Living in a Northern Virginia Townhouse has been hell on earth! (Oakton: hardwood floors, sales)

[Nate_VA]

You would think that builders would have figured out how to soundproof townhouses by now. They could make it a feature to increase sales. People would pay a premium for some peace and quiet! I lived in a condo that had zero soundproofing. I only got through it because I had a good relationship with my neighbor, and worked out some quiet hours.

[selling home]

Last year after being really upset from all the noise, I contacted a couple of contractors to see about soundproofing the walls in our living room. One of them said about $14K and the other had a cheaper but less effective approach for about $9K. We almost did it but decided against it because we were told it would take about a week where we would have to move out due to the construction, noise, and dust. And the noise from the soundproofing would have driven out neighbors nuts. They could have started to fight back and make even more noise upstairs in retaliation. And the soundproofing would not have helped the noise from outside on the deck where packs of dogs were put outside to bark from both neighbors on either side.

The whole thing has left an impression on me about how helpless a homeowner is in Fairfax County from the noise that makes living and sleeping nearly impossible. No one is going to help you. The Home Owners Association is not going to help. Animal Control is not going to help. The police are not going to help and the neighbors themselves see a polite request to be quieter as a personal challenge to be even worse. What a crazy world we live in!

[Bigfoot424]

Originally Posted by selling home

Last year after being really upset from all the noise, I contacted a couple of contractors to see about soundproofing the walls in our living room. One of them said about $14K and the other had a cheaper but less effective approach for about $9K. We almost did it but decided against it because we were told it would take about a week where we would have to move out due to the construction, noise, and dust. And the noise from the soundproofing would have driven out neighbors nuts. They could have started to fight back and make even more noise upstairs in retaliation. And the soundproofing would not have helped the noise from outside on the deck where packs of dogs were put outside to bark from both neighbors on either side.

The whole thing has left an impression on me about how helpless a homeowner is in Fairfax County from the noise that makes living and sleeping nearly impossible. No one is going to help you. The Home Owners Association is not going to help. Animal Control is not going to help. The police are not going to help and the neighbors themselves see a polite request to be quieter as a personal challenge to be even worse. What a crazy world we live in!

And yet they want to have social workers be dispatched to handle these issues VS the police. Imaging that. But I do take exception with one thing. When you say the police are not going to help. These noise issues are a quality of life issue for certain but they are misdemeanors. If even that sometimes. Meaning the PD can not make arrest for something they do not witness themselves. Do you have any idea how many times we advised folks to work it out with the neighbors and if that fails to work then drive down to see the magistrate and obtain your own warrants? Know how many did? None that I saw in 30 years. People want the police to do it all for them and there are times when the police cannot help and this is normally one of those times. Don't like it? Call your legislator and demand a change but we know where that will go.

[Annandale_Man]

Originally Posted by Nate_VA

You would think that builders would have figured out how to soundproof townhouses by now. They could make it a feature to increase sales. People would pay a premium for some peace and quiet! I lived in a condo that had zero soundproofing. I only got through it because I had a good relationship with my neighbor, and worked out some quiet hours.

How about people having respect for their neighbors and not making a lot of racket?? I have professionals living on both sides of me. I don't hear them, and they don't hear me. These are "bedroom communities", not "house parties".

[TheseGoTo11]

My wife and I did a month-to-month rental at one point in Tyson's in a relatively new building. We purposely chose a more expensive corner unit because we weren't used to neighbor noise. The pipes from the apartment upstairs were behind the walls, and we could hear the young woman upstairs peeing, and every time she flushed her toilet we heard the water rushing through the pipes.

While this was happening, we went to a visit a friend who had just bought a new TH in Ashburn. We heard screaming through the paper thin walls. Our friend said that it happened all the time and they were having terrible buyer's remorse.

We've since moved to California and the construction quality here generally seems better. Part of it is the quality of the materials. No synthetic stucco or brickface front/vinyl siding. Imagine there's more regulations on the builders, plus seismic rules, which makes things more $$$, but I'll gladly pay. We had a six month rental in a new building here before we bought our place here and never heard a thing.

[Ffxdata]

It sucks.

Sometimes it’s crap neighbors.
Sometimes it’s stuff people can’t control like my friend in a townhouse whose neighbor had a kid with autism who would just scream regularly.
Sometimes it’s awful construction.

It’s awful when the place you go at the end of the day ends up being a stressor rather than a place of relaxation.

[BOS2IAD]

Originally Posted by TheseGoTo11

My wife and I did a month-to-month rental at one point in Tyson's in a relatively new building. We purposely chose a more expensive corner unit because we weren't used to neighbor noise. The pipes from the apartment upstairs were behind the walls, and we could hear the young woman upstairs peeing, and every time she flushed her toilet we heard the water rushing through the pipes.

While this was happening, we went to a visit a friend who had just bought a new TH in Ashburn. We heard screaming through the paper thin walls. Our friend said that it happened all the time and they were having terrible buyer's remorse.

We've since moved to California and the construction quality here generally seems better. Part of it is the quality of the materials. No synthetic stucco or brickface front/vinyl siding. Imagine there's more regulations on the builders, plus seismic rules, which makes things more $$$, but I'll gladly pay. We had a six month rental in a new building here before we bought our place here and never heard a thing.

I'm curious --- Was this apartment building wooden construction? Virginia law says that a building can be up to 7 stories and be all wooden construction. 8 stories or higher, it has to be steel and concrete.

If you've ever observed those wooden construction apartments being built, they always have a flimsy look to them In those apartments, you could be walking normally and to the downstairs neighbors, it would sound like you were stomping your feet. Or if they slammed their door, your apartment would shake.

If you saw my post upthread, you would have seen that builders are now putting up fireproof drywall in the shared walls with your neighbor. Behind the fireproof drywall is insulation.

[selling home]

Thank heavens we are closing on the sale of our townhouse very soon! Last night one of the wild neighbors who live next door through social distancing out the window and invited about 20 of his best and personal friends along with their dogs. Music, yelling, screaming, pounding, barking, and other noises all night. No sleep at all.

Our house is being sold for over the market and I feel sorry for the couple who is buying it. I understand they had been attempting to buy a home and were outbid for months on a number of Northern VA properties so they gave us an over market bid and of course we accepted it. We never expected to get the appraisal for that crazy amount but we did.

So next month all the noise will be there problem, not ours, should I feel guilty?

[BOS2IAD]

Originally Posted by selling home

Thank heavens we are closing on the sale of our townhouse very soon! Last night one of the wild neighbors who live next door through social distancing out the window and invited about 20 of his best and personal friends along with their dogs. Music, yelling, screaming, pounding, barking, and other noises all night. No sleep at all.

Our house is being sold for over the market and I feel sorry for the couple who is buying it. I understand they had been attempting to buy a home and were outbid for months on a number of Northern VA properties so they gave us an over market bid and of course we accepted it. We never expected to get the appraisal for that crazy amount but we did.

So next month all the noise will be there problem, not ours, should I feel guilty?

I can understand feeling bad about it...but...it's up to the buyer to do his/her due diligence. Buyers should really check out the neighborhood and see how things are at different times of the day. Quiet during the day but noisy at night? What are weekends like?

From what you said, since the buyers were constantly being outbid, their mindset was like this --- It's a house, it's in good shape and we qualify to buy it.

When we sold our house 3 years ago, our neighbors were very concerned as to who might move in. We understood their concerns as our area had issues with flophouses. What we told them is that if we were in a situation where we got more than one bid on the house, we would take a look at who was bidding. If we got the feeling that a nice, quiet family was one of the bidders, we would have chosen them. We liked our neighbors and if we had had that choice, we would have wanted good people to buy the house.

In the end, the house sold quickly to a young, single man. He was a quiet person who kept to himself. After we moved, the neighbors confirmed all that about the new owner.


There is only so much you can do when it comes to who buys your house. Look at it this way---no one warned you about the neighbors when you bought the house.

[lchoro]

Originally Posted by selling home

After living in nice single-family detached homes back in Wisconsin for much of my adult life I moved to Fairfax VA and into a townhouse. Unlike Wisconsin where a middle-class person can afford a very nice single-family detached home on a big lot, here in Northern VA it is hard to get a neighborhood home like that unless you are willing to pay over $650,000. So I bought a townhouse.

As soon as I moved into my townhouse I knew I made a terrible mistake. The neighbors on both sides of me made lots of noise. Both had two large dogs that they put out on the deck two feet from my sofa. The dogs barked day and night and were so loud I thought they were in my home. The kids on either side ran up and down the wood stairs all the time and the sound of shoes against the wood stairs was clearly heard in our home. In addition, the sounds of loud talking, music, television, and constant fighting invaded our home.

My wife and I went to our neighbors for relief but got nowhere. I tried animal control for the dogs and got nowhere. We spent $500K on a townhouse and our life was a living hell and we could do nothing about it. We are selling now at a loss due to closing costs.

Yes, I know the townhouse you live in is stone quiet with incredible soundproofing but that does not help our living hell. So telling me that your townhouse experience is great serves no purpose other than putting salt in our wounds!

Am I the only person who had a bad experience in one of those cheaply built Northern VA Townhomes?

You could go on the Fairfax County property sites and check the ages of the owners. The older they are, the better your chances of getting a quiet neighbor experience. 500K is on the low side.