Excessive Noise in a Co-op?
We live in a medium-sized co-op that has virtually no soundproofing between walls and floors. Sound travels readily between apartments and the board has instituted several policies that try to mitigate this problem. For instance, we’re required to have 80% of our floors covered in carpet and we have quiet hours (between 10 pm and…
We live in a medium-sized co-op that has virtually no soundproofing between walls and floors. Sound travels readily between apartments and the board has instituted several policies that try to mitigate this problem. For instance, we’re required to have 80% of our floors covered in carpet and we have quiet hours (between 10 pm and 6 am, you can’t make a lot of noise). Plus, the board sends out reminders about how to be generally respectful of your neighbors vis-a-vis noise.
For several hours almost every night and every weekend, our downstairs neighbor plays music with the bassline turned way up. She almost always turns off the music by 10 pm (the appointed quiet hours), but from approx. 6 pm to 10 pm 3-4 nights out of the week and most of the weekend, it’s extremely unpleasant to be in our apartment. Our floor shakes to the beat of her music and all we can hear is bass. We’ve tried talking to her about this, but to absolutely no avail. I should also say that, for some unknown reason, she doesn’t like us at all. Literally from the day we moved in, she’s been unpleasant and unfriendly, despite our regular attempts to establish a neighborly relationship.
I think it would help things quite a bit if she just turned down her bass. I don’t think the volume is excessively high, but the bass is driving us nuts. Even though her music is not being played after quiet hours, do you think this constitutes an unreasonable amount of noise? Should we go to a higher authority (eg the board)? Just wondering if others out there have had a similar experience and what they’ve done to maintain their sanity, while recognizing that we live in cramped quarters in the city.
jxc187, your neighbor sounds not very nice. I’m so sorry.
On the slightly positive side, after about a decade of noise problems with neighbors in various buildings, I finally have new neighbors who are very quiet. It’s wonderful. And they’re young and play music and wear high heels — go figure.
mopar — We’re really not making any noise that’s out of the ordinary. I think, simply, that she is a bit crazy and can’t stand hearing any noise coming from anyone else’s apartment (except her own, obviously). Otherwise, I can’t understand it. We are so quiet, really value quiet, and have never, ever had issues in any other living situation. I practically tiptoe (in socks!) in my own apartment because I know how much she reacts to noise. If I drop something, I cringe, because I know she’s about to bang on her ceiling. We’ve tried everything with this woman, from talking directly to her, to being kind to her when we pass in the halls, to talking to friends of hers (who are much more friendly than she is), and so on. I have no clue why she is so unfriendly — I suspect she would be this way to anyone who lived above her. It’s a shame, because it’s made living here highly unpleasant and caused a great deal of anxiety. In fact, we’re trying to sell, and, if we do, I think we’re going to have to leave the city because I’m so afraid of ending up in the same, uncomfortable situation in another apartment!
Thanks for all the thoughts from everyone. By the way, what are speaker isolation stands? Would they help isolate the sound to just her apartment?
streber, i could recite you a bunch of stuff about the science of sound and acoustics, but, at the end of the day, I really don’t feel that inadequate. Knowledge of the science does not equal solutions that are without major expense or trade-off. If i’m wrong on that, I and others would have a great deal of gratitude for your knowledge, please share.
I have written this before, but here goes: “Nuisance” laws: noise being just one of the nuisances.
You have done the correct thing by talking to your neighbor first, because if you just go to the board, they will ask, “did you speak directly to your neighbor and try to solve it that way?” Yes, you have, jxc187, many times, so many times, that the neighbor is becoming upset. And the offending noise still hasn’t stopped. Perhaps the posters who suggested moving the speakers are correct and that is all that would be needed, and the neighbor may have no knowledge of this.
By now neighborly feelings may be stressed, so that the board may have to investigate if speaker correction is the mere cause. Anyway, there is no excuse for being loud until 10 PM, because that is the so-called “legal” time. You are entitled by law to peace and quiet all the time. People have to rest to be able to put in a full day of work the next day, to think, to be, and to create.
So now is where the “Nuisance” statutes will help you. Noise is a nuisance, fights, drug sales, etc.. A nuisance comes into your home without the person actually entering through your door. If they come through your actual door, that is trespassing. Go to Google, type in the search box in the middle of the screen:
nuisance abatement
Once you type that in, you will see other choices appear, such as “laws”. Take it from there. Your board must do something for you. If the problem cannot be solved in a “soft” manner, then you must get hard on someone, and find out who that responsible someone is in a Coop. BTW, we lived in a pre-war building and never heard any noise at all. It seems your house has a flimsy problem.
Our neighbors play loud music when they do drugs. It seems they like the bass then, and really have no awareness of much of anything.
“We don’t wear shoes in the house and never have. We have carpeting and padding over more than 80% of our floors.”
I didn’t know that. That should pretty much take care of the issue — at least as much as it can be taken care of. The only other thing is: Do you have highly discordant hours? Are you awake when she’s sleeping and vice versa?
Other than that, I can’t imagine what the problem could be. Have you talked to her, tried to find out what she is hearing, maybe by going to her place and replicating the noise in your place? Also, have you told her sometimes she claims you are making noise while you are sleeping?
Peace and quiet is an expensive commodity in NYC, as are most things.
I find it amusing that there’s clearly a deficiency in the way your building has been built:
“I had no idea about the lack of soundproofing and had no idea we were making ANY noise. From that point on, she came up or left a note about once a week about our perceived “noise.” Often, she claimed we were making noise at a time when we were asleep! Every time we drop something on the floor (which is rare), she bangs on her ceiling.”
…but instead of addressing that, you are trying to change your neighbor.
Yes, soundproofing your place will be expensive, but it’s your building that is deficient… (and perhaps your belief that just because you want peace and quiet, everyone does).
Start by gifting your neighbor with some speaker isolation stands, and neoprene rubber blocks…
@squaredrive: you can’t find a solution? Soundproofing is a well-understood science.
jxc187- can only wish you the best of luck. I hope the Board takes your problem seriously.
We don’t wear shoes in the house and never have. We’ve never had a party. We have carpeting and padding over more than 80% of our floors. We never play loud music (or even have the capacity to.) Some have commented that our neighbor is “retaliating,” but there is nothing to retaliate for, other than her made-up complaints. Honestly, I think she just doesn’t care about being a good neighbor, clearly doesn’t care about us, and so does whatever she wants.
It may be comforting to think that people only get what they deserve, but sometimes people are, in fact, simply at the butt-end of inconsiderate behavior.
After all these years I’m still surprised by how people turn into judgemental a-holes when they have the anonymity of the internets….