So my girlfriend and I are moving into a new apartment on January 1st. For the first time, we’ll be living in an apartment complex, rather than a detached house, and I was hoping some fellow Dopers might be able to answer a couple of questions/give some advice to a clueless apartment newbie:
Since this is the first time we’ve had neighbors sharing a wall, we’re concerned about noise from our TV/appliances transferring through the walls and bothering the neighbors. I’m looking for suggestions on how to insulate the walls or orient the TV/appliances to reduce the noice that is transferred. One thought I had was to put the TV in a corner with some bookshelves behind it, but I’m concerned this won’t be enough.
The apartment comes with a fenced, private patio. I’d love to put some exercise equipment out there. But anything I put there would be exposed to the weather. Any suggestions for exercise equipment that can stand to be placed outside?
We’ll also be paying for our own electricity for the first time. Since this is Southern California, I know that can get quite expensive. Is there such a thing as a practical LED light bulb that casts a relatively warm light and can be connected to a lamp that takes regular lightbulbs? I’ve already got compact fluorescent bulbs but even those draw about 27 watts each, whereas my string of 120 LED Christmas lights draws less than 3 watts.
Here’s a couple, but they ain’t cheap. I think $20 is just too much to spend on a lightbulb, although they only draw 1 Watt and supposedly last 50,000 hours. I wonder how long it would take to save enough electricity to pay for the bulb?
Thanks, I’ll check these out. At potentially $0.25/kwh in the higher usage brackets (really - that’s what my current landlord is paying), the savings would justify the cost of the bulb after about a year, I figure, using the power consumption figures you provided.
About not bothering your neighbors, here are some tips from a particularly grumpy former apartment dweller. Follow them or not, whatever, y’all aren’t my problem anymore:
If the bedrooms of the apartments line up with each other, try not to make too much noise in your bedroom. If the walls are really thin, keep your bedroom door closed–it stops some of the noise from traveling.
Try not to slam doors.
Don’t stand in the entrance and talk; if you stand outside and talk, think about whose windows are nearby
Keep TV and music at the lowest volume you can comfortably hear. If you want it louder,
Invest in wireless headphones
No musical instruments unless they are electric and can be played through headphones; if you absolutely must have, play only during daylight and not for more than an hour at a time
I second all of the above. Most apartment complexes have a requirement that one tenant not be audibly disruptive to other tenants. This can take many forms, but I’d say my worst were being able to hear my neighbor’s TV or music over mine.
You’re right about putting the TV in the corner, it’s far quieter to the neighbor if it doesn’t touch the wall. I put up a fun Mexican blanket behind mine, but a heavy or all-encompassing entertainment center should help cut down the noise. Watch the bass levels on your TV and music.
It sounds like you’ll have neighbors above you; get used to hearing other people having sex, snoring and peeing. Hopefully not all at the same time…
Oh, and remember a good rule of thumb about parties is to invite the neighbors on either side whether or not you like them as it keeps the peace.
Can I just jump in and say how nice the OP is to actually worry about this in advance and to actually consider possibly inconveniencing himself to avoid bothering the neighbors? If only everyone were this considerate. I hope your neighbors appreciate you (I could tell you stories!)
It is unfortunate that even in a separate house one is not always immune to these concerns. Here in SF many houses touch the houses on either side, and noises can transfer. We have elderly gentleman widowers on both sides, never a peep out of them, but sometimes I worry if we are getting too loud for them.
A little bit of noise transfer is inevitable, but the best thing that I can say is DO NOT do laundry before 7 am or after 9 pm if you can help it. Only if you are going to be doomed to public nakedness the next day is it okay to do laundry after that, especially if you have a washer and dryer in your apartment. If your apartments have a laundry facility that stands alone and doesn’t share a wall with anyone else’s apartment is it okay to do laundry at odd hours.
Knock on your neighbor’s door and introduce yourself, give them your number, and let them know if they have any noise complaints they should go to you first, not the managment.
Just to note that may not be the case everywhere; I’ve lived in 2 complexes in the last few years that tell their tenants specifically not to confront a noise problem personally but to call the emergency maintenance number instead to avoid any face to face unpleasantries. This has many benefits, not the least of which is making one decide just how disruptive the noise truly is before choosing to pick up the phone.
I think introducing yourself is a great idea, but do it when you see them in a common area, some people get their ire up just from having strangers knock on their door. (Found that out the hard way; nothing makes you feel dumber than introducing yourself through a door that remains locked the entire time.)
Followup to Portia’s post: IME a lot of people making excessive noise, especially late at night, are drunk (or high) at the time. Face to face “discussions” between one person who’s hammered and another who’s annoyed at being woken unnecessarily rarely lead to anything good. And if the noisemaker brought a bunch of friends home from the bar, forget it. If the apartment management is willing to handle things for you, thank them for it.
This is a bit of a hijack from the OP, since the OPs are concerned about not being noisy neighbors instead of dealing with noisy neighbors. For which concern, may they live long and prosper.
Place your speakers on some vibration dampening material. Stacked rubber mouse pads work well for small speakers. Use carpet squares if your speakers sit on the floor.
I wish all my neighbors in apartment complexes were like you!
About electricity bills…light bulbs are the least of your worries. That air conditioner is gonna kill ya in the summer. Ask your electric company if you can do some kind of payment plan…for instance, $100 every month, even in the winter when your bills are lower. This way, when those whopping bills come in the summer, you won’t have to eat Alpo in order to pay to stay cool.
Leaving stuff outside…hmm…check and see what the other neighbors are doing. Some complexes are OK, but others have people who might want to, uh, “borrow” stuff permanently.
If you have not yet selected your unit, be sure to pick an apartment as far away from the pool and jacuzzi as possible! Trust me on this one. Unless sleep isn’t a big deal for you. No matter what the complex policy is, there will always be the happy drunks who decide to go for a swim/jacuzzi at 3 AM.
Also, I always prefer the top floor. That way you will never have to worry about tap dancers living above you, or a dog or cat that scampers across the floor all night while the master is asleep or out.
If the apartment comes with hardwood floors, get carpets, and definitely use the sound-dampening ideas peri suggested. The guy who used to live below me would leave the stereo on for his dog all day and all night. Wasn’t even a good station, and the music would bounce off every hard surface in his house and right up through my floor.
I’ve discovered in my complex that I hear more that goes on in the apartment below me than in the ones to either side. The new guy downstairs snores, by the way.
Also be mindful of your stereo’s settings, not just the volume. I spent years there above a lady whom I knew and we were mindful of each others’ desire for quiet. She eventually moved out and a couple with a baby moved in. Surprisingly, the baby wasn’t the problem–it was their habit of having the bass on their stereo up so high that it vibrated my floor!