Author Topic: noisy apartment neighbors  (Read 9000 times)

Case

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noisy apartment neighbors
« on: April 15, 2018, 07:25:45 PM »
Due to a double job relocation I have moved to a new city and am living in a temporary residence for a year until I get to the final place.  We didn't want to share walls with people, but we ended up in an apartment building.  Both my wife and I are noise sensitive, and so we chose an upscale apartment complex (e.g. expensive) with good reviews and such, and chose the top floor of the building.  Go figure, we have people below us that play loud bass.

Before moving in I told the rental community director that we needed a quiet place, and she told me it shouldn't be a problem because they have a zero-tolerance policy.  Now I'm stuck in a tricky situation, not certain how far I want to push this.  I decided to be neighborly the first time, and knocked on their door rather than going straight to management.  The guy that answered the door was immediately nervous, claiming the walls are thin, and asked that I just let them know when noise is a problem rather than going to management (I think they have had complaints before... possibly the guy said this).  They quieted down for the rest of the night, but the next night they are back up to the old volume.

Fortunately, they have tended to turn off music prior to sleeping hours (so far).  If they disturbed our sleep, this would quickly become a disaster scenario.  I don't want to push them too hard... you hear the stories about people getting pissed off and then purposely making noise in the middle of hte night as revenge, or getting louder.  On the other hand, I don't know how common that is, and the though of living with this for a year triggers anxiety.  I find noise, especially loud bass, to be particularly intrusive to the feeling of a home being a home.  The fact that they are making just as much noise a day later certainly means they are either oblivious or don't care.

So I can either suck it up for a year, go knock on their door again whenever they make noise and see how that goes, or go to management.  I suppose there is even the 'call-the-police' route, but they aren't THAT loud, just enough that I can distinctly hear the bass whenever they watch TV, which is several hours a day.

Any thoughts/suggestions?  I get that living in an apartment requires some amount of dealing with noise... how much is reasonable?  I wont complain about how loud they bang their doors/dressers (which we hear all the time), or their loud car (yes, they have the one car in the whole building that everyone can hear when they drive).  Their music isn't ridiculously loud, though occasionally it is borderline and argh, the bass!

I suppose another route i can take is to try to ask the neighbors below them if they are bothered.  I haven't even seen these people yet and this involves more legwork.

lbmustache

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #1 on: April 15, 2018, 08:56:02 PM »
Oh Case... are you me? I have the exact same problem, however to make matters worse, my noisy AF neighbor is a CO-WORKER which means I'm even more limited in what I can do. :(

Again, almost identical scenario. Neighbor is insanely noisy (stomping, yelling, etc.) but I deal... however the bass is most off-putting and my neighbor is most definitely aware because I have complained a few times. They always turn it off before bedtime like your neighbors. I really have very little to offer besides empathy, but here are a few things that might help!

Do you have wood/tile floors? Adding some rugs can help cut down on sound transmission through the walls.

Is your neighbor amicable to moving the sound system? When it's placed right next to the walls, the sound travels much further, vs if they  move it out a little bit more. For example, I moved my subwoofer to be closer to my patio window so the vibrations don't go into surrounding units.

I would give them a couple more tries to "fix" the situation, but if they continue to be oblivious, it may be worth it to get management involved. In terms of them retaliating and making more noise, you technically have the upper (ha) hand being in the top unit.

For some laughs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IRB0sxw-YU

Noodle

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #2 on: April 15, 2018, 09:16:12 PM »
Unfortunately, it sounds like the problem is that the building owner cheaped out on construction and the walls and floors are just too thin. If you can hear your neighbors opening and closing doors and drawers, it's not likely they are going to keep the TV low enough for your comfort. It's one thing to ask people to keep an unusual amount of noise down (like a party) but it's really hard to get people to change their habits and that tends to be what sets people off--when they feel like they are getting picked on for what seems to them like going about their daily business in a fairly normal fashion. And it does sound like you are on the sensitive end of the spectrum for noise.

In your shoes, I would probably start by seeing if there was anything I could do to my place--would some nice thick rugs with nice thick pads keep the noise down? Would a white-noise machine help?

You could also try asking the neighbors to collaborate with you in solving the problem...all of you go up to your apartment and see what you can hear from downstairs, and then all go down to their place and see what you can hear from upstairs (I bet if you can hear them, they can hear you walking around and possibly doing other things.) Sometimes things like moving speakers can change the amount of noise transmission considerably.

Of course, you do have the right to go to the management, but I might try some other methods first as that's hard to de-escalate from.

ElleFiji

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #3 on: April 15, 2018, 09:35:28 PM »
Air purifiers or Dyson fans are incredible for white noise. There are also specialty solutions available "noise walls". And of course soft things help to dampen sound

Case

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #4 on: April 16, 2018, 06:51:58 AM »
Oh Case... are you me? I have the exact same problem, however to make matters worse, my noisy AF neighbor is a CO-WORKER which means I'm even more limited in what I can do. :(

Again, almost identical scenario. Neighbor is insanely noisy (stomping, yelling, etc.) but I deal... however the bass is most off-putting and my neighbor is most definitely aware because I have complained a few times. They always turn it off before bedtime like your neighbors. I really have very little to offer besides empathy, but here are a few things that might help!

Do you have wood/tile floors? Adding some rugs can help cut down on sound transmission through the walls.

Is your neighbor amicable to moving the sound system? When it's placed right next to the walls, the sound travels much further, vs if they  move it out a little bit more. For example, I moved my subwoofer to be closer to my patio window so the vibrations don't go into surrounding units.

I would give them a couple more tries to "fix" the situation, but if they continue to be oblivious, it may be worth it to get management involved. In terms of them retaliating and making more noise, you technically have the upper (ha) hand being in the top unit.

For some laughs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IRB0sxw-YU

Thanks for the response.  Having the person be a coworker would definitely make the situation worse... then you can't even escape to work!

Most of the apartment is carpeted already... I could put down an additional rug, though it would take some time to get them (currently in storage far away).  However, there is a possibility that the neighbor's TV is wall mounted (not certain, but all of the apartment units come with wall-mount hook ups), which might explain why we hear them so much.

Case

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #5 on: April 16, 2018, 07:02:14 AM »
Unfortunately, it sounds like the problem is that the building owner cheaped out on construction and the walls and floors are just too thin. If you can hear your neighbors opening and closing doors and drawers, it's not likely they are going to keep the TV low enough for your comfort. It's one thing to ask people to keep an unusual amount of noise down (like a party) but it's really hard to get people to change their habits and that tends to be what sets people off--when they feel like they are getting picked on for what seems to them like going about their daily business in a fairly normal fashion. And it does sound like you are on the sensitive end of the spectrum for noise.

In your shoes, I would probably start by seeing if there was anything I could do to my place--would some nice thick rugs with nice thick pads keep the noise down? Would a white-noise machine help?

You could also try asking the neighbors to collaborate with you in solving the problem...all of you go up to your apartment and see what you can hear from downstairs, and then all go down to their place and see what you can hear from upstairs (I bet if you can hear them, they can hear you walking around and possibly doing other things.) Sometimes things like moving speakers can change the amount of noise transmission considerably.

Of course, you do have the right to go to the management, but I might try some other methods first as that's hard to de-escalate from.

In regards to things I can do, we do have rugs already, however there is a possibility that their TV is wall amounted (not certain) which make it not matter.

They have said that they can't hear us, unless we drop something (or something like that).  I think it's likely that they are just on the louder end of the spectrum, and as such may be less noise sensitive.  We definitely are more sensitive, but I'm uncertain whether or not our complaints are unreasonable.  We listen to our TV at what I would call low to moderate volume, and their bass is very audible.  It is definitely louder than the bass our TV puts out, and that's after going through the floor.

I don't know how good the sound insulation is; it certainly is not great, but the apartments are only a few years old (age of course does not necessarily mean anything).

We in fact do have a white noise machine.  Last night we used a combination of a white noise machine, a fan, and ear plugs, and with this combination you don't hear the neighbor's TV, but it's a moot point because they don't typically watch TV after 10pm.  The problem is more that our main living area is made less livable because it is never quiet during peak hours (4pm-10pm), when their TV is always on.

Something I am considering is purchasing a noise measuring device to see if the noise they produce is actually unreasonable.  Most noise ordinances are set at 55 decibels.  I don't know enough about sound to understand how bass vs non-bass sound, as well as the human-adjusted bass scale are affected by that.

netskyblue

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #6 on: April 16, 2018, 10:26:58 AM »
Is it possible to ask the apartment people if you can transfer to a different unit? 

Case

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #7 on: April 16, 2018, 10:30:04 AM »
Is it possible to ask the apartment people if you can transfer to a different unit?

I suppose I could check into that, though it would be major PITA.  It would be non-trivial unless it is one of the next door apartments, because we have some heavy furniture plus there are multiple flights of stairs (no elevator).  We had professional movers move us (part of my work places relocation package).  Also, the different units have different layout, though I imagine we can be somewhat flexible.

EconDiva

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #8 on: April 16, 2018, 10:38:32 AM »
I currently have a similar issue. I've lived in almost a dozen different apartments so I move often and am finally getting tired of moving.

I'm very noise sensitive and am an insomniac as well so noise is just difficult for me.  On top of that, I currently work from home and the neighbor I have next door is home all day...I assume not working.  I say that because they seem to be constantly pacing up and down the length of the apartment all.day.long.  So I assume they can't be on a laptop working while doing that.  I'm also on a top floor and never heard the noise of stomping next door to me before living here so this is new.  It actually low key shakes my glass living room table at times throughout the day. 

I dealt with it for the first few months then went to the leasing office about it.  My other neighbor told me the person before me moved out due to noise from this neighbor so I figured it's an ongoing thing.  The night after complaining to management the noisy neighbor then started screaming very loud at night...it was almost as if he was yelling right at my wall.  He might as well have been inside my very apartment.  My floor is all 600 sq ft studios and obviously the construction is horrible so you can already hear everything to begin with. 

Since complaining seemed to have gotten an already unstable person acting even more irrationally, I have tried ear plugs, ear buds, white noise machines and have requested to keep me on the list to transfer out.  It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to actually work/hold conferences/concentrate during the day but I do and am now in a situation where I am dealing with this crap just on the daily.  I wear my ear buds and play a brown noise app for multiple hours each day at this point.  Sometimes this person is stomping til 1/2 am and the stomping wakes me back up at 4/5 something am.  I seriously have no clue what is going on with this person. 

Honestly for me I am so tired of moving I think I may just have to suck it up the rest of the year.  Basically OP I feel your pain.

Dollar Slice

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #9 on: April 16, 2018, 10:44:49 AM »
Bass frequencies carrying through the building is rough :-/  It's really hard to block out that kind of noise. I had some TERRIBLE upstairs neighbors for a while - they would throw late-night parties almost every week and sometimes more than once a week. And sometimes on weeknights. In addition to cranking the TV up really loud and bassy whenever they watched movies, slamming every door, running up and down the stairs at all hours, etc. They were unfortunately not nice or reasonable people (and neither was the landlady) so I don't have any success stories to share. I ended up just wearing earplugs a lot.

You could probably ask them to tweak the bass settings on their stereo and see if that helps a little (and/or see if it can be moved away from the wall).

I also had an upstairs neighbor who would practice his drum kit in the evenings... :-|  I asked him to keep it to reasonable hours (10-6 or something - not early morning or dinnertime/evening) and he complained to the landlady that I was harassing him... LOL.

EconDiva

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #10 on: April 16, 2018, 10:50:53 AM »
Bass frequencies carrying through the building is rough :-/  It's really hard to block out that kind of noise. I had some TERRIBLE upstairs neighbors for a while - they would throw late-night parties almost every week and sometimes more than once a week. And sometimes on weeknights. In addition to cranking the TV up really loud and bassy whenever they watched movies, slamming every door, running up and down the stairs at all hours, etc. They were unfortunately not nice or reasonable people (and neither was the landlady) so I don't have any success stories to share. I ended up just wearing earplugs a lot.

You could probably ask them to tweak the bass settings on their stereo and see if that helps a little (and/or see if it can be moved away from the wall).

I also had an upstairs neighbor who would practice his drum kit in the evenings... :-|  I asked him to keep it to reasonable hours (10-6 or something - not early morning or dinnertime/evening) and he complained to the landlady that I was harassing him... LOL.

It never ceases to amaze me how unreasonable/inconsiderate SO many people are.

When I realized how much I could hear of my other neighbors in my current place...I started being more conscious of the noise I myself was making.  I don't wear shoes inside my apartment...I walk as lightly as I can.  I keep my tv down.  I close my cabinets delicately.  I listen to music with my earbuds in.  I don't run my insanely loud washer/dryer or dishwasher during quiet hours. These things make a huge difference in the amount of noise coming from my place and they don't change my quality of life at all to do.  But others...I cannot sometimes understand how some people think it's okay to play loud noise, slam cabinets, have parties, or have choir or guitar practice at 1 am when we live in thin walled studio apartment buildings for goodness sake.  I just.don't.get.it.

Case

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #11 on: April 16, 2018, 02:11:30 PM »
Bass frequencies carrying through the building is rough :-/  It's really hard to block out that kind of noise. I had some TERRIBLE upstairs neighbors for a while - they would throw late-night parties almost every week and sometimes more than once a week. And sometimes on weeknights. In addition to cranking the TV up really loud and bassy whenever they watched movies, slamming every door, running up and down the stairs at all hours, etc. They were unfortunately not nice or reasonable people (and neither was the landlady) so I don't have any success stories to share. I ended up just wearing earplugs a lot.

You could probably ask them to tweak the bass settings on their stereo and see if that helps a little (and/or see if it can be moved away from the wall).

I also had an upstairs neighbor who would practice his drum kit in the evenings... :-|  I asked him to keep it to reasonable hours (10-6 or something - not early morning or dinnertime/evening) and he complained to the landlady that I was harassing him... LOL.

It never ceases to amaze me how unreasonable/inconsiderate SO many people are.

When I realized how much I could hear of my other neighbors in my current place...I started being more conscious of the noise I myself was making.  I don't wear shoes inside my apartment...I walk as lightly as I can.  I keep my tv down.  I close my cabinets delicately.  I listen to music with my earbuds in.  I don't run my insanely loud washer/dryer or dishwasher during quiet hours. These things make a huge difference in the amount of noise coming from my place and they don't change my quality of life at all to do.  But others...I cannot sometimes understand how some people think it's okay to play loud noise, slam cabinets, have parties, or have choir or guitar practice at 1 am when we live in thin walled studio apartment buildings for goodness sake.  I just.don't.get.it.

There are some truly inconsiderate and evil people out there.  I'm sure it is present in other cultures as well, but it is alive and healthy in certain subsets of American culture.  It is pure selfishness.

NoraLenderbee

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #12 on: April 16, 2018, 02:13:02 PM »
Tell the management. The neighbor obviously knows it's too loud, has had complaints before, and yet continues to do it. It's not your duty to suffer so he can continue to be a jerk.

hdatontodo

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #13 on: April 16, 2018, 02:36:04 PM »
Tell the mgmt. At my apt, the rental ofc has a form you fill out describing the noise.

When I first moved in a year ago, the tenant above me was loud, I complained to mgmt, and they quieted down (and then moved out.)

The next family above me is very noisy too. They have a young child that runs all over the place, jumps off the couch, slams the toilet lid etc. One Saturday, I asked them to cool it, and they were quiet for about 3 days. I didn't want to complain to the mgmt since I complained in person to the tenant, and didn't want my new car keyed.

As it turns out, I am buying a TH and hopefully leaving this month.

Case

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #14 on: April 16, 2018, 02:56:53 PM »
Tell the mgmt. At my apt, the rental ofc has a form you fill out describing the noise.

When I first moved in a year ago, the tenant above me was loud, I complained to mgmt, and they quieted down (and then moved out.)

The next family above me is very noisy too. They have a young child that runs all over the place, jumps off the couch, slams the toilet lid etc. One Saturday, I asked them to cool it, and they were quiet for about 3 days. I didn't want to complain to the mgmt since I complained in person to the tenant, and didn't want my new car keyed.

As it turns out, I am buying a TH and hopefully leaving this month.

The lesson is, don't get a new car!  Every time I run over a curb or park in a shitty parking lot, I'm reminded of the benefit of not having to worry about something new getting banged up!

But more seriously, I get your point of not wanting to make the situation worse.

Noodle

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #15 on: April 16, 2018, 03:42:14 PM »
It never ceases to amaze me how unreasonable/inconsiderate SO many people are.

When I realized how much I could hear of my other neighbors in my current place...I started being more conscious of the noise I myself was making.  I don't wear shoes inside my apartment...I walk as lightly as I can.  I keep my tv down.  I close my cabinets delicately.  I listen to music with my earbuds in.  I don't run my insanely loud washer/dryer or dishwasher during quiet hours. These things make a huge difference in the amount of noise coming from my place and they don't change my quality of life at all to do.  But others...I cannot sometimes understand how some people think it's okay to play loud noise, slam cabinets, have parties, or have choir or guitar practice at 1 am when we live in thin walled studio apartment buildings for goodness sake.  I just.don't.get.it.

Another thought is that if you can, this is the type of situation where positive reinforcement could be really helpful. As the above poster notes, keeping the noise down in a flimsy building takes some effort. In the same situation, I have also purchased rugs, door bumpers, etc to try to keep the noise down. If you do manage to get the neighbor to quiet down, showing appreciation (even just a quick thank-you) may give them the motivation to keep at it. And the better you get to know them in non-fraught situations, the more likely they are to think of you as an actual person to be helpful to rather than a faceless complainer.

SnackDog

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #16 on: April 16, 2018, 04:34:23 PM »
The ample daughter of my landlord and her whipped husband make terrible screeching noises with their bed most mornings around 4-4:30.   It wakes me up all the time as it is right over my head.  Luckily, it only lasts for a couple minutes.

DreamFIRE

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #17 on: April 16, 2018, 05:24:43 PM »
I've had some experiences like that even living in a house.  At 5 AM, my neighbor used to crank up a stereo or TV that put out some low frequency bass that penetrated through walls like they weren't there.   Ear plugs just made it worse because they filter out the higher frequency sounds leaving the low bass sounds behind.  A filter had to be cranked up to high to be helpful, but then the loud filter made it difficult to sleep also.  The thumping bass would last about an hour, which was a valuable lost hour of sleep I should have been having.  I was tempted to build a quiet room in my basement to seek silence.  This went on a lot of mornings for months, but eventually stopped.

Things are much better lately.  I'm just disturbed by a neighbor's dog once in while (if it's quiet in the house), the neighbor's mower at times in the summer, the occasional loud car subwoofer being cranked up within a few blocks of my house, and an occasional passing train about a half mile away (sometimes it's rumbling pretty loudly, most of the time I don't even notice it, the whistle is not the problem.)  Short of moving into an isolated rural area, this is about as good as I can expect.

I used to live in a two story house with multiple people, in dorms, in barracks, apartments, and even a house near a busy street, but I used to be able to tune environmental noises out pretty well back in those days.  I'm a lot more annoyed by it today.  Part of my concern about re-locating (maybe to an apartment) or RV traveling is the introduction of disturbing environmental noise.  I have it pretty good right now.
« Last Edit: April 16, 2018, 05:34:33 PM by DreamFIRE »

heybro

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #18 on: April 16, 2018, 05:52:18 PM »
Been there, done that.

I have experimented with everything: management company, police, notes, talking-in-person, playing loud music myself, and straight up bribery.

Here is my advice:

The answer depends a lot on where you live and what is sort of tolerated in your community as a whole.  If you are in a loud urban environment it will be harder to fight or get police involved (they'll only care if it is very late).  If you are in a quieter town or suburb, it is easier at least to get police to do something.

I say figure out what you want.  Are you sleeping?  Are you needing a few hours at night to yourself?  Figure out those times.  Once you do, I'd go back to the unit and talk to the guy again (I say this cause you've already built a rapport with him).  I would explain what you need.  Example: Between 8pm and 8am, can you please not play that bass?  Keep it simple and direct like that.  If you say 'you are loud' people don't know what that means.  ha.

I'd keep pushing that route.

I don't think you can retaliate cause you are above him and I doubt your noise will do much.
The management company is a next step but you lose the ability to see him again once you do that.

It is a no win situation.  I've tried everything.  Some things work for some people and for some people, nothing works.

What a pain.  In this day and age with ear-buds and sophisticated headphones, I don't know why people need to blast things so much.

Abe

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #19 on: April 17, 2018, 01:07:35 AM »
Talk to management about the noise and about relocating if it really bothers you. The carpet thing doesn't work that well (tried that before, including on the walls). Moving into another unit in the same building is a good idea. Other than that, there's no easy answer.

zygote

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #20 on: April 17, 2018, 10:58:11 AM »
I know you've already said you are reluctant to call the police, but I wanted to state more explicitly for anyone reading the thread NOT to call the police if the neighbors are nonwhite. There is too much risk of a serious consequence that is grossly disproportionate to a noise issue.

I agree with most others that the best route is to keep building up a rapport with your neighbors and maybe consider talking to management if things get out of hand.

heybro

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #21 on: April 17, 2018, 04:00:25 PM »
So many good responses here.  It really depends on the person doing the noise.  Different things will work for different people.  Some people though, are not capable of being quiet even if they tried.  At that point, you have to wait them out or get out yourself.  No easy answer.

And, I need to state for the record that I am really tired of being told about things that I CAN DO to not hear them.  These include ear plugs, noise canceling devices, carpet, drapes, blah blah blah blah.  I have tried all of them and nothing can really block an idiot.  Noise canceling machines are so unnatural to me.  Hearing crickets at unusual times from a noise machine made my skin crawl because it wasn't actually the normal time they chirp in the real world.  White noise is awful.

I will say though, that running a fan next to my bed HAS HELPED.  One of the few things that has.  It is actually there next to me so my skin/body/mental state is OK hearing it.

Oh, I have also tried bribery too.  That never works.

Dollar Slice

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #22 on: April 17, 2018, 04:13:57 PM »
And, I need to state for the record that I am really tired of being told about things that I CAN DO to not hear them.

Yeah, I know what you mean. It shouldn't be on you to fix it, and noise-blocking solutions often don't work that well. It's like if you had a peanut allergy and someone was spraying peanut oil into your vents, and the only solution anyone came up with was to figure out the best kind of allergy medication to take.

I live in a very busy place and I have been sleeping with earplugs every night without fail for years. I buy them in bulk. But if I'm grumbling about some loud noise late at night (which is often something like a huge power grinding tool or metal cutting tool for some kind of subway repair at 2AM with an insane booming echo in the tunnel under the street) someone will ALWAYS tell me I should try wearing earplugs. Gee, I never would have thought of doing that. Every night. For the past 13 years. I couldn't possibly be having a problem that can't be solved by a five-cent piece of foam, could I? Naw.

DreamFIRE

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #23 on: April 17, 2018, 06:54:07 PM »
I know you've already said you are reluctant to call the police, but I wanted to state more explicitly for anyone reading the thread NOT to call the police if the neighbors are nonwhite. There is too much risk of a serious consequence that is grossly disproportionate to a noise issue.

I agree with most others that the best route is to keep building up a rapport with your neighbors and maybe consider talking to management if things get out of hand.
You could always start with the police, that way they don't know it's you calling it in.  It won't matter if they're non-white.  You need to get your sleep.

SnackDog

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #24 on: April 17, 2018, 06:58:42 PM »
Maybe OP is non white.

Case

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #25 on: April 17, 2018, 07:38:35 PM »
Due to a double job relocation I have moved to a new city and am living in a temporary residence for a year until I get to the final place.  We didn't want to share walls with people, but we ended up in an apartment building.  Both my wife and I are noise sensitive, and so we chose an upscale apartment complex (e.g. expensive) with good reviews and such, and chose the top floor of the building.  Go figure, we have people below us that play loud bass.

Before moving in I told the rental community director that we needed a quiet place, and she told me it shouldn't be a problem because they have a zero-tolerance policy.  Now I'm stuck in a tricky situation, not certain how far I want to push this.  I decided to be neighborly the first time, and knocked on their door rather than going straight to management.  The guy that answered the door was immediately nervous, claiming the walls are thin, and asked that I just let them know when noise is a problem rather than going to management (I think they have had complaints before... possibly the guy said this).  They quieted down for the rest of the night, but the next night they are back up to the old volume.

Fortunately, they have tended to turn off music prior to sleeping hours (so far).  If they disturbed our sleep, this would quickly become a disaster scenario.  I don't want to push them too hard... you hear the stories about people getting pissed off and then purposely making noise in the middle of hte night as revenge, or getting louder.  On the other hand, I don't know how common that is, and the though of living with this for a year triggers anxiety.  I find noise, especially loud bass, to be particularly intrusive to the feeling of a home being a home.  The fact that they are making just as much noise a day later certainly means they are either oblivious or don't care.

So I can either suck it up for a year, go knock on their door again whenever they make noise and see how that goes, or go to management.  I suppose there is even the 'call-the-police' route, but they aren't THAT loud, just enough that I can distinctly hear the bass whenever they watch TV, which is several hours a day.

Any thoughts/suggestions?  I get that living in an apartment requires some amount of dealing with noise... how much is reasonable?  I wont complain about how loud they bang their doors/dressers (which we hear all the time), or their loud car (yes, they have the one car in the whole building that everyone can hear when they drive).  Their music isn't ridiculously loud, though occasionally it is borderline and argh, the bass!

I suppose another route i can take is to try to ask the neighbors below them if they are bothered.  I haven't even seen these people yet and this involves more legwork.

How about we keep race out of this discussion.

CestMoi

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #26 on: April 18, 2018, 01:25:30 PM »
Maybe you can ask Bass Guy if he can turn the bass down on his TV or music system, and/or wear headphones if he's playing an instrument in his apartment. Not all TV systems allow you to equalize the bass/treble, but many of them do. Just cutting the amount of bass may help.

Lady SA

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #27 on: April 18, 2018, 01:55:04 PM »
I know bass itself is pretty intrusive, but could it also be exacerbated by items in your house rattling? Like, slightly unstable legs on a chair or a vase or picture frames or pots and pans, etc, could all be vibrating within your apartment and almost amplifying the noise.

I thought our downstairs neighbors were really noisy, however eventually I noticed that when they had their TV on, the glasses in my cupboards would rattle/vibrate on the wood and make it twice as loud. But I didn't notice the glasses, I thought the noise was all from the bass. Once I put down a kind of squishy mat in the cupboard, instantly the bass was about 1/3, 1/2 less obnoxious.

Could there be anything that is unstable in your house that is rocking/vibrating and contributing to the noise? Or is it mostly the vibration in your body from the music that is disturbing? It might be worth checking your furniture and knick knacks to see if those are throwing off vibration noise too, which, being IN your apartment, would naturally make things sound louder. We also put up a quilt along the wall and curtains, it seems to help dampen noise traveling up/through the solid wall.

Of course, if you say you can hear them commonly close cupboards and doors, that just sounds like thin, shitty walls. I can only hear our downstairs neighbors doors when they slam them loudly (not often, thank goodness!), and I've never heard cupboards or drawers. In this case, I think its simply a problem with the apartment itself, and I think even with the hassle factor, I would move to a different unit, but preferably to a different complex. Being able to easily hear normal living sounds means that any amount of TV noise is naturally also going to be loud. Can you clearly hear your neighbors talk, as well?


shelbyautumn

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #28 on: April 18, 2018, 02:31:36 PM »
The ample daughter of my landlord and her whipped husband make terrible screeching noises with their bed most mornings around 4-4:30.   It wakes me up all the time as it is right over my head.  Luckily, it only lasts for a couple minutes.

This happened to me in my first apartment with my husband. I bought a house a few weeks later.

heybro

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #29 on: April 19, 2018, 12:16:03 AM »
And, I need to state for the record that I am really tired of being told about things that I CAN DO to not hear them.

Yeah, I know what you mean. It shouldn't be on you to fix it, and noise-blocking solutions often don't work that well.

Thank you!!!

honeybbq

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #30 on: April 19, 2018, 11:19:08 AM »
This is why I will never again share walls with people I'm not related to until I'm old and feeble and can't hear.

Sorry OP. I have no suggestions, just sympathy.

Holyoak

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #31 on: April 19, 2018, 03:02:01 PM »
Wish I could offer you a solution, as I have been there so many times, and it's always been a hopeless cause...  A lot of people are completely selfish, hypocritical assholes plain and simple.  High rent, low rent, not a lot of difference in my experience, just a different strata, class of asshole.  I'm the guy who minds his business, turns knobs when closing a door silently, gently closes cabinets holding the knob till they touch, soft music or headphones, no early/late sweeping/laundry/working on cars; like living next to an empty unit. 

When you said shared wall, my stomach dropped...  God, it is HELL, and I've never had what I would say were truly considerate neighbors.  I'm in a free-standing rental home now from a shared wall duplex, and would rather cut off my arm, than share another wall...  But my place has a LOT of loud traffic noise, so what I do is play fairly loud brown/purple/mix of several colored noises, to block most things out, but Mr. D-head's monster truck/fart can exhaust, still get by (and rattle the windows and interior doors).  It sucks to have to do this, but I hate all of the stressful noise, and I can't sleep/relax.  I like this one pretty well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORFyhOpZM4s

Best of luck OP, I truly understand what you are saying, and the hell it is.


kaizen soze

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #32 on: April 19, 2018, 03:32:13 PM »
You've asked your neighbor to be quiet and they ignored you after the first night.  Just report it to management. Chances are you're not the only tenant hearing the noise, and you'd ultimately be doing everyone else a favor by documenting the issue.  Since these guys ignored you, any consequence of your complaining is on them I'd say.

heybro

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #33 on: April 20, 2018, 12:53:47 AM »
It makes me wonder if there is a future in offering rental units to people who all wanted quiet.  Charge 50 bucks above market rate for 'garanteed quiet' and make everyone sign leases that say 'more than 3 noise complaints, and you are OUUUUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTTTTT!'

hehe

They could also be built with all concrete or something too!

Case

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #34 on: April 23, 2018, 05:13:36 PM »
Due to a double job relocation I have moved to a new city and am living in a temporary residence for a year until I get to the final place.  We didn't want to share walls with people, but we ended up in an apartment building.  Both my wife and I are noise sensitive, and so we chose an upscale apartment complex (e.g. expensive) with good reviews and such, and chose the top floor of the building.  Go figure, we have people below us that play loud bass.

Before moving in I told the rental community director that we needed a quiet place, and she told me it shouldn't be a problem because they have a zero-tolerance policy.  Now I'm stuck in a tricky situation, not certain how far I want to push this.  I decided to be neighborly the first time, and knocked on their door rather than going straight to management.  The guy that answered the door was immediately nervous, claiming the walls are thin, and asked that I just let them know when noise is a problem rather than going to management (I think they have had complaints before... possibly the guy said this).  They quieted down for the rest of the night, but the next night they are back up to the old volume.

Fortunately, they have tended to turn off music prior to sleeping hours (so far).  If they disturbed our sleep, this would quickly become a disaster scenario.  I don't want to push them too hard... you hear the stories about people getting pissed off and then purposely making noise in the middle of hte night as revenge, or getting louder.  On the other hand, I don't know how common that is, and the though of living with this for a year triggers anxiety.  I find noise, especially loud bass, to be particularly intrusive to the feeling of a home being a home.  The fact that they are making just as much noise a day later certainly means they are either oblivious or don't care.

So I can either suck it up for a year, go knock on their door again whenever they make noise and see how that goes, or go to management.  I suppose there is even the 'call-the-police' route, but they aren't THAT loud, just enough that I can distinctly hear the bass whenever they watch TV, which is several hours a day.

Any thoughts/suggestions?  I get that living in an apartment requires some amount of dealing with noise... how much is reasonable?  I wont complain about how loud they bang their doors/dressers (which we hear all the time), or their loud car (yes, they have the one car in the whole building that everyone can hear when they drive).  Their music isn't ridiculously loud, though occasionally it is borderline and argh, the bass!

I suppose another route i can take is to try to ask the neighbors below them if they are bothered.  I haven't even seen these people yet and this involves more legwork.

Thought this was worthy of an update.

Today someone else called the cops on my neighbors.  They diid not answer their door.  Im not sure if they were called for noise or something else, but they are currently being super quiet.

Just hoping theydont try to retaliate against me, thinking i called the cops when i didnt.

Im also tempted to call the landlord to let her know the cops visited...

ambimammular

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #35 on: April 23, 2018, 07:56:46 PM »
I'd let the landlord know. They should be aware of what is happening in their building. Also, the landlord could tell the neighbors you were NOT the one who called on them. Just to clear that up before the neighbors get all accusey.

chickinyow

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #36 on: April 24, 2018, 02:02:24 PM »
I don't think you can retaliate cause you are above him and I doubt your noise will do much.

Are you serious? Having people above you in an apartment building is my version of hell. They can inflict so much more agony on their poor neighbours. Having people stomping around above you and dropping things, listening to music, etc. I would never live in another apartment, but if for some awful reason I had to, you can bet it will be the top floor. No way will I ever live with people above me again.

SnackDog

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #37 on: April 24, 2018, 07:20:22 PM »
No kidding. Just start wearing tap shoes around the house early in the morning.

Linea_Norway

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #38 on: April 25, 2018, 03:48:09 AM »

Today someone else called the cops on my neighbors.  They diid not answer their door.  Im not sure if they were called for noise or something else, but they are currently being super quiet.


I also had the cops knocking on my bedroom door once in the middle of the night. Turned out there had been a burglary downstairs in the house where I rented a room on the attic. Cops don't always mean you did something wrong.

Case

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #39 on: April 25, 2018, 10:39:08 AM »

Today someone else called the cops on my neighbors.  They diid not answer their door.  Im not sure if they were called for noise or something else, but they are currently being super quiet.


I also had the cops knocking on my bedroom door once in the middle of the night. Turned out there had been a burglary downstairs in the house where I rented a room on the attic. Cops don't always mean you did something wrong.

True, but the noise level has gone to zero since then.

Bicycle_B

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #40 on: April 25, 2018, 01:19:52 PM »
1. Inform the landlord of police visit - agree.
2. Update the landlord that you had previously requested they be quiet, but they reverted to noisy after a night.
3. If they become noisy again, immediately visit them and ask for quiet.  During this visit, mention that your next call will be to the landlord because they are repeating the noise.
4. If they are noisy after 3, call the landlord.
5. If they are noisy after 4, notify them that the next call is to the police, and that you will not be visiting them anymore.
6. If they are noisy after 5, call the police, then notify the landlord.
7. Repeat 6 nightly until noise stops.

PS. It's fine if you want to soften the police part due to racial inequality.  That may be the right thing!  But with the steps you can use in good conscience, use the consistent-notice-plus-followthrough pattern.  Persistence will achieve your goals and make you stronger.

ETA - oh, now I see they've become quiet.  Well, leaving this posted for future reference. 
« Last Edit: April 25, 2018, 01:22:05 PM by Bicycle_B »

Case

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #41 on: May 19, 2018, 02:42:39 PM »
Due to a double job relocation I have moved to a new city and am living in a temporary residence for a year until I get to the final place.  We didn't want to share walls with people, but we ended up in an apartment building.  Both my wife and I are noise sensitive, and so we chose an upscale apartment complex (e.g. expensive) with good reviews and such, and chose the top floor of the building.  Go figure, we have people below us that play loud bass.

Before moving in I told the rental community director that we needed a quiet place, and she told me it shouldn't be a problem because they have a zero-tolerance policy.  Now I'm stuck in a tricky situation, not certain how far I want to push this.  I decided to be neighborly the first time, and knocked on their door rather than going straight to management.  The guy that answered the door was immediately nervous, claiming the walls are thin, and asked that I just let them know when noise is a problem rather than going to management (I think they have had complaints before... possibly the guy said this).  They quieted down for the rest of the night, but the next night they are back up to the old volume.

Fortunately, they have tended to turn off music prior to sleeping hours (so far).  If they disturbed our sleep, this would quickly become a disaster scenario.  I don't want to push them too hard... you hear the stories about people getting pissed off and then purposely making noise in the middle of hte night as revenge, or getting louder.  On the other hand, I don't know how common that is, and the though of living with this for a year triggers anxiety.  I find noise, especially loud bass, to be particularly intrusive to the feeling of a home being a home.  The fact that they are making just as much noise a day later certainly means they are either oblivious or don't care.

So I can either suck it up for a year, go knock on their door again whenever they make noise and see how that goes, or go to management.  I suppose there is even the 'call-the-police' route, but they aren't THAT loud, just enough that I can distinctly hear the bass whenever they watch TV, which is several hours a day.

Any thoughts/suggestions?  I get that living in an apartment requires some amount of dealing with noise... how much is reasonable?  I wont complain about how loud they bang their doors/dressers (which we hear all the time), or their loud car (yes, they have the one car in the whole building that everyone can hear when they drive).  Their music isn't ridiculously loud, though occasionally it is borderline and argh, the bass!

I suppose another route i can take is to try to ask the neighbors below them if they are bothered.  I haven't even seen these people yet and this involves more legwork.

Just wanted to give the update that we believe the people below us will be evicted soon.  The apartment management group did not state this directly, but we read between the lines.  It seems likely that others Have complained as well.  The cops have come multiple times. I wont even get into all of the details.

I am not exactly sure of what is going on, but have been assured it will be taken of soon.

So we will sweat this out for a bit longer, and hopefully have some light at the end of the tunnel.  I told the landlord that we are considering leaving due to the noise/etc, and this defintely concerned them.  Also, one of the persons in the apartment next to us is about to move out due to noise complaints.


Bicycle_B

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #42 on: May 19, 2018, 05:26:13 PM »
Good luck!

Scrapr

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Re: noisy apartment neighbors
« Reply #43 on: May 19, 2018, 06:14:32 PM »

Just wanted to give the update that we believe the people below us will be evicted soon.  The apartment management group did not state this directly, but we read between the lines.  It seems likely that others Have complained as well.  The cops have come multiple times. I wont even get into all of the details.

I am not exactly sure of what is going on, but have been assured it will be taken of soon.

So we will sweat this out for a bit longer, and hopefully have some light at the end of the tunnel.  I told the landlord that we are considering leaving due to the noise/etc, and this defintely concerned them.  Also, one of the persons in the apartment next to us is about to move out due to noise complaints.

I think the cops & eviction has much more entertainment value than a run of the mill noise disturbance. Please post details. Video would be better  ;-))