Laminate flooring and flats...

intranix

Hi all, hopefully someone can help

I live in a ground floor flat, and have lived here for about 4 years

Recently new people have moved in upstairs, they've renovated the property over a couple of months, which was annoying enough (lots of noise as you can imagine). Fair enough though.

Anyhow, their bedroom is directly above ours. There is a concrete layer between the flats as far as I can tell, and the previous tenant above was as quiet as a mouse, rarely heard anything.

However, the guys that are in there now as so noisy, every night. You can hear everything, from footsteps to f*****g lol. I am sure they have put down laminate flooring in the bedroom.

It's getting past a joke now, I thought maybe we could put up with it, but no, it's just winding me up now, rarely get a good nights sleep.

I'm wondering how best to approach dealing with this. I am intending on a quick word with them, but I want to make sure I have the best chance of getting this sorted without creating unnecessary tensions.

I don't want to approach the managing agent for the block just yet. I understand it is normally in the lease that laminate/floorboards cannot be put down.

phill99

There is normally a clause in the lease that limits the sound penetration from a flat to the one below. This is measured in decibels and can be anything from about 19db to mid 20's.

Laminate flooring is not normally specifically banned, just the transmission of noise. Many flats have underlay, but it should be layed on an acoustic underlay. Eg here http://www.soundservice.co.uk/acoustic_laminate_underlay.html.

So it may be that they have used an ordinary underlay, rather than an acoustic one. As this is a condition of the lease, you have a right to get them to change it.

Ladyhawk

I live on the first floor maisonette and the lady below me is always complaining that I am noisy and I walk too heavily (!). Anyway, I want to replace my carpet with laminate floors in my lounge and obviously need to make sure the old batty woman isn't annoyed by this. I had a look at the link from Phill99 and it looks awfully expensive! My lounge isn't big - only 16sqm.

Any suggestions on what I can do to minimise the sound and cost?

latecomer

Get some slippers?

Ladyhawk

latecomer wrote: »

Get some slippers?

The cheeky mare already told me to do that!

I usually walk around bare foot or in my socks its not like I strut around the place in stilettos or work boots!

macman

Ladyhawk wrote: »

The cheeky mare already told me to do that!

I usually walk around bare foot or in my socks its not like I strut around the place in stilettos or work boots!

I suggest you do a temporary swap and get her to walk across your floor while you listen from her flat. Then you'll realise how severe this problem can be.

intranix

Ladyhawk wrote: »

I live on the first floor maisonette and the lady below me is always complaining that I am noisy and I walk too heavily (!). Anyway, I want to replace my carpet with laminate floors in my lounge and obviously need to make sure the old batty woman isn't annoyed by this. I had a look at the link from Phill99 and it looks awfully expensive! My lounge isn't big - only 16sqm.

Any suggestions on what I can do to minimise the sound and cost?

You sound quite disrespectful, please try and be a LITTLE bit considerate, and not put down laminate flooring.

You might think it's a joke, but imagine being her for just 5 minutes, and how annoying you'd find it not being able to enjoy a simple luxury like peace and quiet.