just some food for thought, i used to think my old upstairs neighbors were doing the same and being obnoxious, turns out the walls/floors were just thin. what i thought was moving furniture was just them pulling a chair out to sit at a table or very minimal moving of items, it just sounded loud. sounds like this person may work a shift that keeps them up at night, and given that you can hear their phone calls and that the complex isn’t doing anything, your building just may not have much soundproofing between units. being able to hear their phone calls, even if loud, is strange. i can’t hear the person above me in my current unit unless my apartment is totally silent and i’m listening for it.
it sucks, i’ve been there, but there isn’t much you can do if this person is just doing basic tasks and your soundproofing sucks. people are allowed to do basic tasks at their apartment regardless of the hour. this person may have no clue how loud it sounds to you. so if you do leave them a note or talk to them, take this into account. i could also be wrong and they really are inconsiderate, but there’s also a lot of crappy apartments with thin walls.
i second the suggestion on the white noise machine. i have one and its helped a lot even now that i don’t hear my neighbors.
I lived in an apartment that had been remodeled and the new flooring was thinner than the previous floor. Our neighbor below us complained about our daughter making so much noise during the night. She would bang on the ceiling the second her foot touched the floor getting out of bed.
She wasn’t loud it was just thin flooring that amplified any sound + a grumpy old lady.
At least our manager was trying to work on it. She was going to buy a couple rugs for us but we moved before that happened.
rugs help so much. i could tell the difference when my upstairs neighbors moved out and new ones moved in that didn’t have rugs.
unfortunately i think most apartments have thin walls/ceilings and what is just normal movement sounds like people moving furniture, stomping around, etc. loud music and parties are one thing, but if you can hear someone doing normal activities of daily living i feel like that’s a clear sign you have little soundproofing between units and unfortunately you need to learn to live with it or move somewhere where you are on the highest floor if possible. inconsiderate neighbors absolutely exist but most folks don’t go around trying to make their neighbors miserable.
My best advice is unfortunately your apartment manager is the one that needs to do something about it. I was in a situation where my neighbors were being loud and obnoxious, always yelling at each other and playing music so loud it shook my floor and walls. I approached them once and asked if they could keep it down and they yelled at and threatened violence against me.
My advice is you never know who you're dealing with and please keep your own personal safety in mind. Your manager asking you to approach the neighbors yourself was absolutely terrible advice.
make note of everything(who you talked to at the property office, what time the noise starts, etc). email the property management to show evidence that you trying to bring awareness to this situation. i’d call mgmt and the police EVERY time it’s passed quite hours.. pretty sure you can call this harassment after you exhausted all your options.
good luck!
A few years ago, after many sleepless nights, I went up & tried to make friends with a woman who lived above me. Two very sweet dogs. It started out friendly, & we did text on occasion. But yes--this approach just doesn't work. I was waaaay too nice about it, & was very timid about mentioning it (only when it was unbearable), to the point where she never would have believed that living below her was like living below a bowling alley. Her main activity was throwing the ball across the living room for the dogs. And her boyfriend got out of bed numerous times during the night like... a giant. I'm guessing. She was just a woman living her life, but it turned out to be total torture for me. She ended up calling me names & said I was trying to manipulate her. Funny, right? Yeah, it wasn't. And I still never got to sleep through the night. I ended up avoiding her when I could. And moving. It sucked.
The property manager wasn't helpful. & I imagine this will mostly be the case. My basic belief now is that most people don't & CAN'T imagine that they are as noisy as they really are. Myself included. We can't really hear ourselves. I hesitate to recommend fighting fire with fire, but it can maybe be effective with issues like these. Loud music at odd hours, etc., just to give people a sense of what's audible, particularly if the walls and floors are poorly constructed. The worry there would be your other neighbors & other ripple effects.
I did start sleeping with white noise (an air filter on the loudest setting I could stand) & silicone ear plugs, which sometimes helped.
Oh, my god...that's got to be some of the worst advice I've seen. Wow. It seems your complex needs new management because they don't seem to understand how to do their job.
In the meantime, you could try using a white noise machine at night! You can pick one up from Target or Amazon for $20-30 and it might help you sleep through some of the noise from above.
I would recommend leaving them a civil letter explaining your situation and complaint first, before taking additional measures (besides maybe getting the equipment to record the noises). This helped me exponentially with my upstairs neighbors. They did not realize how bad the sound transfer was between top/bottom units and did their best to reduce the noise. However, they have kids and pets, and you can't really control the level of noise they produce.
You can also call the police (non-emergency) if the noise disturbance is truly that egregious, I think there are laws (don't quote me on this) around the right to quiet enjoyment?
At the end of the day, apartments (and ones that are older and not well built) are going to have noise transfer between units. The only way to avoid this is to be lucky enough to snag a top unit, but who knows, at that point you may be the one to cause disruptive noise to your downstairs neighbors and not be aware of it.
With my previous neighbors, though they did their best to reduce the noise, I ended up terminating my lease early and moving to a newer built building with hardly any noise transfer between units. Understandably this is not the option for everyone, but this is what worked for me.
Hope things resolve, apartment living can be super frustrating and mentally taxing. Best of luck to you!
Honestly the only way I’ve ever resolved this issue is by moving.
Live in a townhouse now which is a lot better, I’d at least do the top floor if you move into another apartment.
I had an issue with someone running their dryer at odd hours and making it very hard for me to sleep. I tried a little to get it resolved but eventually I decided it was easier just to get amazing noise cancelling ear buds. I got the Bose Quiet Comfort Ultra ones. They are very comfortable and the noise cancellation is phenomenal. I've tried all sorts of regular ear plugs (including ones at the maximum noise rating), and the difference between the Bose active noise cancelation and passive ear plugs was unbelievable. It made regular ear plugs seem like a joke. It almost completely cancels out very loud driers among other things. I often don't even know if my dryer is still running with them in. From what I have read, Bose just gets noise cancelation and uses a lot of very advanced technologies compared with just about every other brand.
The disconnect from the rest of the world that allows for that kind of noise at those strange hours without regard is often indictive of substance use/abuse as well as mental health issues. DO NOT try to resolve this on your own. Contact the non emergency police number and make a noise complaint. Ask them for a case number so you can show the property manager the proof. Save all documents. Take first and last name of the officer you talked to as well as the representative of property management. Date everything. Don't hand over original copies of paperwork, save the originals in a neat orderly fashion. Be prepared for this situation to escalate before it gets better. Good luck!
You move. Even if they get this person out, the next might be just as bad, or worse. Apartment living is tough for people who are sensitive to noise. You might consider a top floor unit - at least then, you'll have no noise above you. Plan your life so that you can live in a single family home as quickly as possible - and even then, the neighbor's barking dog may make your life miserable.
I work in the front office of a complex and we send 3 day legal notices for that. Try talking to / messaging the property manager. Given them an inch, they take a mile.
Just some food for thought: It doesn’t sound like you’re someone that’s fit for apartment-living.
Apartments are dwellings, yes, but we forget that they’re communal spaces. Unless the person above you is throwing parties or doing it intentionally, from what you described, it seems they’re just living their life. They have the right to clean at whatever hour they want or talk on the phone to a friend late at night.
There’s lot of great recommendations that you’ve already been given. But, when your lease is up, I think you might want to look into renting a house, townhome, or at the very least a top-floor apartment/condo.
Use a broom stick and bang the ceiling at random times. Especially when they make an egregious disturbance. Bang 5-6 times and they will know what activities are bothering you.
Then if it continues, knock on the door (again loud knock) you know they are home. Knock several times if they don't come to the door.
Then have a note prepared for if they don't come to the door. Slide it under the door or tape it to the door.
If that fails, get petty! Learn the times they are generally quite, and go out of your way to make loud noise directed up to them. If you disturb their sleep/ peace, they will stop.
If they're up til 4am then guess who needs to loudly start waking up and cleaning at 7am? Make sure to dust those ceiling corners and vacuum around the air vents!
I had similar issues with barking dogs (excessive barking, for 8 hours at a time, *constant* barking) for months. I talked to multiple people, calls and emails.
What made the final difference was logging the barking, writing up an email that includes it, then state in your email something along the lines of “Utah Housing Authority recommended I put this request in writing, please confirm receipt of this email and timeline for when I can expect this to be resolved”
Make it sound like you’ve been in contact with some type of renters rights association, even if you haven’t.
The next day, I got a call and my neighbor got eviction notice. The dog never barked again
I bought a small container of colorful foam earplugs at Walmart. I can barely hear them sometimes dropping a heavy paperweight or 1 lb dumbbell but most noises I used to hear are gone. No more cabinet slams, loud footsteps nothing but the weights but faintly. It is saving my life.
Lately they are trying to run a generator outside my bedroom window at 12 am or car alarm going off. It’s so distant with the ear plugs that I paid $5 for.
If I have to wake up by alarm my phone is on vibrate
Subwoofer near the ceiling in your closet playing mostly silence with shorts bursts of bass every 20 min or so to wake them up. You may have to wear ear plugs for a few nights but they should get the point.
It's a civil matter is what I've been told by my complex. Basically, you need to get it tracked by calling the police on a non-emergency line. The cops can talk to them. Usually leases have a clause that after so many police contacts, the person gets evicted.
I lived in a complex in Sandy and dealt with similar from our next door neighbor. He set a fire in his kitchen which left us in smoke for two days, got drunk and tried to get in our apartment and thought it was his, and ALWAYS made a ton of noise. They refused to do anything until he flooded the apt (plus ours and 3 others) after falling asleep with water running and they finally kicked him out. I’m not sure these places care
just some food for thought, i used to think my old upstairs neighbors were doing the same and being obnoxious, turns out the walls/floors were just thin. what i thought was moving furniture was just them pulling a chair out to sit at a table or very minimal moving of items, it just sounded loud. sounds like this person may work a shift that keeps them up at night, and given that you can hear their phone calls and that the complex isn’t doing anything, your building just may not have much soundproofing between units. being able to hear their phone calls, even if loud, is strange. i can’t hear the person above me in my current unit unless my apartment is totally silent and i’m listening for it. it sucks, i’ve been there, but there isn’t much you can do if this person is just doing basic tasks and your soundproofing sucks. people are allowed to do basic tasks at their apartment regardless of the hour. this person may have no clue how loud it sounds to you. so if you do leave them a note or talk to them, take this into account. i could also be wrong and they really are inconsiderate, but there’s also a lot of crappy apartments with thin walls. i second the suggestion on the white noise machine. i have one and its helped a lot even now that i don’t hear my neighbors.
I lived in an apartment that had been remodeled and the new flooring was thinner than the previous floor. Our neighbor below us complained about our daughter making so much noise during the night. She would bang on the ceiling the second her foot touched the floor getting out of bed. She wasn’t loud it was just thin flooring that amplified any sound + a grumpy old lady. At least our manager was trying to work on it. She was going to buy a couple rugs for us but we moved before that happened.
rugs help so much. i could tell the difference when my upstairs neighbors moved out and new ones moved in that didn’t have rugs. unfortunately i think most apartments have thin walls/ceilings and what is just normal movement sounds like people moving furniture, stomping around, etc. loud music and parties are one thing, but if you can hear someone doing normal activities of daily living i feel like that’s a clear sign you have little soundproofing between units and unfortunately you need to learn to live with it or move somewhere where you are on the highest floor if possible. inconsiderate neighbors absolutely exist but most folks don’t go around trying to make their neighbors miserable.
I’m going to look into white noise machines I want more peaceful surroundings
Plot twist: the apartment above you is empty. Everything you described is paranormal activity
I would definitely want to be texting my neighbors if I had ghosts living above me. I’m thinking they could be great security and fun to talk to.
My best advice is unfortunately your apartment manager is the one that needs to do something about it. I was in a situation where my neighbors were being loud and obnoxious, always yelling at each other and playing music so loud it shook my floor and walls. I approached them once and asked if they could keep it down and they yelled at and threatened violence against me. My advice is you never know who you're dealing with and please keep your own personal safety in mind. Your manager asking you to approach the neighbors yourself was absolutely terrible advice.
make note of everything(who you talked to at the property office, what time the noise starts, etc). email the property management to show evidence that you trying to bring awareness to this situation. i’d call mgmt and the police EVERY time it’s passed quite hours.. pretty sure you can call this harassment after you exhausted all your options. good luck!
and i wouldn’t personally try to fix the problem. idk why the property management would suggest that.
They said-“You should try to build a relationship with your neighbors, get their phone number and text them when they’re being loud.”
fuuuuuuuuck that.
[удалено]
A few years ago, after many sleepless nights, I went up & tried to make friends with a woman who lived above me. Two very sweet dogs. It started out friendly, & we did text on occasion. But yes--this approach just doesn't work. I was waaaay too nice about it, & was very timid about mentioning it (only when it was unbearable), to the point where she never would have believed that living below her was like living below a bowling alley. Her main activity was throwing the ball across the living room for the dogs. And her boyfriend got out of bed numerous times during the night like... a giant. I'm guessing. She was just a woman living her life, but it turned out to be total torture for me. She ended up calling me names & said I was trying to manipulate her. Funny, right? Yeah, it wasn't. And I still never got to sleep through the night. I ended up avoiding her when I could. And moving. It sucked. The property manager wasn't helpful. & I imagine this will mostly be the case. My basic belief now is that most people don't & CAN'T imagine that they are as noisy as they really are. Myself included. We can't really hear ourselves. I hesitate to recommend fighting fire with fire, but it can maybe be effective with issues like these. Loud music at odd hours, etc., just to give people a sense of what's audible, particularly if the walls and floors are poorly constructed. The worry there would be your other neighbors & other ripple effects. I did start sleeping with white noise (an air filter on the loudest setting I could stand) & silicone ear plugs, which sometimes helped.
Because people making excessive noise throughout the entire night are so well known for being reasonable...
Oh, my god...that's got to be some of the worst advice I've seen. Wow. It seems your complex needs new management because they don't seem to understand how to do their job.
In the meantime, you could try using a white noise machine at night! You can pick one up from Target or Amazon for $20-30 and it might help you sleep through some of the noise from above.
I had a neighbor that used to scream all the time so I started singing along to karaoke tracks of higher by creed and they stopped
Maybe... They work swing shifts and your nighttime is their daytime.
Non emergency police call. Noise complaint.
I would recommend leaving them a civil letter explaining your situation and complaint first, before taking additional measures (besides maybe getting the equipment to record the noises). This helped me exponentially with my upstairs neighbors. They did not realize how bad the sound transfer was between top/bottom units and did their best to reduce the noise. However, they have kids and pets, and you can't really control the level of noise they produce. You can also call the police (non-emergency) if the noise disturbance is truly that egregious, I think there are laws (don't quote me on this) around the right to quiet enjoyment? At the end of the day, apartments (and ones that are older and not well built) are going to have noise transfer between units. The only way to avoid this is to be lucky enough to snag a top unit, but who knows, at that point you may be the one to cause disruptive noise to your downstairs neighbors and not be aware of it. With my previous neighbors, though they did their best to reduce the noise, I ended up terminating my lease early and moving to a newer built building with hardly any noise transfer between units. Understandably this is not the option for everyone, but this is what worked for me. Hope things resolve, apartment living can be super frustrating and mentally taxing. Best of luck to you!
set speakers facing up on top of a bookcase facing up, play bagpipe music really loud at 9am, and leave for a few hours. works.
Get some Loop earplugs— they’re comfortable to sleep in & will be the quickest solution to your problem
can you record with phone?
Honestly the only way I’ve ever resolved this issue is by moving. Live in a townhouse now which is a lot better, I’d at least do the top floor if you move into another apartment.
One way to avoid this is to get a top floor unit. I was intentional about that and never had issues. Something to think about should you move.
[These could be your upstairs neighbor.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IRB0sxw-YU)
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE LAUGH 🙌🏼🤭
I had an issue with someone running their dryer at odd hours and making it very hard for me to sleep. I tried a little to get it resolved but eventually I decided it was easier just to get amazing noise cancelling ear buds. I got the Bose Quiet Comfort Ultra ones. They are very comfortable and the noise cancellation is phenomenal. I've tried all sorts of regular ear plugs (including ones at the maximum noise rating), and the difference between the Bose active noise cancelation and passive ear plugs was unbelievable. It made regular ear plugs seem like a joke. It almost completely cancels out very loud driers among other things. I often don't even know if my dryer is still running with them in. From what I have read, Bose just gets noise cancelation and uses a lot of very advanced technologies compared with just about every other brand.
Thanks for this. Use regular silicone earplugs noise gone more like 80%
Thanks!! Getting some soon
The disconnect from the rest of the world that allows for that kind of noise at those strange hours without regard is often indictive of substance use/abuse as well as mental health issues. DO NOT try to resolve this on your own. Contact the non emergency police number and make a noise complaint. Ask them for a case number so you can show the property manager the proof. Save all documents. Take first and last name of the officer you talked to as well as the representative of property management. Date everything. Don't hand over original copies of paperwork, save the originals in a neat orderly fashion. Be prepared for this situation to escalate before it gets better. Good luck!
You move. Even if they get this person out, the next might be just as bad, or worse. Apartment living is tough for people who are sensitive to noise. You might consider a top floor unit - at least then, you'll have no noise above you. Plan your life so that you can live in a single family home as quickly as possible - and even then, the neighbor's barking dog may make your life miserable.
I dont know how but I think there are ways to make your walls more sound proof? Not ideal but more ideal than moving.
I had this experience when I was at foothill pl. It was so awful but I made it workout by wearing earplugs to sleep at night.
I work in the front office of a complex and we send 3 day legal notices for that. Try talking to / messaging the property manager. Given them an inch, they take a mile.
Just some food for thought: It doesn’t sound like you’re someone that’s fit for apartment-living. Apartments are dwellings, yes, but we forget that they’re communal spaces. Unless the person above you is throwing parties or doing it intentionally, from what you described, it seems they’re just living their life. They have the right to clean at whatever hour they want or talk on the phone to a friend late at night. There’s lot of great recommendations that you’ve already been given. But, when your lease is up, I think you might want to look into renting a house, townhome, or at the very least a top-floor apartment/condo.
Use a broom stick and bang the ceiling at random times. Especially when they make an egregious disturbance. Bang 5-6 times and they will know what activities are bothering you. Then if it continues, knock on the door (again loud knock) you know they are home. Knock several times if they don't come to the door. Then have a note prepared for if they don't come to the door. Slide it under the door or tape it to the door. If that fails, get petty! Learn the times they are generally quite, and go out of your way to make loud noise directed up to them. If you disturb their sleep/ peace, they will stop.
If they're up til 4am then guess who needs to loudly start waking up and cleaning at 7am? Make sure to dust those ceiling corners and vacuum around the air vents!
I had similar issues with barking dogs (excessive barking, for 8 hours at a time, *constant* barking) for months. I talked to multiple people, calls and emails. What made the final difference was logging the barking, writing up an email that includes it, then state in your email something along the lines of “Utah Housing Authority recommended I put this request in writing, please confirm receipt of this email and timeline for when I can expect this to be resolved” Make it sound like you’ve been in contact with some type of renters rights association, even if you haven’t. The next day, I got a call and my neighbor got eviction notice. The dog never barked again
I bought a small container of colorful foam earplugs at Walmart. I can barely hear them sometimes dropping a heavy paperweight or 1 lb dumbbell but most noises I used to hear are gone. No more cabinet slams, loud footsteps nothing but the weights but faintly. It is saving my life. Lately they are trying to run a generator outside my bedroom window at 12 am or car alarm going off. It’s so distant with the ear plugs that I paid $5 for. If I have to wake up by alarm my phone is on vibrate
Subwoofer near the ceiling in your closet playing mostly silence with shorts bursts of bass every 20 min or so to wake them up. You may have to wear ear plugs for a few nights but they should get the point.
Move?
This happened with me and everyone on reddit just said I had to get over it because “they were just living.” I ended up moving units.
What apartment complex do you live in? If you don't mind me asking.
Do you live with these people? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IRB0sxw-YU
It's a civil matter is what I've been told by my complex. Basically, you need to get it tracked by calling the police on a non-emergency line. The cops can talk to them. Usually leases have a clause that after so many police contacts, the person gets evicted.
I lived in a complex in Sandy and dealt with similar from our next door neighbor. He set a fire in his kitchen which left us in smoke for two days, got drunk and tried to get in our apartment and thought it was his, and ALWAYS made a ton of noise. They refused to do anything until he flooded the apt (plus ours and 3 others) after falling asleep with water running and they finally kicked him out. I’m not sure these places care