tkingdoll
23rd May 2006, 05:54 PM
Hello all,
I have done some internet research but can't find anything that isn't biased towards selling me something, so I was hoping one of you smart science-types might be able to help. I'm gonna post this in JREF as well, I need all the help I can get.
Here's the problem:
My sister and her partner live in the same block of flats as me and hubby, but we are on the 2nd floor (the top) where they are in the middle, on the 1st floor.
When they bought their apartment, the one above theirs was empty. A few months ago, the owner of the flat above rented it out to a really horrible chav couple. I hate to be a snob but they are totally unsuitable for a lovely quiet upmarket block like ours. Anyway, snobbery aside, they are noisy people. Very.
They shout conversations through rooms rather than talking face-to-face, they argue constantly at very anti-social hours (e.g. 3am), they stamp about and slam doors, cupboards etc. Last night my sister came to mine in tears at 12:30am because the chavs had arrived home drunk and proceeded to sing at the top of their voices then have a huge argument.
Whilst there is clearly a problem with the lifestyles of these people, there seems to be an acoustics problem too. When sitting in my sister's bedroom, you can every single word, perfectly clearly, that the upstair's people are saying, even if they are talking at normal levels. If they have friends round, the noise from their conversation is so high it's unbearable. I have witnessed this myself, it's no exaggeration.
My sister and her bloke have to get up when their neighbours do, and can't go to bed until they do, simply because the noise of their everyday living is too loud. It's ridiculous.
My sister has asked my downstairs neighbour how much of us he can hear, and he said very little - the odd bang if we drop something or shout, but he certainly can't hear conversations.
The only difference that I can tell between my flat and the chavs, is that our flat is carpeted in very thick underlay and thick pure wool carpet. The chavs' flat has very thin underlay and thin cord carpet. The other difference is that there were brittle vinyl tiles on our floor when we moved in, which we removed before the carpet was fitted. I know for a fact that the chavs' flat still has these tiles under the carpet.
The flats are brick, built in 1965 and structurally in good condition.
The ideal solution would probably be to have the landlady of the flat above buy acoustic underlay and thicker carpet for her entire flat. It is highly unlikely that she is going to pay for this (although my sister has written to her to ask), so we need to think of alternative solutions.
I have seen ceiling acoustic boards for sale which claim to block mid-range frequency noise (which is what normal talking is), but other sources claim that these don't work. I can't see why they wouldn't, as adding a very dense layer to the ceiling would surely stop noise?
If the landlady refuses to pay for underlay, I think my sister should find a solution that requires doing something to her own flat, rather than her paying to improve someone else's property.
Does anyone know anything about acoustics or noise? Could this be a structural problem?
Yours,
Desperate in Moseley
I have done some internet research but can't find anything that isn't biased towards selling me something, so I was hoping one of you smart science-types might be able to help. I'm gonna post this in JREF as well, I need all the help I can get.
Here's the problem:
My sister and her partner live in the same block of flats as me and hubby, but we are on the 2nd floor (the top) where they are in the middle, on the 1st floor.
When they bought their apartment, the one above theirs was empty. A few months ago, the owner of the flat above rented it out to a really horrible chav couple. I hate to be a snob but they are totally unsuitable for a lovely quiet upmarket block like ours. Anyway, snobbery aside, they are noisy people. Very.
They shout conversations through rooms rather than talking face-to-face, they argue constantly at very anti-social hours (e.g. 3am), they stamp about and slam doors, cupboards etc. Last night my sister came to mine in tears at 12:30am because the chavs had arrived home drunk and proceeded to sing at the top of their voices then have a huge argument.
Whilst there is clearly a problem with the lifestyles of these people, there seems to be an acoustics problem too. When sitting in my sister's bedroom, you can every single word, perfectly clearly, that the upstair's people are saying, even if they are talking at normal levels. If they have friends round, the noise from their conversation is so high it's unbearable. I have witnessed this myself, it's no exaggeration.
My sister and her bloke have to get up when their neighbours do, and can't go to bed until they do, simply because the noise of their everyday living is too loud. It's ridiculous.
My sister has asked my downstairs neighbour how much of us he can hear, and he said very little - the odd bang if we drop something or shout, but he certainly can't hear conversations.
The only difference that I can tell between my flat and the chavs, is that our flat is carpeted in very thick underlay and thick pure wool carpet. The chavs' flat has very thin underlay and thin cord carpet. The other difference is that there were brittle vinyl tiles on our floor when we moved in, which we removed before the carpet was fitted. I know for a fact that the chavs' flat still has these tiles under the carpet.
The flats are brick, built in 1965 and structurally in good condition.
The ideal solution would probably be to have the landlady of the flat above buy acoustic underlay and thicker carpet for her entire flat. It is highly unlikely that she is going to pay for this (although my sister has written to her to ask), so we need to think of alternative solutions.
I have seen ceiling acoustic boards for sale which claim to block mid-range frequency noise (which is what normal talking is), but other sources claim that these don't work. I can't see why they wouldn't, as adding a very dense layer to the ceiling would surely stop noise?
If the landlady refuses to pay for underlay, I think my sister should find a solution that requires doing something to her own flat, rather than her paying to improve someone else's property.
Does anyone know anything about acoustics or noise? Could this be a structural problem?
Yours,
Desperate in Moseley