The joys of apartment living—noise mitigation strategies, please advise!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Memories of misery... still cause me anxiety.

The only thing that will solve this is moving to a SFH, like I did.

Same. Tell your friend to move as soon as possible to sfh, or at least a top floor apartment unit ( preferably a corner or end unit).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In most apartment buildings the layouts are consistent vertically. Is she in the master bedroom and hearing noise from the people above her in their master bedroom? Does she have an apartment with more than one bedroom? Since it seems like her problem is sleeping, has she considered changing bedrooms?

One final thought...if she is hearing "drawers opening," which is not a loud activity at all, then she seems super sensitive to noise. Does she use earplugs? Other than that she will need to grin and bear it until her lease is up and then she needs to move to a place where she is on the top level so no one is above her.

And that would have been me.

When I was a teenager, my mom bought some cheap plastic coffee cups. I insisted they made crackling noises when heating up coffee in the microwave. Nobody else could hear it. Then they started springing leaks you couldn't even see. The sound of someone playing a video game (this was in the 90s, Zelda and such) with the sound turned down a few rooms away could drive me nuts. I hardly ever play music or have the radio on when I'm home alone.

Hopefully you’re a reasonable person who recognizes that all this is a you problem, not an other people problem.

[Anonymous]

So much sympathy, OP. Many apartment buildings are poorly made with inadequate or substandard soundproofing materials. Try living in an 1890s row house with only wooden floors and joists! Air purifiers and white noise may help a little with voices or basic noise, but do close to nothing for subwoofer bass or loud footsteps. Also try adding your own thick rugs, thick furniture (for sound absorption), a good fan. I’ve heard of people using cork board, too. Can empathize greatly- my next place is a tiny house in the middle of a corn field!

[Anonymous]

It’s hard to deal with unwanted noise in one’s dwelling, but even harder if you have misophonia. Some experience a much greater level of distress than your average Joe when it comes to hearing noise in your house or apartment. I am not saying this is the OP’s friend, but at least one person replying sounded like they might relate to it.

[Anonymous]

I had to sleep on the floor of my walk-in closet at one of the apartments I lived in because of neighbor noise. Reading all these responses makes me feel better---I thought I was the only one it bothered!

[Anonymous]

Are the subfloors wood frame or concrete?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm really surprised a white noise machine or two wouldn't help significantly. I have a cheap (noisy) box fan that I run all the time to help mask noises from my basement neighbor, and it helps a lot.

We’re on the third set of upstairs tenants we can hear. I once had the washing machine, air conditioner, and white noise going and still heard the noises because they were repetitive (music and once an oscillating fan). Then one got a new partner and we heard that all hours of the day and night. We never said anything because karma...we now have a newborn! 😂

[Anonymous]

Moving to an older building with better quality construction is the only alternative to fans or other white noise machines.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But a carpet for tenant above

And will good padding.

[Anonymous]

OP here, thanks everyone! These are great ideas that I will share with her. Hopefully it will help!

[Anonymous]

An old box fan in the bedroom is what helped me sleep through most of my upstairs neighbor's noise.