I might suggest putting it in the bedroom--few people are in their bedrooms in the early evening, so you'd probably cut down on the problem. And it would certainly make you look as though you're willing to try to do something. One thing I've found: people who get used to lots of quiet find themselves really shocked when noise does arrive. So if she's home all day when you're at work, ANY noise you make is going to seem as though you're extra loud. Dreamgarden mentioned vacuuming--but I had a situation in which my downstairs neighbor went BALLISTIC when I vacuumed. We had a toddler, and we were almost never home, and I hadn't vacuumed in literally months. We left for work before 8am (her in tow). We came home about 7pm, immediately ate, and put her directly in to bed. So I had very little time to vacuum (our place is small enough, I couldn't vacuum when she was sleeping. Then, we were away on the weekends a LOT, so I didn't vacuum. One Friday night we got home at 7:30, and had already eaten. I grabbed my opportunity to vacuum, sand suddenly he was banging on the ceiling (using his oars, since the ceilings are 9.5 feet). Because it had been SO long since we'd vacuumed, he felt we were too loud. Then, the lady upstairs from me was very old and ill. And then she died and the place sat empty. After about a year, someone started taking care of the place, vacuuming weekly. It sounded so loud, and it was really intrusive. I realized that was because the upstairs neighbor had seldom (or never) vacuumed, or if she did, she did it midday when we weren't around. So if you can do something conciliatory, then you maybe can just give her time to get used to it. There are pads for exercise equipment. i think that would be good if you can afford it. http://www.soundproofing.org/infopages/vibrationpads.htm http://www.customrubbercorp.com/l_pads.htm?referrer=adwords&keyword=vibration_pad

It would seem that the people commenting that the treadmill doesnt make noise, are the owners, and of course notice nothing when using them. All nevhanical machines omit noise levels, and with a 150 to 300 LB human bouncing and thumping on this nechanical device, you are absolutely going to get noise, , and more importantly on the ceiling and wall vibrations below. So put away the PC considerations. Noise nuisance laws, were created just for this instance if one neighbor abusing the quiet peace and repose of another, dont move the treadmill move yourself into a house, or gym, when in doubt use a noise meter in your home than multiply the effect by all the weight thumping in the neighbors ceilings at all the repeated intervals of your exercise program. Get real, obey the law, your desires dont override common decency and your neighbors, because you think it does. The courts are full of civil cases just like this, for exactly the same reason. I THOUGHT I HAD THE RIGHT TO USE IT IN MY OWN APARTMENT. Then the judges tell you to wake up, and cease the nouse nuisance or repeated action will result in up to a $500 fine. GO AHEAD MAKE MY DAY, BEEN TO COURT FOR NEIGHBORS WHO CLAIMED TO HAVE RIGHTS, TO STEAL THE FREEDOM FROM THEIR other NEIGHBORS. Hope this common sense counter consideration helps the honest hearted in this tread discussion.

I hope you get everything worked out and can survive for 10 months. We're 2nd floor dwellers ourselves (thank goodness, only for one more month...then we're moving to a house). We try to be considerate of those below us - we only have one person below us. He tends to do his laundry from midnight to 3am, but he leaves for work between 3:30 and 4am. I work out at home usually around 5am, but he's long gone. We've never had a problem with him complaining or us complaining, but we do try to be respectful and not make a lot of noise when he's at home. And I definitely know that cats can be loud - ours love to run around every once in a while and they do sound like elephants. Perhaps you can do as someone above mentioned and make note that her dog barks, but you understand they bark. Cats jump from place to place. Good luck!

If you don't get a reply here, you might ask over on the Building a Home or Remodeling Forums where there might be some building construction people.