The perennial noise problem

[HardKnocks]

Hi all,

I know this is a common problem in NYC, and I have had it now three times in a row.

I moved into a new apt. 2 weeks ago, and as usual, the person above me has no floor coverings, wears shoes indoors and stomps back and forth constantly. They also make no attempt to be quiet at unreasonable hours (like dragging furniture around at 7 on a Saturday morning or at 1am). To make matters worse, they have a habit of getting up between 3-5am and marching around non-stop until around 7, when they apparently leave for work. It sounds like I live on a construction site, and I'm going to work on no sleep every day.

In my experience, approaching people like this does no good, whether you're friendly or not. And 9 out of 10 landlords don't care at all if someone is making your life a misery as long as the rent is paid--and if they do by chance approach the offending tenant, that only serves to annoy the offender into being even noisier out of spite.

Anyway, I left them a very friendly letter yesterday, explaining how their uncovered floors and unconventional hours are making it impossible for me to sleep or live peacefully, and asking if they won't cover their floors, will they at least take off their shoes and/or walk lightly, esp. in the bedroom and esp. late at night/early in the morning. Have so far received no response.

Has anyone here ever been successful in dealing with the inconsiderate, noisy upstairs neighbor with bare wooden floors who keeps insane hours? This type of person seems to be an indigenous NY breed. ANY HELP APPRECIATED!!!!! Many thanks.

[HardKnocks]

Right now it is 9:30am on Saturday and the above-menioned crazy neighbor has been cleaning her apartment since 7 (she does this every Saturday at this time), complete with furniture-moving and dragging a vacuum cleaner across her bare floors.

The constant furniture-moving sounds like an earthquake. I feel that 7am on Saturday is a completely unacceptable time to be doing something like this. And I can't understand for the life of me how someone needs to move all their furniture around for hours at a time every single weekend. It's manic.

The main problem with this--besides the unbelievable noise--is that I am already shattered due to the lack of sleep forced upon me by this madwoman all week long. She gets up on average between 4 and 5am every day, and makes no attempt to be quiet while doing so. She stomps around wearing shoes, and her floors are uncovered. I haven't slept more than a few hours a night since I moved in here.

I tried approaching her in a friendly manner, asking her to at least take her shoes off if she won't cover her floors, and to try to be quiet while being up and around at such unconventional hours. She hasn't responded, and hasn't changed her unsociable habits.

I've only lived here a few weeks but I know I can't deal with this much longer. Is it time to go to the landlord? I hate doing stuff like that but she's not responding to reason. (I've heard she's known as a problem to the rest of the tenants. Lucky me.)

[HardKnocks]

Well, it's 6 am on Saturday, and the nutcase has been stomping, moving furniture and vacuuming since 5. If this constitutes ''quiet enjoyment" of my apartment, then I need lessons in the language.

This is insane. Has anyone here ever dealt successfully with this crap?

[jilla01]

I had this happen to me before. The management company said to write them a formal letter, which I did. Then they sent a formal letter to the tenant asking them to comply with the term of their lease which says 80% of the apartment must be carpeted.

They didn't exactly do that, but it got better and I didn't persue it further. But I would start the paper trail on this if I were you.

If anyone else has ideas, please let us know because new people I have not met will be moving in above me soon and I am sure I will have the same problem, as everyone just loves hardwood floors. They don't realize how loud their shoes are from downstairs.

[HardKnocks]

The worst part about it is the hours she keeps. Getting up at 4-5 am--even on weekends-- after keeping me awake until at least 2. She makes no effort to be quiet even at these hours. She thinks nothing of vacuuming (on bare floors!), rearranging her furniture or cleaning out her closets at 6 am.

I finally wrote to the landlord a few days ago. Nothing yet. I also heard that she has problems with the people ABOVE her--she bangs on the ceiling every time they walk! Also other tenants have called the police because she used to play the piano in the middle of the night.

Apparently the people who used to live in my apt. actually bonded with the people above her over this nonsense... and were flabbergasted to hear that she had the nerve to complain about noise when "she stomps around in high heels at 5 in the morning."

Nobody should be allowed to control other people's lives in this way. I haven't slept in like a month. I will let you know if I have any luck.

[mjr203]

Make every complaint in writing.

-pointer

[too trusting]

My hubby has dealt with this before. Now remember she is making noise almost all night and early in the morning. SO when you leave to go to work find the MOST annoying CD you have aim your speakers towards the ceiling and crank them up and then LEAVE. Let it play the whole time you're gone. When my husband did this he never had a problem with the neighbors again. But he's from England, don't know if it'll work over here. The mentality is different. Its worth a try. Folks can't complain about noise here unless its after 11 pm and before 9 am I believe, so they really can't complain against you.

[HardKnocks]

I did that once before. But I felt guilty that my OTHER neighbors had to deal with blasting Metallica.

She goes to work at like 7 am. I had to stay home a few days ago to wait for Verizon and her habit was exactly as I suspected. She's a music teacher, which is why she leaves so early. Then she gets home at around 4, makes noise for about 15 minutes, and then SILENCE until around 8-9 pm. Then all **** breaks loose again.

SHE COMES HOME EARLY AND GOES TO SLEEP!!! Then she gets up, does whatever she needs to do (cleans her closets, rearranges her dresser drawers and furniture, cleans her apartment, vacuums) at night, catches a nap and then gets up at 4:30-5.

Sorry, but this is just not cool. Because I work all day on no sleep, and I don't get home at 4 (more like 7-8pm) and then she doesn't let me sleep until it's her "naptime" at anywhere from 1-3 am. Then she gets me up two hours later. So that two hours is all I get every night.

[too trusting]

Originally posted by Bleary-eyed tenant:
I did that once before. But I felt guilty that my OTHER neighbors had to deal with blasting Metallica.

She goes to work at like 7 am. I had to stay home a few days ago to wait for Verizon and her habit was exactly as I suspected. She's a music teacher, which is why she leaves so early. Then she gets home at around 4, makes noise for about 15 minutes, and then SILENCE until around 8-9 pm. Then all **** breaks loose again.

SHE COMES HOME EARLY AND GOES TO SLEEP!!! Then she gets up, does whatever she needs to do (cleans her closets, rearranges her dresser drawers and furniture, cleans her apartment, vacuums) at night, catches a nap and then gets up at 4:30-5.

Sorry, but this is just not cool. Because I work all day on no sleep, and I don't get home at 4 (more like 7-8pm) and then she doesn't let me sleep until it's her "naptime" at anywhere from 1-3 am. Then she gets me up two hours later. So that two hours is all I get every night.

Try it during her nap. You'll probably won't have to do it more than once. Otherwise you're going to have to invest in ear plugs. I do that from time to time because my hubby snores very loudly. I have to say though its hard to find something thats comfortable to wear.

[Carrie]

Hi there, I am having a similar problem. My next door neighbor AND my downstairs neighbor have been absolutely atrocious. I am also sleep-deprived and running out of tactics. It is a miserable existence being at the mercy of others' complete lack of manners. I have reported my neighbors to the management company twice now, and I have still not found relief. All I know is that there is a stipulation in the lease about noise and it not being a detrement to other tenants, so if I have to take legal action, I will. I have had it!!!!

[mbrenner]

Sorry, this message cannot help you any further in your struggle -- but I just felt I had to add something -- you will find that people who CAUSE NOISE don't think they are noisy. Their sounds are fine. They get insulted when you tell them. And although the Mayor's noise laws seem to effect street noises from clubs -- they really don't help you against noisy neighbors (and noises from mechanical equipment). Unless you have been exposed to this in some way (and I've had noisy neighbors and mechanical equipment noises) - you cannot even begin to sympathize. Bose headphones while you are watching TV or listening to music really help. I've never had any luck with ear plugs. Good luck in your struggle!

[HardKnocks]

I realize that. But surely this woman KNOWS her floors are bare, KNOWS when she is wearing shoes and KNOWS that she is up and about well before dawn. Especially since I explained it to her that these three things in combination are very disruptive to the life of the person trying to live below you.

I called the LL today and they said they sent her a "very strong" letter about covering her floors and cutting down on the noise. They said I have to wait to see how she responds. For some reason it seems like they don't think the fact that she's making this noise in the middle of the night and before dawn is a factor. I beg to differ. Making noise at 3:30 am is very different from doing it at 8pm.

[HardKnocks]

Probably the most bizarre aspect of this whole thing (besides her weird hours and obsessive-compulsive behavior) is that she bangs on the ceiling when the people above her make noise. Yet she will not accept that maybe she's making the same kind of noise and disturbing ME the same way she feels they disturb HER--yet it doesn't even occur to her that it's a whole lot worse because it's always in the middle of the night.

[jilla01]

OK, this may be a bit contoversial, but desparate times... you know!

Get a pair of speakers with a separate subwoofer - so you have 3 pieces in all. Cambridge Soundworks makes these in all different sizes, you can buy them somewhere with a good return policy so you can take them back if you don't end up wanting to keep them.

Mount a small wooden shelf or something near the ceiling under her bed and put the subwoofer on it. Plug in your portable CD player or whatever you have. Then turn on your Metallica and turn the subwoofer all the way up. Then unplug the speaker wires (so just the subwoofer is banging away) and leave for work. This should cause pretty annoying vibration for her while not disturbing the rest of the building too bad.

Pearl Jam is good for this, too.

[too trusting]

Great idea, my hubby is from England he always used The Jam.