Advice about solving noise urgently needed

MJK4711

Hi Guys

I moved into a brand new ground floor Housing Association flat a year ago. I could not believe my luck when I viewed it as it is beautiful and in a small village which suits me and my daughter perfectly. I am registered disabled and work from home.

From the moment I moved in the noise from the flat above me has been horrendous. There is a couple and 2 small children. I can tolerate the screaming and shouting, but the impact noise from the children running round is unbearable.

In the past year I have spoken to my neighbours above, spoken to the Housing Association and on their advice filled in diary sheets about the noise and also gone into mediation with my neighbours.

It is now a year later and I have just received a letter from the Housing Association saying there is nothing they can do and that the flats meet British Standards.

There are only 2 ground floor flats here and my next door neighbours have exactly the same problem and have done everything I have.

The flats may meet British Standards but it is not enough. Please believe me when I tell you that I am at my wit's end. These children run about constantly and only 1 of them is at school. I am woken up every morning, kept awake every evening and I cannot use my lounge as the noise above me is intolerable.

My elderly neighbours next door are experiencing exactly the same thing. They have a young couple above them and they are constantly woken up in the early hours of the morning.

I really thought the Housing Association would help me and my next door neighbours but they have turned their back on both of us.

I do not want to move as I have spent all my savings on my flat and other than the noise issue it is perfect.

What I am wondering is does anyone have any thoughts/experience of an acoustic system I can get fitted to my ceiling if I pay for it myself?

Airborne noise is not really a problem it is mainly when the children run around upstairs and jump off their furniture onto the floor.

I am desperate. I am not getting my rest and my seizures have doubled since I moved in.

Thanks.

Hedgehog99

So sorry that you are suffering this. Sounds like you have done all the right things. British Standard indeed? More like Bog Standard. It is possible to soundproof your ceiling - in a fair world, I would have thought the HA should pay for this, but it is so hard to get Environmental Health etc. on your side to make your case for you.

One other thought - are there rules about flooring types in your accommodation? Flats sometimes ban wooden flooring because of its noise transmission, so do you think upstairs have illegally fitted wooden floors where there should be sound-muffling carpets?

I'm shocked at how people can grow up to be so thoughtlessly noisy - unless they've always lived in detached houses in the middle of nowhere, how can they not realise how annoying neighbour noise is? Guy next to me stripped out walls etc. to go open plan & the sound ricochets round like an echo chamber (even the sound from the next house!), plus he fitted sockets, shelves & work surfaces on "my" wall, so I get constant clatter from use of those too.

Good luck, I hope you can get the HA, EH & your neighbours to see reason soon!

Dan-Dan

are they reasonable people? , any chance of a swop with them possibly or do you have to have ground floor?

MJK4711

Thanks for your comments. I have mobility problems so need a ground floor flat as stairs are a problem.

I contacted Environmental Health and they said they couldn't help as the noise was from children.

There is vinyl in their kitchen and bathroom but carpet and underlay everywhere else.

It's not really their fault as they have young children and kids will be kids although I think they could do more to stop them running around and jumping off the furniture.

I have spoken to them on numerous occasions, even took presents around for the kids but it has amounted to nothing.

I have some jewellery my nan left me that I could sell to pay to have the ceiling soundproofed. I have seen some acoustic systems on the internet but I just wondered if anyone had any advice on these?

Gordon_Hose

Hedgehog99 wrote: »

I'm shocked at how people can grow up to be so thoughtlessly noisy - unless they've always lived in detached houses in the middle of nowhere, how can they not realise how annoying neighbour noise is?

Not being funny, but, do you have children?

Children running around and playing in their own house isn't "thoughtlessly noisy".

warmhands.coldheart

Personally if it's that big a problem for you, look for a new place..... Seriously !! You will NEVER soundproof it enough as it seems, from your explanation, that it is the noise transmitted through the actual structure of the building that is the problem and not airborne noise... Just because a flat is built to "British Standards" doesn't make it in any way perfect. it's more to do with safety of the structure rather than acoustics and those levels that are set are usually a minimum and that's what the builder will work to, to keep cost down..
I've always wondered why they don't just build flats with concrete floors as standard.....
I'm afraid there is probably nothing really you can do... Kids will be kids and I'm afraid it'll just get to the stage you'll get branded as that moaning old woman down stairs no matter how reasonable you are...

Procrastinator333

I'm not an expert on this by any means. But if it were me, I would first explore a couple of simple options...

1) If it is a newbuild, odds on that the void between you and the floor above is empty. So there is just the plasterboard of your ceiling, an empty space, then the chipboard of the floor above and then their carpet. That is not a lot to stop noise. So first thing I would look to do is be filling that void. At the very least some rockwooll insulation. Though there might be better alternatives out there. Thoguh be sure whoever does this work doesn't cause any fire hazards by covering lighting /cables incorrectly. Be sure they know what they are doing.

2) If you are doing the above, then the plasterboard has to come down. If it is coming down, get it replaced with soundproofing plasterboard. You could even talk to them about double boarding it. Though soundproof boards weigh a lot, so again, be careful it is someone who knows what they are doing as it must be properly secured.

We have just had a new stud wall put in part of our house. To try and aid soundproofing, we have done that. Sondproof plasterboard on either side. Rockwool insulation in the middle. It is a lot better than a standard empty stud wall. Definately. But you can still hear noise, it is by no means perfect.

Another suggestion for you - our house is quite a noisy one with a 3 year old and a 3 month old. So we use noise makers. You can get them from Amazon. We have ours set so it sounds like a fan. That gets turned up and left on at a reasonably high level. Because it is a constant noise, it is easy to sleep through, but it in drowns out other noises. So if I'm having a lie in at the weekend, I wil whack that on high so I don't hear the kids charging about downstairs.

MJK4711

Thanks again for your comments. I do have children myself Gordon Hose and was also a registered childminder for 5 years. Running inside the home and especially jumping off of furniture was always discouraged more for safety reasons than anything else.

I do use a fan Procrastinator333 and that helps a lot. The problem is when the children upstairs jump off the furniture (I know this is what they do as my neighbour has told me) it literally sounds as if they will come through the ceiling. I'm not talking little thuds here. I look up sometimes expecting to see a pair of legs poking through the ceiling!

I obtained drawings from the Housing Association and they show a high standard of insulation. Whether this was done or not I obviously don't know.

I hear everyday noises, them walking across the floor, a dragging shuddering noise when they use their table and chairs, their phone ringing etc. All of these are tolerable. However when the children run and especially jump off the furniture it is too much to bear.

When their washing machine is on it all rattles my lounge door when it is closed. I also hear a clanking noise when they walk across my lounge ceiling. Is this "British Standard acoustic" normal ?

I have lived in a flat before and never suffered this level of noise.

My elderly neighbours are also at their wits end and she is in tears every time we talk about it.

The Housing Association were well aware of my condition before they put a young family above me and a teenage couple over my elderly neighbours. Whilst I appreciate it may even be to British Standards, it is not enough. Both ground floor tenants lives are being severely disrupted by the noise from above.

Who would be able to advise me with regard to improving the acoustics on my ceilings?

I saw online a track system that you can add to your current ceilings. Does anyone have any advice about this?

MJK4711

Oh and the Housing Association said that upstairs had a "floating floor" whatever that means ???

Gordon_Hose

Children play and make noise. Unless you are in the room with them, you don't know for sure they are jumping off the sofa. Even if they are, I'm sure it's not to annoy you on purpose.

I have a 3 year old, he likes to jump up in the air, spin around and ask us all if we saw his "skills". It makes a right racket because we have wooden floor boards in our house, luckily all that is below them is the ground.

Google "Soundproofing floor", brings up loads of info.

Furts

MJK4711 wrote: »

Oh and the Housing Association said that upstairs had a "floating floor" whatever that means ???

In reality this is dependent on attention to detail, and workmanship. But it means the floor is isolated from the structure by typically insulation and isolation membranes/sound deadening layer. Hence impact noise onto the floor will be deadened before it is transmitted through the structure.