Top floor or bottom floor? (Alexandria, Reston: apartments, condos, cheap house)

[LoveAlbuquerque]

We're moving to a community where the floors are made of wood, so downstairs can hear upstairs and upstairs can hear downstairs.

Which level is quieter, top floor or bottom floor?

I understand it mostly depends on your neighbor. However, if the neighbor above the bottom floor makes noise, will we hear it more if we lived right under, than if the neighbor under the top floor makes noise, when we lived right above on the top floor?

[austindoxie1972]

I'd think it is better to be on the top floor. By any chance is this the Parc Reston apartments? Just curious.

[JfromReston]

Top Floor and get a few area rugs.

[NovaZombieDrivers]

without question- top floor. Less noise, less bugs. You dont have to worry about your upstairs neighbor flooding you out.

[LoveAlbuquerque]

Originally Posted by austindoxie1972

I'd think it is better to be on the top floor. By any chance is this the Parc Reston apartments? Just curious.

It is not Parc Reston apartments. FYI, this is a community in Alexandria. The walls are paper thin. The floors are made of wood. You can hear upstairs walking like an elephant. You also hear the downstairs at night.

[GustavoFring]

This is why I hate "garden" style apartments and condos. They're basically built like a large, cheap house, but then 100s of people are moved into them. I feel for the people that buy condos in these style buildings, because they certainly won't be standing in 50 years.

[smarterguy]

Top floor, but its irrelevant if the guy next to you blasts his subwoofer all day. And night.

[Nate_VA]

I lived in a place like that for 10 years - Parkfairax in Alexandria. I was on the upper level, and had a fairly quiet elderly lady living below. We had a few rules that kept us from driving each other nuts... ie. no loud tv after 10pm. No stomping around with heavy shoes. We got along well because we talked to each other, and made compromises to keep each other happy. When she died in 2002 a young woman bought the place. She was nice, but she was much louder and less considerate. I put the place on the market within 2 months of her moving in.

When I bought my current townhouse in Reston, quiet was my number 1 priority. We've got cinder block walls between the units, and it's a million times better than that condo in Alexandria.

[NOVA_almost_native]

Top. Toptoptoptoptop. I've refused to live below anyone else since college, when the kid above me in the dorm spent hours a day bouncing a basketball on the tile floor of his room.

Our downstairs neighbor is a bit annoying--his sneezing and coughing is loud enough to wake the dead and he can't seem to speak in a voice lower than a shout--but at least we don't have to hear him walking around. (I'm sure he does that loudly, too.)

We're lucky to have extremely quiet next-door neighbors on either side right now. If you can get an end unit in your building, you minimize the chances of having noisy people next door.

[alexei27]

You do not want to be on the floor below my 5 and 6 year old.