neighbors think I make a lot of noise

The BBQ Pit
1

I currently live in the basement of a house, and there are 3 other renters in the building (a couple above me, a small family above them, and an elderly lady on the top floor). So it’s basically apartment living, which I had always assumed that in such conditions, the occupants just have to deal with some noise once in a while.

So anyway, a couple months ago I was playing a game on my computer, and I thought the noise level was pretty low. I had intentionally turned it down a bit because it was late (past midnight), figuring I was being curteous. Nothing happened, so I thought everything was ok.

The next night, while I’m playing the game again, I get a knock on the door. It’s the neighbors above me. They introduce themselves (they just moved in recently) and tell me that the noise from the bass is really loud and they can’t get to sleep, and that this is the 2nd night this has happened. I apologized and promised that it wouldn’t happen again. Like I said, it wasn’t incredibly loud, but I was open to the possibility that it was a bit loud, perhaps they are light sleepers, and I’d be a nice guy and accomodate. So I got headphones for the computer. Problem solved. I appreciated that they spoke to me first and they were neighborly about it, so I didn’t have a problem spending the money for headphones for their sake. It could have been worse.

A few weeks later, my landlord shows up at the door. He wants to hear the vent fan in the bathroom, because apparently he got a complaint from the upstairs neighbor that it was really loud. IT’S A FUCKING VENT FAN! He turns in on (meanwhile mumbling about the two people upstairs being cry-babies: “he’s a cry baby, she’s a cry baby” he said), realizes that it’s not louder then normal, and it ends with me saying ‘ok, I’ll make sure I turn it off when I’m out of the shower’ (sometimes I guess I left it on for a few hours for some reason. And guess what - I never realized it because it wasn’t all that loud!)

Anyhow - so this afternoon I was working from home, and I was playing a CD in the other room. The way my apartment is situated, I usually turn up the volume a little bit more than normal because it’s very hard to hear from other rooms in the apartment (indication to me that the walls aren’t that thin!). So at about 3 in the afternoon, the doorbell rings. The woman from upstairs tells me that her kitchen floor is literally shaking. I think she’s full of shit because absolutely nothing in my apartment was shaking at all, and it’s right next to the sound! She’s obviously disgusted, but I tell her I’ll turn down the music. IT’S 3 OCLOCK IN THE FUCKING AFTERNOON!

At this point, I mine as well state that I always avoid making noise after 10 PM, and if I have something to do that makes noise (like any sort of hammering or using a power tool or anything) and it’s after 10 PM, I wait until the next day.

So now I’m not sure what to do. I know I can get under their skin real easy (muhahahaha!), but I dont want it to turn into anything major. There is no lease (the landlord is a friend of a friend), and I tried looking up any laws in my town or state regarding excessive noise, and found very little (what I did find was for the city of Boston, not the town I live in).

I’m thinking that the next time anything is said, I’ll ask if anyone works nights and sleeps during the day. When they say no, I’ll ask if I can hear it from their apartment so I have an idea of what things sound like from their apartment. I expect that the result will be them being able to hear the music (not literally shaking the floor, as she claimed), but since it’s very rare I make a lot of noise (I travel for a living and go to my g/f’s on many weekends, so the actual time I’m there to make any noise is relatively little!), I think I’d just walk out and say ‘yeah I can hear it, but I can’t help you. I bought headphones for your sake, make efforts to turn off the vent fan because you complained about it, make efforts not to make noise past 10 PM because I’m a respectful person, and am only here about 30-40% of the time. Thats more then most people would do. If you can’t handle a little noise in the middle of the day, I dont know what to tell you.’

Any ideas?

2

Easy to forget when living in the basement (with your probable concrete floor) that ceilings aren’t brick walls, or concrete floors; they’re (often) plaster at your side and planks of wood with gaps in between at the other. Not a lot there, to be fair. YMMV

3

What London_Calling said; plus it seems that sound, especially bass, can be carried up through the supporting structure and be more annoying than in the next room.

That said, it sounds like you’re doing everything reasonable to accommodate your neighbors. Their beef is with the landlord. Anyone wishing to turn a basement, which isn’t usually built to be a living space, into an apartment should expect to spend some bucks on soundproofing. If they can’t get him to retrofit to their satisfaction, their only options are live with it or move.

4

Try putting the subwoofer on something cushiony. It’s the bass that’s traveling.

5

Not being in the istuation, it’s hard to know what to say. I used to live in an apartment where the downstiars guy would play bass-heavy music, and I literally could feel the bass vibrations in my apartment. There was enough of a buzz to it that it was difficult to watch TV or hold a conversation.

Until reading your post, it never occurred to me that it might have sounded normal in his aparment; since he was on the ground floor, maybe nothing in his apartment was vibrating, and he may not have realized how thin the walls were.

Even so, I only complained to him on rare occasions, and was always polite and straightforward about it. The more you complain, the less seriously you’ll be taken.

Daniel

6

Bass travels. If they can hear your music at any time, you are in the wrong.

7

My advice is to put books under all your speakers. It absorbs a good deal of the sound energy they normally transmit into the floor, and thus reduces a lot of the noise that carries through to other apartments.

8

Well, I live on the first floor of an apartment building and am constantly at war with my upstairs neighbors because the loud music literally DOES shake the walls.

I don’t know about your state, but in my state even though I did not sign a lease, I am still obligated to abide by landlord/tenant laws. An oral lease is as valid as a written lease.

Also, according to the landlord/tenant laws in my state, the noise/disturbance regulations apply all day long, not just after 10 pm. You are probably referring to local noise ordinances. The landlord is responsible for providing and maintaining a reasonably noise free environment.

If you have to turn up the volume to hear something several rooms away, then the volume is too loud. Maybe you can move your stereo or buy a portable one.

Try this link to find landlord tenant laws in your state. If this doesn’t help you, do a google search on landlord tenant law. There are many sites to choose from. http://rental-housing.com/rental/ltlaw.htm

You may just have to bite the bullet and be a little quieter.

9

Noooo! Don’t you get it, silk1976? They were Porno Recruiters! You got three chances! You were supposed to say something like “Oh. Can you help me…turn the volume knob?” or “Come see what it sounds like from my bedroom.” Now you’ll probably never get another chance!

10

I just gave my brother (who lives in a basement appt) a Dolby Digital 5.1 home theatre system, complete with a 8" downward firing 250W subwoofer.

I hope he is as considerate as you are silk1976.

11

Wear headphones, and tiptoe around with sneakers while at home, maybe try to be home only 5-10% of time.

12

And don’t you dare run that vent fan. Mildew is a small price to pay for happy upstairs neighbors.