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Nosiy neighbours and poor sound insulation

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Well, following yet another sleepless night, I thought I'd ask the rest of you, am I the only one with annoying, irritating noisy neighbours?

The couple upstairs spend most of their time arguing - with liberal use of the 'f word' and the 'c' word, come to that.  I can hear everything and am quite tempted to join in at times.  Plus, their eating times are totally out of synch with the rest of the UK and lunch is at 8 pm with dinner at 2 in the morning.  All the smells of burnt fish and stew drift downstairs and through my window. It wouldn't be so bad if they could actually cook but if it's not burnt, it's fried with rancid oil.

The other, really stupid thing is their 'keep fit programme' - jumping up and down at 2 or 3 in the morning.  My ceiling feels like it's going to cave in.  It sounds like they've got a lot of equipment in there.  I think it's keep fit they're doing, anyway!

I realise that the real problem is that buildings aren't properly insulated - you can hear a pin drop - literally.  Every little sound is transmitted and reverberates around my flat.  I thought there were supposed to be codes about things like that.  Does anyone know about building standards?  Anyway, I'm off for a walk now in the snow - to get away from the crazy neighbours... 

Sleepless in Southampton

I'd like to gripe about poor sound insulation in new houses.  Having recently managed to buy a small flat at a reasonable price, I was delighted to be able to move in.  The place looks great and is handy for shopping, schools and so on.  The only problem is the noise.  I can literally hear the highlights of my neighbours life.  The next door neighbours, that is.

Ear defenders - noisy neighbours and poor sound insulation It's not just footsteps (which sound like someone is moving the furniture around) but all the little things like someone having a pee in the bathroom!  Well, I think it's in the bathroom.  Sounds like it's right next door in the living room.  And I don't even want to go into details about 'nighttime activities'.

It's really bad.  I can even hear the extractor fans going in the bathrooms and kitchens, people sneezing and using pots and pans in the kitchen.  The thing is, if I can hear them, then they can hear me as well.  Which means that I think twice about having a loud conversation on the phone.

What on earth has happened to building regulations and why is the sound insulation on modern buildings so poor?  Do they ever check anything?  I'm really fed up with this and I'm starting to think about moving already. 

Not such a bargain after all!


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Lady Marmalade

Lady Marmalade

I live in a council flat Nepalese couple live next door i hear him pee all night when im in my bedroom hear him do that disgusting thing a certain race of people do to i think clear their throat it makes me want to vomit. My 3 year old grandson thinks theres a monster next door when he visits i hate living with this situation
18/07/23 Lady Marmalade
0
Tmac

Tmac

Well my downstairs neighbours have recently installed a toilet in the bedroom below me. I can hear them pee and never flush. They are not the cleanest of people. Leave 20 dogs poos in front garden and also washing on line for weeks and also if it falls on grass leave it for days. Evan had washing outside their back door which feel in ground for 3 months and did ‘t pick it up yuck
23/01/21 Tmac
1
Sassy

Sassy

My neighbour moved in the flat below 3 weeks ago. I can hear him speak on the phone,urinate, walk up and down the floor,sneeze, cough, snore. He is only going about daily living and just happens to have a loud deep voice and snore. The walls are thin and that is that. We spoke about it and he hears me too. We both try now to be quite. We live in housing association flats and have agreed to ask the housing association to come and visit our property to check out the soundproofing. It is hard to relax on an evening but it is what it is. Ear plugs help but unfortunately using regularly do cause earache. Anyway after reading other problems on this site I count myself lucky.
28/12/20 Sassy
2
Benjamin N1stN

Benjamin N1stN

October 2020. Its been going on, onsite in Stafford. Wimpy Homes, Marston Green. 9 Months of it.
Some of the noise is logical as it is a new build, but some is like taking a hammer to the radiators.
The Scene. 4am (on average). The entire building shakes and a loud noise... but where is the source? The Police said its a new home, so I put up cameras.
Sometimes its like stones been thrown on the walls (before the cameras).
The flat next door was empty for 6 months, so only the Owner and Taylor Whimpy Staff would have a key to access the flat.
Here's the kicker:
Before the Covid lockdown in March, the noise was consistent.
However, for the entire lockdown... it stopped.
After locked down... it resumed.
2pm 20/10/2020: Someones banging away on what sounds like the wall or radiators. I record it on the cameras for evidence (thank the Creator).
11pm 20/10/2020: I leave the laptop on downstairs with ambient noise (rain, jungle noises etc). 2 Industrial Fans on full blast, the extractor fan on full blast, plus ear plugs.
4:30am 21/10/2020: Even though I have all this going, I feel the building shake and the noise (lessened by having the ear plugs in).
However its been 9 months of this garbage, so I jump out of bed and run, put on My shoes, open the front door and head to the neighbors front door and start pressing the door bell frantically.
NB. The neighbor only moved in 8 weeks ago and was at work when the noises were taking place the day before.
That being said... There was something different about last night.
A new noise.
At first it sounded like a female mourn, but the breaks between the noise were too long... like 20-30 seconds... irregular.
I thought... maybe an elderly guest snoring... maybe, but again, irregular.
The thing is it was a new noise... and I thought... almost certain an additional person was now in the 'mix'.
When I got back to the house I made another video to document what had happend and within seconds I see car lights through the door.
A friend of the neighbor turns up at 4:30am, well dressed, combed hair... Naaah Somethings not right here.
She's concerned that I went to her friends house and banged on the door. I let her know about the noise that I had everything on video that was uploaded to Youtube... Then the neighbor, tells me she is on the phone with the Whimpy Home Representative... WHAAT? At 4:30am you have already made contact with Whimpy Homes and I cant get the Police on 119 (They start at 7am)???
I forgot that I might be able to get through to the Police on a Stafford Number, and the neighbor didnt!!!!
The police speak to her at her flat then come to mine.
I play them the vidoe, clearly showing a very aggressive noise from the home next door.
"Its the pipes", they say!!!
"Its a new home".
Now, there is a very big difference between pipes and half an hour metal, sledgehammer noise, that I've never heard in the 9 months I was there.
Anyway, by the end of it, I am advised that "It might be best to move"!!! by the police.
Wonderful!!! Just as expected. The Hostile Environment fully established in the UK!!!
21/10/20 Benjamin N1stN
2
Next

Next

@LouLou, It was yourself that made unfounded accusations of your neighbour smoking pot, it was yourself that made the mistakes in the first place in your post, and you want me to " get over myself". Before you start slaging people off behind their backs, TALK TO THEM FIRST. It's people like you that promote bad feelings within communities with unfounded accusations.
18/11/16 Next
2
Louloy

Louloy

For my earlier post, I meant our neighbour hadn't moved in recently, he has been there for 6 years now, sorry about that, had very little sleep and my husband is in and out of hospital with leukaemia so I apologise to whoever commented saying was I smoking the pot, get over yourself,
17/11/16 Louloy
1
Next

Next

@LouLou, "recently moved into the flat below us". but, "This guy though...he has done constant DIY for years now". You need to get your story right, are you sure it's him smoking the pot?
16/11/16 Next
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Loulou

Loulou

Hi
My husband and I live in a lovely maisonette/ flat which is in a terrace of Victorian houses, great area, all our neighbours are normal and friendly , except the chap who recently moved into the flat below us. He is a nightmare.
Admittedly, the sound proofing isn't great but the neighbours before him we used to hear faintly, but they worked, so ate, slept etc in normal hours, it never bothered us if we heard their TV or talking etc. This guy though...he has done constant DIY for years now, sometimes to the wee small hours, puts his radio/ TV on so loud, we've been forced to change bedrooms as we never know what time he is going to bed and the incessant noise can go on till 3 or 4 in the morning. He cooks also about 1 am, that seems to be his dinner time and also it can smell of rancid oil and fills the whole flat with a stench. He is also a pot head, doesn't work either so it's like sharing a house with a teenager, except he's about 50 years old and we're wondering how he funds his lifestyle and doesn't seem to care that some of us have to work for a living and need sleep and relaxation. I could go on..time to move to the Outer Hebrides..my husband now has cancer and it hasn't improved the situation, even though this guy knows what is happening to us, he carries on regardless...
16/11/16 Loulou
3
Can't wait to move

Can't wait to move

Hi
I thought I was the only one experiencing noise from neighbours below- can hear them urinating when my head is on pillow,word for word talking in the bathroom,their coffee machine the list goes on!!
I too am in a new build currently looking at moving. sound level checks weren't done as robust details used and my landlord is reluctant to do anything! I have stuck it for 2 years but now it's time to move!!
17/01/16 Can't wait to move
5
boblet

boblet

P you are to griping as a scatter gun is to target shooting.
05/05/14 boblet
0
early riser

early riser

I too have thin walls and neighbours who never seem to go out. When I get back from work, I'd love a bit of peace but no such luck. they're always in. To Roger and Jill - get a life, you boring old sods! And don't turn the communal light off - some of us have to get up early to go to work. The hall is pretty dark at 7am....
30/03/14 early riser
2
ItswhatIcanafford

ItswhatIcanafford

I live in a mid terrace flat and get noise from all directions. I can live with it - nobody is deliverately loud - it's just non-existant soundproofing. The real problem is that I know they can hear me. When I get a phone call, I have to try and fine somewhere away from the adjoining walls. Not that my phone calls are anything untoward, it's just the lack of privacy that bothers me.
25/01/14 ItswhatIcanafford
-4
wanttomove

wanttomove

Our neighbour has been"doing his house up" for 6 years. We call him bodge the builder. Everything is left half finished-it all has to be seen to be believed' He's half bricked up the back door and bathroom window. Knocked a front porch down but left the wooden supports and bare brick. Replaced windows with what can only be described as ill fitting odd ones.Including one he's put in the roof. Replaced patio door that had steps up to a path in front of them, with full height wooden ones that look like internal room divider doors that now have a 6 foot drop as he knocked the raised path down to put decking up(half a job) then took the decking down to put at the bottom of the garden (half done) Built a huge wooden "shed" again half built that now has a tarpoline roof. All this whilst doing work internally as well. We are really worried about the structural integrity of all the work he does. The fact that he has scraped his chimneys out fills me with fear for what will be next.
He has also taken ill fitting curtains down and painted out the windows so that no one can see in. And no, I'm not just nosy, but yes I am concerned about the fact that we cannot even think of putting our house on the market with next door being like it is...any advice from anyone
09/09/13 wanttomove
-6
nell

nell

I LIVE in a lease hold flat , on ground floor , we all have a garage but this one car is always parked right across in front of my window , on the only foot path , forcing everyone to walk in the road ,
01/09/13 nell
-4
miserablemoaninggit

miserablemoaninggit

Read in the news today that this stupid government will not commit itself to setting minimum sizes of new houses and flats. More and more people then will be crammed into less space, greatly exacerbating the problem of noisy neighbours and poor sound insulation.

As usual, the government is not for the people but for Big Business, in this case, the housing industry. So, let's look ahead to see the UK, particularly England, saturated by more doll houses - tiny little things that will barely allow room for the normal every day activities of life, never mind having dinner parties, or relatives and friends to stay, or buying any large items e.g. a double-bed.

The increasingly close proximity of the neighbours will put stress levels through the roof! Does the government give a damn? Obviously not! And yet the majority of us will still dutifully go along to the polling stations next General Election and place their 'X' at the side of one of the 3 main political parties.

Why is that, I wonder?
21/08/13 miserablemoaninggit
-5

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