I had the same problem...old house converted into 2 apartments/poor soundproofing (cheap LL. We lived in the downstairs..noisy neighbor up.) Our LL did nothing to help. Talking to the girl upstairs did nothing. It got worse and worse. I had a full blown panic attack and we moved out (broke our lease but we were responsible for finding new tenants). I would talk to LL and explain what is going on. Keep a record of the noise and times coming from downstairs. Maybe try talking to the people downstairs. I don't know..I have little faith in humans when it comes to being considerate (that and I'm in a bad mood this morning). If it gets to be too much you might have to bite the bullet and break it. Keep us posted

Wow. I feel bad for you. I am having the same issues with my next door neighbor. I'm only 6 months into my lease and he complained twice to the office, probably 3-4 times by knocking on my door and pounding on the wall. Which I'm starting to feel like he is harassing us. I cannot believe the things these other peeps are telling you. I agree with you that it is an apartment and there are going to be noises regardless of the time of the day. If you cannot handle the noise, do not live in an apartment. My neighbor works from home and I'm guessing he works at night. But I shouldn't have to quiet down just so he could focus on his job. I'm paying for rent just like everybody else, why should I try to please my neighbor or follow his rules. I respect my neighbors and never make noises intentionally. I'm just having my normal conversations with my fiancee and sometimes I do have family and friends over, but we are usually quiet before 10pm. We do our weekly cleaning and vaccuming. We also noticed that the neighbor is bothered by the way we open and shut our doors. The doors in our unit likes to snap-in shut when its like an inch away from the lock. This neighbor just don't want any kind of noise. I am not going to shut up and be quiet like a mice. I'm not being disruptive or disrepecting my neighbors. He even had the audacity to say he never had any issues with his next door neighbors until we moved in. After numerous complaints, we had to go and ask our neighbors around our unit including the ones downstairs if they can hear us and if we were ever too loud. They all said we are fine and they don't hear anything from our unit besides normal things like walking around and dropping things. Sometimes I feel like he is delusional. We even spoke to the management team and they agreed with us that IT IS an apartment, there are going to be noises. If this neighbor renews his lease then thats too bad, hes going to have to deal with us. You just keep doing your thing girl.

Bill: Within 15 minutes, possibly less. There was also an obvious water stain on the joists. I had a contractor out since I posted this. The tub is definitely reverse-sloped about 1/2" toward the faucet end, as is the tile floor. He had two alternative ideas. 1. Put in sliding glass tub/shower door (right now it's just a shower curtain), build it up so water in the track doesn't pool in the "down" corners, redo caulk between tile floor and tub, also redo caulk between tub walls and tub using better quality caulk, total cost about $750, and yell at kid to be careful with water. This is the bandaid fix (he was being honest with me in that all of this will lessen the problem but not solve it) OR 2. Gut the bathroom, which will probably cost $10K or so. This is a kid's bathroom; kid is 16 and, I hope, going away to college in about 2 years. It has an ugly 1980s fluorescent light box ceiling and the same coverings & trim I hated in my kitchen -- 3" square tiles with wide grout, brass everything, ugly ratty pickled oak low quality wood vanity -- and a water hog toilet. I'd planned to just do a facelift with paint this summer when we redecorate his room, but now I'm not sure. I really do not have $10K to spend but I also like to know that I am fixing problems, not band-aiding them. Help! What would you (Bill or anyone else) do? Blue

Grout is NOT waterproof. Even sealed grout isn't waterproof. Regrouting will do nothing to stop water from getting behind a tile installation. What stops that happening is waterproofing. 20 years ago, showers weren't constructed with waterproofing. Many of them set tile straight onto greenboard, which was supposed to be "water resistant" drywall. Water damage from such an install is a common well known syndrome that anyone in the trades is very well familiar with. It's sadly an all too common occurrence. The showers that were constructed that way will pretty much be a mass of mold and mildew behind that almost pristine looking wall from the slow water leaks penetrating through the grout. If a soaking tub was used, the issue is exacerbated and there's usually more than just the mold and mildew behind the wall. There's usually a semi-active small leak to whatever is below. A waterproof tub shower needs a tub with a tile flange. The install is like installing shingles on a roof. One layer physically overlaps the other, and that's what keeps the water out. A properly constructed waterproof shower doesn't even actually need tile on the surface to keep water out of the wall cavities. The overlapping waterproof layers will do that without the tile. Technology has changed a lot in 20 years. Educate yourself thoroughly on modern methods of creating a water tight tub shower. Your band-aids may work for a short time, but if the inspector is correct, you will need to know how to do the renovation properly. And even if your bandaids work for a short enough time to get the home listed for sale, you are still required to inform any future buyers of the water damage issues. They will want to deduct the cost of the project from any offers that you might receive. Buyers also typically inflate in their minds the costs of the project, so keep that in mind.