How to Drown Out Outside Noise? (apartment complex, lease, house, landlord)

[luo2013]

Moved to the area, an apartment complex, end of June. Things have been mostly fine. Our lease is until next August, though we plan to stay a second year before renting or buying a house.

Anyway, lately we’ve been dealing with issues of a neighbor’s LOUD car. Our bedroom overlooks the parking lot. We have a white noise machine, but doesn’t do enough. The neighbor leaves at 6am (or today - 5am!) which is an hour or two before we get up for work. The neighbor not only starts the car, but leaves it running for 10 minutes before zooming off. It’s been waking us up and it’s getting frustrating.

Obviously I can’t expect the neighbor to change their work schedule, and they can’t control the loudness of their car (though they don’t have to leave it running! But I’m not confronting them over that). So does anyone have ideas how to drown out the noise from our bedroom, so we don’t keep getting woken up at 5am/6am???

[adjusterjack]

Consider putting up sound proofing curtains in your bedroom.

[Parnassia]

Earplugs.

[Kim in FL]

Heavy curtains, earplugs or train yourself to go back to sleep after the 10 mins of noise.

[SGMI]

Go to a garage sale and pick up a used fan, a dusty one that's kind of noisy. Helps drown out whatever you don't like hearing from the outside.

[adjusterjack]

Buy a noisy car and fire it up under his window at 4 AM. See how he likes it.

[luo2013]

Thanks all! Didn’t realize they made sound proof curtains. May look into that. Earplugs would be difficult since they’re not comfortable and plus I need to be able to hear my alarm!

[Parnassia]

Originally Posted by luo2013

Thanks all! Didn’t realize they made sound proof curtains. May look into that. Earplugs would be difficult since they’re not comfortable and plus I need to be able to hear my alarm!

A close friend of mine is very sensitive to noise and has trouble sleeping because of it. She has custom-fitted earplugs she says are very comfortable though it took some time to get used to wearing them. Yes, she can hear her alarm. She's also used vibrating alarms that go under a pillow.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

In an apartment, there isn't much you can do, except for white noise machine and ear plugs.


If you know what apartment he lives in, you could send a letter to management asking them to ask him to spend less time warming the car up. It probably won't do any good, but there is a very small chance the driver doesn't realize how it is bothering the neighbors.


Unless a curtain rod already exists, do not install curtains without getting written permission from the landlord before you do it. You don't want to end up with a bill for repainting the walls to undo nail hole damage.


You could cut foam blocks to fit in the window and install those every night before you go to bed. If you get the size right, they will press into place and stay there until you pull them out in the morning. It should help a little, but if that car is really loud, noise is probably coming through the walls and not just through the windows.

[Okey Dokie]

Could be worse. Lived in an apartment complex where a guy believed the best way to warm up the car was to literally floor it (while in park) for a minute or more. It was painful.