NOISE from above

evectm

Does anyone else have horrible noise from the duplex above ? We are in a 2 bed ground floor and the people above us are really bad - they have wooden floors and were high heels and stamp across the floors all day and night it seems! If anyone is in our boat tell me as i feel we are going crazy !

dubsgirl

Have you spoken to them? In a nice way I mean? I live in a duplex and am concious there are people below us but we do have wooden floors and sometimes I don't take my shoes off! I don't think we make too much noise but would be interested to know if my underneath neighbours think the same??

matt-dublin

people are having that problem in the crescent.

follow up with your management company.

daithilocha

oh my friend i hear ya.. don't delay this must be nipped it the bud.. tis your right to get on to the management company now.. don't delay.. they'll sort it out.. write them a letter and email the same to them.. i had kikllings with my overhead people.. serious noise.. balls being bounced at 7am on weekends etc.. not on !!

anywho the management company got on to them and so far ( only a week or so now) alls well. let me know how ya go..:D

SteM

Surely you should try and talk to your neighbours first before going to the managment company? Maybe they just don't realise the noise they're making.

Marcais

SteM wrote:

Surely you should try and talk to your neighbours first before going to the managment company? Maybe they just don't realise the noise they're making.

I had this problem in a previous place. I spoke to the downstairs owner about it, somethig like "do you know the sound insulation in this building is crap...we can hear everything. I'm sure it's probably the same for you...etc." and they were fine with it, problem solved to a large extent.

daithilocha

i tried talking to my "neighbour" ( for want of a better word ). and i got nowhere.. not a nice person at all.. no consideration whatsoever.i said " we all have to live here,, blah,blah".. and i got the door closed in my face, remined them they dont live in a 3 bed semi.. i understand that floors and walls can be thin enough in these type of complexes but blatent bouncing of basketballs at 7am on sat and sun mornings.. then neighbour says " there are no balls in this house".. eh look over your shoulder mate there 3 behind ya in the hallway.. makes me blood boil..:mad:

Greentrees

I am having the same problem its awful. The noise from upstairs duplex is so bad that it makes pictures fall off the walls and people will not stay in my apt anymore. I have called into them.. they said they would inform us in future if having a party... they have had 3 since and have not told us about them. One was so bad my sister in law went home cause the noise frightened her. The management company sent a letter.. no help, we even called the Garadi and they said take them to court under the noise protection act which is a bit much! They don't even hear us calling to the door cause music is so loud. They have also decided to plant lights outside our bedroom window which gleam all night keeping us awake.. its not their garden its a shared space i am at wits end!!

I often have to study but can't due to noise. I don't know how people with kids handle it! I don't know if they have the same problem upstairs but its awful.

evectm

Thanks for all your comments - we have tried banging back - talking to them to stop and now i have had to call the management company.. they dont seem to care ! they have wooden floors so it makes everything echo too. Worst time is 6am - 8am every day including Sat & Sun..also the noice from the laneways at night is ohh soo bad too- can people not be more conciderate of us grond floor dwellers !!!

Marcais

evectm wrote:

Thanks for all your comments - we have tried banging back - talking to them to stop and now i have had to call the management company.. they dont seem to care ! they have wooden floors so it makes everything echo too. Worst time is 6am - 8am every day including Sat & Sun..also the noice from the laneways at night is ohh soo bad too- can people not be more conciderate of us grond floor dwellers !!!

Are you in wood framed houses? Because, residents in Delgany Wood threatened Century Homes and their builder that they would go to the media about poor sound insulation and they caved in (not the floors, the builders and Century!) and are remedying the problem

MuffinsDa

Marcais wrote:

Are you in wood framed houses? Because, residents in Delgany Wood threatened Century Homes and their builder that they would go to the media about poor sound insulation and they caved in (not the floors, the builders and Century!) and are remedying the problem

We're in a wooden frame terraced house in Charlesland and sound insulation is very good! Don't know about apartments though.

Greentrees

I'm in a 2 bed apt. There is meant to be a soundproof layer over the concrete (a spongy surface) but I know of a few people who have had this removed in order to lay down wooden floors.. Its a tough one I'm sure its against rules of some sort to have this removed but can you imagine how much your neighbours would hate you if you made them take up their flooring??

I also contacted the building company to ask what soundproofing was put in place and got a back a snotty letter.. 'everything is up to standard blah blah' basically go away.

The noise is still dreadful for us. The parties have stopped but the day to day noise is not right.. I can hear their kettle boil from my bedroom.

KBarry

I thought it was just me! I moved into a ground floor apt last summer. All the apts in the building have wooden floors but I didn't cop on that the noise might be bad. It was driving me nuts after the first week. I have detailed knowledge of my upstairs neighbours social and toilet habits, which I don't particularly want.
To be fair, the management company are very good when it comes to dealing with complaints about noise (music, not from the upstairs neighbour I should add, and kids). And I feel a bit sorry for the woman upstairs. What's she supposed to do? Levitate? I don't want to give her any grief so I've said nothing. I blame the developers for throwing up a bad building.
What's the obsession with wooden floors anyway? All the new apartments around here seem to have them. Besides the noise it does nothing for heat insulation. My ESB bills have been eye-popping this year.
My lease is up in 2 months and I can't wait to get out of here.

DTinthegrove

I think one of the most positive things about living where we do is how friendly most people are. Surely talking with your neighbours is the first thing to do, getting the management company involved is a very formal approach. reminds me of something i would of done when i was a stressed out puppy living in London.

I would hope if my neighbours had a problem with our noise they would come and tell to us. I would be very disapointed to get a letter from the management agency. In this "hi Tech" world have we forgotten how to reslove problems through face to face communication?

Having said that there may be serious situations when you could use the management company i guess. However, if the problem is down to the way the duplex was built, go easy on them above as they have to live. Get invited to the party, then you won't care about the noise.

I am really suprised that people didn't expect noise when buying/renting an apartment below a duplex, i wouldn't have gone near them for that reason alone. If you can't handle living in a neighbourhood where you have to resolve problems and commuicate with people then may be you are not suited to Charlesland?

BUT you are likely to get the same problems elsewhere and if these are your only problems in life then thats not bad at all.

As for the comments about kids make noise at 7.30 in the morning, you are lucky it's not 5.30am. Actually, ask your neighbours to lock them up and only let them out on week days when you are at work.

(is there spell check on this thing i'm not great at spelling)

matt-dublin

well in theory the spongy stuff shouldn't have been taken out...

Just lay straight over it, so if it was taken out, you can take legal action against the tenant, the management company should back you and follow up by sueing the company that put the floors in for incompentant work and removing necessary sound proofing.

Legally they should have to lift the floors, relay the sound proofing and relay the floors.

evectm

DT in the Grove - im shocked at your attitude! Did you ever think that some people cant afford to buy a 3 bed duplex ? Did it slip your mind that they cost more ??? why should the 2 bed ground floor people have to suffer due to the people above making a racket 24 -7 ? They have 100% no right to remove the layer of "sound proofing " i agree with Matt - they should be made remove the wooden floors. Its completely unfair for you to say " your not Charlesland People " - whats wrong with wanting to live in a place and expect a normal level of noise ? The builders squeezed every inch of land possible and cut every corner to make as much money as possible down here an unfortunatly we are the ones who suffer - why do you think ther are so many 2&3 bed ground floor apt for sale ?
Greentrees - that is an utter disgrace - the people above you are unbelievably selfish! I live in the park and the noise levels from Idiots across the way is totally intolerable - i went out to them and all they do is give abuse. I have caleed the police but once they go the noise starts - until 6am last weekend - somethinghas to be done !

DTinthegrove

Hey, didn't mean for you to get shocked at my attitude, may be i didn't explain myself very well. (I don't want to comment on what people can afford or not as we all know we all pay too much for housing in ireland). What i was trying to say in summary;

1) Surely we should try and sort it out with our neighbours first, face to face.
2) Yes more formal means will have to be used if there seem to be no solution.
3) If the noise is due to poor design, then its the builders issue not the people above. Obviously, if they have taken sound proofing out then thats a different story.
4) Surely you have to expect some noise if you are below someone, it's just how you interpret what is acceptable.
5) You will find simular problems when ever you live under some one, that why to me Duplex's seem only to be of benefit to the developers as they can squeeze more in.


I think you will find its very common for people to have problems with neighbours where ever you live and it must be very stressful. I'm not on anyones side and i can't provide any solutions.

I would agree, we all have the right to live with acceptable noise and we all have the right to make acceptable noise.....but i think by deciding to live below a Duplex you are probably more vunrable to this problem, ethier by the design of the building or by your neighbours habits. That risk is one of the many things you should take in to account when you move in to one.

matt-dublin

and as far as i know 10dB is the acceptable noice limit after 10pm which is quite high

evectm

10 db - ok its not loud really. We could handle that. Its noise from people throwing parties too - and surly going on til 6am is not acceptable. I realise that people do have parties - im not saying that, but to have a bit of decency to keep to down even up to 12 is ok - but this was way above the acceptable noise level until 6am! Does that sound normal to you..these idiots are deranged, so pissed they cant see me as they tell me to Fu*k off back inside, singing Christmas songs at the tops of their voices at 5am >? would anyone actually accept that - why did no one else but me go out and ask them polietly to keep it down a little - they were not even indoors they were in the drive way.all i got was abuse for my niceness - next time i wont be so nice.

Any one else know the noisy people in the ground floor in the park..not sure of the number but 8th turn on the left side.. in the square. Tell them to shut the hell up!

Marcais

Residents in Delgany Wood got an expert in to do tests, the standards were not met and the builder had to rectify.

The residents had to move out for a while when the work was being done as it was a major task.

Greentrees

DT:

1) Surely we should try and sort it out with our neighbours first, face to face.
WE HAVE TRIED ON MANY OCCASIONS.. THEY DON'T ANSWER WHEN THEY SEE ITS US AND WHEN THEY DO THEY FOB US.
2) Yes more formal means will have to be used if there seem to be no solution.
3) If the noise is due to poor design, then its the builders issue not the people above. Obviously, if they have taken sound proofing out then thats a different story. WE CONTACTED THE BUILDERS EXPLAINING THAT WE CAN HEAR THEIR KETTLE BOIL SO SOMETHING HAS TO BE UP AND THEY SENT AN OFFICAL LETTER STATING THE BUILDING WORK AND SOUND-PROOFING IS UP TO STANDARD.
4) Surely you have to expect some noise if you are below someone, it's just how you interpret what is acceptable. I DON'T THINK I'M UNREASONABLE GETTING UPSET WITH A GROUP OF PEOPLE DOING THE SATURDAY NIGHT DANCE ABOVE ME CAUSING PICTURES TO FALL OFF WALLS AND GUESTS TO LEAVE/STOMPING UP AND DOWN THE STAIRS/SCREAMING OUTSIDE OUR BEDROOM WINDOW AT 4AM ON A REGULAR BASIS
5) You will find simular problems when ever you live under some one, that why to me Duplex's seem only to be of benefit to the developers as they can squeeze more in. I CANNOT AFFORD A HOUSE AND AM TOO OLD TO LIVE IN MY PARENTS. I HAVE LIVED IN APT BLOCK BEFORE AND NOT HAD ANYWHERE NEAR THIS LEVEL OF NOISE.

I've given up caring at this stage, I'll only end up depressing myself! But I am shocked to see your post DT.. if you don't understand our situation and have nothing nice to say...

DTinthegrove

I would agree, we all have the right to live with acceptable noise and we all have the right to make acceptable noise.....but i think by deciding to live below a Duplex you are probably more vunrable to this problem, ethier by the design of the building or by your neighbours habits. That risk is one of the many things you should take in to account when you move in to one.[/QUOTE]

this is the bit you didn't quote...
Greentrees, what you are living with is un acceptable noise and you have taken all reasonable steps to try and deal with it. I didn't suggest that anyone should put up with what you are putting up with and you must be very upset about it all.

Yes, you are more vunrable to this dreadful problem living below a Duplex, but I didn't suggest it was right that you have to put up with this. Acceptable noise yes, but not what you describe.

Can you get a independant engineers report to check if the noise from above is accepatble to the standards? Regular anti socialable behaviour from above, could the Gardi advise on your rights, can they advise you on what they can do (if anything) to help without causing more conflict?

mikedragon32

The Gardaí won't advise beyond telling you that it's private property and they can't intervene.

The next route is to contact the WCC and see what advice they can give. I reckon you may need a noise abatement order. If your management company are doing nothing to help you, they should hang their heads in shame. Remember they're supposted to work FOR you.

Greentrees

We called the Gardai one night during a particularly frightening party and they were very nice.. said they would call out if we needed but suggested it might make matters worse which i agree. They suggested we prosecute under the noise pollution act but think its a bit harsh!

Its gotten to a point where we are getting so stressed about it that we have to just deal with it and leave it alone. We have enough with working, commuting etc and don't want to add to it. I actually am getting used to the racket.. the parties seem to have died down a bit since we contacted the management company anyway so that's a start.

However if anyone else wanted to challenge the builders as Delgany Wood did I would be happy to add my case to the pot!

Thanks for all the helpful advice!