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How to handle noise-sensitive bitchy neighbors?
Kyzen
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I've been living in an apartment for 6 months. I seem to have some absolutely shitty luck - first my room mate turned out to be a heinous bitch (some of you may remember the thread about her wanting to get a dog); though we've more or less settled that and get along decently now.
One thing that's worked in favor of us getting along more is a common enemy - an asshole downstairs who seemingly can't deal with any noise whatsoever.
The family moved in about 3 months ago. At first it was OK. Then, a month or so ago, we were assembling some furniture in our living room at about noon (which would also be over their living room). It involved about 15 minutes of hammering, over the course of 3 5 minute sessions (hammering the backs onto 3 flat packed bookshelves). The first one went fine. During the second, the neighbor was pounding on the ceiling/walls below us. When we got to the third, they were actively going at it, to the point that I seriously hope he/she wasn't using any sort of hard object to do the pounding, as I imagine their wall would have been dented.
Since then, any sort of noise beyond us just walking around seems to generate more ceiling/wall pounding.
Playing video games - that's a pounding (we have the volume up to the point where we can hear fainter sounds like footsteps, but still quiet enough to carry on a conversation on the phone or voice chat - and the bass is almost to the lowest possible setting).
Listening to music? Also a pounding.
Plracticing piano? Pounding.
Vacuuming? Yup - pounding.
Now, I could totally understand the neighbor getting upset if we were doing this at night (for the most part, any of the gaming/music we do after 9 PM is at a really low volume level, or headphones). But so far, it hasn't mattered what time of day it is. Most of the time it's early evening, or middle of the day.
At first, we felt guilty, and tried to curtail our sound, but when it became apparent that the fucktard was flipping out over any sounds, we stopped worrying so much about it.
So far, they haven't complained to the landlord, haven't called the cops, and haven't even tried talking to us directly about it.
Any advice on how to handle the situation? I've considerd talking to the property management about it, but my room mate feels we should let them make the first move.
One thing that's worked in favor of us getting along more is a common enemy - an asshole downstairs who seemingly can't deal with any noise whatsoever.
The family moved in about 3 months ago. At first it was OK. Then, a month or so ago, we were assembling some furniture in our living room at about noon (which would also be over their living room). It involved about 15 minutes of hammering, over the course of 3 5 minute sessions (hammering the backs onto 3 flat packed bookshelves). The first one went fine. During the second, the neighbor was pounding on the ceiling/walls below us. When we got to the third, they were actively going at it, to the point that I seriously hope he/she wasn't using any sort of hard object to do the pounding, as I imagine their wall would have been dented.
Since then, any sort of noise beyond us just walking around seems to generate more ceiling/wall pounding.
Playing video games - that's a pounding (we have the volume up to the point where we can hear fainter sounds like footsteps, but still quiet enough to carry on a conversation on the phone or voice chat - and the bass is almost to the lowest possible setting).
Listening to music? Also a pounding.
Plracticing piano? Pounding.
Vacuuming? Yup - pounding.
Now, I could totally understand the neighbor getting upset if we were doing this at night (for the most part, any of the gaming/music we do after 9 PM is at a really low volume level, or headphones). But so far, it hasn't mattered what time of day it is. Most of the time it's early evening, or middle of the day.
At first, we felt guilty, and tried to curtail our sound, but when it became apparent that the fucktard was flipping out over any sounds, we stopped worrying so much about it.
So far, they haven't complained to the landlord, haven't called the cops, and haven't even tried talking to us directly about it.
Any advice on how to handle the situation? I've considerd talking to the property management about it, but my room mate feels we should let them make the first move.
Kyzen on
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This discussion has been closed.
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Just do what you are doing now and you should be alright.
You can, however, go down and confront them as well. They are also intruding on your space when they bang on the ceiling, so you could have them answer for that at least. And it'd help get the dialog going.
If he has a problem with that sort of thing, then he's made a terrible mistake by moving into an apartment.
if you do go down and talk to your neighbors, the first thing you might want to ask is if thier employment requires sleep at odd hours, that could be a very legit reason for being annoyed at noise levels if they are third shift workers or something like.
Edit: Even though it worked for me, it has been brought to my attention that this is a bad idea, so don't do this.
Falsifying police reports is a crime, dipshit.
Another thing I would do is somehow discretely (or directly if you want) find out if there is some sort of special circumstance here, like people that work at night or maybe your sub is right over his bed or something.
I host a podcast about movies.
The PM probably won't take action immediately, and you shouldn't expect him too. But by calling him first, you're setting the precedent for the entire matter. It'll work out much better than if the guy calls the PM first.
I host a podcast about movies.
Like everyone said: Avoid confrontation with them. Don't get in their face about their rude actions, and let management know about the issue to set a precedence.
Don't worry about it too much. Also, you didn't say (or I didn't see), but have they actually called the police to a noise complaint or do they just bang on the walls and ceiling?
Normally that wuld be exsssive, but to stat banging the ceiing at Noon over some hammering without even talking to first is a little crazy. Do they work nights or something? If so, they (neighbors) should come talk to you first.
We can guess the answer he'll probably get.
RELATED QUESTION: You have a piano in your upstairs apartment? I thought that was, physically, impossible?
Though if it's a keyboard, you could get headphones. You could also get headphones for the PC. However that's just an option for when somone makes the complaints official.
I'm on a second story with paper thin walls in my apartment too, and I've played videogames at night with the sound at a comfortable level(not excessive but none of this as quiet as comfortable stuff)and never a complaint. If someone POLITELY asked me, or the office said they were getting complaints, I'd happily use my headphones more, but I don't think it bothers anyone and I can't believe that your walls are that much thinner
The hammering at noon, I mean, that's total wtf. If it were like 3 AM in the morning, that'd be something
Personally, i'd get pretty annoyed if this happened to me on a continual basis, and i'd definitely want it to stop, not just know it's not my fault.
Apartments often boast of hardwood floors, while not actually being designed with the insulation for them in mind. If you are genuinely being considerate of noise, and still getting complaints then this may be your problem.
You could try raising bass speakers off the ground and not wearing shoes indoors, although the only real solutions are to get the building to do something about it (underfloor noise insulation) or to put some rugs down and get more soft surfaces in your room to absorb the noise.
If you have carpets, and still are having the problem then your neighbors are either crazy or your building is shoddy. Either way its the building managers responsibility. Ceiling banging is certainly not an acceptable response after the first time! They should have told the manager, or come to you.
I mean that they're neighbors, and rather than get into cloak and dagger nonsense you should talk to them. It won't hurt to try to reach an agreement. Maybe you get the door slammed in your face. Maybe you find out their sick grandma likes to bang on the ceiling because she thinks she's in a jam band. Maybe you get to know them and you work your differences out.