Okay, this is much later from the original post, but I just want to address this issue. Having been in one unit for years and experiencing those who have been quieter and more normal walkers than others, some are not. Currently, there is the loudest, hardest heel-striker living above, usually driving me nuts for hours. My ceiling CRACKS and SNAPS with each thudding footfall...(and is mostly carpet). Like any repetitive sound that intrudes another's space, this becomes too annoying. I have shared a recording of this noise with others and they are aghast at how it sounds. (The manager thought it was something else, when I showed her, trying to make my point). When this comes up, many will bring up the structural aspects, some saying "It's just the building" in defense, while they walk like fools. The assumption in these cases is that the flooring needs repair, when the problem is the aggressive walker. (Of course, this is always seen as being brushed over since "how one walks cannot be controlled", is "everyday living".. yada, yada.. yet is such an issue I've seen discussed often). I wanted to bring up, since when discussing with some lately, they typically assumed the construction here is failing, but was not this way prior. Today I was aware that he's had a visitor up there all day while he was gone and noticed that that person was not disruptive at all, walking normally, proving to me that the floor up there is still fine after all and that it is only due to big foot making rushed, thudding long strides on my ceiling. Ho-hum. As the offender arrived, I am becoming tense. When he walks over the area where I am sitting, I can feel a dizzying sensation, like my couch actually shifts, apparently due to everything being connected. What occurs often is this endless walking around...like there's "so much to do", rushing back and forth.. back and forth. Anyway, I feel that one who walks with reckless abandon just should NOT live above another unit. If anyone has ever indicated to one like this that they walk hard, they should STOP... think....and NOT rent above another. It will save everyone involved a lot of trouble. (That goes for the person being regularly caffeinated, or hyperactive, having ADHD or something). Though I know that many do not realistically function by being self-aware and sparing others, it would prevent such problems). This is what I am going through, possibly getting another unit here, which I don't even want to do (and can't be upstairs), while waiting for certain housing elsewhere, since I cannot stand being invaded each and every day by this. So, I feel the need to have a stressful move just due to another's habits, yet this could just be avoided if one like this would just live in a lower unit! (Though others would still have to hear his constant sound system and BASS noise, the other issue), furthering the thought that one like that should live in a private home if refusing to make adjustments.

It really isnt a Guestimate (No more than $1 a sq. foot off) I have 100% of the framing done All 2X4 ($650) I have 100% of initial Electric done (Inspecting both Wed) I have basically everything bought to finish (Toilet, vanity, mirrow, doors, knobs & locks, drywall screws, drywall mud, casing, baseboard, fireplace etc. Basically the only thing I still have to pay for is the drywall which I priced out at $600 ($650 delivered)and the Carpet which I have a budgeted amount at $23 a sq. yard ($1540) I am saving on the follow: Drywalling the celing (Plus I like the look of it. I have a few monster soffits that I can view 75% of all plumbing and ductwork from the large unfinished area) Newly constructed house (Already Insulated to code)(just insulating ceiling in the media room and walls surounding, and around the 1/2 bath) Paid a family member to do the Electrical & Plumbing (cheaper than contacting it out but made sure they had a little money in their pocket when complete) Did all the other work myself and will do the rest. I have discounts on Carpeting and primer and paint. Had a one time 10% off coupon for Home Depot (Bought all doors, knobs, locks, mud, fireplace, drywall screws, drywall accessories, base board & casing. I am using left over flooring from when they built my house for the 1/2 bath. I have gotten ALLOT of help but even if I hadnt I would have done the electrical myself and hired a plumber which would have been a wash. Either way it would have been under $10 a sq. foot easy. Total Project = $5,100 + or - $200. Please note I used basic doors, casing and base board. step up from the bottow of the line.

Let's actually set this right. There are NOT three different methods of sound transmission, that is either way over-simplified or over-complicated, depending on the view that you want to take. Building designers have created a checklist to deal with building design and sound transmission. But that is because building designers have enough stuff to deal with without getting into the physics of mechanical waves when designing a building. There is exactly one method of sound transmission in buildings, on earth, in space, etc. Sound is a mechanical wave, or energy that travels through matter by disturbing it. More specifically even, it is the displacement of matter from its equilibrium position and that displacement as well as the rebounding of material is what moves sound through all matter, including air and walls, it is also the lack of matter to disturb that stops sound from moving through outer space. Sound is easy to understand as work, as sound encounters various forms of matter it expends effort to move through the material, even air, that is why decibels are lessened over distance. There are really only two ways to reduce sound, require more work and convert the work (technically there are three, but locate your basement in outer space seems a bit extreme). More mass means sound has to work harder to move the material, not unlike throwing a boulder compared to throwing a pebble. So one simple way to reduce sound transmission is to add more mass. The other is to convert sound to other forms of energy, usually heat energy. This is what resilient materials such as rubber and cork do. Think hitting someone with a bat versus hitting someone with a foam pole. ---------- Now all of this may seem immaterial to the discussion at hand but it really isn't. Building designers, especially when designing commercial buildings, have broken sound transmission into three very broad categories that they need to address in the design of a building. However, not every situation requires considering those things as they are presented, nor are those three things adequate in other situations. The final, and really more important point for homeowners, is the cost of effective design versus the cost of effective treatment. No one who actually works in theater installation and design really spends their day looking after these "three sound transmission characteristics" of building design. And no one creating sound isolation booths for recording studios would think addressing those three things are remotely adequate. I have both a home theater and a sound isolation booth in my house. There are thousands of installers, and hundreds of home theater and listening room designers who all use the same four steps for sound proofing: (1) sealing, (2) adding mass, (3) decoupling, and (4) dampening (note: that dampening is often separated into dampening and absorbing for ease of understanding). Any approach using these four steps, even in a cost effective manner, will adequately address sound transmission for most needs. Just to be clear it absolutely deals with airborne, flanking and impact transmission, it is well detailed in the material I directed the OP to. So any assertion that no one has dealt with that, is absolutely wrong. If you are building a sound isolation booth for a home recording studio, this is a good start, but by no means complete. However, you are going to have to get into specific attenuation at that point, at which time I would advise visiting the gearslutz.com or SoundonSound.com sites to get more information.

Here you go!!! Some pics on this post: https://www.houzz.com/discussions/rtrm-furniture-layout-for-mb-lr-dining-dsvw-vd~5439784  We don't even have a coffee maker! HAHAHAHA. But I'll try to do a little something something :D Even if it's just saying hello with some ultra nutty pecan bars :D I'm hoping to buy some bar stools for the kitchen asap... ones that will go under the island as temp eating. We are also going to be getting one of those 6 or 8ft tables from costco with folding chairs for the mean time, if that's what we eat on for Thanksgiving, so be it. It will give us the "Remeber 35 years ago, our first thanksgiving in a new home and we ate on folding chairs and paper plates?" -- well we have plates. hehe. We figure that this type of table/chairs will ALWAYS come in handy during parties. Also more links about our journey there.