Flat dwellers: how much neighbour noise do you suffer from?

mrsS_2

bought a ground floor Victorian conversion in 1986-dont think it was sound proofed at all!

original neighbours, despite 3 children we didnt hear anything from upstairs.(once heard baby crying after he had been circumsized) But neighbours either side through solid Victorian walls were unbearable!

people upstairs moved out and girls from hell moved in.......music on loud till all hours and we always knew what they were watching on television-could sit and sing along with East enders tune on their tv from my lounge!

anyway-moved out asap and moved miles out so could buy a detached house- it was worth it for sanity.

tomstickland

For the best acoustic separation between flats, avoid house conversions and older flats, and choose a new flat that has been built in the last 3 years. Part E of the Building Regs was last updated in 03, and the level of acoustic separation increased, so those will be your best bet!

When my neighbour walks around it does make quite a boom on the ceiling. However, my neighbour is a reasonable person and doesn't make any other noise, so I can tolerate it. It would be nice to look at means to reduce the noise in the future.

Would there be any mileage in ripping the ceiling down, installing top grade sound absorbing material and putting a new ceiling up? Or lifting the boards above and doing the same?

How much difference would top quality carpet underlay make? I could, at some time, pay for my above neighbour to have carpet fitters in.

black-saturn

My bf lives in a flat which was built in about the 60's. He's on the 2nd floor of a 6 floor block. Theres an unbelievable amount of noise. It's constant heavy footsteps, hammering, shouting and banging from the people upstairs and they also play loud bongo music (they are from Nigeria) at 6am every morning. They seem to be always up as the noise never stops. As well as that he's next to the lift which you can hear going up and down all the time and also concrete stairs. I'm so glad I don't live there.

natzini

tomstickland wrote:

Some leases forbid laminate flooring.

Yup, our flats do, doesn't stop people from having it though!! Banging and crashing around! Ugh.

tucbiscuit

I am in a large terraced house converted into two flats and dream of killing the couple who live downstairs due to the noise that comes through.

mr.broderick

knock on their door as calmly as possible and say "if you dont tone it down i will kill you both" then walk away ever so calmly, trust me this will work.

tucbiscuit

lol, to be honest I don't think they are that noisy.....thoughtless and inconsiderate...yes, but overly noisy...probably not, it's just you can hear everything, and they have stripped the carpets off and now have the bare floorboards which is a nice thing to do living in a flat

Headintheclouds_3

I'm (only renting, thankfully) in a top floor flat in a 1991 block and can hear just about everything (although I am v sensitive to noise!) A white noise machine or fan might help block out some of the racket, especially at night.

I moved flats 6 months into my tenancy because my then-upstairs neighbours used to let their young daughter ride her bike up and down the hall and it drove me bonkers. I am now above this flat - there have been 2 other sets of neighbours since - and don't find the noise situation much better being on top - , so I've put it down to the flimsy architecture and my own neuroses!

Thankfully I'm househunting at the mo, so I hope I won't have to endure it for much longer (and am only looking at houses with no party wall in the lounge/main bedroom!)

Gingernutmeg

Arrrgh, noise! My partner and I rent a top floor flat in a 60s block and the noise is so bad it's unbearable. Our downstairs neighbours are so noisy - every morning we're woken up with a bed-shaking rendition of one of the bloke's favourite songs - at the moment it's either 'Billie-Jean' or 'Sweet Child O'mine'. He plays music loudly ALL day ... I'm a student and just before Christmas I had essay deadlines. The constant LOUD Christmas songs nearly drove me to murder ... They have a small baby which cries constantly, probably becuase the parents are continually arguing, and I really, really hate listening to that The floorboards are so squeaky that we can hear them walking about. Our neighbours to the side (thankfully we only have then on one side lol) are nearly as bad - a single man with three children, who love watching the football (loudly) and chasing each other round the flat, screaming and shouting as they go ....

What's terrible too is the 'smell' insulation - I can smell everything that my downstairs neighbour cooks and at times it really does smell so bad. It's so depressing when you spend all day cleaning and then the flat still smells like a chip shop that specialises in deep-fried boiled cabbage ...

ginger_nuts

I have lived in many flats and always heard noise from the neighbours .
Neighbours below ,having a shag every morning ,neighbour above using the hoover at 3am. I own a flat (Its rented out ) and I no the flat above has laminated floors ,every sound can be heard .
I now live in a 1970's semi.I rarely hear any noise when I am downstairs but i could hear the neighbours opening the built in wardrobe doors ,and pulling up the blinds in the morning .I got 2 bedroom walls sound proofed .