How much do you hear and notice your neighbours (on average)?

ixoy

I'm wondering how much people notice their neighbours in general when they're inside their apartments / houses? How much do they disturb you? I'm not looking for examples of those neighbours who might hold insane parties but trying to get a feel instead for how instrusive your average neighbour can appear to be.

For example, I'm currently living in apartment and experience:

* Hearing the kid above running up and down. If something is dropped on their floor (wooden I'm guessing) it's very audible within my apartment as is any shouting at said kid.

* The doors within the neighbouring apartment closing (incl. presses). It sounds like they slam them but it could be revervberations carried through the walls. I've even been able to hear it through two closed doors.

* Any front door closing

* The stink of the neighbouring apartment's cigarette smoke coming right into the hallway (can't even see any air vents to block this up)

Are these sorts of things common? Am I unusually sensitive? I'm moving shortly enough and hoping not to repeat any of this so I'm trying to ascertain if I can expect it in many apartments in Ireland or have I just been unlucky with this one.

Joey the lips

Yours is the classic symptom of apartment living.....

I live in a timber frame house. I say timber frame because I had reservations. My neighbours do not have kids both sides but occasionally I hear doors slam. I am guessing its wind traveling through from the back door.

I remember a friend looking to rent an apartment and knocked into the apartment above. He knocked on the pretense of wanting to know what the area was like. A single chap opened the door. He invited him in an told him all about the area(and his circumstances- thats how he knew he was single) My mate took the apartment and is still friends with the chap above.

I always thought to myself if I was buying an apartment would I buy the top floor to discourage noise... Then in the winter I dont want to be the one hearing the noise of the slates from the wind. :rolleyes:

I suppose its a trade off...




Now previously I lived in a mass concrete house in a council estate. I say council to help you imagine the style of terrace and the compaction of houses. My neighbour on the right had to be prodded to see if they were awake..

My neighbour on the left.... Jesus christ... When she came in dunk the whole road knew it. Then she had an arguement with the kids and shouted and screamed all night. She dumped rubbish in the laneway...usually outside my gate and denied it when the council found her address. She apparently said its an attempt to blame her by putting in her address.

I would not worry to much about kids above you. They usually go to be at certain times and provided you dont work shift you usually only here them a couple of hours... However I know..... Early mornings on the weekend can be exciting.

Cathmandooo

I live in a terraced house and pretty much hear everything from one side, a few irish girls live on one side and two chinese girls the other side. I dont hear a peep out of the chinese girls, the only way I know they're there is seeing lights on when I'm heading to the car.

The other girls I hear full conversations discussing if they should go to the shops in their slippers

I always hear their hall door closing, hear them up and down the stairs, hear their hairdryers, etc

They have the odd noisey party, but really none of it bothers me. I'm a great sleeper so they dont disturb that, the majority of the noise is just them living their lives so it's nothing to complain about

BurnsCarpenter

I've lived in a couple of houses turned into flats and they have been dreadful. Particularly if you have somebody above you.

Doors closing, footsteps, sneezing, music, occasionally sex.

Purpose built apartments tend to be much better. I am so glad to be living in a semi-d at the moment though. Now it's the odd cupboard being closed or fireplace being cleaned.

ixoy

Joey the lips wrote: »

I would not worry to much about kids above you. They usually go to be at certain times and provided you dont work shift you usually only here them a couple of hours... However I know..... Early mornings on the weekend can be exciting.

Oh I just don't want to hear them at all Watching TV and then *thump thump thump thump* is distracting and I can't but wonder if apartments were built to higher standards, would I hear it?

Cathooo wrote: »

I live in a terraced house and pretty much hear everything from one side, a few irish girls live on one side and two chinese girls the other side.

Now I would have thought a house would be better!

BurnsCarpenter wrote: »

Purpose built apartments tend to be much better. I am so glad to be living in a semi-d at the moment though. Now it's the odd cupboard being closed or fireplace being cleaned.

I lived in the IFSC previously, a purpose built apartment, and didn't notice this sort of thing nor when I lived in Smithfield. Smells didn't come into the apartment and, although the apartments were situated in a style where I had less bordering neighbours, I never really heard anything. It's only here that I have.

We're now looking at moving to a semi-d for a greater degree of peace and quiet but it probably can't be complete. Guess I was a bit spoilt growing up in a bungalow!

tenchi-fan

the neighbour's dog barks from time to time during the day. it's like a cross between a yelp and a howl. it's really annoying.
apart from that i rarely hear the neighbours.

The_Conductor

I'm living in a 3 bed duplex with a commercial property to one side, another duplex to the other side, and apartments beneath. Its a timber structured building with cinder blocks between the units, and concrete floors seperating the duplexes from the apartments beneath.

My lease specifically details the type of floor and furnishing that may be used- e.g. all downstairs must be carpetted and furniture must be on casters.

The level of noise pollution from adjacent and units below varies depending on the time of day, and the amount of background noise outside. Once its quiet outside in the evening- you can certainly hear the TV and conversations, toilets flushing, internal doors opening and closing, cutlery on delf etc......

Why this degree of noise carries so much- is a bit of a mystery to me- I have personally gone up into the attic and confirmed the presence of the cinder block wall and know from laying the floor that its concrete.....

Modern living........

Graces7

Ear plugs are great.

Cathmandooo

I believe my house and my neighbours used to be offices so maybe they didn't require as much soundproofing?

Graces7 wrote: »

Ear plugs are great.

This thread isnt about sleeping. No one will walk around their house during the day with ear plugs in

Thoie

I used live in a semi-d, and while my neighbours were lovely, you could hear a lot - particularly when they plugged things in and out on the adjoining wall, some phone conversations, their TV etc.

I live in an apartment now and seem to be pretty lucky. There's a very specific spot in my kitchen where I can sometimes hear next-door's television, but if I'm standing in that spot I'm usually cooking, so it doesn't bother me. Occasionally (maybe 3 times a year) I can hear someone walking over my bedroom, but it's for perhaps 5 minutes, so I can put up with 15 minutes of tip-tap a year

Sometimes I can smell other people's food in the communal hallway, but not enough to bother me. If I'm in my hallway I can hear other people's front doors, but again, if I'm in my hallway, it's unlikely to bother me.

My place was just being built when I first went to see it, and the apartment next door hadn't been bought and had no door on it at that stage, so I got someone to stand beside the adjoining wall, and I went next door and thumped the wall and yelled - the person on the other side said they barely heard anything.

I've asked my neighbours (to the side and underneath) if they ever hear anything from me, and they said no.

gurramok

I live on the ground floor apt(will be moving in a few weeks) and most common thing i hear is the crashing of water down the pipes from when people flush the toilet above me. Its like thunder that last for 10seconds.

Other than that, people above me seem to work same hours as me so no bother there and either side of me is a bloke living on his own(no noise there) and a family(1 kid) on the other side.(no noise either). No parties either at my end of the complex since I moved here, guess i'm lucky there

Worst noise pollution though is from the road. I live on a busy road and have to close the door between the sitting room and bedroom at night in order to sleep. Double glazing in the sitting room windows doesn't block out all the noise when watching tv. That and the apt's darkness is my reason to move!

ixoy

smccarrick wrote: »

The level of noise pollution from adjacent and units below varies depending on the time of day, and the amount of background noise outside. Once its quiet outside in the evening- you can certainly hear the TV and conversations, toilets flushing, internal doors opening and closing, cutlery on delf etc......

That's quite like the sounds I hear as well and it does vary a lot with the day. It's a change from what I was used to previously so I'm also curious as to why it's worse here - what sort of construction makes it different.

gurramok wrote:

Worst noise pollution though is from the road.

I live just beneath an air path so the roar of aircraft means I sometimes have to close my windows when watching TV. Funnily enough though it doesn't bother me - probably because it's a droning sound rather than a sudden burst of noise (or one that could be ceased by people being more considerate with doors!).

I use ear plugs at night but it's not feasible during the day. I sometimes play white noise on my mp3 player when reading to get peace and quiet but I really dread to think this is what it'd be like for the next forty years!

Thoie wrote:

Sometimes I can smell other people's food in the communal hallway, but not enough to bother me. If I'm in my hallway I can hear other people's front doors, but again, if I'm in my hallway, it's unlikely to bother me.

It wouldn't bother me either except that I can hear the front doors in the living room, the bedroom, etc. It's not as if I have super hearing either.

Sometimes I can smell other people's food in the communal hallway, but not enough to bother me

That wouldn't bother me either if it was just the communal hallway. What bothers me is when it comes into my apartment and it isn't food but nicotine (and some other substances).

I used live in a semi-d, and while my neighbours were lovely, you could hear a lot

Rats - I'm moving to a semi-d and a large reason is to escape the noise! If nothing else I'd only have one neighbour's noise to contend with rather than 4!

Senna

It had to be said, culchie living FTW, my neighbors could be axe murders for all i hear from them.

but i sympathize, i lived (for only a while) in a ground floor apartment on the Heathrow flight path, if it wasn't the steps on the wooden floors above it was Concorde flying in everynight at 8pm:(

Graces7

Cathooo wrote: »

I believe my house and my neighbours used to be offices so maybe they didn't require as much soundproofing?



This thread isnt about sleeping. No one will walk around their house during the day with ear plugs in

I do .. walk round with ear plugs in during the day. If noise interferes with what I am doing of course I wear ear plugs. Why not? Only way some days to get any work done.

It is just common sense, rather than fretting and fuming abiut what we can do nothing about..

Works for me.

How Strange

I used to live in an old period house in D6 and I was woken up every so often by the baby next door crying. I could then hear the mother trying to soothe her.

I live in an apartment now; we have our own front doors so no communal hallways so thankfully no smells. We can hear the neighbours above us especially their two children running around, dropping their toys. However, considering they are two toddlers we've never been kept awake by their crying so we're happy enough.

The neighbours on our right we never hear a peep from but the neighbour on our left blasts his music every evening at 6pm for 30mins and we might as well be in there with him. A tad annoying but he never plays it early in the morning or late at night so we can't really complain.

All in all we're very lucky. Our apartment block is solid concrete so noise isn't a huge problem. Damp, on the other hand, is a BIG problem :mad:

D3PO

I live in a semi D. Thankfully its not one of thes new builds from the last 10 - 15 years that are made of cardboard so I hear very little.

I hear nothing from the house that is detached from me and the only thing I hear from the house that is attached is the odd door once or twice a week if they are slammed.

OP I thnk what your describing is typical in general of apartment living. If you going to live in an apartment I think all of what you describe has to be expected

irlrobins

I bought a 2 bed apt last summer. But from reading people who live in similiar homes I think I'm quite lucky. The build quality of my development is far above the usual standard. Because of this, I hear very little noise from my neighbours. Often the only way I know if my neighbour across the hall from me (our living areas are back to back) is home is when she open or closes her apartment front door. I can't hear her on the phone, walking, using bathroom etc. As for apartment above me, on occassion I hear if they drop somethng hard on the wood floor, but not them walking around. Sometimes u faintly hear some bass from a sound system, but if you're cooking or watching TV you wouldn't hear it.

So I guess it all comes down to how well your place is built. I've just been lucky that my developer didn't cut corners and knew how to build a home properly.

Ginny

I can vaguely hear my neighbour playing his drums every now and again, or chasing the kids around but nothing intrusive at all. Other side is detached so hear nadda from them.

Mink

I'm in a semi-d. Estate sign says it was built in 2000 but the houses seem older & more solid. I never hear my neighbour at all, nothing. I've only been there 2 weeks so I'm going to make a point of asking her if we are being noisey at all (the OH likes a loud TV!)

I lived in top floor apartment in Arran Quay at one point. Never heard anything but our apartment was only connected to someone on one side & everything was concrete.

Lived in semi-d house (one of those tall squished together town house type of builds) in Dublin 15 for a while. The way the noise travels through those houses & also across the street from other houses was unbelievable. Almost impossible to get a lie in on the weekend from noises from kids & loud stereo bass on the weekend. Even people walking down the street, the noise used to bounce off all the houses & reverberate. It was actually a nice enough area but wouldn't live there again because of the noise pollution.

eskimoparty

BurnsCarpenter wrote: »

I've lived in a couple of houses turned into flats and they have been dreadful. Particularly if you have somebody above you.

Doors closing, footsteps, sneezing, music, occasionally sex.

I am living in a similar hell. A few weeks ago this guy moved into the apartment above us. He and a random selection of others seem to have sex about 5 times a day. Early afternoon, 2AM, 6AM . . . its going beyond a joke!

How could i raise the issue with them?

John Mason

i live in a 40 year old terrace house.

my sitting room is beside the sitting room of one of the neighours - i am hear their dog bark (so we know when they have visitors), the kid crying (we know its his bed time) sometimes at night, we can hear them turn off their plugs (we know they are going to bed):D

on the otherside we can only hear them if the 19 year old has a scream arguement but only if we are not in the sitting room, or sometimes he blares out the dance music but only for an hour when the house is empty.

i think we are much noisier then our neighbours, i feel sorry for them