Subscribe for Daily Updates!
My husband and I live in a condo that has no insulation between floors. The floor is wood with less than eight of and inch cork then concrete then my ceiling, no sheetrock so the sound travels. My upstairs neighbors refuses to carpet their apt. by 80% as stated in the by l-laws. They have a child who hammers and drops toys all day long plus has a baby walker rolling around the house. This not including the noise the adults make, chairs moving etc. The noise sometimes starts at 6:30am. We feel like they are living wit us at this point. When guests come over they comment about the noise. I have tried to speak to him but he is totally belligerent and then he will make a point to stomp at all hours of the night. What can I do. Management says there is nothing they can do.
Consult experts in soundproofing your ceiling and get costs.
Look at your condo documents for habitability warrantees.
Consult a lawyer on how best to move forward with the condo board re: paying for soundproofing.
My neighbor hired contractors to rip out the ceiling above his bedroom and blow noise-attenuating insulation in between his ceiling and his upstairs noisy neighbor's floor. It didn't help much. You need to get an expert--Bonnie Shnitta is an acoustician who can probably help you. She's based on Long Island. Good luck, it's awful, I know.
in all reality the 80 percent carpet rule , usually means little as far as noise reduction . Unless the rule specify the type of carpeting and pads etc.
a cheap paper thin carpeting with no padding is not going to stop that kind of noise. I doubt it would stop any noise.
i think the only way to approach it would be to put an acoustical ceiling on your ceiling, it sucks, cheap thin carpet will probably meet the requirement of the board and house rules.
Moving--in addition to being an extreme remedy--isn't guaranteed to bring relief. What will you do if, after you suffer that expense & inconvenience, you have a noisy neighbor at your new place? Repeat?
Noise rules are notoriously tough to enforce, but floor-covering rules are not. Pressure your Board...it's their responsibility. If the managing agent won't act, the Board can replace the agent or intervene directly with the offending neighbor.
If it's still a problem--or if your Board won't act--bolt subwoofers & tactile acoustic transducers directly to your ceiling, essentially turning the slab into a speaker. Find suitably annoying bass-heavy music, & get some high-quality earplugs. You should have their attention soon.
Be prepared for calls from the agent & Board, & assure them you'll cooperate with their requests to control offending sounds if they can assure you their enforcement efforts are equally targeting all noise offenders...particularly those not in compliance with the floor-covering rule.
This requires a modest investment [buy gear on Craigslist] which should not seem extreme if the alternative is relocating.
What can the Condo Board do??
On creating a noise nuisance, it depends on how your house rules are written. The Board should in any case formally notify your neighbor that there have been complaints, & that they should moderate their behavior so Board action won't be necessary.
On the floor-covering rule, the Board should send a reminder that the neighbor must be in compliance & request affirmation that this has been or will be done. Follow up with an attorney letter advising the neighbor that action will be taken if they do not comply, & that they'll be liable for all legal costs [almost certainly the case, but check your by-laws].
Excellent advice to contact the board to send a letter. However, you need to be proactive. Start your Email Trail. Keep all of your corrospondence, and be consistant. Every day/week send an Email to the Board and your ManCo. documenting the weeks noise. and, CC --Everyone. The MangCo should recoginize that you are building a record.
If you need to contact a lawyer, this will be your proof that you have done everything possible.
EmailPower works! VP
While I can understand feeling so angry that this remedy seems like a good approach--and it actually did work with a SH in our building who was blasting music to get his neighbors attention--they were stomping on the floor above him-in another instance it started a 10 year-long Hatfield and McCoy battle in another building. If the Board doesn't produce sufficient improvements, go on and get the sub woofer!
Don’t invest time, energy and money in responding in kind. If you’re going to invest anything, invest it in solving the problem. Your management company should see that the 80% rule is enforced. If that still doesn’t help, consider http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/good-questions/good-questions-ceiling-soundproofing-tips-015695, but definitely consult soundproofing professionals before purchasing: it can get pricey.
You need to write to the Board - you should have "peaceful enjoyment" of your unit. However, if this neighbor is "belligerent," have an attorney write to that person with a copy to the Board. If your bylaws say that 80% carpeting is required, you have a case.
Introduce yourself to other members of Board Talk! Log in below or register here.
Board Talk members who registered prior to March 9th, 2016 will need to reset their password.
seriously.
Thank you for rating!
You have already rated this page, you can only rate it once!
Your rating has been changed, thanks for rating!
Board Talk members who registered prior to March 9th, 2016 will need to reset their password.