anyone work nights and live in a flat?

gotmaintvtr

im looking at buying a flat but unsure whether id be happy sleeping during the day with other people in flats around me possibly making noise. its quite a new flat so wont be that solid of a build. idealy id like a top floor but a 1st floor has come up thats very nice.

people opinions?

G_M

My experience of new build flats is that sound insulation is often poor. Be careful!

BitterAndTwisted

Unless you've got neighbours with small children running about screaming or a jobless drummer next door you might find it's quieter in the daytime than in the evenings. It certainly is in the flat where I live

Kez1983

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Unless you've got neighbours with small children running about screaming or a jobless drummer next door you might find it's quieter in the daytime than in the evenings. It certainly is in the flat where I live

Ditto! I only ever really hear my neighbours in the evening, although one of them seems to have a mini party everyday between 4-7pm, but I live with it!

Doozergirl

From around 2002 onwards there are really quite strict soundproofing regulations for flats.

The sound insulation has to be installed at quite an early stage in the build but there is an actual noise test for building control carried out at the end of the project so developers are keen to get it right first time and won't scrimp on the insulation when it means ripping of all the plasterboard and ruining all the decor.

I agree that daytimes are quieter. We converted flats back in 2003 so we had to adhere to regs. We bought and sold the middle flat again at the end of last year. You could hardly hear anything at all and that's what the lady buying was so pleased about; all the neighbours are out at work in the day anyway but you'd need everything switched off in the house to hear anything upstairs even when they are in of an evening. I couldn't hear anything from downstairs at all so maybe a top floor flat would be the best option.

If the flats are already occupied it might be worth asking the vendor to switch everything off and see what the ambient noise is like.

westv

I lived in a new build flat (2005) in Chelmsford town centre for 12 months. The only time I ever heard my neighbours was when they were on their balconies.

missile

I live on the top floor in a new build flat. It is quieter than when I lived in a detached house when the neighbour's young kids were out playing or another was mowing his grass.

I would suggest it depends on what your neighbours are like.

Apricot

I live in a first floor flat and generally don't hear much at all. It's probably most noisy between 7-9pm with people coming up and down the stairs etc. My bedroom backs onto a square of houses though and in the summer holidays I could hear the kids out playing when I was trying to have a lie in.

CloudCuckooLand

Depends on the road, in part.

Quiet at night, coz of a HGV restriction perhaps, but noisy in the day coz the lorries are thundering past...?

Near a school, with a busy school run 8-9am and 3-4pm ?

etc

PasturesNew

I lived in a flat that had open wooden stairs, from the 1980s. Every step by anybody was like an elephant clomping about. I had one neighbour who'd come in at 3am, one who left for work at 5.30am, two that left for work between 7 and 7.30am and one who'd leave about 8am.... I never seemed to get uninterrupted sleep.

Insomniac666

ear plugs and blackout blinds...