I have a question for people that live in apartments

[nancy2394]

Do you truly get used to the noises that go along with apartment life???? I have lived in a single family house setting for the last 20 years and due to circumstances beyond my control I have had to move into an apartment. We've been here since December and I hear and smell EVERYTHING! I have a box fan going beside my bed and wear ear plugs sometimes and it still doesn't drown out the noise of the people upstairs or beside me or outside.

I swear everyone can hear when anyone is knockin' boots around here. It's awful. They must have kids upstairs because I can hear someone running back and forth, and back and forth. I've worked all night and I'm trying to unwind and fall asleep and there's no way it's happening anytime soon with all the stomping and running around they're doing upstairs.

I sometimes feel like taking an industrial sized broom and smashing the hell out of the ceiling to tell them to quiet down. People have told me I'll get used to it, but so far it's not looking like I will ever get used to it.

 

[GlassOnion]

Yah. I had a train come by at least 3 times a day and by about a week in I hardly ever noticed it any more. The people scurrying about above me didn't even register.

 

[Lilavati]

I don't live in one any more, but unless you have truly noisy neighbors, you soon forget about them.

 

[Taqroy]

The only noises I couldn't adjust to in apartment life were 1) the guy snoring on the other side of my wall while I was trying to sleep and 2) people running back and forth above me. The first problem I solved by smashing my headboard into the wall to wake him up (yes I felt kind of guilty but if I can clearly hear you snoring and it's been keeping me awake for two hours then I feel considerably less guilty). The second....you just have to ignore it if you can. I think it's much easier to get used to trains and planes honestly. You can try leaving a movie on while you're falling asleep, sometimes that helped me.

 

[nancy2394]

well, I guess I'm just gonna have to deal with it if I can't get used to it considering I signed a lease and I really have no other option at this point..lol. I have to nearly hold my breath when I walk from my door to through the breeze way area to the door that leads outside because it's so smoke filled. Sometimes it's cigarette smoke, other times it's pot smoke I can smell.

The kids seem to congregate in the breeze way area and horse around making all kinds of noise. I can hear someone's dog in the building barking quite often. The most irritating thing for me is definately the people upstairs. I swear it's a herd of elephants running around up there. TJ even heard them have explosive diarrhea one time...ewwwww.

The other thing that bothers me is people don't care. They throw their trash down in the hallways, they damage property and leave ruts on the grassy areas with their cars that aren't suppose to be on the grass. They have no regard for anyone or anything. I take care of my stuff and I don't like people messing with my car and someone wrote "bitch" on the back of my car with their finger. Some people are just plain slobs and live like slobs. I miss living in our house with privacy and the quiet atmosphere.

 

[Fran27]

Depends of the building really. Where my ex lived you couldn't hear a thing. Where I lived in Paris I couldn't hear the neighbors except that idiot one level below who had parties until 1am on Wednesdays.. the problem was the outside noise really, as it was a pretty busy street, but I got used to those. Here we only hear when people run up and down the stairs or knock on the wall (and occasionally the wailing baby next door, I wonder if they've heard mine before).

I'd guess your apartment building sucks.

 

[ACooper]

Don't live in one anymore, but NO.........I never got used to the noise of my neighbors. I can't say ANY of them were bad neighbors, they were no more noisy than I was......it was just close quarters, thin walls, and basic life in an apartment.

I've lived in 4 different apartments in my life, they were all basically the same. I've also lived in 3 duplex type settings (houses divided into two separate units) and I couldn't get used to that either, LOL.

I've been the upstairs neighbor and the downstairs neighbor.........I must say that being the UPSTAIRS neighbor was a bit better as far as noise goes, but more of a hassle lugging clothes, groceries, and a baby up and down the steps.

I might just be an over sensitive weirdo though because right now, my HOUSE is 3 blocks from a railroad and even after ELEVEN LONG YEARS at this house, the train STILL wakes me up most nights, LOL *shrugs* figures, LOL

 

[CaliTerp07]

I actually had no trouble in my apartment. It was all working professionals (1 baby, but no children) in my building, so everyone was on the same schedule and was pretty respectful. We were also on the ground floor, which was great, because it meant our ceiling was cement and was a good noise barrier.

The dorms in college now...that was a different story. Those were noisy, but you definitely got used to it.

 

[Laurelin]

The people above me annoy me some. They like to have sex at 2 am very noisily and have parties on sunday nights sometimes. But for the most part I'm okay with the apartment. The girls are a little alarmist sometimes because of the noise outside.

 

[~Jessie~]

Apartments. *Shudder*

I lived in... oh geez... a different one every year for 5 years :yikes:

For the most part the residents were quiet and respectful... but last year we definitely had some neighbors who lacked in respect. The guy who lived across the hall from us would lock himself out of the apartment, and bang on the door and scream at his wife for locking it behind him :yikes:

Last year someone also had an arsonal of weapons in their place and I guess threatened they were going to kill his wife. That entire building (thankfully not OUR building!) was evacuated in the middle of the night and the cops had to talk the guy out of his apartment!

 

[PWCorgi]

I love my apartment building, constant (and FREE) entertainment between the police getting called and the 2am fire alarms going off :lol-sign:

Fortunately I don't have neighbors really (stairs on one side and elevator on the other, so there isn't much internal noise. But the outside, street noise? OMG sirens and drunk people screaming almost every night. When I first moved I took melatonin a LOT to fall asleep, but now I'm starting to get used to it.

 

[Fran101]

Im ok with my neighbors, the ones next to me are very kind and quiet

the ones above me I've never even met, and although the sound like the walk with lead weights on their shoes.. they are ok lol

I like living in an apartment, cant imagine living by myself in the middle of nowhere with it being all quiet all the time...

 

[Renee750il]

Nancy, get yourself one of those white noise generators

Or . . . play endless loops of classical music

 

[Island dog]

I know what you mean. I had been in a single family dwelling for over 20 years and when I left my husband last May and moved into a walk out basement suite, it was terrible. There were 2 little girls above me and it was constant running back and forth. It wasn't their fault - they are kids. It made me realize I couldn't live under those conditions if possible. Outside noises don't bother me. Good luck - hope it improves for you.

 

[Boemy]

All part of apartment life! You learn to tune it out. I live on a busy street, too, and I tune that out as well. I realize it must be a big transition after living in a single-family house, though! But it's all part of apartment life, as long as your neighbors aren't throwing parties at 3 AM or something.

I had a downstairs neighbor who could apparently hear everything that went on above her and complained because I was walking around after 9 PM and her kids were awake, blah blah . . . Then she complained because I got up at 6 AM (which I had to, as I started work at 7.) It was like . . . "I wasn't the one who didn't put any insulation in the building, lady. Get off my back."

Then there was a different apartment I lived in that had very thin walls. One day I heard this yipping sound coming from next door. The next day I asked in a friendly tone if they had got a new dog, like a chihuahua or something. They just looked embarrassed and, halfway through the conversation, I realized I had been listening to them have SEX. All I can say is that girl sounded exactly like a small yipping dog! :rofl1:

The only thing I ever really hated about apartment life was when I had neighbors who would smoke DIRECTLY BELOW MY WINDOW. So I had a choice of keeping my windows shut on nice days or having secondhand smoke drift in.

. . . okay, that's not true. I was ALSO annoyed by the neighbors who thought they were my best friends because we shared a common halfway and smoked pot with their door open (gave me headaches) AND by another neighbor who decided to comb lice out of her kid's hair in the common hallway. WHY WOULD YOU EVEN DO THAT?

 

[Debi]

I never want to live in an apartment again, but only because I love being outside too much. when I was young, we lived in a second floor apartment, and I can honestly say I found it kind of comforting to hear people making dinner. clanging of dishes..silverware..talking. I don't know why, but it seemed soothing on a hot summer day when everyone had windows open. it just was kind of 'homey' if that makes any sense at all. now..I wouldn't have liked wild parties, or such. but for us it was otherwise basically a quiet life, so I did love those summer sounds.

 

[vanillasugar]

Honestly? It depends on the building. When I lived in Toronto we were in an apartment with a building full of seniors and the most ruckus was when someone died or ended up needing to go to the hospital and an ambulance showed up. Oh and the fire we had but that can happen anywhere. The walls were thick, we never heard noise, and while the hallway occasionally smelled like whatever someone was cooking, it never filtered into our apartment.

The building I'm currently in is smaller, full of students, and even with relatively thin walls it's pretty quiet other than the occasional party getting out of hand on Friday/Saturday evenings. For the most part it's not that bad. We've only had to call the cops for a noise complaint once, and we've been here 3 years.

However, I hate living in an apartment for a wealth of other reasons

 

[AGonzalez]

I haven't lived in an apt since early 2008, but I HATED it. These were townhouses with shared walls, and my neighbor was obnoxiously loud and fighting with her husband, 10 PM to Midnight...while I had to get up early and get kids off for school etc.

But in my next place, a duplex house, we had good neighbors. We kept it down for them, and if they threw a party, they'd invite us over. Because, after all, your neighbor won't be calling the cops for noise disturbance if they're at the party. They had 3 teenaged boys too.

She says now that we moved away their new neighbors are completely obnoxious and she hates them.

As for sleeping, I never really got used to all the noise. I live by the airport now, and it takes a C130 or C5 landing to wake me up, commercial jets don't phase me anymore.

 

[joce]

I never adjusted to it. Best thing is a top floor but then I always worried I was to loud for people under us. So the bf signed a two year lease and we stayed there all of maybe ten nights. I hated it.

I think some people adjust better. For me I am very " this is my space,screw off? and you can't really say that in an apartment

 

[iibao]

I got use to it, I actually sleep better with. When I was a child, we lived
very close to a subway. It didn't bother me at all. The joy of living in NYC.
I can't sleep when it's quiet. :lol-sign: