Quote Originally Posted by OakLeaf View Post
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!