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Does anyone else hate their neighbors as much as I do? — Brooklynian

Does anyone else hate their neighbors as much as I do?

just me
just me
edited November -1 in Park Slope
I have never been so miserable in my life. The place I live has the most obnoxious people living here (and some may even say I should include myself in that but that's a whole other topic!)
Let's see: my neighbors below are loud. They blast their tv/music and leave it on for hours on end (sometimes days on end..). When asked to lower it they ignore you, say they'll think about it, or do the complete opposite and make it louder.
My neighbors above me walk like they are 500 lbs each (and there are two of them living above me). They are so heavy on their feet that the walls sometimes shake! They walk back and forth and back and forth with shoes on (imagine if they were women wearing high heels but no they are men...who some would say should be "light on their feet..." but sound like 2 barrelling elephants). They are up at 2-3 every morning to pee (and I can hear the toilet flush, it's very loud) but they are like clod-hoppers going back to bed.
The folks next to me smoke so the putrid air permiates through my closet walls and when you walk by their door it wreaks....
The folks at the end of the hall are musicians. While you would think that could be nice to hear, they SUCK. So they play at all hours and it's sad.
I really really hate it here and will hopefully be moving on soon. This is sad cause I really love my apartment and location but can't stand being so miserable walking out my door every day or going to sleep at nite.
Anyone else? :? ](*,) :thumbdown: :lame:
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Comments

  • god
    god
    Heard this space may be available soon. Very secluded and quite.

    image
  • just me
    just me
    ya know what GOD?? That looks a HELL of a lot better than what I have now...may bbe a great option!
  • god
    god
    just me wrote: ya know what GOD?? That looks a HELL of a lot better than what I have now...may bbe a great option!
    The great thing about it is it's NOT near Prospect Park.

    It's INSIDE Prospect Park.
  • apresvu
    apresvu
    Sounds to me like your building has shoddy construction. You really shouldn't hear other units toilet flushing. However, you have complaints about most of your neighbors-having gone through a downstairs neighbor who repeatedly called me when I woke up in the morning, and how dare I, used the bathroom and kitchen, very annoying, AND I happen to be one of the light on their feet people-it seems you need a pre-war building or your own house.
  • bricktop
    bricktop
    or at least you need to live on the top floor.
  • flux
    flux
    why don't you simply move? you have to remember that you live in the city and some noise is to be expected.
  • zeal images
    zeal images
    sounds like you need to live in a cabin on a mountaintop 30 miles away from the nearest town.
  • just me
    just me
    yeah cafeaulait, I think you hit the nail on the head! I just can't deal with this stuff anymore. I've lived in the city (read that Brooklyn) for over 20 years and each building has brought different experiences. This one just seems to be the worst. I think the moving option is the best. The building is built shoddily (is that a word?!) and that won't change anytime soon. They actually used newspaper as insulation (which was more common than you think in prewars). The floors are paper thin, the pipes and windows are old and suck, the walls are pretty much hollow and the mice are taking over. I'm ready to go.
  • hannah smith
    hannah smith
    "or at least you need to live on the top floor."

    I completely sympathise and 100% agree with the above quote - we're in the process of trying to break our lease from a pre-war apartment complex basically because of non-stop noise (if it's not the all night TV below it's the early morning bassy music from above or the 'playing 'Grand Theft Auto'-so-loud-next-door-we-can-hear-it-over-our TV'). Next stop has to be the top floor of an owner-occupied house.

    Unfortunately there seems to be only two types of people in the world - people who'll change their behaviour if you politely tell them that their noise is affecting your life or people who won't give a shit and will carry on regardless. Even more unfortunately it seems like the only real solution is to move.

    Oh, and anyone quipping about there always being noise in the city/go move to the wilderness - you've clearly never suffered nights after nights of non-sleep due to someone else's behaviour.

    .
  • hannah smith
    hannah smith
    My other grand idea is to buy a glue gun with a very thin attachment and seep glue into their locks - that ought to give you some short-term peace and quiet.
  • thejonesiest
    thejonesiest
    Hannah Smith wrote:
    Oh, and anyone quipping about there always being noise in the city/go move to the wilderness - you've clearly never suffered nights after nights of non-sleep due to someone else's behaviour.

    .
    That is a part of city life. No matter where I have lived in this city which is many neighborhoods, there has always been different types of nonstop noise both external and inside the building. If you can't get used to it, NYC is not the place for you. I stand by my statement and position and will continue to do so. happy 2009.
  • hannah smith
    hannah smith

    That is a part of city life. No matter where I have lived in this city which is many neighborhoods, there has always been different types of nonstop noise both external and inside the building. If you can't get used to it, NYC is not the place for you. I stand by my statement and position and will continue to do so. happy 2009.
    Sorry, but that's junk. I've lived in many apartments - some even above/below commercial buildings - and had various experiences with 'noise', but there's a difference between the natural and expected noise of a big city and the noise of a shithead neighbour who insists on watching his TV through an external speaker system with sub-woofer all night.

    I congratulate you for apparently never having had to deal with a neighbor who has completely destroyed your chances of getting any sleep every night of the week, but you're way off base with those comments.
  • yuki
    yuki
    Congratulations. You sound and look like a spoiled suburban transplant. happy 2009 sunshine.
  • owler
    owler
    Just me,

    I'm sorry to hear about the difficult time you are having with your neighbors. Sometimes in my building it seems like I live with a bunch of little kids as neighbors instead of respectable adults that don't think the world revolves around them.

    I have had similar problems with smoke and noise because of the age of my apt's building.

    After speaking with my landlord about cigarette smoke coming into our apt as well we convinced the landlord to have the pipes and crevices of our apt sealed with I believe a foam sealant and they also did the same to the apt below where the smoke was coming from. Also we had a rubber sealant purchased from lowes installed around the edges of our front door to block out the smell from the hallway.

    The combination of both worked pretty well to keep out the smell and as it turned out noise as well. As for the hallway that's just up for grabs and you may have to just endure and learn to ignore your neighbors obnoxious behavior.
  • hannah smith
    hannah smith
    cafeaulait wrote: Congratulations. You sound and look like a spoiled suburban transplant. happy 2009 sunshine.
    So if I moved in below your apartment and was playing music all night that literally meant that you couldn't sleep, you'd just shrug and say, "Oh well, it's the city"?

    Clown.
  • lnelson
    lnelson
    where are these prewar buildings? are you talking about brownstones, or clapboards like in south slope, or something else entirely?

    i ask because i may be looking to move elsewhere in the nabe at the end of my lease. i have plenty of complaints about the building i live in now (which is newish - i'm thinking built this decade, and highly despised by everyone on the street), but soundproofing & stenchproofing aren't especially among them.

    what sort of place am i looking not to take a lease in?
  • hannah smith
    hannah smith
    "what sort of place am i looking not to take a lease in?"

    Well on one level the fewer 'neighbors' the better, on a pure take your chances basis. If you have people above, below and either side or you (with a common wall) then there's a decent chance one of them's going to be a problem.

    Also, seems like a good idea to avoid living anywhere near anyone who seems to think that living in NYC gives you carte blanche to make as much noise as you want.
  • hannah smith
    hannah smith
    Cafeaulait says: "don't currently have a camera I dropped my last one by accident"

    Apparently the DSLR advice will also be coming shortly...
  • just me
    just me
    Thanks you guys. Yeah, I'm all about respecting your neighbors. But when the respect isn't mutual the whole revenge factor comes into play. I really like the blocking the key hole thing! I just assume wait till I'm out before I seal four different doors! LOL!
    Funny thing here is that the "city noise" I'm supposed to deal with that comes with living here isn't even the noise I'm disturbed by. The problems come from the excessivness of rude, selfish, vial neighbors.
    I'm ready for the country and would rather be awakened by crickets, crows and bullfrogs then loud obnoxious selfish rude neighbors.
  • carmen
    carmen
    Rude people are everywhere- the worst neighbors I ever had out of the 15+ apartments I've live in in the last 7 years (I move a lot) were in NC when I was in college. Total assholes who held crab bakes on their back porch and left the shells to drip on to our porch for 3+ weeks, causing the entire acre to reek in the NC summer heat (and ruining the wood on our porch.) Good times.
  • cc
    cc
    "what sort of place am i looking not to take a lease in?"

    here's what you should be looking FOR: if possible a top floor thru,or a unit not near an elevator because of the traffic. It's also good to view apts at night when a lot of people are home after work so you can gage the noise level and cooking smells. (you can already know the light by the apts exposure). Brownstones are great..i've lived in one for a decade and have considerate neighbors, and it is so quiet you'd never know you were in the city. I know I'm lucky, but you can find something good if you are very observant while you are touring places. Good luck!
  • brooklynpotter
    brooklynpotter
    cafeaulait wrote:
    That is a part of city life. No matter where I have lived in this city which is many neighborhoods, there has always been different types of nonstop noise both external and inside the building. If you can't get used to it, NYC is not the place for you. I stand by my statement and position and will continue to do so. happy 2009.

    actually no, it's not supposed to be part of city life if it's excessive.

    it's against all rules of common decency, and NYC it's actually against the law. search the brooklynian archives to see what i deal with on a daily basis, and you can see that my experience with this is vast.

    OP: you can fight this, the laws are on your side. IF YOU WANT TO. my advice: move. you can break your lease for any of these reasons and a small visit to tenant.net should show you how.

    (and i would move, but i own, so that's a whole other thing to deal with)
  • anastasia beaverhausen
    anastasia beaverhausen
    I live above a restuarant and the subway line. I rarely have an issues with noise so to say it's something to "deal with as a part of city life" is kind of silly. Everyone, no matter where you live, should expect some form of common decency from their neighbors.
  • brooklynjack
    brooklynjack
    brooklynpotter is right. You have a warant of habitability and you hvae recourse. of course moving might be easier

    http://www.rentlaw.com/ny/habitability.htm
  • brooklynpotter
    brooklynpotter
    i really, really hate it when people use the "it's a city!" excuse to act as though they're living in a dorm
  • just me
    just me
    so the sad part of all of this is that I own. so while i want to move the process is more difficult than you can imagine. even sadder: the board won't do anything, the management company is a freagin' joke and won't get involved, the super sucks and I have no other outlet...
  • suavecu
    suavecu
    People need to be able to walk around their apartment and go to the bathroom when they want. Shoddy construction or not you can't ask your neighbors not to do those things. Some people have loud sex. They have the right to do that in their overpriced apartment. Not everyone has the same schedule and people should not have to walk on eggshells. Damn, in one spot I was in the woman next door loved to vacuum at 6 am. You have no idea how that sounded but I had no right to say anything as it his her right to vacuum when she wants. The whole world does not exist to cater to your whims.
  • brooklynpotter
    brooklynpotter
    just me, i'm there with you. i own as well.

    you can threaten legal action against your board, but then they will hate you and turn their heads at you in the hallway. which isn't to say you should do it.
  • brooklynpotter
    brooklynpotter
    cafeaulait, it's against nyc noise laws to make that kind of noise before 8 am.

    this is not a matter of whims. it's a matter of learning to live with neighbors (the quieter ones, the noisier ones)

    for the record: i take my shoes off when i come in the house, i have the right percentage of floor covering, i don't use the w/d after 10 pm, i keep the volume of my tv/stereo down after 10 pm, etc etc.

    this is called, learning to live in the city.
  • guzzo here
    guzzo here
    brooklynpotter wrote: cafeaulait, it's against nyc noise laws to make that kind of noise before 8 am.

    this is not a matter of whims. it's a matter of learning to live with neighbors (the quieter ones, the noisier ones)

    for the record: i take my shoes off when i come in the house, i have the right percentage of floor covering, i don't use the w/d after 10 pm, i keep the volume of my tv/stereo down after 10 pm, etc etc.

    this is called, learning to live in the city.
    actually since you are speaking on laws, by LAW you can make as much noise as you want until 11 pm.
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