptive to a friendly face-to-face without escalating to calling the cops or sabotaging them with the landlord...

Welcome to DU!

[La Lioness Priyanka]

27. i use white noise and earplugs. my neighbors have been breaking up for 2 years

[Odin2005]

29. Tell your landlord or resident manager about it.

I have a person below me who used to plays his music WAY TOO LOUD. They threatened to evict him, he turned down his music. His damn base still irritates me, though.