All the problems mentioned above with Armstrong Grand Illusions, I just went through. I had the roasted grain color. It squeaked, popped, and even chipped from such bad popping. When I say chipped, I mean after 3 days there were chips on corners and edges everywhere. I hadn't even moved into the house yet. This was not caused by the installers because I inspected it after it was done. Called the retailer and Armstrong. Armstrong blamed installation and so retialer (whom did not do the isntall) inspected the work and said it was a great job, I had a level subfloor (new home), dry crawl space and they took the issue up with Armstrong. Additionally, the owner of this retailer told me that he has had a lot of complaints with Armstrong and that his solution was to glue all the butt ends together (partial solution). However, after my claim, he has pulled all Armstrong from his stores and took it upon himself to replace all of my flooring with another company. On another note, while my brother was shopping for laminate at Home Depot, the flooring sales person there also said that they have a lot of product complaints with Armstrong/Bruce and that she recommended Pergo. In any case, I chose to go with Lex Flooring's Cottage line. Anyone familiar with them? The retailer told me they have had zero customer complaints with Lex and after looking at it they have the same handscraped planks as Armstrong does but with ana ctualy locking system that works.

This is unfortunately one of the biggest reasons not to buy one of these homes. The soaring ceilings really attract people visually -- the whole "grand space" concept first popularized by Gothic cathedrals -- but the lack of privacy walls and (sometimes) interior insulation makes for your own personal Radio City Music Hall instead of the Peaceful Shelter one first envisions. You may need a contractor to install some framing in order to put a door blocking your upstairs rooms from the stairway (do I have that correctly visualized?). You need a header put in, as well as a sill. Get a solid-core or Masonite door -- ask at your local lumber store (NOT a big box store!) for something that fits your budget and will block the most sound. Assuming your walls are insulated -- if not, don't bother with the next step: put weatherstripping around it as any air gaps transmit sound. You should also check whether your interior walls are insulated. We visited a friend in a new development recently and I was amazed, in a bad way, how much sound was transmitted between rooms on the same floor. Another problem you may have is that you may have little or no insulation between the first and second floors. This is something that some developers skimp on. Sound travels up as well as down.

Anything to dampen or even reflect the noise. Consider a good weather proofing around your front door, or heavy window treatments to dampen noise. Noise reflects off of hard surfaces, like walls, floors, and ceilings, this adds to the overall noise level inside a room. Consider covering bare walls and even ceilings with something soft, so sounds like voices, barking, or even the loud footsteps. A shag rug on the ceiling and rubber textile mats on the walls will reduce the overall noise levels in your unit. As odd as it may sound you can actually find some solutions that give your unit that final touch youve been looking for. Think of two things..... Reflection and Dampening when it comes to noise reduction

You will need to find the noise abatement requirements for YOUR city (the one's I listed are for Vancouver BC, Canada). You will need this document to use as a starting point. If you really want to go this route, you will be putting money up front which might come back to you at a later time...it might not. Once you have CONFIRMATION that your city ordinances SPECIFICALLY require a noise abatement assessment/building construction that REQUIRES all buildings of YOUR construction (we still don't know what type of building, how many stories, etc) you can move ahead to the next step. With this type of document (city building ordinances for your type of building) you can then REQUIRE the condo board to investigate your recordings. They may not. If they do not, let them know that you will arrange for an in-unit acoustic recording (called a Field Test or F-STC/F-IIC recording). This requires access to your upstairs neighbor's space for the professional recording. An acoustic company will come in and use a tapping machine in the neighbor's unit (on different surfaces but generally on the floor). Directly below the tapping machine, they will place their microphone on the floor of your unit. Measurements (much like yours) will be made and a document including full scientific documentation (thickness of subfloors, flooring material, underlayment, ceiling construction, pot lights - if any - etc). You will pay for their services (as much as a couple thousand dollars) and you will then be free to pursue the matter as you see fit. Personally I would get a QUOTE from an acoustic company and use that to persuade the condo board to pay for it out of their budget. If they won't pay for it, you want it in writing that they will COMPENSATE YOU should the recordings indicate the building (your unit) FAILS the city ordinance requirements. Be VERY aware this could end up costing every single person in the building a 'special budget' project. Imagine what would happen if you are correct...and the units do NOT meet the ordinance requirements. It isn't just your unit that will be affected. Every single unit in the building *might require investigation (imagine a few thousand dollars per unit to investigate the entire building). At the end of it, the association decides to pay for noise mitigation in all the units...one at a time. As they become available on the market. It is possible a retrofit could cost $10 - $15/sf for CEILING work. It gets more expensive if they also require under-flooring work as well. Please be VERY aware of the consequences. This is a can of worms that could get bigger, and slimier and nastier and bring about the intense dislike of people you need to live with and around for many years to come. This is Pandora's Box. And I don't mean the cutesy mall outlets that sell cheap bling.