Disturbance from neighbor

[ferol30]

I have the door slamming problem with the tenants that live below me, floors shake and pictures fall off
the wall. Very annoying ! I did a test on my apartment door by putting door & window installation around
the inner part of my door where it closes, it helps alot. Now I'm asking the property management to put
it on the problem neighbors door .... I,m hoping they do it and it helps.

[Kefir King]

Law says ow that doors must be spring loaded to close to avoid smoke infiltration. My last apartment was "luxury" and I disabled the spring (in the large hinges.)
State inspection made me retighten the hinge.
I argued that I didn't want to be trapped outsiide when I took my garbage to the chute. It did no good.
After they tightened it, I RE-loosened it so it closed, but SANELY.
A couple on the floor were so tightly sprung that if the door was let go it slammed so hard a bank of 7 apartments shook from the crash.

These hingeses ARE addjustable with difficulty if the haven't been painted over too many times.


Current apartment crashes shut if the knob slips out of my hand but I cannot find the adjusting screw...too much old paint and some sort of caps over the spring loaded bolt. If it slips it will crash so hard that if I got my hand caught, I'd lose a couple fingers just as if my hand were in a guillotine..

This post reminds me I should have a handyman have a try at it...he must have seen the problem before.


But I know the feeling of having an explosive crash in all the apartments along an offender's wall...one even knocked a picture off the wall. There's also a percussion that can be felt in the room that is disconcerting.

[irenepappas]

[SIZE=3]I was relieved to find this forum and the comments from the OP. I can sympathize and know all too well what he's experiencing. I also live in Queens and have two slammers on my floor and it's beginning to drive me crazy. Like him, I am also not sure of the best way to broach the subject because I am always willing to give the other person the benefit of the doubt as I have also been a slammer, but because my door was screwy. When I first moved in, no-one explained to me to close the door with the key and one of the maintenance guys told me expressly: “don't close the door with the key, just pull it behind you.” One day when I had locked myself out and the super wasn't around to give me my spare key, he offered to take a look for me and opened my door easily with a credit card. After that, I made sure to close the door with my key AND I recently got the lock changed because even the key wasn't opening it. Both slammers live across the landing and so there's an elevator shaft and other apartments between, but still when they slam their door, my door rattles and besides that, it's just an incredibly annoying sound and I can't understand why the tenants would rather make such a crashing bang, than to spend an extra six seconds closing the door quietly behind them when they leave. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]In the case of one of the tenants, I think it's just her being totally unaware (when I had to slam my door, I was always really conscious of how loud it was) but in the case of the other guy, I think he's just loud and inconsiderate because sometimes when he talks on speaker-phone, I can hear the other person on the end of his line with my apartment door closed. When he throws the trash out, he also bangs the chute door and the door to the chute. He often has loud dinner parties and keeps his front door open. He's just a noisy person by nature. At Christmas time, I got so fed up of his slamming and noise that I put a notice up after reading the posts here saying: '5th and 6th floor residents – Please stop slamming the door and try to make every effort to close it quietly behind you. Please also leave quietly with your guests late at night.' I put it at the back of the door to the elevator. Fifteen minutes later, he and his six lady friends were leaving; they read the notice and ripped it off. I thought this was an interesting reaction – why take it down if it does not refer to you specifically? Taking it down implies he's aware of his behavior and takes umbrage at any suggestion that it is inconsiderate behavior. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Many of the posters here recommend talking to the person directly. It really depends on each case and the kind of person you're dealing with. Not long after I moved into the apartment, I was studying and grading papers one night. I had three jobs and was doing an MA full-time. They were being a little noisy, had people over and the door wide open. I approached their door and a woman said, 'Yes?' a little angry in her tone. I said, 'Are you guys going to have a party? I'm sorry for asking, but if I know then I can go out to the library.' She said, 'We're just having a few friends over, okay?' and slammed the door. Five minutes later, the door was wide open again, the music was loud and at least ten people were there. My point is, sometimes experience proves there is no point. I have never met the guy, and I don't think doing so will change his personality. All the same, a person renting has a right to enjoy their living space without 'excessive annoying sounds, lights or smells'. No-one else on the floor is as noisy as he is, no-one else slams the door, has dinner parties twice a week on school nights so I really think that if I approached him he would be rude, sarcastic and slam it all the more. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]I really wish the building management would put up a permanent sign on each floor landing reminding tenants not to slam doors in the same way that road signs are up at intersections asking drivers not to honk horns. It's the same principle and I think it could work in the same way. People will always break rules and ignore the guidelines for neighborly conduct, and it's strange that some floors in the building have signs beginning, 'As a sign of respect for your fellow tenants, please don't....' but our floor has nothing. We have a lot of Korean and Japanese neighbors and their sense of community 'my actions affect others' make for really peaceful living, but unfortunately there's a lot of other people moving in and they have no respect for or awareness of others. [/SIZE]

[Kefir King]

This re-reminds me that I need to have someone try to loosen my spring. Perhaps once a week the doorknob slips/is pulled from my hand if I am carrying packages.

[Cida]

No, you don't ask them if they have to slam the door so hard. You start by saying nicely, gee, maybe you're not aware of it, but when your door slams, the noise carries all the way into my apartment and keeps making me jump - could you maybe close it a little more softly?

[Kefir King]

With me, the slippery knob often pulls forcefully out of my hand...and CRASHES shut.

I understand the logic...in case of fire, doors should slam shut to keep out smoke, but mine, and the one I had before were both OVERKILL.

I never slam a door...the door slams ITSELF!

[bigjake54]

Originally Posted by D. Scott

Likes to throw his trash containing beer bottles out the window into the courtyard.

Someone looking to get his keyhole crazy-glued?

[irenepappas]

I absolutely agree that one catches more flies with honey and that courtesy must prevail. However, it is also a lot more aggravating when you are giving people politeness and courtesy, as well as the benefit of the doubt, when all the while they don't have the basic courtesy to not slam the door at 1 am on a school-night. Nevertheless, as suggested a few times on this thread, I wrote a friendly, casual note saying, 'Hey neighbor, I notice that you need to close the door with some force. Just wondering if your door is faulty or you're having trouble closing it with the key behind you.' Something like that, but in other words: 'Please close the door behind you with the key.' The slamming from her apartment has halved. What I don't get is people who slam it behind them when they enter the apartment when after all they can lock it from the inside quietly with the latch. The guy in 6A and the slammers on the 5th floor continue as always and last night, two guys (visitors of a tenant) were waiting for their friend on the stairs leading up to the roof and just goofing around, laughing, talking. I had to get out of bed because they woke me up, go out there and again SAY NICELY, "Guys could you please keep your voices down? You don't realize it but sound echoes and is really loud here so...yeah." They just looked at me like I was crazy and said, "Really?'"

I think the stress factor comes down to, not the noise itself, but rather that we have to deal with rude people with no common sense. The building has lost the sense of community and care it had when I first moved in and riff-raff move in and make noise and trouble; there's a lot more parties and drunken guests. We pay a lot for the rent on our apartment and while we can put up with some noise from time to time, the culture of 'who cares?' has to stop because otherwise we are only getting half of what we paid for. Thanks for letting me share.