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I am having a nightmare with my upstairs neighbour. I am on the ground floor tenement, and the tenant upstairs has laminate flooring. I hear everything from a coin drop, to his footsteps and now 2 cats running around all night. So far I don't expect much help from the tenant or the landlord, and am considering trying to sound proof my bedroom ceiling at least. However, I have no idea where to start!! Can anyone help me!? Also, I'm a girl, I need it in real simple terms!!!?

Hi. We have a similar problem although our neighbours do not have laminate - just two boisterous children and parents with a very limited imagination. Our new build flat has not been noise tested - a percentage of properties are tested and if they pass, they all pass. Our landlords refuse to noise test ours separately. Our neighbours (touch wood) have been pretty good for the last few weeks so we believe a lot of what we suffer is malicious. Regardless, this has been going on for 3 years and we now want to sound proof as nobody else can help us without it costing us a fortune. We are looking into this.

We have got everyone we can think of involved in this matter. One very helpful lady has suggested counselling which we are going to take up. This is to assist us when we get the urge to start jumping around our flat and throwing things at the ceiling - anger management. You may like to try that whilst you are looking at how to proceed with your quest for sound proofing. :twisted:

It is very difficult to deal with a situation like this when it is not your property.
It is probably true that you live a quiet life style and because you are not making a noise, the noise from next door seems louder than it is.
For example, if you normally keep your windows closed, your home will be quite quiet, if the people next door keep theirs open then they are competing against a noisy background and like all children at school they make more noise, to make themselves heard.
The fact that you are not disturbing them, probably lulls them into believing thay are quieter than they are.
You could try bringing the issue up by making more noise yourself, especially late in the evening.
Or by buying a sound meter from someone like Maplin, to get an idea how noisy they are.
And run some tests with your windows open and with them closed to hear/see the difference.
You could record the noise and give them an example or three.
If it was your property, you could build a secondary wall four inches away from the existing party wall – this would make a difference.

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