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November 1, 2008
insomnia
We are first time owners of a small apt in a Prewar Coop building. We love our apt, but have discovered that the noise from the apartments above and below is mind-boggling. We don't expect silence by any means, but the floors are crazy leaky.
The specific difficulty of this situation is that the TV in the downstairs apt is on 24/7. It is loud enough that we can aften hear what channel they are watching.
I have asked twice (nicely) for the TVs to be lowered. There has been some improvement, but we still wake up to a subtle drone of TV noise at 4 am almost daily, despite running fans to cover the noise.
We're going to talk to them again, but thinking ahead, what are the options between earplugs and selling to hearing-impaired friends? Do coop boards have jurisdiction over these kinds of things? Or are we just at the neighbor's mercy here?
Comments
I am not sure that a "subtle drone" is enough to get a response from anyone. Many of the single homes converted into coops are notorious for not being very sound-proof. It really isn't going to be as quiet as you would like. It appears that your neighbors have at least responded in part, and why you may not understand why they have their tv on all the time, it really isn't within your control. Sorry.
Posted by: Putnamdenizen at November 1, 2008 9:23 AM
I've had this exact same problem, but my neighbors were extremely nice and accomodating. First of all, do you have a wall-to-wall carpet in your room with a thick pad under it? That will help. Second, most coops have clauses in their shareholder leases stating that shareholder tenants cannot interfere with the right of others' "quiet enjoyment" of their apartments and words to that effect. Then you have to hope your super and the board actually enforce it. Speak to your super. If nothing is done, consult the board. Your last resort would be to consult a lawyer.
Posted by: mopar at November 1, 2008 10:15 AM
Also, if this apartment is bigger than a studio, don't overlook the possibility of sleeping (at least temporarily) in another room.
Posted by: mopar at November 1, 2008 10:16 AM
I recently installed Quiet Rock, ( sheetrock ) on the ceilings of two brownstone apartments. The product worked out well. Not 100% sound blockage, you will never get that but it reduced the noise from above and below a great deal. Other than something drastic like that, I can't think of what else you could do that you're not already doing.
Posted by: Rick at November 1, 2008 2:02 PM
Noise is a wave, and so it bounces off things like floor joists and wall studs sometimes, and amplifies in all kinds of strange ways. It is totally counterintuitive sometimes, the way sound travels. It could very well be that your neighbors are being quiet, and that you just have a building that acts like a gigantic guitar that creates vibrations whenever a noise occurs and amplifies them.
I have lived in such a place, it was a loft building that was cheaply turned into live-work spaces. I can tell you this:
1. You do get used to living in a noisy place. I thought that I was either going to die or my neighbors were going to kill me for about six months. But I did get to a point where I didn't hear it anymore.
2. Because you own your apartment, you can work to soundproof your own space, and make things much better, but probably not 100%.
This is expensive, and technically challenging. Rather than just put up Quietrock, which may or may not help, I would go to a website like this and learn a lot about what noise is, and see if you can diagnose the actual problem, and then work to solve that specific problem.
I say that because it could be your ductwork, the chimneys, the floor/ceiling joists, there could be a number of causes. And while adding mass (Quietrock) to the walls is one way to soundproof, it wouldn't work if the problem is gaps between the apartments--like holes for hot water risers that are too big.
3. The thing that really helped me sounds really dumb, but it worked: I would listen as intently as I could to the sound whenever I was bothered by it. Instead of trying to tune it out, I would try to tune it in, really concentrate as much as possible on it.
I don't know why this works, but it made everything much better for me.
Good luck!
Posted by: vanburenproud at November 1, 2008 3:54 PM
do you know if it's just one person watching tv or more than one? also are they nice friendly people? here's a solution that might be a little off the cuff, but who knows it might work. they sell little receivers you put on your tv and then wireless headphones or small ear buds that transmit the tv sound to them wirelessly to a pretty good distance. im sure these things cost much less than sound proofing measures. maybe if you present your neighbor with one of these with the premise that you would greatly love it if they could use those from the hours of x to y, they would agree. i'd think 99 percent of people would totally agree to that. good luck! unfortunately i was one of those annoying noisy neighbors when i lived in a tenement on the LES. no matter how low my tv was late at night my downstairs neighbor could hear it. eventually i wound up just buying a pair of headphones with a super long extension cuz i didnt want to be a dick, i know what it's like to have to deal with noise when you are trying to sleep and it's 4am and you have to wake up at 7 (hells i lived in harlem too).
-rob
Posted by: PitbullNYC at November 1, 2008 5:20 PM
Thanks very much for all of the comments and advice - it's very helpful to hear about similar experiences and ideas for making it more bearable.
The neighbors do seem friendly, so hopefully there is a good chance we'll be able to work something out. Things just seem pretty drastic at 3am when you are awake and can only focus on the noise...
Posted by: squaredrive at November 1, 2008 10:57 PM
Your coop board definitly does have a role to play; you shoudl notify themof the issue and what steps you have already taken. What are your House Rules? There are generally times in which excessive noise is not allowed.
Posted by: BH76 at November 3, 2008 9:44 AM
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