TV Noise - Downstairs Neighbour

Shorthair83

Hi all

Looking for some help or advice

Been in my current property for 9 month now and just about had enough if my downstairs loud TV noise.

We have done the following:

Carpeted the whole flat
Had cavity walls insulated
Invested in soundbar for TV
Invested in white noise machine
Put notes through her door
Spoken with our neighbour on 2 occasions
Had the Noise Team out who have recorded the noise and have offered my neighbour Mediation to resolve the issue by sending out 2 letters again within the last month

Explored every avenue possible (that we can think off) and getting no were.

Our neighbour is elderly and it's very hard to communicate with her as she has speech difficulties,

Any help or ideas to help resolve this as we are both at the end of our wits with this

boo2410

How about buying your neighbour headphones then she can have the tv as loud as she likes!!! It works in our retirement accommodation.

Fraise

Shorthair83 wrote: »

Hi all

Looking for some help or advice

Been in my current property for 9 month now and just about had enough if my downstairs loud TV noise.

We have done the following:

Carpeted the whole flat
Had cavity walls insulated
Invested in soundbar for TV
Invested in white noise machine
Put notes through her door
Spoken with our neighbour on 2 occasions
Had the Noise Team out who have recorded the noise and have offered my neighbour Mediation to resolve the issue by sending out 2 letters again within the last month

Explored every avenue possible (that we can think off) and getting no were.

Our neighbour is elderly and it's very hard to communicate with her as she has speech difficulties,

Any help or ideas to help resolve this as we are both at the end of our wits with this

You need to lay acoustic underlay beneath your carpet, that stops airborne noise penetrating. Look online and you will find info on it.

jaymidlands

I assume you already spoken to your agent about the noise..

cattie

I know you just want an end to it all, especially after all of the steps you have taken so far to try to blot the noise out. But just bear in mind that if you own this property you will need to declare this dispute over noise to a vendor. So this might make it a bit harder to sell than it normally would.

If it isn't your own property then have you had a word with the landlord about it?

Other peoples noise intruding into your living space can be very hard to bear, so I do feel for you & if you take the suggestion made by Fraise, I hope it works for you.

Fraise

cattie wrote: »

I know you just want an end to it all, especially after all of the steps you have taken so far to try to blot the noise out. But just bear in mind that if you own this property you will need to declare this dispute over noise to a vendor. So this might make it a bit harder to sell than it normally would.

If it isn't your own property then have you had a word with the landlord about it?

Other peoples noise intruding into your living space can be very hard to bear, so I do feel for you & if you take the suggestion made by Fraise, I hope it works for you.

This noise issue which so many neighbours can suffer from regardless of whether they have a flat or house, can really be awful.

But there solutions.

If talking and mediation doesn't work, then paying to help resolve the problem is the only way forward. Yoou may have to spend anything from £500 to £5000 depending on the problem, but it will bring you peace and quiet, and your property will retain its true value.

nickyg2000

Barrier matts under the underlay should help. 3 layer would be best. Not cheap though.

Personally I wouldn't have contacted the council now an official dispute exists so expect to discount the property by 10% when selling.

nickyg2000

Cattie I'm surprised you bought another ground floor flat after your previous experiences.
I wouldn't touch one with a barge pole again ;-(


'At one flat I owned I did ask my neighbour above to try to keep her noise down, especially when having friends or family round & I invited her down so she could hear for herself just how bad the noise from her place could be at times. She was OK about it & apologised.

I did end up selling a few months later, which on the whole was due to the noise from above. She had taken all of the carpets up & then had the floorboards sanded, so I could hear virtually everything from above.

Having no carpet was against the terms of the lease as this stated that good quality carpets were to be laid to stop noise disturbance to adjoining properties. I could have complained to the freeholder, but decided I didn't want to make an official complaint, so just ended up putting the flat on the market'

fivetide

Clearly she's a bit mutton so not too much that can be done. Drop her a few adverts for hearing aids off?

jamesperrett

The only thing that is really going to help is a substantial rebuilding of the ceiling in here property. Ideally, you would need to build a second ceiling a few inches below the existing ceiling using multiple layers of acoustic plasterboard.

The other possibility is to build a second floor above your exisiting floor with a compliant layer in between the two - this won't work as well as building a new ceiling in her flat but it will help a little. You really need to talk to an expert before doing this sort of thing though as there are too many builders who think they know about soundproofing but in reality do more harm than good.

Jenniefour

Since your neighbour is elderly I wonder if the real problem here is seriously impaired hearing. Especially since she also has speech impairment, which might have been caused by profound lifelong deafness. If so - and you could have a friendly chat with her, or write a friendly letter to her - I would be more than willing, in your shoes, to buy her the right aid (it's something like cordless headphones especially for people with hearing difficulties) so she can hear her TV without it being audible to you.

My Mum, also elderly, has impaired hearing and used to have the TV on loud, which drove us mad when we were staying with her 'cos she's a night owl. Hearing aids up and running now, problem solved.

I do understand there is often unwelcome noise transition in flats, especially conversions, and it sounds as though you have done a lot to try and sort it out. But the reason she might not be open to mediation is because she's imagining a life without being able to hear her TV and/or because your relationship with her now might not be on the best neighbourly terms - may pay off well to try to repair this as I imagine she will find it difficult to discuss something about which she feels vulnerable, if she's worried about not getting a kind response.

Hope that helps.