Noisy New Neighbors - Help?/Neighbors From HE** (Pasadena, Beverly Hills: neighborhood, tenant)

[mollyblythe]

Originally Posted by HoliWood

I don't know how loud that is...but would it pick up stomping feet? I dunno.

A quick Google search ("60 decibels" pick-up) indicates the daytime maximum of 60 decibels is the level of a normal conversation. It seems stomping, yelling and screaming would be way above that.

The same search turned up a listing for a 3bestreviews website of the best decibel meters. Two of them are in the $20 to $30 range. All are available from Amazon.

[HoliWood]

Originally Posted by mollyblythe

A quick Google search ("60 decibels" pick-up) indicates the daytime maximum of 60 decibels is the level of a normal conversation. It seems stomping, yelling and screaming would be way above that.

The same search turned up a listing for a 3bestreviews website of the best decibel meters. Two of them are in the $20 to $30 range. All are available from Amazon.

Thank you, Molly!

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by HoliWood

Where is this house? I'd like to find it.

Craigslist, shared housing. Grad students and people with reasonably decent jobs can be great to live with.

Many will cringe at the idea of sharing a house, but to do the apartment thing is essentially doing the same thing on a grander, more annoying scale by living in a place with hundreds of others, only separated by paper thin walls and withering sanity. I'll take a couple of other people in their own rooms, a driveway, a nice big kitchen, living room, fireplace, W/D, garage, backyard and hot tub anywhere, anytime.

[Harrier]

You could always pitch a tent around 6th/Gladys

[HoliWood]

Originally Posted by bigdumbgod

Craigslist, shared housing. Grad students and people with reasonably decent jobs can be great to live with.

Many will cringe at the idea of sharing a house, but to do the apartment thing is essentially doing the same thing on a grander, more annoying scale by living in a place with hundreds of others, only separated by paper thin walls and withering sanity. I'll take a couple of other people in their own rooms, a driveway, a nice big kitchen, living room, fireplace, W/D, garage, backyard and hot tub anywhere, anytime.

Oh, nooo..I've done shared housing before and it's worse than having annoying neighbors. But thanks for the thought; it is a good one.

[greggd1]

Originally Posted by mollyblythe

A quick Google search ("60 decibels" pick-up) indicates the daytime maximum of 60 decibels is the level of a normal conversation. It seems stomping, yelling and screaming would be way above that.

The same search turned up a listing for a 3bestreviews website of the best decibel meters. Two of them are in the $20 to $30 range. All are available from Amazon.

I like all your posts Molly! Too bad you didnt know this op and stop by to put these people in their place.

Those cheap test kits are not very accurate or reliable and can be contested in court. The op would need to hire a sound engineer and the cost is about $500.00. He would also want to gain access to the unit above to perform the test.

I think the op is not interested in challenging the existing tenants and looking to move.

It is both sad and disapointing that a person "who seems like a nice person" is run out of their home by an unruley group of individuals.

One of the many quality of life issues that has been abandoned by the govt and this reduced quality of life has been slowly accepted as the norm by us citizens.

[JanND]

mollyblythe I still think you are brave. I would have been to afraid to even drive by.
I agree, in residential living facilities, the females don't cause the knee jerk macho response, especially older or motherly type.
Holiwood, You did see CalGuy's possible 1 bedroom available?

[HelloGoodbye]

I had a noisy neighbor like this, and it was just one adult male no kids, stomped around all hours of day and night and had to put his Xbox on surround sound all the time. I moved, and have NEVER rented a downstairs unit again. I never will because of him. I never want to go thru the living hell of having someone stomping above me at all hours of the day and night.

[HoliWood]

Originally Posted by HelloGoodbye

I had a noisy neighbor like this, and it was just one adult male no kids, stomped around all hours of day and night and had to put his Xbox on surround sound all the time. I moved, and have NEVER rented a downstairs unit again. I never will because of him. I never want to go thru the living hell of having someone stomping above me at all hours of the day and night.

Exactly, but it seems many people are of the same mind - I can't seem to find a top floor unit anywhere, and LLs keep trying to sell the middle floors, "But it's very quiet..." Nooooo way!

[lz0]

Originally Posted by greggd1

Those cheap test kits are not very accurate or reliable and can be contested in court. The op would need to hire a sound engineer and the cost is about $500.00. He would also want to gain access to the unit above to perform the test.

This.

Also, Holi's noise problems seem to be mostly low-frequency, bass-y sounds (stomping, furniture dragging, etc.). Those can be VERY disturbing without reaching high enough decibel levels to register at an actionable level of loudness. The vibrations from low-frequency noise are often more felt than heard. It's much harder to suppress LF noise with noise machines, music, earplugs, etc.

I'm currently dealing with an upstairs-neighbors-from-hell problem too, and honestly, the extent to which you'd have to go to prove the disturbance is quite simply not worth it for an apartment. If you owned a home, it'd be different.

I ended up just moving. My nightmare ends in two weeks. Hope yours is over soon, too, Holi.