Advice about solving noise urgently needed

Furts

MJK4711 wrote: »

I was shown drawings by HA. The insulation looked impressive and adequate (bearing in mind I have no knowledge) and when they explained it, it all seemed magnificent. What HA are failing to grasp is that whatever is there, it is not enough.

Short of ripping down the ceilings I will never know if what they say has been done is the case.

Unofficially you can check the ceiling if you are careful. Do not drill into it because there is a risk that you could hit a cable or a pipe. Gently use a bradawl, or screwdriver, to take away a small area of plasterboard. It only has to be a few mm big. Then establish if there are two layers of plasterboard - which is probable in your flats. Also establish if there is a foil layer on the back of the plasterboard, and if there is a polythenee membrane layer. (This is not relevant to sound but is something for you to keep in reserve - basically it is tactics). Then look, or gently probe, to see if sound insulation is present. If so, what depth?

If the answers are no, leave the evidence for HA to investigate further and HA to make good - you have won your case.

If everything is in order then smear a little bit of decorators caulk, or filler over the little hole, and/or touch it in. Nobody will know that anything has been checked - except you.

MJK4711

That's a good idea. I would have to get someone in to do it as it's not something I could do myself.

I was going to pay for a sound test.

What bothers me is if the insulation is what they say and then I am wasting money which could go towards trying to improve it.

Should I be hearing the noise levels that I do, does anyone know?

It's the structural noise rather than airborne.

Apparently there are resilient bars (whatever they are) and someone mentioned they might not have been fitted correctly?

Should their washing machine rattle my interior doors if they have? I also hear a clanking noise as they walk across my lounge ceiling. Surely this isn't normal?

JustinR1979

Could you not take out a light or something to have a look around in there?

MJK4711

That's another good idea, but again I could not do it myself.

It seems that maybe the way forward is to get someone round to check it out, or would a sound test show the same results?

Bigphil1474

MJK, haven't had time to read all the posts (sorry), but I can give you my advice as someone who works in a council environmental health team. Think someone previously mentioned flooring, and wooden floors are noisier than carpeted as you would expect, so it's worth finding out if they have carpets. A common thing we deal with is noise from sound systems - simply placing speakers on acoustic mats and redirecting them can make a world of difference - Washing machines are a common problem in flats and there are a number of solutions - what flooring is it on, acoustic matting again, location in general. If it causes you a problem at a particular time, suggest times when it wouldn't be a problem. Surprised your local council won't even do an initial investigation, but it is true that noise from kids playing isn't something that can be prohibited, but the physical nature of the premises where they are making the noise might be changed to reduce the impact.
From the type of noise you are describing, I would suggest that sound insulation is going to be a waste of money. In basic terms, noise that is transmitted through the structure isn't going to be resolved by insulating areas between the structure. The only long term solution is for the neighbour upstairs to have more sympathy to your situation, or they move. Appreciate you have mobility issues, but does your neighbour on the next door ground floor? Maybe if they lived above you, and the family above moved to her ground floor flat, you'd all be better off?

MJK4711

Thanks for your comments Bigphil. There is no laminate above me. Vinyl in kitchen and bathroom, and carpet with thick underlay everywhere else. Next door ground floor also have mobility issues.

The sad thing about all of this is if my upstairs neighbours would just exercise a bit of control with the kids jumping my life would improve drastically. I'm sure it's brilliant for them letting their kids run riot, but they live in a flat and with that comes a responsibility to their neighbours. They have a garden to the side of mine which they don't use at all, not even during this summer.

I feel like I share a house with the parents and these kids. They basically dictate my life.

Norman_Castle

They basically dictate my life.

That sums up the world of the noise nuisance victim. You just want to be left alone to live your own life and not sit in the background of someone else's.

One current noise problem I have is from a room underneath my bedroom. The tenant, who is rarely there fortunately, has a habit of arriving at 1AM puts the TV on and makes long and boring phone calls. His loud and tedious voice is impossible to ignore. Even with headphones I could still hear him. I discovered by putting radio 4 on, quite loud, and wearing earplugs I could not distinguish between him and my radio. Like this I can sleep quite happily. It also has the benefit of !!!!ing him off. I think taking control of the noise I can hear makes it bearable. Try drowning out some of their noise. Don't worry about annoying them. After a year of being disregarded you need to take back some control over what you hear in your home.

MJK4711

Good for you Norman Castle.

It's very tempting but I would then be worried for my elderly neighbours (ground floor next door). I would hate to make life any harder for them.

Gordon_Hose

Some complete tosh in this thread, also a lot of assumptions. It's not bad parenting and it's not the children's fault.

This boils down to bad construction methods, plain and simple. Even if the children were calmed down you'd still hear movement, alarms, doors banging etc. I'd take a guess that even those noises would grate on the OP eventually. Basically, the upstairs neighbours wouldn't be able to be quiet enough, unless they develop the power to hover.

I can hear my neighbours alarm and I live in a Victorian terrace. Now, I thought construction methods had come on quite a bit from 1900, so if you can hear people walking about normally and alarms going off it points to stack em high, build em cheap methods of construction.

Like I said previously, I've lived in flats but they were built with concrete floors, result - no noise pollution.

MJK4711

That's not correct. I can tolerate the other noises I hear from the family above me. It's not perfect but I live in a flat and expected some noise.

At the end of the day I should not be expected to try and live through the unbelievable noise the children generate when they are running around and jumping off of furniture.

It's not even about blame. I don't blame the children and to be honest I think HA didn't realise it was going to be this bad maybe?

All I know is that living underneath this noise the past year has been an absolute nightmare. I have complained time after time, I have filled in diary sheets, I went to mediation, doing all this while I don't feel that well myself. The end result is that my HA have turned their backs on me and my neighbours above are happy to let their kids run all over their flat, jumping off of their furniture, for hours at a time, knowing how badly it affects me.

No one is to blame as such, but no one wants to accept responsibility.