No Soundproofing in New Council Property: I'm living in a prison!

GDB2222

EmmaHerts wrote: »

Ignore them- simply put, ignore them.

I don't think that's fair. If there's a problem with the construction, sound travels. Likewise, if the OP has put down cheap carpets and vinyl, that makes matters worse. I don't think it's reasonable for the OP not to be able to use her flat, but equally noise can be a real issue for the people in both flats.

The problem is that it's very expensive to put right. A new ceiling involves the construction work, plus electrical changes, redecoration, plus the place is not habitable for a couple of weeks. So, that will add up to say £10k. Just recarpeting the OP's flat could be several thousand. Not exactly petty cash. I am sure that the council will want to keep fobbing the OP off. I think she should speak to her local councillor for help.

DaftyDuck

Move boyfriend in, move a whistling meaty lover in too :kisses:, get your kitty back (seriously do this, even if you don't take in multiple lovers), and try not to worry so much. You've twice said how shy you are, and I sympathise - empathise with this. However the noise is THEIR problem - everyone on this thread is in agreement as far as I can see - and you have done more than enough to mitigate it. You are worrying yourself sick, which is probably what they want (guessing control issues in the flat downstairs).

Next (and I have no idea how to do this), try to deal with your shyness issues whilst you are still young. Yep, easy to say, very difficult to do, but I'm betting the Marriage/families board would offer great advice as a starter. No, I'm not in any way saying it is your fault you are reacting this way, it is not. But, the world is full of pillocks, and you will have a lifetime of having to cope with pushy folk.... Your advantage; you are young... Treat this as a learning experience.

Oh, have a mildly noisy evening, and tell the bloke (he's bound to pop round) you are celebrating, as you are pregnant with triplets, due in five months. See the delight on his face! It'd be worth it. {evil smiley required}.

I would suggest quietly keeping a diary of events; it may just prove useful.

Edit: I have just more fully read your post #30. You are obviously really worrying, and feeling sad, all because of your {rude filter would eat all the words so why bother} neighbours below. You are NOT the problem, they are. Seriously. They have now seen a weak side to you, and they are possibly going to bully you to make you unhappy because they can. Just that.

The noise from your flat will travel more into theirs than vice versa; floors in your flat will have the feet of TV, bed, you on them, and it will echo below. There's a sound insulation between their noise and you, so you won't hear so much. However, there's no reason to believe it is worse (or as bad) as before, and it is not your responsibility to cripple your life for their quiet - at least not to the extent you already are.

And here you are apologising to the forum. Go find boyfriend. Demand hug, request he moves in, along with bicycle... pronto.

And, frankly, in this situation, I do not believe you should be going to the expense of flooring, unless it in the form of rugs that you want...

Ulfar

As others have said, acoustic dampening layer, board over top then decent underlay and carpet.

If that fails you have done everything you can and maybe down stairs need to take steps as well.

chappers

Though to be fair the council have been aware of this and should have addressed the problem at the last void.
Effectively sound proofing the whole floor properly is a big job and not something someone in social housing is probably going to be able to afford.
I'm afraid you are going to have to just speak to your neighbour and say ;look I try to keep the noise down i am not being unreasonable i am just going about my daily business, I'm sorry. I can hear you too.

Tigsteroonie

kawaii-lobster wrote: »

The thing that I really don't understand is that they claim to be able to hear, and I quite "every conversation word for word. When you open a drawer, when you dry your hair", how is it that I can barely hear them?

Go with the idea of asking them to keep a noise diary, listing everything that they think is unreasonable with date & time, for a fortnight.

At the same time, keep a bit of a diary yourself. They've mentioned certain things - hair-drying for example. So diarise anything you think that they might hear.

It'd be interesting to see if the two match up. I just wonder if (a) they're exaggerating about frequency etc and (b) you might be getting blamed for noise that is coming from the third flat in your block which, if you're on the top floor, presumably is also adjacent to them (below?)

ruggedtoast

kawaii-lobster wrote: »

I was a bit tentative when I first made this thread because I believed that maybe I was at fault somewhere although I couldn't figure out how. Here'e the part where I feel stupid, because I have to admit that I lied in my initial posts. When I said I can confirm that there is a problem from going into their flat, that wasn't true. I actually haven't heard any noise from them...

I'm not really sure what to make of all this now.

Anyway, in your position starting from fresh, I would go and talk to the neighbours and explain that you need to understand the problem.

Arrange to wait in their flat with them while your boyfriend walks around upstairs, opens drawers, turns the tv on, and does the other things that they say annoy them and see what the situation is really like. Co ordinate what he's doing by mobile phone. Probably they dont hear everything, only some things and assume its everything.

If it is really bad then you can express your sympathies and offer to go with them to the council, maybe meet them part way in buying thicker carpets if you can and reassure them that you understand they don't want to hear noise and are happy to talk to them about it if they feel its ever an issue.

If they are blowing it out of proportion and anxious themselves about losing control over the situation this may take some of the heat out of the problem.

Regardless of this though, you also need to to explain clearly and assertively that it is your flat that you live in. Their ceiling is your floor and while you obviously arent going to start doing star jumps at 2am you need to move around normally in your flat and that is what you will do.

The point you may be missing is that them yelling at you or whatever they do, and knocking on your door to complain about noise is every bit as much a nuisance to you as whatever noise you are making to them.

I appreciate that you dont want any trouble but unfortunately trouble has found you and now you must react to it.

You can either cower under the intimidation or stand up for yourself. It would probably help you to have some assertiveness training yourself, you can use this situation to learn from.

They are not going to live in complete silence in a ground floor flat.

Norman_Castle

It appears the neighbours nerves are fried due to the previous tenant and seven years of unacceptable noise and behavior. If the requests to keep quiet match whats happening in your flat, hair drying and talking on skype/gaming etc, its clear they can hear you. Work out what time they go to bed and avoid any noise after this. Explain to them you are doing what you can to keep quiet and. as above, log their complaints and consider speaking to your councils housing officer if you consider their behavior unreasonable. You have the right to quiet enjoyment of your home as do they. Their constant visits to complain could be considered anti-social behavior.

DRP

Norman_Castle wrote: »

It appears the neighbours nerves are fried due to the previous tenant and seven years of unacceptable noise and behavior. If the requests to keep quiet match whats happening in your flat, hair drying and talking on skype/gaming etc, its clear they can hear you. Work out what time they go to bed and avoid any noise after this. Explain to them you are doing what you can to keep quiet and. as above, log their complaints and consider speaking to your councils housing officer if you consider their behavior unreasonable. You have the right to quiet enjoyment of your home as do they. Their constant visits to complain could be considered anti-social behavior.

^^yes this is really important as if/when your neighbours decide to complain about the situation you will have a catalogue of their own behaviour (I would speak to the housing officer asap just so there is an independent record that this has been happening)

chappers

Tigsteroonie wrote: »

about frequency etc

and there my friend is the crux of the problem it's all about frequency in more ways than one.

adouglasmhor

kawaii-lobster wrote: »

What do I do when they come upstairs complaining though? I can't just ignore the knock, they know when I'm in. If I say no and refuse, the woman says she cannot sleep because she says she has a condition that causes severe fatigue and kidney problems.

I don't know what to do. My partner is annoyed and has said that if us talking at night is causing problems that they should just wear earplugs, but I don't know how to say that to them without sounding rude...

What you do is report them for harrasment, keep a diary of every time they approach you or come to your door.
Make sure the council are kept informed. I bet if a council team came to noise monitor it would be acceptable levels from what you are saying. i lived for nearly 20 years in a block of flats where noise traveled and everyone managed to live with it.