Loud upstairs neighbors at all hours of the night. How do I approach this? (tenant, conversion)
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I live on the bottom floor of a condo complex, where I've resided for over 4 years. About 3 months ago, new upstairs neighbors (a couple) moved in. I've been having an issue with...you guessed it - lots of noise. Now, the floors in the building are sensitive and do creak excessively. Note however, that I've never once had an problem with the previous owner being too loud out of the years I've been here.
The big thing is that the new neighbors start to get extremely active at around 11 PM during the week, and will constantly walk back and forth until about 4 or 5 AM. It's very abnormal. Whoever it is will walk from one side of the condo to the other, stop for 10 seconds, return, then rinse and repeat. Often mixed in this, I will hear them loudly having sex. It shakes the ceiling loudly over my head. These things will continue on all night/morning, with little interruption. Now, I have a normal 9-5 weekday job where I have to get up at 8 AM to get ready for work. Because of the noise, I am generally getting 3 or so hours of sleep. Often, I just give up and pull an all nighter. To make matters worse, on the weekends they appear to have an opposite pattern and go to bed earlier/wake up earlier in the morning. They then choose to do renovations at this time, so along with the walking I get the added bonus of drills, hammers and sawing. This basically forces me to go to bed early on the weekend so I cannot even go out if I expect to have any sleep in my life at all.
I think this is beginning to effect my health as I've been getting comments on my appearance, that I look pale and exhausted with bags under my eyes. Also, aside from feeling lethargic, I've begun to develop major headaches and feel lightheaded all the time. I've started calling out of work once every few weeks in an attempt to get some additional sleep. This has been a MAJOR disruption in my life.
I've tried earplugs, noise cancelling headphones, a white noise machine and a fan, but since much of the walking creates vibrations, these methods have been ineffective. I'm not a confrontational person (or any good with talking to/approaching people), so I haven't spoken with them yet. There is also the issue that I'm really at their mercy since I can't really tell them not to or how to walk. But I think I have to say something, because the only other option for me is to move out. This is not something I am prepared for financially, but if I have to, I will do it.
Do you have any advice on how I can approach these people, and ask them to be quiet in the late evening and early morning hours? I am concerned that they will take my asking them the wrong way, and become passive aggressive which would make things worse. If you have any other information on how I may be able to block out the noise, that would be appreciated as well. I'm sorry for the long post, but I am just at my wits end and needed to put this out there to see if I can get any other suggestions.
The usual question.....do you own or rent? If you rent, what does your lease say? The typical advice given for threads like this is to say "check your bylaws, ordinances, or other agreements for quiet hours or other noise-related issues and bring it to the management". I don't know what governs condos, but there must be some sort of HOA or other body that has ways to deal with this. Its not exactly uncommon.
I feel your pain. I once lived in a condo conversion (from a motel) at the Jersey shore...you could hear every footstep above. And I experienced the same thing with people walking back and forth, back and forth. I mean, it was a tiny condo, why are they walking all the time at night? Anyway I agree with the suggestion to check your condo docs first.
There is nothing you can do about it. You can complain all you want, but nothing will come of it.
Do you live in a managed complex? Own? Rent? If it is a managed complex, see if they will let you switch to another unit. If owning, well, you might have some power via the condo association. If renting and it is not a managed complex, you should just move.
It is a poorly built building, nothing you say will fix it, and people are not going to alter their daily routine which if in any other building, no one would know of via sound.
Just what Boxus said: if it is a poorly built building, nothing you say will fix it.
I can sympathise. I'm living in one such now. I have thought about taking a cake or something upstairs and asking in a by-the-way manner whether they are renovating (I know they are not). They might get the idea or it might open the subject. I don't really know how to handle something like this myself, and it is causing me to decide to move.
Builders who compromise on acoustical integrity in communal living buildings should be strung up and forced to listen to noise non stop.
They can fix squeaky floors but not overall poor construction.
Sell.
You can always get upstairs neighbors who work hours opposite you or don't work at all so that's always a problem when you're on the first floor.
I had a guy over me in an apartment with concrete in between us. New renovation with carpet and padding. I could still hear him constantly STOMPING back and forth between the LR and Kitchen. So annoying.
Obviously, you're not posting this somewhere in Mexico, as you'd have a concrete floor above your head, as Mexican developers bow to CEMEX, the huge concrete company down there, and we bow to the lobbying lumber companies up here. And if they had their way, we'd be driving around in wooden cars, walking on woodplank sidewalks and flying around in wooden airplanes.
So who's the real culprit here? The city council members/mayor who approved this shoddy construction or the developers?
I'm very sensitive to noise, I'm even a member of Noisefree America, and, luckily, I don't have those problems in my townhouse, with double thick concrete cinder block walls (Fire walls) between the units.
I work the night shift, sleep during the day, and even though it's very quiet where I live, I've added extra precaution by building 4 walls around my bed, a door, and a roof, all insulated for noise proofing.
Perhaps that's one of your solutions. At least you'll get a good night's sleep until you move on.
Noisefree America has stated that the #1 reason for relocations in this country are noise factors. So if you do find another unit to rent, it just may be, given the # reason for relocations, that person was relocating due to noise issues.
I wish you the best, and my heartfelt sympathies!
Noise lawsuits are coming into being, and being a far stretch, try a lawsuit against those that approved the construction of this building you're living in, or the developer. They'll probably think you're on drugs, beyond Kookoo, but try it anyway!
I’m sorry. Boise tends to be something that gets more grating with time, not less.
Have you tried talking with the tenant? They may not realize they’re being really loud at weird hours. Some people are rather dense.
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