I live on the first floor of a 2 bedroom condo. Two years ago my upstairs neighbor of 18 years sold her unit to a family of 6 including 3 small children.
The children run around screaming all hours of the day, disturbing my sleep. The adults walk around as if they have lead for feet, scream at each other, their music invades my unit below. I have tried to talk to them to no avail.
So finally last night after they woke me for the nth time, I decided to throw a small pint of water bottle against the ceiling. They became unhinged and called the police in the morning. So when the police arrived, I explained the situation to them and they walked away.
It is been less 24 hours since the police left, and this is the most quiet it has ever been. Will see how long it lasts.
This is exactly why we had to move out of NYC. To pay the cost to rent/buy is just insane when you have to consider what you have to potentially put up with. I am still close to the city, but I enjoy the constant quiet, love the fact that there are no strangers on the opposite side of any of my walls, and sleep blissfully whenever I want to sleep in, even if it is on a random Tuesday. Husband and I used to talk about moving back into the city when we have an empty next, but I know I could never do it now, as this article is proof.
6
I have lived this nightmare and send you empathy. I campaigned for 4 years to get my upstairs neighbor to cover his living room floor and it finally happened - but I could still hear his booming voice at all hours - not to mention everything that happened in his bed, which was right above mine. I called the police on several occasions - if you are renting and you have enough police reports of noise complaints you'll have grounds for eviction. I also agree with the person who was extra considerate when they lived upstairs - same here - I covered my floors, made everyone take off their shoes, and never played loud music. Basic consideration for humanity.
8
@Deb
You tried to sic the police on your neighbor multiple times for talking and having sex in his own apartment?
I know who I think is the bad neighbor in this situation.
5
Your neighbor is extremely inconsiderate. You have every right to live without this thumping above you. If your co-op refuses to take action, I suggest you sue your co-op for not enforcing your warranty of habitability. That will usually get their attention.
5
@Law Les
Most landlords and co-op boards of directors don't care about quality of life issues like noise and odors. Worse still the courts have an extremely high standard for what constitutes unreasonable noise and it's very difficult to win such cases.
I sympathize with anyone in this situation.
8
I love living in my house. Aging though it may be. Happy centennial, home.
2
Last year we began to hear, daily incl weekends, a loud rhythmic pounding through our walls at 7am and 7pm, which lasted about a minute each time. The sound woke us in the morning and kept us a bit on edge in the evenings as we anticipated the noise. Initially we thought it was some kind of light construction work and that it would end soon. When it didn’t, it became a mystery of what it could be with all sorts of theories and a topic of lively conjecture when we had friends over.
We couldn’t pinpoint which apt in the building abutting our house the noise was coming from. Over the next several months we’d ask whichever neighbors we could contact or ran into about the noise with no success. Some even assumed it was coming from us! Finally, we went to the only apt which we hadn’t contacted. It turns out a 92 year gentlemen who had suffered a terrible stroke lived there and was being taken care of by home aides under his son’s supervision. No one knew anything about the noise. As we were about to leave, the son mentioned that he’d ask the next shift’s home aide who’d be there at 7! After a few more inquiries, mystery solved. The aides were using a stone mortar & pestle in the marble kitchen sink to grind the gentleman’s medication at every 12 hours upon arrival for their shift and the sound reverberated throughout the buildings. 20euros for an electric pill grinder later everyone is happy!
32
@Dionysios My god, sometimes our city living is utterly ridiculous, isn't it? But such a relieving ending!
Having had upstairs neighbors for many years in many buildings, when I had a downstairs neighbor for the first time, I was so sensitive to making sure I minimized or avoided the things I had hated — clomping around in hard-sole shoes, vacuuming or exercising (floor thumping activities) at odd hours, dropping or tossing items on the floor (crazy how loud an empty cardboard box hitting hard wood can sound!). I never put my speakers on the floor so the bass wouldn’t reverberate through my floor/their ceiling. I would even tell guests (gently) to avoid scraping a chair across the floor “because my neighbors can hear that.” To me it was a baseline level of respect living in a community. You can do whatever you want in your apartment, but it shouldn’t affect or impede your neighbor’s ability to enjoy their home as they choose.
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I applaud you. I wish there were more people with your sensitivity and consideration for others. @Vanessa Moses
17
Never, ever, take a first floor apartment where you must rely on the tenant above you to cover the flooring. It's a lost cause.
8
Shortly after I moved into my co-op, I was awakened very early in the morning, probably around 6am (which is an hour or so before I have to wake up for work) by an intrusive alarm clock sound resonating LOUDLY through my bedroom ceiling. It sounded as if my upstairs neighbor had his alarm clock (or phone) sitting right on the floor so the sound could carry down into my bedroom loudly enough to wake me up. Since then, for months it has continued to happen, on and off. And when it happens he doesn’t even turn it off right away, as I think most sane people do; for some bizarre reason it goes on for a while until it finally stops. I haven’t complained to management, instead I have written him a snarky note asking him to remedy the situation. It still happens sometimes but much less frequently now.
8
I don't mind noise, but we just got new neighbors, with 4 children upstairs, who jump, thump, drop furniture and boxes, run, and throw things until midnight. We went to go say hi, and gently ask them to keep it down. They told us the kids are homeschooled, and so they wake up late and stay up late. My child sleeps by 8 and is up by 7. I sleep by 11 and am up even earlier. I haven't been able to go to sleep, as these kids are chaotic all night long. I've told my own child that no instrument playing or bouncing balls before 10 am, or after 8 pm, out of consideration for our own downstairs neighbors. I thought it was common sense. I guess some people just do not care.
40
Save yourself the expensive fee and call 311 to make a noise complaint.
5
"I feel your pain." A famous Bill Clinton line. But it is true. Over the years I have had upstairs neighbor noise problems in several apartments.. It has always been helpful to write a note to the neighbor, then speak face to face with the occupants. Knowing what and who is creating the noise is helpful, but getting them to stop is not guaranteed. Usually everyone is civil and they do stop making the noise.. But I have also waited 6 months for someone to move and also waited a year for a terminally sick neighbor to die.
2
@David Binko
We were sandwiched between 2 door slammers and an upstairs neighbor who insisted upon pacing the floor in high heel shoes, coupled with monthly fights, etc. 311 was no help. Neither the Board nor the managing agent were of any assistance. My personal favorite when I spoke to one of the door slammers about that neighbor's door slamming, that neighbor responded, 'she/he didn't know loud door slamming disturbed anyone'. I cannot make this up. Some people are just plain inconsiderate, to state it nicely.
14
@Rita Harris - I can relate. We had a neighbor who would play music so loud it would make our walls vibrate.
When I called to ask her to turn it down, she stated that she was listening to music while cleaning her apartment. For some reason she seemed to think this made it acceptable.
3
Oh if one has the pleasure /s of hearing low bass music go thump thump, thump ,it is not loud as measured on a sound meter ,it is torture for those that have to endure it almost 24/7 from a neighbor .
17
Their Ceiling is Our Stage!
Lotta people on the planet. Deal with it and laugh once in a while.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IRB0sxw-YU
4
Wah NYC is loud. Wah Wah.
4
I've lived in the same Brooklyn coop since 1984. The building is shabby, and my apartment is a 4th floor walkup, but it's the top floor and the downstairs neighbor is quiet, so I assume I'll leave feet first down the four flights.
18
How times have changed!
My grandmother lived on the 2nd floor of a low-rise building in Queens. When we would visit her as kids, we were frequently admonished to "go easy!" so as not to annoy the people downstairs
Reading these responses, it's clear that the people upstairs don't feel any sense of obligation to their neighbors.
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I think it also depends on the construction of the building. We lived in a 7 story co-op in Forest Hills where the people above us were quite noisy, did not have carpeting, etc. We were told by a friend who is in construction that buildings of that height were not constructed of concrete. We now live in a high rise condo where the only noise we here is from the street and an occasional door closing. I would never again live in a low rise building.
13
This very reason is why I will only....ONLY....live on the top floor of a building. And I will gladly pay extra for the privilege (top floor apartments are usually more expensive for this reason). Yes sound can travel up, but in extreme cases a rubber mat under the rug does wonders.
15
You're lucky that the noise is predictable and limited to 45 minutes. We lived under a family with 2 kids constantly running, jumping, and crashing from sunrise until 8 pm. Then the parents would create their din of heavy footsteps, moving furniture, building projects, until midnight. We moved.
23
My original upstairs neighbor in my new apartment created a loud, rhythmic banging, for about five minutes, followed by yelling, every night at around 11.
I tried leaving polite notes, but the noise kept up.
Then suddenly everything was quiet, which lasted for about a week. The doorman said they were away on their honeymoon. After that, there was never any noise. Some neighboring sounds require more than floor mats or carpets.
25
we had a guy playing his steel acoustic guitar for hours every day until 10pm to the great irritation of neighbours. He ignored multiple letters asking him to keep it down.
when told of the strata(condo) bylaw saying 'must not make any noise [at any time] likely to disturb' another he claimed to be affected by state law 'no amplified music after 10pm' or such.
a meeting of the committee and a letter warning of $1100 fine on first instance, and $2200 fine subsequently, seems to have put a permanent cork in his keenness to play the steel guitar, and he has now apparently bought a 'silent' guitar which he can hear through his headphones. Neighbours are happy again.
30
This is why I:
- live on the top floor (yes, noise can still rise from downstairs, but it takes a lot more of it)
- rent. I can always move if it becomes unbearable, which is what happened when I first moved into a lower floor in the same building, with an upstairs neighbor who played loud radio from 7pm to midnight. Only refuge was my bathtub, didn't last a week.
- would never buy a condo in a multi-family building. An entire house is best, but I can't afford it.
20
One time my upstairs neighbor was preparing for her wedding, and was using her noisy treadmill in the evening. I treated her to an Aretha Franklin concert, sung by me. As the Grammy show proved beyond a doubt, no one can sing like Aretha. My reward was never hearing the treadmill, again. She was home all day so she could just use it then.
25
As the president of a 6-unit condo in which noise travels moderately between floors, I received calls from a woman who complained about the people downstairs who were laughing too loud -- at 8:30p. Same woman also called reporting it sounded like her upstairs neighbor was "bowling up there." The across-the-hall neighbor was talking loudly in the hallway at 1a -- as it turned out, just bidding goodbye to friends. The hallway has high ceilings, everything echoes.
I finally told this woman that she lives in a multi-family building with people who talk, walk, live and breathe and if she want no noise at any time for any reason (i.e. life sounds), then she needed to move and fortunately she did and the new owner is a delight.
40
@LXII, I don't know the woman, so I cannot vouch for her assessment of things. But her neighbors sound awful. I once lived in a building with thin walls/floors and was subjected to noise constantly. It was not the noise itself as much as it was the way it can startle you during a tranquil moment. And knowing this, I was extremely cognizant of being a good neighbor by walking on the tips of my feet, keeping the TV volume down and not talking in the hallways. This woman's neighbors know that the walls are thin, and it seems like they just couldn't care less about disturbing their neighbors. There is a special place in hell for bad neighbors.
9
@LXII
Sounds like a neighbor I had a while back, who left me a note that there was too much laughing coming from my apartment and I was walking around too hard, and she was my UPstairs neighbor. Meanwhile, she clomped around at all hours in hard shoes.
10
Once after Christmas, I can home to my apartment in Maryland to a horrible loud pounding noise that was shaking my entire 1,000 square foot apartment ceiling. It was loudest in the master bedroom, where small cracks in the ceiling paint had started to form. My husband and I went upstairs and listened at my upstairs neighbor's door. We realized quickly that she had a new treadmill and was running. It was impossible to stay in our apartment while the treadmill was in use because it was so loud and causing the ceiling to shake. I reviewed my lease and found a clause that prohibited treadmills on any floor except the ground floor apartments. I reported her to the landlord that day as well as the fact that the treadmill caused damage to my ceiling. Thankfully, the landlord was responsive and took care of the situation quickly. It is important to read your rental agreement to see if certain items are prohibited but its also important to be considerate of your neighbors. Our building had its own gym with lots of treadmills she could have used 24 hours a day without bothering anyone.
65
I grew up in an apartment building in Chicago and do not remember noise being the issue that my friends in buildings now seem to have. There are 2 issues that contribute to noise: 1. modern equipment, i.e. televisions, stereos, treadmills, etc. and 2) lack of carpeting and drapes for sound insulation.
The first is under the control of the resident and the second is under the control of the board.
The apartment I grew up in had carpeting and drapes and it makes an amazing difference. I will say that most condo and coop residents are very resistant to the idea of this type of soundproofing - they like the airy, open feel of wood floors and blinds.
For the noise sufferer, I would recommend forming a coalition within the building that agrees to request an 80% carpet requirement. As far as noise from equipment, that is a negotiation process that does not always work but is best tried as a first step.
9
@Susan If a neighbor forced me to install carpet on 80% of my apartment, you can be sure that the treadmill would be somewhere on the remaining 20%. With no mat. If you like carpet good on you (it’s a cheap option), but many find it ugly and disgusting, so you might want to think twice before forcing it into everyone’s apartment (including those who have nothing to do with your noise issues).
6
@Susan, there is a third issue that contributes to noise: entitlement. I have lived in NYC apartment buildings since 1955, the year of my birth. Once upon a time, parents taught their children not to run or yell indoors; they took them to Central Park to play. Once upon a time, people understood that their noise could be heard by others. Today, "others" is an obsolete concept. There's just the all-important ME and its limitless entitlement.
60
Precisely! For the first few years of my life, when my family rented an apartment, my mother's refrain was "Shhh! Stop jumping! You'll disturb Janet downstairs."
So I stopped.
Probably my mother didn't like the jumping either.
(Notice we knew our neighbors' names in the 1950s.)
22
As someone who has suffered noise from above, think romper room on your head all day long, this noise is at least predictable in duration and time. I do sympathize but it is for 45 minutes at the same every day. Perhaps a different mat would better reduce the annoyance. Talk with your neighbor. If that doesn't work,I don't think the Board will be happy to deal with this. It lasts only 45 minutes, it is at the same time every day and he stops at 10 which is in compliance with the house rules. Unless the structure of the building is being threatened, which I doubt, accept it or move.
12
It's 45 minutes, that stops by 10pm. Can't the LW listen to music or watch TV , or anything distracting during that time? Let the guy have his 45 minutes. Why expect him to join an expensive gym to just use the treadmill?
15
@chrisinroch —obviously your blasé attitude comes from having no treadmill above YOU!
31
Reminds me of a big reason I got out of the city. I had a version of this problem except the upstairs neighbor was the board president. So... Their kids clearly thought they rather lived in a gymnasium. Now I have pin drop quiet along with the complete boredom of the burbs.
18
@Matthew
I live in the burbs, but I still hear the neighbor kids shrieking in their pool, lawn mowing and leaf blowers (at all hours), the odor of those awful backyard firepits. All annoying, but people gotta live. If you have neighbors something is going to impose on you.
29
@chrisinroch
Well, I'm blessed to be in a suburban neighborhood with extremely few kids. And with helicopter parenting they are never let outdoors.
But absolutely: leaf blowers. How can we change that culture? Some neighbors strap them on hour hours on end. And as soon as one relents another one fills the void.
Luckily I love the smell of a wood fire or a barbecue, so no problems there. Although very few actually do that stuff anymore.
19
@Matthew More and more neighborhoods are banning the gas motor and going with electric only. Check with your HOA if you have one.
7
I don't think a treadmill would be any louder than many vacuum cleaners. And the guy is staying within curfew.
14
@Reader In Wash, DC
Perhaps the treadmiller could take up vacuuming.
9
@Reader In Wash, DC, They're talking about the vibrations, the shaking -- vacuums don't create that and people don't vacuum everyday as the tenant is writing. Totally different.
12
I think the Board may not want to know because the complaint might have to appear in the minutes. Anyone buying in the building will have their lawyer check the minutes, and this might be a red flag for some people.
I hate to be pessimistic, but these upstairs noise complaints with selfish people rarely end well. I really feel bad for you. If the neighbor won't cooperate, I wouldn't expect much from the board.
If you rent, move. If you own, sell. It's drastic, but it is sometimes the only solution. And try to get a top floor, even if the roof leaks. It's better than noise.
40
Again, just because someone lives in a city, it doesn't mean they have to expect and tolerate noise. Quite the contrary, city residents have to respect and be considerate of their neighbors. It is usually those who move into the city from rural areas the ones who are totally inconsiderate. They are used to doing whatever they want and think that city living is about noise, particularly NYC. That upstairs resident, I wouldn't call him a neighbor, is totally self-centered, selfish, and rude, and worse, immature and uncivilized. So sorry you have to live like that in your refuge space where you deserve peace and quiet.
59
Maybe you need to invite your neighbour to sit in your apartment while you use his treadmill. At least then he would have an idea of what you can hear ... can't hurt.
52
In residence four weeks, my new neighbor below rang my bell:
"I hear walking..."
"Yes", I replied, "I live here." "Too Much", she retorted.
"The next time I make my bed I will climb over it instead of walking around it." I appeased.
Mind you, I live alone... There "oughta be a law" for protection from people who don't know how to live, or to let live.
52
@Dick Grayson
If you're the type who can't sit still for more than a few seconds at a time, and might as well be crossing Grand Central Station for all the care you take crossing the room (and then decline to put down decent floor covering?), just hope and pray you never live under anyone as heedless as you are.
11
@Dick Grayson What kind of shoes are you wearing? That is often the issue. If you avoid wearing clogs and other hard-soled shoes, you can spare your neighbor a lot of discomfort. Try slippers or flip-flops indoors. My neighbor clatters around in high-heeled shoes getting ready to go out and it's like a storm.
I once had a neighbor who would come home at 1:00 am and throw his shoes on the floor, which would wake me and keep me from getting back to sleep for one or two hours.
25
@Dick Grayson
The "Tenant Net" website has an archive of legal discussions that include noise complaints. My favorite was a case where the complaint, in court, was that the upstairs neighbors children "walked on the floor at all hours". The response by the judge hearing the case was "Of course they walk on the floor, where do you expect them to walk - on the ceiling?"
3
You managing agent is being ridiculous. Of course you can go to the Board and ask someone to come by during treadmill time (do ask - remember that Board members are not paid). Your neighbor is an inconsiderate jerk, however. The person may put down more padding but unless the co-op bylaws forbid that type of noise you may be out of luck. More buildings should forbid things like treadmills in apartments. It's just too loud.
65
I think this person is overly sensitive. I have a Boflex in my apartment and nobody has ever complained. The kids upstairs dance all the time, but it's normal noise. Everybody has to live and in NYC, some amount of noise has to be expected.
17
Buildings are not designed for modern noise making. Ear-blasting sound systems and home gymnasiums included.
Fitness centers belong in basements.
As for both sound systems and kids dancing: Neighbors need to turn them down. Just as people say that noise is to be expected, so is a modicum of consideration.
I've lived in apartments with inconsiderate neighbors. Life is often hard enough without throwing in other people's thoughtless, bad habits.
87
I’ve had my share of inconsiderate upstairs neighbors too. When I decided to buy I bought on the top floor.
30
@Tai L You're comparing the sound of a Bowflex with a Treadmill?
8
Well at least the guy stops at 10pm so you don't have to worry about him interfering with your sleep. Try noise-cancelling headphones and just find music or something on Netflix to listen to then. Not to sound like an ad here, but I got some Bose headphones that could block anything short of a herd of elephants.
20
The trouble with wearing earphones and listening to music is that then you cannot hear other sounds: the radiator, the teakettle, police or ambulance sirens, the neighbor's dog, the warning beep of a dying smoke alarm, people talking on the street, early-morning garbage collection.
These are the natural sounds of city living.
You do not want them blocked out, really.
True, they're not the clop-clop of the vegetable man's wagon, which I remember as a Windsor Terrace kid, but they're what we have now.
19
@nerdrage Yeah.....but if your smoke alarm went off, you wouldn't hear that either.
10
@Dot: Oh, I think you'd hear a smoke alarm going off in your apartment no matter what noise-cancelling headset you were wearing!
6
Noise complaints are very common in NYC. The typical 6 story building with fire escapes has wooden structure upholding the unit floors that are not particularly soundproof. Carpeting can help, but that comes in various thicknesses and effectiveness. There are thick rubber mats made as play areas for children and these can be quite useful.
Many are confused by "peaceable" or "quiet" possession in their leases. This has nothing to do with lack of noise, but refers to the right to occupy the unit without others claiming to do so. However, tenants do have rights against noise that prevents sleeping for instance.
27
@David That is a good insight. The brick and stone exteriors, marble lobbies and iron staircases thoroughly disguise that they are wood-framed buildings.
5
@David
More information:
There are 2 kinds of buildings in NYC. Fire resistant and fireproof. You can immediately tell which is which by two markers. The fire resistant building is limited to 6 floors, which is the limit a ladder truck can reach in case of fire. Also this type of building has exterior fire escapes. As you correctly say, the six floor building has a wood frame which not only transmits sound easily but also acts like a drum to transmit low frequency vibration. In my case the drumming was so bad the walls shook.
The fireproof building has no height limitations aside from engineering considerations and zoning laws. The fireproof building is usually poured (reinforced) concrete slab construction. The slabs are between 4 and 6 inches thick with an airspace and a ceiling beneath. The rigidity of the concrete prevents the low frequency drumming but does not necessarily stop garden variety noises of every kind. The fireproof building isn't completely fireproof and always has fire escapes internally. No fire escapes outside. Exterior fire escapes are considered "working class". I know someone who was driven out of a luxury high rise condo by noise so there's no perfect answer.
Personally I was driven out of two very nice co-ops over the last 30 years. In both cases families of 5 or 6 moved into 2 or 3 bedroom apartments, in one case below me. I bought a house.
7
My sympathy to this tenant who has to put up with their neighbor's treadmill. That would drive me crazy. Electric treadmills are too noisy for apartment buildings and on the UWS there are plenty of gyms the neighbor could join and use a treadmill that's more state of the art. One can't also help wondering what the constant pounding does structural integrity of the building.
69
@msd I wouldn't worry about the pounding . Buildings are designed to handle mother nature at her worst, never mind a treadmill that thumps. (Why is it thumping is my question....?) Maybe the neighbor did get mats, but they are the wrong kind. If the relationship is confrontational, then I would send a letter to the neighbor and CC the board and mgmt company. If its a civil relationship, knock on the neighbors door and discuss the heavier type of matt, do a quick google search and show him what may work the best. Be neighborly and proactive and hopefully you'll get the quiet you need. Good luck!
20
@Andrew Louis: If the downstairs neighbor is really smart, s/he would offer to PAY for the thicker or heavier mat.
12
@Andrew Louis The thumping comes from the footfalls of the user onto the conveyor belt that moves at a preset speed, especially if the treadmill is simulating a jogging pace.
6