Ear defenders and ear plugs

johnnykilo

I'm a light sleeper and I use ear plugs wherever I sleep, they had been working great, they cut of pretty much all background noise but still let me hear stuff I need to hear like my alarm clock and the smoke alarm.

The last few weeks there's a new housemate in the house who sleeps above my room but she's incredibly loud. I've had a word with her and in fairness she's tried to be a bit quieter but it's not really making a lot of difference from my point of view.

In her defence the house is built like crap, she can have the stereo on in her room and I can't hear a thing but if she walks across the floor it sounds like a horse trying to kick it's way through the ceiling.

I'm kind of at my wit's end at the moment. I was considering ordering ear defenders (ear muffs) and putting them over earplugs. Does anyone else use both? I'd be kind of worried I wouldn't be able to hear the smoke alarm and/or my phone alarm if I used both. I'm not sure what else I can do bar paying to sound insulate the floor but I'm only renting and not sure how the landlord would feel about that.

Day Lewin

What about buying some cheap rugs from Ikea or Argus and asking this housemate to lay them on her floor?

Even, two rugs one above the other should muffle the footsteps very well:

If they are just rugs, lying there, you can remove them when you leave and the landlord has no reason to mind, since they are not nailed down or anything to cause damage.