Impact noise neighbours upstairs

Mter10

Hi everyone,

I recently bought a flat and in the lease it doesn’t say anything about carpet or underlay to be installed.
When I first moved here I didn’t have neighbours upstairs however they have recently moved in and I can hear absolutely every single step.

I tried speaking with the management company however they say there’s not clause to be applied and the landlord upstairs has only provided rugs that don’t do anything to the tenants.

The only solution I can think of is paying myself for a second ceiling with insulation however I’m not sure that will really work?
Can anyone please give me advice? Assuming I can’t do anything to the neighbours upstairs, can anyone please give me the best products to be used?

Thank you so much!

Aylesbury_Duck

Applying your own sound insulation is probably the best course of action. Alternatives would be earplugs (impractical) or offering to pay your neighbours to install underlay and/or carpets, which they may not agree with.

The other thing to consider is to make sure your flat isn’t an echo chamber. That means having carpets, soft furnishings, etc to absorb the noise rather than reflecting it.

pollypenny

OP, we found ourselves in your situation with our very first home purchase. I was a nightmare. Not only did they have no carpets, but they were loud and argumentative.

The only way out was to move. We moved from the area to somewhere cheaper, which proved to be much nicer, anyway.

naf123

Do not make any formal/informal complaints if you are planning to move as these will have to be declared ....

MoLatif

We were the 'neighbours upstairs' in a flat we rented many years ago, the dragon downstairs moaning about footsteps, washing machine etc. Being described as Elephants was not nice. We accepted the noise from above us as a by product of living in a flat, the lady downstairs, then the couple who bought the flat off her tried to make our lives hell and get us evicted. The landlord was on our side however and said he had had acoustic experts and all sorts and the problem was the type of house build; no chance of resolution as the houses were simply not designed to be lived in that way.

I hope you find a solution and go easy on your neighbours, it's not their fault.

Sea_Shell

Is it purpose built, or a converted house?

If converted, do they usually do anything to the floors, or are they just the same as they'd been as a house?

We have carpet upstairs and I can still here DH walking about upstairs. Along with the creaking floorboards!!

Fire_Fox

Welcome to MSE.

Have you tried communicating with the landlord themselves? Is the problem primarily in one room or area or the entire flat? The landlord may be willing to alter the flooring in one area, or it may be cheaper for you to contribute to that than to try to soundproof your flat.

The age, size/ height and type of the building or block is relevant in what you can or should install: think about fire safety, access to electrics, ventilation ductwork or other services that are in your ceiling voids. If it is a fairly new build or new conversion, check the relevant Building Regs and consider whether they were properly complied with. On the Planning Portal you can view both past and present regulations.

Agree with Aylesbury Duck, first try plenty of soft furnishings in your own flat. Wall-to-wall, floor to ceiling, lined and generously gathered curtains (also aids heat insulation so moneysaving), carpets or large area rugs with quality underlay. Traditional/ ethnic patterned rugs or animal hides can look great as wall hangings. IKEA have long length curtains at a reasonable prices, Dunelm and IKEA sell rug underlay that can be layered up.

Do run an advanced search on this subforum for other threads on neighbour noise. Various posters have recommended playing relaxation sounds/ white noise in your own property. If you are being disturbed at night consider wax or silicone ear plugs (not foam which is useless).

HTH!