Noisy Neighbors

[gunrunner32]

I'd like to start by saying that I normally don't go too far out of my way to talk to neighbors, I've lived in my house for 4 years now and I've seen 3 different families in the townhome next to mine. Since getting back in February I've only seen the neighbors on the right a handful of times, and when I wasn't busy working on something or sand blasting I have made the attempt to say "Hi" when they were getting their mail or something. I've never gotten anything in return. Well I was trying to watch a movie with my wife and daughter tonight and over top of the movie that I'm watching I hear the neighbors movie/tv/radio. Where I'm from, redneck suburbia, growing up in an apartment, when your neighbor knocked on the wall you turned down your crap. I tried this, nothing in return. I wait, trying to ignore the sounds coming from my wall. Well I can't anymore so I walk next door and knock on the door. They open up and here's the dialog from there:

Me: Hello, do you have a TV or a radio that is playing loudly right now?

Her: Yes, we are watching a movie. What's your name?

Me: I'm Chris. I can hear your TV in my place over top of my TV.

Her: Well I'm ......, the movie isn't that loud.

Me: If I can hear your TV over mine while I'm sitting in front of mine then it's too loud.

Her: Well I don't think it's loud. Maybe if you had introduced yourself and been polite and not knocked on the wall...

Me: Where I come from, if your neighbor knocks on the wall that means turn down whatever is making noise.

Her: Well I think that it was rude...

Me: I think it's rude of you to play your TV so loud I can hear it in my house over what I'm watching.

Her: Well it's not that loud.

Me: Will you turn it down so I don't have to listen to it as well?

Her: I will turn it down, I would appreciate it if you would have came and introduced yourself.

Me: I don't have time for that, just turn it down.

Her: I will

Me: Thanks, Bye.

I'm still hearing their TV over mine, I'm approximately 10ft from my TV and approximately 6ft from the wall joining to their town home. Short of me walking back over there and getting into a pissing contest with this lady, anyone have any suggestions? Her attitude that she was giving isn't something that I handle very well, I'm a little short tempered. My wife says I should ignore it, I can't, I've tried.

This is why I don't want neighbors, I don't like having them, I've never had good experiences.

[Il Duce]

Turn yours up lol

[Guest Lester Weevils]

It would probably be unproductive but there is always the temptation to put strong speakers against the neighbor's wall, crank it to 10, and play whatever you figure your neighbor won't like. That would probably just get a feud started though.

There is an apt complex not a long shot behind my house. The Management has enforced noise rules for many years but long ago there was a couple of years where some of the tenants would bring big speakers out in front of their apt on weekends and blast whatever they thought was beautiful music. Black sabbath, rap, salsa, hank williams junior. Sometimes all of em at once.

It is embarrassing to admit being so petty, but I played music for a living and had real loud speakers at my disposal. A couple of times we just couldn't help ourselves except to aim 1000 watts in their direction and cue up strauss waltzes at overkill levels. Now I can't stand opera but one time we played the fat lady, ride of the valkyries and such. I don't recall it curing the problem, and possibly could have started a fight.

[Guest sqlightning]

high explosives?

[gunrunner32]

high explosives?

I'm not allowed to have those in my house anymore, there has been a crackdown at work.

Just kidding, I wouldn't obtain anything like that, I'd have no real use for it. I do have a nice lock pick set and I've yet to meet a set of Kwik locks that I can't pick...that's why I have commercial grade Schlage locks. I could make short work of that entertainment system and be out in about 5 minutes, my wife said to get real, so I said I'd cut a hole through the wall adjoining us and cut all the wiring going to the area their tv would be in....she stopped talking after that.

[gregintenn]

Move?

[TrickyNicky]

Move?

Yup, kind of sucks but from the sound of it this may be your best bet if you can swing it.

If you can put aside the fact that you seem to feel disrespected you may also look into sone noise canceling headphones for your tv.

There are probably about a thousand ways to begin and escalate a sound war in a conjoined space like that, but honestly your best bet is probably just going over and apologizing for being rude before (even though IMO it doesn't seem like you where) and see where that gets you. More flys with honey and all that.

Besides who knows, she be hard of hearing. I used to cut my upstairs neighbor alot of slack when I found out she could barely hear. Then I moved.

[QuietDan]

Research the noise ordinance for your jurisdiction, city or county. Keep a copy of the noise ordinance on hand. If the noise violates the ordinance, call the police. Again and again. If your neighbor doesn't like it, they'll move. Or kill your dog. If you don't have a dog, then you should be all set.

You could hang Aurelex sound foam on your common wall. It'll kill the high notes. The bass will still come through the floor, though.

You haven't mentioned if your next door neighbor is single, and if you have a single brother or friend. . If she is and you do, and she's cute, lots of potential there.

Have you considered buying a recently foreclosed, detached, single family home? They can be had for 75 cents on the dollar if you do your research. If you find one with acreage outside city limits, you could set up your own rifle range on your property and take noise disagreements with the neighbors to a whole new level.

Just trying to be helpful! Let us know how it all works out!!

p.s. There's a 2007 news story out of Clarksville, TN regarding an amendment to the noise ordinance rules:

http://www.clarksvil...abatement-laws/

which includes: "The amendment also places strict limits on interior noise by prohibiting playing audio sounds that can be heard beyond one foot of an interior wall. In other words, if it can be heard more than a foot into your neighbor’s apartment, it’s too loud and against the law."

Might want to check if there's anything more current.

Edited April 23, 2012 by QuietDan

[Xtarheel]

I'd probably try open carrying with the biggest handgun I have and make sure the neighbor sees me.

[gunrunner32]

I do all my gun work in the garage, so she's seen plenty of pistols and rifles laying around and I always keep my Super Redhawk .454 loaded with me in the house or garage. I've been here for the last 4 years, they have been here barely a year, and as much as I don't like this house I feel I was here first. I saw the noise ordinance for Clarksville, I was looking for the actual ordinance number and I was going to print it up with a note informing them that next time I come over to ask them to turn it down and nothing happens I'll get the police involved. Once my wife is done with college I'll be looking for a new house anyways, she's had her fun here, next one I won't be able to throw a rock and hit the neighbors.

[peejman]

Been there, done that... I don't have any real good suggestions. Except that there's some solace when the cops come to haul your drunk, abusive neighbor away and he decides a wrestling match would be more fun. Hearing him tumble down the steel/concrete staircase and seeing him hog-tied, spitting blood, and tossed (literally) into the back of the squad car was pretty entertaining.

[Westwindmike]

Send your wife over next time. Maybe two women would work it out together over coffee.

[laktrash]

Except that there's some solace when the cops come to haul your drunk, abusive neighbor away and he decides a wrestling match would be more fun. Hearing him tumble down the steel/concrete staircase and seeing him hog-tied, spitting blood, and tossed (literally) into the back of the squad car was pretty entertaining.

Fairly common sight in Blount co these days This coming from a Friendsville boy

[Jonnin]

I would go over there. There is a chance it really is not all that loud, its amazing how sound can carry sometimes. If you see how loud it is from her place, you can see if it is too loud or not. Likewise if she came into your room and heard her noise, it would help her to see the problem. Unless she is deaf, there is always that angle too.

We used to have an upstairs neighbor that was a complet idiot, back when we lived in an apartment. She would clomp around the house in hard bottomed shoes all freaking day long, nonstop, and she had a kid with those horrible kid shoes clomping around too. It was maddening. The little idiot overflowed his tub and flooded our bathroom too. Apartments are great, right?

Options, as I see them, are

1) work with the woman to figure out if its just one of those things where sound carries and try to fix it (can be as simple as moving the offending TVs just a little bit, for example if one is touching a hard surface or next to an air vent or other sound anomaly).

2) If its an actual volume problem, try being nice, and if nice fails, get the apartment people into your home WHEN IT IS HAPPENING so they can hear it and explain that she will not stop being loud.

3) Soundproof the room. carper over styrofoam on that wall, for example. It can be made to look nice, but is a lot of work to do and undo when you leave.

4) move your TV to another room

[Motasyco]

A highly directional close proximity electromagnetic pulse generator.

[10-Ring]

I think the neighbor had a point. If the conversation that you posted was verbatim I believe you came off as confrontational and she took it that you were challenging her and she meant to stand her ground. Knocking on the wall might be appropriate if you already know your neighbor but I think that it is rude to do that to someone that you don't know. Why not go over and introduce yourself, at least act like you are a friendly person, something like

"Hi, my name is Chris, I live next door, how are you tonight?... Well I was trying to watch a movie with my family and I'm having a hard time hearing my TV over yours. Do you think maybe you could turn it down a little bit?"

If you make the approach as a friendly neighbor instead of the excessive noise police you may get better results. If you don't want to get to know your neighbors that's fine, but don't expect them to go out of their way to please you? Honey attracts more flies than vinegar.

[hkgonra]

I know this doesn't help but this is a prime example why things would be better for everyone if there were no apartments or condos.

This often turns into a huge domestic for the police to have to come out and handle when the real problem is that people are living too close together.

[zenman]

When I lived in Saint Louis my buddy got mad that the guy in the apt above his kept making a strange scraping sound followed by a loud thud. So after enduring it for three hours one night he grabbed his hammer and pounded on the guys door so hard it dented the metal door and sounded like gun shots in the building. Needless to say the guy about crapped himself when he opened the door and found my buddy in his underwear foaming at the mouth waving a hammer in the air. It was quite evermore.

This is not helpful, I know, but funny for me to remember. People stay away from crazy people.

[zenman]

Oh, the sound was his shuffleboard game.

[Mike.357]

The first place my wife and i lived was a two family.

The landlady lived upstairs. When she and her boyfriend got busy with it the noise was incredibly loud. She was a screamer. There some nights we could not sleep from our cracking up laughing.

That was the only noise issue i ever had.

Edited April 23, 2012 by Mike.357

[mikegideon]

A highly directional close proximity electromagnetic pulse generator.

I actually considered that when I was an apartment dweller. Also considered a few hundred watts of VHF. The best solution is to move to a house.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

I actually considered that when I was an apartment dweller. Also considered a few hundred watts of VHF. The best solution is to move to a house.

VHF sounds good. Maybe even a 5 watt CB on the other side of the wall, if it is overmodulated enough? The severely overmodulated CB's can be difficult to keep out of an audio system. I have some neighbor that occasionally gets into my studio audio. Dunno if he is just crazy-overmodulating his 5 watts or running a linear amp. Maybe he is crazy-overmodulating 10 k watts for all I know.

Edited April 23, 2012 by Lester Weevils

[Guest RobThatsMe]

I think they should ban surround sound from apartments.

But aside from that, there are some good suggestions some of the folks mentioned that may be worth trying.

If those don't work, then...

Put a couple of bottle rockets under her door, then light them off.

Just kidding of course.

Edited April 23, 2012 by RobThatsMe

[Guest bkelm18]

Ah the joys of living in an apartment. I can hear the people next to me, I can hear the people across the hall, I can even hear the people below me. None of them are especially noisy, it's just an old building and sound travels everywhere. I just ignore it. It comes with the territory of living in an apartment.

[Erik88]

I live in a "condo". The young guys beside me like to play their Spanish jam really loud. I tried leaving a polite anonymous note on their door but I guess they figured out it was from me. Now they only give me nasty looks. Ah, the joys of living in apartments.