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Old 04-06-2010, 12:53 PM
 
267 posts, read 1,030,114 times
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I live in a 30-year old apartment building. My living room my neighbor's living room are separated by a non-solid wall. Whenever they have an intense argument, we can hear them. If they scream, we can hear every word. I guess they can hear our sons crying.

I am curious to know what is the sound insulation requirement for residential buildings. If any one lives in a luxury building, (Mine is not.) can you hear you neighbors?
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Old 04-06-2010, 02:09 PM
 
4,471 posts, read 9,802,915 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sarah2k9 View Post
I live in a 30-year old apartment building. My living room my neighbor's living room are separated by a non-solid wall. Whenever they have an intense argument, we can hear them. If they scream, we can hear every word. I guess they can hear our sons crying.

I am curious to know what is the sound insulation requirement for residential buildings. If any one lives in a luxury building, (Mine is not.) can you hear you neighbors?

My ex lived in a luxery building and his bed and his neighbors bed where agaisnt the same wall. I could hear everything she was doing, which didn't really bother me until one morning when she decided to hang pictures at 6am and was pounding the nails into the wall...did I mention this was on a Saturday?
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Old 04-06-2010, 02:32 PM
 
191 posts, read 309,183 times
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That's a very good question -- most New Yorkers have brainwashed themselves into thinking that putting up with noise is the price you must pay for living here. However, the real problem is cheap and incompetent developers not employing existing noise-proofing building methods in order to reduce costs.
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Old 04-06-2010, 03:16 PM
 
Location: Beautiful Pelham Parkway,The Bronx
9,239 posts, read 23,973,977 times
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I think it's because the codes are insufficient re new construction,meaning almost anything built after the mid 50's. 30 or 40 years years old is not enough and "luxury" has nothing to do with it.
Sound insulation is one of the main reasons why some people would never think about living in anything other than a pre war building because they have nice thick plaster on lath walls.
Best solution is to find an apartment in a prewar apartment building... on the top floor.Then you won't hear anything !

Last edited by bluedog2; 04-06-2010 at 03:54 PM..
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Old 04-06-2010, 04:23 PM
 
979 posts, read 4,440,169 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sarah2k9 View Post
I live in a 30-year old apartment building. My living room my neighbor's living room are separated by a non-solid wall. Whenever they have an intense argument, we can hear them. If they scream, we can hear every word. I guess they can hear our sons crying.

I am curious to know what is the sound insulation requirement for residential buildings. If any one lives in a luxury building, (Mine is not.) can you hear you neighbors?
The law states you are entitled to the "quiet enjoyment"of your apartment. That's all. Your best bet would be for both you and your neighbor to complain to the LL via certified letters. You can, if push comes to shove withhold rent if LL doesn't respond in a timely manner if you can get the City to issue a violation.
This is a fairly easily remedied situation requiring the building of a another wall that is against the existing one but does not touch it.
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Old 04-06-2010, 04:43 PM
 
Location: Bay Ridge, NY
1,915 posts, read 7,963,051 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bluedog2 View Post
I think it's because the codes are insufficient re new construction,meaning almost anything built after the mid 50's. 30 or 40 years years old is not enough and "luxury" has nothing to do with it.
Sound insulation is one of the main reasons why some people would never think about living in anything other than a pre war building because they have nice thick plaster on lath walls.
Best solution is to find an apartment in a prewar apartment building... on the top floor.Then you won't hear anything !
Pre-war doesn't guarantee sound insulation either though; it's true the walls are thicker, but they're not exactly sound-proof.
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Old 04-06-2010, 05:21 PM
 
Location: Beautiful Pelham Parkway,The Bronx
9,239 posts, read 23,973,977 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by analyticalkeys View Post
Pre-war doesn't guarantee sound insulation either though; it's true the walls are thicker, but they're not exactly sound-proof.
True , but they are generally much much better than anything built after the 1950's.Most prewars have excellent side to side soundproofing and if there are noise problems it's more likely from above and because the upstairs neighbor has no carpeting.
My current apartment( 1937) is like living in a soundproof box.I hear nothing,even from one guy next door who is a professional saxaphone player and who practices all the time.I can only hear it if his window and my window are both open.During the day on weekends I have to open the window on purpose because I like hearing him play !
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Old 04-06-2010, 07:31 PM
 
Location: Staten Island, New York
3,727 posts, read 7,006,620 times
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A friend solved this problem by covering a common wall in her bedroom with cork squares.
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Old 04-06-2010, 08:36 PM
 
267 posts, read 1,030,114 times
Reputation: 137
Quote:
Originally Posted by ohiogirl22 View Post
My ex lived in a luxery building and his bed and his neighbors bed where agaisnt the same wall. I could hear everything she was doing, which didn't really bother me until one morning when she decided to hang pictures at 6am and was pounding the nails into the wall...did I mention this was on a Saturday?
So much for luxury. Better trade the door man for sound proofing walls.
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Old 04-08-2010, 06:18 AM
 
267 posts, read 1,030,114 times
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Many NYCHA projects use solid brick wall between hall way and apartments. may be brick wall between units too.

What is inside those dry walls? Nothing?
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