Are all apartments noisy

boliston

I've lived in various houses and flats and unless you live in a house in the middle of nowhere there will be noise of some sort from neighbours.

As others have said, the regulations for sound actually transmitted through the fabric of the building have been tightened a lot over the last few years, so you are mainly left with airborne sound transmission.

If anything, airborne sound will be transmitted more in houses than flats as people mow lawns, and play loud music with their windows wide open, and have noisy kids playing in the garden.

Arachne_2

I'm currently living in a ground floor flat, in a block of 3 built in 1997.

Walls paper thin, people talking loudly/music/TV/toilet flushing all carries from the flat above - I can often hear the little boy on the top floor running around as well!

LOL jk0 - yes, I hear that as well as some other erm..."private" things :eek:

I love living here though, I guess for me it's a case of taking the rough with the smooth.

Fraise

To get total silence you need to live in a detached property miles from any neighbours, and even then you could have sound issues from traffic/aircraft/shooting clubs.

I've lived in various houses. flats and a bungalow and the noise issue depends mainly on the neighbours, plus on the quality of the build. I lived in a terraced house for years and never heard my neighbours moving about, nor music. But that was an old Victorian house with solid thick walls. I believe new builds have thinner walls which is why you can hear the adjoining neighbours much more.

Neighbours outside in gardens or neighbours revving their cars can happen in any street regardless of whether it's a house, bungalow or flat with communal gardens.

Regulations are much stricter now, so if you do have noisy neighbours something can be done about it: barking dogs, loud music, anti-social behaviour etc.

Apartment blocks and good conversions usually have strict rules regarding noise (no music between certain hours, and no music above a certain decibel) , and not causing unnecessary noise (shouting, slamming doors, stomping and so on) which disturbs peaceful living to your neighbours.

There's not much you can do about airborne noise from outside, except have double glazing and soundproofing installed. Good old earplugs help too, but they're really a last resort. People cope with living under flight paths or by motorways, probably because their brains shut off to the noise after having got so used to it, so some occasional noise from neighbours upstairs/downstairs/next door or outside should not cause too much distress unless a person is very sensitive to noise.

An absolute godsend for impact noise from above is to have the specialist impact underlay fitted on the floor above beneath their carpet. You will find in the terms of lease (or should do) that all floors above ground level must be fitted with impact underlay and carpet, or if they want laminate or wood they must have soundproofing between the floor and your ceiling. Impact underlay (the best one on the market) is almost as good as soundproofing, it literally blocks out nearly all impact noise and you'll barely hear a thing. You can also get acoustic underlay fitted too, which blocks airborne sound from above. So in some ways, it's easier to remedy noise issues above than it is next door, below, or across the road.

The best thing to do is go and check the property at different times of day and listen for the noise.

Shmo

Fraise wrote: »

People cope with living under flight paths or by motorways, probably because their brains shut off to the noise after having got so used to it, so some occasional noise from neighbours upstairs/downstairs/next door or outside should not cause too much distress unless a person is very sensitive to noise.

I think the worst type of noise is that which provokes some kind of emotional reaction. Loud music, especially if not to your taste, can be very obnoxious and when played by a neighbour it can very easily feel like they are doing so out of spite. Hearing arguments and intimate noises can also be unsettling and it's hard not to listen for it even when you don't want to.

Traffic noise on the other hand, especially when relatively constant like that from a motorway is much easier to live with in my experience. The noise level in decibels might be undesirable but it's difficult to get angry about it any more than a babbling brook or the howling wind. That said, I do get annoyed by ridiculously loud motorbike engines, usually to be heard on weekends and bank holidays as middle-aged men embark on their regular crusade against peace and quiet.

CupOfChai

Fraise wrote: »

The best thing to do is go and check the property at different times of day and listen for the noise.

This. I live in a 70s built block of flats and hear only minimal, occasional sounds from any of the neighbours. Previously I lived in a different block built at a different time and also never heard the neighbours. But I wouldn't say on that basis that all flats, or all built at the same time as mine, were not noisy. It all depends.