Noisy neighbor - am I being oversensitive?
hblotus95
9 years ago
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Beemer
9 years agograywings123
9 years agoRelated Discussions
Are we inconsiderate/noisy neighbors?
Comments (26)We live on the top floor with our son. We are usually homebodies and are always at home. We never have anybody over except for my son's cousins for sleepovers and only happens several months in between they have one. Our downstairs neighbor is a certified crazy lady. She came up to our door and in a loud voice accused me of trying to ruin her whole life. She said we were too noisy and we need to keep it down and she's been holding it in for months. I told her I was sorry she felt that way and I would work on it. I had a headache and I am not confrontational and a fight with this woman was not happening. The only thing that happened that was loud was my son falling over on his chair. Happened once that morning. She next came up and talked to my husband to complain about rolling noises she kept hearing. It was my son playing with a suitcase. She as pleasant to my husband and talked to him for twenty minutes. Talked about life and her kids. Also sneaked in that our toilet seat was loud and she could hear it downstairs. My husband said he had no idea and would try to remember. So we did. My son I cannot account for as he forgets all the time but he is reminded when I see or hear him in the bathroom. We have always been careful with our son making too much noise. He cannot run in hallways. No stomping or heavy footfalls, no screaming or yelling. No slamming of doors. No loud tv sounds. We even watch to make sure we put on our jeans carefully so our foot doesn't fall too loudly when it comes down. Anyway, she came up a third time during the day to complain to me. Apparently, we were too loud again. Only thing I was doing was working on dough on our dining table to make into Christmas ornaments. I wasn't even slapping it onto the table. Just kneading it a lot. No, hey um you're making too much noise again. Immediate screaming, yelling, cursing, and accused me also of rearranging furniture all the time. She threatened to call the cops on me. I told her to go ahead and do it. Later on, when I headed out, I could hear her clearly talking to the downstairs neighbor that she didn't know where I came from and what language I spoke to which I interrupted and said I spoke English very well and understand a lot of the language. She probably realized I had heard her and made an excuse that she was referring to me being psycho and that's why she said I didn't know anything. Oh, I am Asian by the way, full on Asian, immigrant, moved here permanently because my husband lives here. He is white by the way. I don't understand how she can call me psycho when our only interaction was 10 minutes from the 1st time she complained. She also talked to my husband pleasantly which surprised me and kinda made me a little mad that she was nice to him and not to me. I am home all the time, my husband works all day. So I honestly think she knows who she is going to talk to at certain times of the day. Daytime me, nighttime and weekends potentially my husband. We've lived in the same apartment for almost four years now. And while it might not be fun to be downstairs, her being so confrontational and being choosy with who to be that way with, has been no laugh trip either. We are being accommodating to her situation and we do not have any quarrels with other neighbors. If she can be nicer with her requests, with me not just my husband, then we would be more than happy to be more accommodating....See MorePlease help! I am being harrassed by my downstairs neighbor.
Comments (10)Contact your landlord about this harrassment, just so he/she knows. Ask if there is anything you can do to reduce the noise coming from your unit. There probably isn't, but this will show that you are willing to work on the problem. Then keep a log of everything the downstairs neighbor does, and what you did that caused her reaction. You drop a fork, she calls police. Cat jumps from couch to floor, she bangs on ceiling. Record the day and time as well. In fact, document everything. Every contact with your landlord, if the police come, etc. It can't hurt. And look up any laws or ordinances for your town/city about noise. Make sure you are following them--you probably are, but just check to make sure. Same with your lease. Make sure you know if there are any clauses about noise or quiet hours. Again, I personally don't think you are violating them, but in a case like this it helps to know what the rules are. That way, if she does convince the police to show up, you can inform them that quiet hours are 10 pm -6 am (or whatever), and you were moving your kitchen chair across the floor at 7 pm, well within the time limit. What did the police say/do when she called them? Did they come out? Did they speak to you? In order to take you to court, one of two things needs to happen. The police will need to determine that you have broken a law. Or the neighbor will need to find a lawyer willing to take on the case and bring a suit to court. The chances of either one happening are slim. This woman needs to be in a top floor apartment, but I doubt that she'll ever move. Keeping my fingers crossed that the landlord will let you move to another unit. I don't think it needs to be a downstairs unit, unless you want one. I'd hope that other people in your building are more understanding of normal, common, everyday noise....See MoreHelp! Am I a Noisy Neighbor?
Comments (4)amymichelle, Is there any chance you might consider an elliptical machine to replace your treadmill? The problem with a treadmill is that it's higher impact, so every time your foot hits the machine it shakes the floor. You might as well be running on the floor. With an elliptical the movement is different, and there's no impact to shake the floor. In our apartment the floors are pretty soft. It's a single story apartment, so we don't have to worry about anyone above or below us, but when hubby walks by the sofa, I can feel the sofa shift with his weight (and he's not a huge guy either). We have a front loading washing machine, and when it hits the spin cycle the whole apartment shakes. My husband had to take down some knick-knack shelves in the computer room cuz the stuff would fall down when we did the laundry. And this is in a modular building. The laundry room and bedroom are in one module, the computer room and kitchen in the middle module, and the living room and my office area (formerly the dining area) are in the third module....yet I can feel a pretty strong vibration from the washing machine all the way out in the living room. However, I can't feel the elliptical machine unless I'm standing right next to it. It's deffinitely a different movement than an elliptical, but it's not too hard to get used to, you get just as good a workout IMO, and it's much easier on your knees, back, and neighbors. Just an idea....See MorePlease Help - Am I The Noisy Neighbor?
Comments (9)the big thing about "limiting walking aorund' would be that, if you're up after 11, and your bedroom is directly above theirs, go out of the bedroom. Don't pace around the bedroom, or watch the TV in the bedroom if it bleeds through, etc. Don't do your craft project in the bedroom; take it to the dining room after hours. But to not get out of bed to go to the bathroom, or adjust the clock radio, or to not walk gently around the bedroom getting dressed for bed--that's too much. My new downstairs neighbor works a shift that ends late, so he sleeps much later than we do. I walk softly in the morning, and I leave the bedroom quickly. (Of course, I'm just getting dressed, etc., but I make an extr effort to be quiet in the bedroom) Also, maybe what's going on is that you are SO quiet, that when you do make noise, she really notices it. That happened to us. We didn't vaccum for literally months. Like, 4 months. We were just never home, or when we were, we were either eating dinner, or our toddler was sleeping & we didn't want to wake her. Then, when we finally DID vacuum, the guy below went nuts banging on the ceiling. And, we were on the receiving end of that. For years we had an elderly, not particularly mobile woman living above us. Then, she went into the hospital and died. And for about a year, there was NO ONE above us. Then, the sister who inherited put the apt. on the market, and vacuumed 2 or 3 times a week. Wow, was it loud! Of course, we were intelligent enough to realize that the problem was US and our skewed expectations. But I wonder if that's it--you're out a lot, so when you ARE home, it seems really loud to her. As for what your landlord will say to others, well, ask them. If I were them, I'd be hesitant to say something that made it hard for you to get a new apartment--that would be definite grounds for a libel suit. Perhaps they could argue that they're being factual, bcs there ARE noise complaints; but them passing the info on indicates that they've endorsed the complaint, which they haven't....See MoreMaryMcP Zone 8b - Phx AZ
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