The current state of my neighbor situation is making me want to move. The bed above me gets quite the "workout" at all hours and sometimes makes me wonder if it's going to come crashing through the ceiling. I've asked this neighbor to put something under the bed like maybe a few layers of carpeting, but I guess I can consider myself ignored.
The neighbor below me has gotten an electric bass and apparently the only way to practice is to turn it all the way up so that my furniture vibrates. The neighbor to the left has a pair of bulldogs. When they fight, it feels as if the entire building is shaking. He snores rather loudly and seems content to allow the door to slam. The problem with slamming to door, aside from being extremely loud, is that the walls shake so that every other door on the floor rattles and my pictures hang crooked. The other night he put in a movie and cranked the tv up loud. I had to knock on his door 3 times to get him to turn it down (granted not very much). Somehow he seemed surprised.
The neighbor on the other side also likes to watch movies and play video games rather loudly, but sometimes really early in the morning. That is until one morning I was really fed up and banged on the wall screaming. He hasn't done it that loudly since.
But really? Is that was it takes to get people to behave civilly? I have to bang on the walls and scream? It just doesn't make sense. It should be obvious upon moving in that since the floors are concrete and the ceilings are high, noise will reverberate all over the place. Secondly, there's no escaping the fact that the walls are thin. I don't think I have especially good hearing, but I can hear pretty much anything my neighbors do. I know what part of the apartment they are in and what they are having for dinner if it's particularly smelly. The crazy woman who mistreated her dog who lived to the right of me for a year made a tomato sauce so strong I resorted to hanging plastic over the area that seemed to be exposed to prevent the smell from coming through for fear it would take up residence in my clothing. Plus she smoked.
But to me it's obvious that if you are a person who makes noise, perhaps it's better to live in a house rather than an apartment. If you are in a situation with shared walls, perhaps you should keep the volume down a bit. That if you are down the hallway and can hear noise from your apartment, perhaps you are disturbing your neighbors. That if you like to listen to music loudly, wear a pair of headphones. It's hard to me to understand how other people don't see it that way. That it's just ok to be as loud as you want any time you want regardless what the lease says.
So, I've started looking around for another place. My needs are a little bit particular, but I don't thing they're particularly luxurious:
1) commute to boston less than half an hour, or few stops
2) at least 600 square feet, preferably a loft
3) little to no carpeting, preferably concrete or wood
4) a decent amount of daylight
5) appliances made in the last decade
6) demonstrably quiet. I will even ask the person showing the apartment to go to the floor above and walk around to prove how quiet it is.
7) if on the commuter rail, then must be equal or less to what i'm paying now. If on the T then add $200 to what I'm paying now
8) a grocery store needs to be within walking distance
9) a park or beach or walking trail somewhat nearby
Every apartment that I've come across that seems suitable costs about twice what I'm paying now. I just can't spend that much and still consider myself a responsible person.
I've considered Lowell, but the commute could drive me insane and every time I need to fly really early in the morning (which is most cases), it could potentially be a very expensive ordeal to get to the airport.
One solution I've considered is bribing my neighbors to move out. It doesn't guarantee that the next person who moves in would be any quieter though. But it could be potentially less expensive than moving.
So how do you deal with your unreasonably noisy neighbors?
