Room renting woes

jenberry

Hello all,

I have just moved into a (very cheap) shared house in an attempt to save money for a house deposit. My room is great but my next door housemate works through the night and I often wake with a start. It's not the noise that bothers me (I wear earplugs) but the building itself is old and a bit rickety, so when he steps on certain floorboards or closes a door, my room kind of shakes and it wakes me up. I have become quite sensitised to it, so I am almost waiting for the moment he steps off his chair or closes a door. I have even tried to sleep with a fan on the bed so the vibrations kind of absorb the movement but it didn't really work!

I discussed this with my housemates and one very kindly offered to swap rooms with me. She lives in the basement which has some traffic noise that I'm sure I could deal with. However, I don't have the opportunity to actually sleep there so I wondered if basements tend to be a bit more stable than higher floors, since they are 'grounded' or if the same problem will result of people walk over the top of the room early in the morning (i.e. the noise wouldn't bother me, but would the ground shake in a similar way?) Sorry for the somewhat contrived question but any response would be much appreciated!!

00ec25

surely all you have to do is ask to be in the basement room whilst someone walks about in the room above it and tests it. After all it is a room with a floor above it, it is not "grounded", there is someone above you! What may be more relevant is what room is above you (kitchen?) and who else in the house does not follow the same lifestyle as you in terms of when that room above is likely to be having a herd of elephants through it

either you will or you won't hear or feel their footsteps, so hardly matters that you are not doing it as part of a trial sleep

you are also quite correct that, over time, you will become de-sensitised to both noise and "tremors". Your future in the house therefore rather depends on your attitude to adjusting to being in a house share doesn't it?

elverson

How long have you been there - a couple of days or a couple of weeks? Try your current room for a week and you may well get used to it.

Another thing which can help is waking up at the same time every day if possible - you'll then be more tired when it's bedtime and this might help you to sleep better.

jenberry

Thank you. What I meant by grounded is more stable in the ground than perhaps a first floor room would be. I suspect that the fact my room quivers whenever anyone slams a door or moves about is due to the fact the building is old and structurally not very stable, so I assumed that the higher floors would be more subject to movement than the basement (which is in the ground) if that makes sense!

jenberry

elverson wrote: »

How long have you been there - a couple of days or a couple of weeks? Try your current room for a week and you may well get used to it.

Another thing which can help is waking up at the same time every day if possible - you'll then be more tired when it's bedtime and this might help you to sleep better.

Thank you. I have been here 4 weeks now. A couple of sleepless nights were caused by the movements themselves, whereas another couple were due to anticipating the movements/ being awoken.

elverson

Fair enough.

SuboJvR

I would probably learn to try and adapt to it. It's just the start! my husband often wakes up at 4am for work which disrupts me but that's life...

Then there's the squirrels, yes squirrels, that wake me up noisily around 5am!

The advice about keeping your own set routine is very good. As are your earplugs. But it sounds like you just aren't entering deep sleep to me if you wake that easily on anticipation alone; therefore I would also try and work on your routine. Think about what you do before going to sleep; reading a book being one of the more relaxing things, reading a phone shown to have more impact on interfering with sleep etc. And the rest of the day, too - if you're eating late it can affect sleep quality, and if you exercise during the day it may improve your quality of sleep.

G_M

Make the swop a two-stage process so that you can back out halfway:

* 1st night, sleep in the basement with the current housemate occupant
* 2nd night, either you stay in the basement & the housemate moves to your old room, or you return to your old room

00ec25

G_M wrote: »

Make the swop a two-stage process so that you can back out halfway:

* 1st night, sleep in the basement with the current housemate occupant :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:
* 2nd night, either you stay in the basement & the housemate moves to your old room, or you return to your old room

but OP is sensitive to the slightest disturbance, so sleeping with someone else is hardly going to be an uneventful night

jenberry

00ec25 wrote: »

but OP is sensitive to the slightest disturbance, so sleeping with someone else is hardly going to be an uneventful night

True. Though I think a trial swap might be the way to go, without the original occupant in the same room as me! I wish I could sleep through a storm like some people...

hazyjo

Can you put something against your bedroom door? Mine rattles a bit if there are windows open in the house. You might find that what you think is 'room movement' is actually just the door.


Also, is your bed on floorboards or carpet? You might be feeling the vibrations if on boards. Obviously you can't exactly demand a carpet, but you might want to get a very thick rug to put under your bed (in fact, even if it is carpeted I'd try that. Even four squares of carpet under four bed-legs (presuming not a divan) would help.