For those who are living in places where you have someone living above you, how do you deal with the footsteps and rolling?

[delete12345]

I truly despise how in America, houses are built with wooden flooring / ceiling, and not having some of sort of padding in between the floors to dampen the noise. Why are we not using concrete floors or some materials that absorbs the noises? I don't get why we should be tolerating the noise of the footsteps and rolling of the wheels (vacuum rolling, office chair rolling, etc.), when the "reduction of noises from above or below" should've been standardized as part of building codes.

In the corporate building / office building, the concrete floors in between each and every other floor actually dampens the footsteps / noise above and below you. With the exception of some other company throwing a party, you are quietly enjoying the work environment because there are no disturbances when you're sitting around. Either that, or the thickness of each level is pretty thick.

(Granted, that is pre-pandemic times... Nowadays, I am WFH, so I can't say that I missed the serenity of offices.)

I hate wooden floors. I also hate how it is the least expensive building material, because what we paid for should've been something that reduces footstep noises.

How do you deal with these noises? You can't just say, "shut up, neighbor! You're walking too loud!" at them, just because they're walking normally. I don't blame them for that, and would rather blame the building codes not up to par with making the floors / ceilings sound-proof.

Gah!

 

[HououinKyouma]

Seriously though, I will never get used to it. Even just casual walking around sounds so damn loud. Apartment living absolutely isn't for me.

In the meantime, I cope with it by using a white noise machine, and if I'm super annoyed, noise cancelling headphones.

 

[delete12345]

I actually do have a pair of noise-cancelling headphones, but after a while, the head cramps would happen because it's squeezing my head for too long.

Pains ain't gains here...

 

[Faddy]

rolling?

 

[delete12345]

rolling?

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You never had your upstairs neighbors vacuuming their floors with a Dyson or some other vacuums before? I have them, and I can hear the sound of the plastic wheels rolling on the floor, like you're rolling your luggage across the airport terminal.

 

[Radd Redd]

I moved out of my apartment and only picked townhouse or a single family house. Cheap option? Always pick the upstairs apartment.

 

[Machine Law]

It's constant above my apartment too, but thankfully I'm not really bothered by it.

 

[Faddy]

You never had your upstairs neighbors vacuuming their floors with a Dyson or some other vacuums before? I have them, and I can hear the sound of the plastic wheels rolling on the floor, like you're rolling your luggage across the airport terminal.

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Not really. I lived in a duplex with wooden floors and there was a little noise but it wasn't annoying.

Carpet solves everything though. Not having a carpet when you live in a multistory building is like reclining your seat on an aeroplane.

 

[Walter White Walker]

I moved out of my apartment and only picked townhouse or a single family house. Cheap option? Always pick the upstairs apartment.

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I chose my current apartment specifically because it's in the middle of the building on the bottom floor. In the summer they're all dying in the heat above me while it stays cool in my unit.
For a long time I barely heard anything from the people above me. I had a family with a toddler move in and I can hear her running around sometimes. I ignore it because it's not too loud and not a big deal. Plus it's a toddler, that's pretty much what they do.

 

[BobLoblaw]

Headphones like 12 hours a day. I have this constant desire for people who live upstairs to leave. Last time it took four months for new tenants to move in and the peace and quiet was fucking glorious.

 

[Drowner]

I moved.

 

[Radd Redd]

I chose my current apartment specifically because it's in the middle of the building on the bottom floor. In the summer they're all dying in the heat above me while it stays cool in my unit.
For a long time I barely heard anything from the people above me. I had a family with a toddler move in and I can hear her running around sometimes. I ignore it because it's not too loud and not a big deal. Plus it's a toddler, that's pretty much what they do.

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I used to run the AC almost all year while apartment living. Electric bill was high sometimes but water was free so it evens out.

 

[Inugami]

We intentionally choose a higher floor to avoid that when we had an apartment.

The down side? We nearly had multiple mental breakdowns as the people below constantly reported us for being too noisy because we had 2 very small kids at the time, and yes they liked to run around. Try explaining to a 2 and 5 year old that they were risking us getting kicked out because the downstairs couple didn't want to know we existed.

 

[Rosebud]

Cheap option? Always pick the upstairs apartment.

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I always preferred the first floor apartment so nobody will complain about my noise lol

We intentionally choose a higher floor to avoid that when we had an apartment.

The down side? We nearly had multiple mental breakdowns as the people below constantly reported us for being too noisy because we had 2 very small kids at the time, and yes they liked to run around. Try explaining to a 2 and 5 year old that they were risking us getting kicked out because the downstairs couple didn't want to know we existed.

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In a building there's really no way to "win", or you are being bothered or bothering someone, or both

 

[MouldyK]

Video of what Upstairs Neighbors do:

 

[FixwolF]

Perhaps try using speakers/headphones with a specific sound or music and isolate the noise to a specific frequency where you are undisturbed by external noise pollution.

 

[Volimar]

How do you deal with the walls bleeding and the speaking in tongues?

 

[Mirado]

I out-fuck 'em. They may rule the day but I rule the night. If I have to put up with you pounding your floors like you are practicing for the world clogging championship at 1PM, you have to deal with me pounding like I'm trying to win an AVN award at 1AM.

(The actual answer is you don't really win and I just moved to a place with a single floor once I could afford it, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit to turing my frustrations into a little extra energy and encouragement for my date to get a bit noisy on occasion.)

 

[Novoitus]

I don't hear our upstairs neighbor at all. I do hear the family across the hall whenever they're screaming at their kids tho

 

[Deleted member 8579]

I would love do know what on earth people are doing in the middle of the night. Walking like elephants, fair enough but god knows what they are doing at ungodly hours, it can't be exercising, never sounds like a routine.

 

[julia crawford]

How do you deal with the walls bleeding and the speaking in tongues?

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That's not even the worst of it. How do people deal with the lady in the bathroom? She never responds when I talk to her. I haven't bathed in months because she won't leave... renting is the worst.

 

[Matrix Monkey]

I will absolutely not rent a place if there are upstairs neighbors, the sound is annoying but its the not knowing what they are doing to generate the noise that bothers me the most.

 

[Saito]

I could strangle the owner next door for making their rental property hardwoods throughout.

 

[Ryu]

I moved out of my apartment and only picked townhouse or a single family house. Cheap option? Always pick the upstairs apartment.

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I swear that when we chose the new apartment for my mother we thought we're genius and pick the cheap option. Now the thing is… with her luck… the roof started leaking just one week into her new home. Can't make it up right.

 

[Walter White Walker]

I used to run the AC almost all year while apartment living. Electric bill was high sometimes but water was free so it evens out.

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AC isn't really an option here. Most houses and apartments don't have it and the windows go the wrong way for a window unit. You could put a sheet of plywood in the window over the AC unit, but that looks tacky and blocks the view.

 

[coldzone24]

I didn't realize this wasn't a problem everywhere until I moved to Europe. Then I found out that it is actually possible to live in an apartment without having to hear your neighbors all the time.

 

[Billfisto]

For like nine years, my building had been fine. It was a concrete building with carpeting in all the units. Then, starting a year or two ago, whenever anybody moved out they'd renovate their place, put in hardwood flooring, and then double the rent.

So, it was heaven, but then the person above me moved out. Suddenly there was a month of horrible grinding and hammering at all hours, and then blissful silence.

Now it sounds like a 500lb clumsy person who wears clogs has moved in above me. Just piledriving footsteps and bowling balls being dropped at random. I hate it. I don't even understand how they're making that much noise.

 

[DiipuSurotu]

I truly despise how in America, houses are built with wooden flooring / ceiling, and not having some of sort of padding in between the floors to dampen the noise. Why are we not using concrete floors or some materials that absorbs the noises?

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I didn't realize this wasn't a problem everywhere until I moved to Europe. Then I found out that it is actually possible to live in an apartment without having to hear your neighbors all the time.

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This is blowing my mind. Why can't the US build apartments like in Europe?

 

[Menchin]

I don't have this problem because apartments where I live aren't built out of plywood and cardboard

 

[Heliex]

I don't have anyone above me, but The rolling winds on my roof get loud af sometimes, it makes me wish I did have someone above me.

 

[Fridaynightcatlady]

It sucks ass but you get used to it. Shoutout to my upstairs neighbors hammering at like 8 am on a Sunday. And fuck your kids, too.

 

[Judau]

My experience with noise coming from neighboring units has been mostly positive since I moved back in the summer. I can hear my neighbors entering or leaving the building (it sounds like they're stomping up or down the stairs), and sometimes, some asshole will blast their music for at least a full hour. That's mostly been it so far.

 

[Ultima_5]

You have to move.

living with upstairs neighbors can absolutely ruin your mental health.

fuck apartment living.

 

[Yourfawthaaa]

Never Dealt with it before but ill be taking the top floor going forward.

 

[subpar spatula]

Before you rent or buy an apartment ask what is separating the units IE party wall / flooring or concrete. If they cannot answer, go and knock on the upstairs neighbor's door and ask to do a sound test. It's easy. One of you is downstairs and the other is upstairs and stomps. If you hear then bail if you dislike the noise.

 

[Post Reply]

I wear headphones most of my waking hours listening to music, podcasts, live streams or movies/tv shows so I don't hear shit most times.

 

[Dandy Crocodile]

I live on the top floor and I'm so anxious about disturbing the lady below me. She's never complained but I often tiptoe around late at night and early in the morning to try and create as little sound as possible.
Sometimes if I drop like a spoon or something in the morning I internally cringe so hard.

 

[Fudgepuppy]

I lived in a building in Bulgaria where the whole thing was concrete, but it had a lot of resonance. For about half a year, every weekend I would wake up to a phone vibrating for about 30 minutes, 9 in the morning every time.

Everyone in the building heard it, but no one knew where it came from. Turns out it was some dude who was never home on weekends and always left his phone at home. By the time we found out, he replied "ok, so?".

Thankfully he moved out and it stopped.

 

[geomon]

 

[Shin Kojima]

I live above someone and I bought a thick noise dampening carpet at Ikea. He never complained but I still caught myself tip-toeing before I had it.

 

[Conkersbadfurday]

I moved out and bought a house. All the stomping, kids yelling, parents yelling. It was driving me fucking mad.

 

[8bit]

 

[DiipuSurotu]

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TAAA for not using the Enter key more to break up their wall of text

 

[Droidian]

We intentionally choose a higher floor to avoid that when we had an apartment.

The down side? We nearly had multiple mental breakdowns as the people below constantly reported us for being too noisy because we had 2 very small kids at the time, and yes they liked to run around. Try explaining to a 2 and 5 year old that they were risking us getting kicked out because the downstairs couple didn't want to know we existed.

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Damn that's got to suck. Did you ever try meeting the downstairs neighbors so they might understand?

I just moved into an apartment where the upstairs is a model so no one there and only 1 neighbors below us. I forgot to talk to the neighbors before watching a movie and had them banging the ceiling at 9 pm so I quickly turned the bass off my speakers.

2 days later I went to introduce myself and let them know I turned off the bass of my speaker which was literally at the lowest when I did have it on. The neighbor denied banging on the ceiling. Of course he was lying, since my roommate was also there when it happened.
Whatever, haven't had any issues since then.
The only problem now is how inconsiderate these dog owners are here. They let their dog shit anywhere and don't pick it up.
I wouldnt care if the dogs shit outside and they don't pick it up but in the hallways where there's carpet?? And the parking garage ?? Wtf I hope to catch these assholes someday. Even worse is the community firepit where they let the dog poop.