Thread Drift

[lph]

Yup, some people just are "heel strikers" and have naturally noisy footsteps. This was brought forcibly to my attention when our son had his girlfriend over to visit. She is tall and strong, and has the loudest walk of anyone I've ever heard! Even our son who is your averagely noisy, clueless young man and slams doors with abandon, had to admit that wow, she made an impressive amount of noise coming down the stairs :-D

[Pax]

We nicknamed our old upstairs neighbor "Mr. Stompy Pants". He was a tiny Asian man who honestly sounded as though he was throwing bowling balls around his place, and coming down the stairs sounded like he rolled a couple of them ahead of himself. We got irritated for a while then just made peace with it, and would crack up when we heard him, it was so hard to figure out how that tiny little man could make so much noise.

[ny biker]

Unfortunately I do not know how to make peace with such an intrusion on the limited quiet time I have in my life.

I see no point in talking to the new neighbor. This is in the residents' handbook that he received when he bought the condo:

"The association recommends that 80 percent of upper story apartment units' floor space be covered with carpet or rugs to reduce noise for the residents below. Please be considerate of your neighbors."

So he's either read this and thinks he's too good for it or he hasn't bothered to read the handbook in the first place. Either one tells me that he doesn't give a crap about his neighbors.

Recently the condo board president emailed me to ask me to chair a committee. I told her I didn't have time and that I was actually spending as little time as possible in my home due to the noise from the new neighbor. She didn't respond because she knows there is nothing I can do. They won't make a clear rule requiring 80% carpeting because it would require a change to the bylaws which they are not willing to do. They don't seem to care about what it does to the property value of condos like mine -- no sane person would ever buy my apartment if I tried to sell it. I wouldn't be able to rent it, either. All because of a stupid decorating trend.

So when he's up there stomping around I turn up the volume on my TV as loud as it will go to drown out the noise. It hurts my ears to have the TV that loud but at least it keeps my blood pressure down.

[OakLeaf]

NY, that stinks.

Maybe a good pair of noise cancelling headphones for while you're awake, and earplugs to sleep? Not ideal for sure, but it might help you get some peace.

I wouldn't rule out approaching the neighbor, though. Rules on paper have a whole different emotional vibe than being alerted to the fact that he's disturbing another human being that he can see and talk to.

[emily_in_nc]

I wouldn't rule out approaching the neighbor, though. Rules on paper have a whole different emotional vibe than being alerted to the fact that he's disturbing another human being that he can see and talk to.

This is true. When we lived in a carpeted apartment on the third floor, we were mortified when our downstairs neighbor came and knocked on our door one night to tell us that we were being too loud. We were rolling our (small) dog's ball down the hall for her to retrieve, and I guess her running back and forth was amplified, even through carpet and padding, to sound like a thundering herd of elephants down below.

We had NO idea and felt bad! We never played with her in the apartment again.

Now, your upstairs neighbor may well be an AZZhole who could care less, AND I don't know if I'd ever have the guts to confront him, but it if you do, it might turn out that he is more amenable than you think. He may well have no idea, as we didn't, that his footsteps are causing such a cacophany below.

I hate apartments and condos for this reason. We have lived on the bottom floor and the top floor, and neither are ideal. On the bottom, we were constantly bombarded by noise from above, and on the top, we had to worry and be paranoid about making too much noise just living our lives. Never again.

Good luck NY -- I really do feel for you!

[shootingstar]

I would at least talk to the neighbour upstairs, NYbiker. And he's a new neighbour. He may not know.

I've lived in my present condo over the past 5 yrs.: only...5 times, seems to work out, once per year. I've asked the residents upstairs to turn down their music -which only occurred in evening. It stopped in 15 min. Yes, I saw a party going on... I was polite in my request.

In Vancouver for 8 yrs., we occasionally heard some rolling noise...it might have been dog and toy. Meaning several times per year.

In Toronto, in a condo for 14 yrs., I did have a problem with someone that had their treadmill upstairs over my bedroom. It started only in the final yr. when I had my place before I moved to Vancouver.

I am fortunate to live in a building configuration where there are only 3 units per floor. So I'm never bothered by any noise (and rarely hear noise) from neighbours on my floor.

Some jurisdictions allows wood frame in the condo highrise structure..that makes a huge difference vs. buildings that are more concrete based which latter will deaden abit more floor noise.

[Pax]

Pulse - Orlando. I am utterly heartbroken. You'd think, after being out for almost 40 years, I'd be used to being hated, be used to having people wish harm on me and mine. But it never gets easier.