Yes you are over reacting. Unless you have to sleep before 8 pm or after 9 am, these are normal hours. Hey, they probably hear your TV, toilet or whatever. Its winter, its school break. Kids move around. Do you hear screaming? People getting hurt? Don't fret.

Yes, by today's standards, you are over-reacting. Children run and thump. If they were screaming, then you might have a legitimate complaint. For someone who is noise sensitive, apartment or townhouse life is going to be difficult.

We once lived in the upper apartment and from the moment we moved in the downstairs neighbor began complaining. And we did not have any kids, the floors were well carpeted and we did not do anything unusual. I finally told her that you hear us because we are alive. :-\ If you are noise phobic, the downstairs apartment is a bad choice for you.

Thanks for all the responses. For clarification, I live next to and not below my neighbor. I guess where I differ is that I would never make these types of noises, even if it was within my rights. For example, if I had a treadmill and ran on it every day and my neighbor said it was disturbing, I'd probably stop using it. It's not that I am a push-over but I believe in being a good neighbor, even if it means changing up my work-out routine a little.

I get the fact that 'kids will be kids' and if this was the case of a few minutes of running and jumping, I wouldn't complain but after 20 minutes or so, it becomes annoying. With kids over 5 yrs old, I believe parents can control them from hard running and jumping a little better.

You would stop using your treadmill because it bothered your neighbors??? I can understand adjusting the time you use it but not stopping use all together. No one else is going to do that for you. It is impossible to completely stop kids of all ages from running or even screaming occasionally. Turn up your music if the noises are annoying you. Not to annoy them but to help block out the unwanted sounds.

You might want to consider moving into a unattached house or investing in some items to help with sound proofing. Ask the landlord if there is insulation between the units. If not perhaps it can be blown in.

Buy a pair of Bose noise canceling headphones. They block out all kinds of sounds. You can read a book, watch a movie on your iPad, or just sit on your couch. They will block out everything. As annoying as it is to have kids running amok in the next house, on the scale of neighbor problems, it's pretty low on the list. If you do more than send the note you've already done, you will be labeled the problem neighbor.

If it was when you were trying to sleep... I'd say no. I used to have a neighbor who lived above me in college that was on an athletic team and she would get up every morning at 4 AM and bang the drawers of her dresser, drop her bag on the floor, slam doors. She was super inconsiderate.

I went to talk to her several times and she laughed at me. It got to the point where I would take a broom and bang on the ceiling and then she would stomp on the floor back at me. I hated that neighbor so much.

Since it's during normal hours I'd let it go and I'm sure when they go back to school it won't be as bad. It's winter and they are home all day. Probably just bored.

I lived downstairs from a neighbor with two pre-school boys. We were friendly and sometimes did things together. She told me if the kids ever made too much noise to let her know. She kept them up to midnight regularly. One night they started running and jumping on the furniture. When the thumping went past 10 PM and I was ready for bed, I let her know. She never spoke to me again.

YES.

I played hide and seek with my kids. Running up and down stairs sounded like a herd of elephants but we had fun. If either of my neighbors didn't like it my though was MOVE! At least we had fun together before bed time so you should really chill out and know that it won't last forever. Otherwise...... MOVE.
Now, I know that sounds nasty but just think about it. The kids are at home with their parents who love them enough to play with them. Maybe if we had more of that the shooting of cops would cease.
(The shooting of crooks shouldn't but that's just my opinion)

You seem to making some assumptions, Toolbelt, the first and most critical of which is that the parents are playing with the kids who are running around. Doubtful, from what I observe these days, nor does the OP say that. Parents may be on the premises, but not "there"; more likely on their cellphones or such and letting the kids run amok (and not teaching them respect for others, including the parents).

That being said, what the OP describes doesn't sound over the top and, like others suggest, it will probably cease once the kids are back in school anyway. Lot more kid noise around my neighborhood, too, over the holidays. Preferable for sure to our neighbor in a subdivided Victorian who regularly argued with his wife after arriving home from the bars around 2 a.m. and once smashed and broke a large glass object (mirror? punch bowl?) against the wall above our bed. Whoa!

As for advice to "turn up your music", some of us actually live without a constant soundtrack in our lives and don't even watch television. Shocking, I know!

This post was edited by catspa on Sun, Jan 4, 15 at 17:16

Toolbelt68 - So by your standard I should have the right to have boisterous parties regardless of the noise level so I can have fun too, right?

Hblotus,

You yourself said you were noise sensitive, which means that ordinary noise (which this appears to be) is a challenge for you to solve.
Neighbors should not be burdened with changing their life to accommodate those whose are particularly sensitive and who presumably knew that when they moved into a close living situation such as a townhome.

One solution would be to call in compies who install noise insulation and see whether panels of noise blocking material installed on the common wall might help. (Of course if installation required putting fasteners on the wall you should confer with the landlord.
Good luck, I think there are solutions out there, some fairly inexpensive like the noise blocking headphones.

Lucille - just to be clear, I'm not expecting things to be silent, that would be unreasonable. I've been hesitant to throw big parties out of respect to my neighbors but maybe that needs to change. If they have the right to make loud noises while playing with their kids, I should be able to do the same with my friends, or alone with my monster sound system.

Not much experience with kids, eh? "Over 5 years old" is not nearly old enough for large and constant amounts of quiet time to be expected. Or truly, desired. Physical play is so, so important; fine and gross motor skills are still developing- often the child cannot physically walk quieter than they are, the gross motor control is not there yet and no amount of parenting can change that. Their minds need to physical release of energy so they can focus when they need to, their bodies need the release of that energy so they can sleep. The alternative is bored couch potato children who are far more likely to act out in truly offensive ways now ( screaming fits at bedtime because they aren't tired) and later in their teenage years. Let them run, let them play, it's natural and important.

Luckily, it is school holidays so it should quiet down for you again until summer time when they can hopefully be playing outside. But you asked and yes, I think you are being unreasonable. Normal daily living noise well inside noise ordinance hours is a fact of close living.

I really do appreciate the feedback and to be honest, I think I've been oversensitive about making and hearing noise. After years of going out of my way to be quiet, time to have some fun.

This post was edited by hblotus95 on Sun, Jan 4, 15 at 20:58

Just don't turn into the "problem neighbor".

Of course I wouldn't. To provide context, I lived at my last place for 14 yrs with a neighbor beneath me and went out of my way to be quiet. In fact, they were very sorry to see me leave for that reason (new owners are a 20 something year old couple with 2 dogs). Based upon the overwhelming advice of this forum, I am not going to be as noise sensitive, including the noise that I make, as long as I am following the rules of the HOA.

This post was edited by hblotus95 on Mon, Jan 5, 15 at 13:36

How long are you planning on living there? If you're going to stay for a long time, then I would invest in installing soundproofing on your shared walls. Look up QuietRock.

Other than that, I would turn on a loud fan or white noise machine to drown out the noise, wear ear plugs, put on music or TV. But don't blast the TV or music, since that would be inconsiderate. Hey, maybe they'll be moving out soon.

I've also experienced living above a couple with an active child, and I understand about the annoying noises, but I do think you're lucky that the noise isn't happening early in the morning or late at night.

You are absolutely right.
However, if I were you, I'd look into sound insulation on your side of the wall.

Thank you and yes, I am keeping that option open. One other point, I see parents all the time remove their kids from restaurants or other public places when they are acting out and disturbing others. Of course I don't expect a parent to remove their kids from the home but at least make an effort to be a good neighbor by limiting the pounding. Otherwise, I have every right turn up my music to drown it out.

hblotus95... I have lived in the same apartment for 13 years. It has been my experience that the rowdier the neighbor, the shorter they stay. I have no research to back this up but it appears to me that when children are unruly, parents are irresponsible in many other areas of their lives including paying the rent. My advice is to wait it out.

I sometimes use box fans just to drown out the clomping of feet on the stairs. I have had a "white noise" machine for decades to cover the normal house sounds at night. The noise cancelling headsets are a good idea as well. The hours when you are hearing the noise would be well within any noise covenant or ordinance that I've ever known so I don't think you'd have any recourse there. Just turn up your music and rock on!

They are owners like me and are actually not bad people. The only time I turn my music up is when I hear the thumping from their kids and I think they have gotten the message since it has decreased a bit. I don't like doing this but after sending them a polite, non-confrontational note asking for them a little relief, it was my only option.

durning daylight hours your being OVERLY sensitive about normal everyday noise.. quite hours are usually between 10pm to 6 am .. other than that suck it up buttercup .. kids play and laugh and have fun.. which they have a right to in NORMAL waking hours ..

I respectfully disagree. Kids or anyone else for that matter DO NOT have the right to run around like crazy and create loud thumping noises that last for an extended period of time. And part of being a RESPONSIBLE and CONSIDERATE parent is making sure your kids aren't disturbing others. So by your logic, you'd be fine eating in a nice restaurant with a baby screaming at the top of its lungs during your entire meal, right? I mean, it's normal for babies to cry, so what's the difference?

At any rate, the problem has almost been solved.

"part of being a RESPONSIBLE and CONSIDERATE parent is making sure your kids aren't disturbing others" - I have been working hard to do this for the last 17 years. I think I almost have it down. My older son has his bedroom above mine and we decided to beef up the floor joists and add soundproofing to our room, as it was legal compared to my other option.

Having said that, if your next door neighbor's five year old running around shakes your entire home, you should seriously consider selling the place before a good strong wind blows it down. I could almost understand if he was 15, and was maybe above you, but next door...five year old...

I can confidently say that this problem has NOT almost been solved. You may well get a respite for a while, but kids generally don't get quieter as they grow older. As I expressed earlier I am not sure your neighbors are to blame. I think you have a residence that was built to minimum code standards, if that, and the noise transmission between next door neighbors is just a symptom of a larger problem.

Since you both are owners, maybe it would be a good idea to check into soundproofing between your homes. That would take care of any future problems as well. Maybe you could split the cost. I have no idea about how it would be done but maybe there is some type of material similar to a blown insulation that would not be too expensive or disruptive to do. The only time I ever hear my side neighbors is if they are hanging a picture on the adjoining wall. Downstairs, different story.

So let me respond to the posts above. Whether a kid is 5 or 15, they can make a significant amount of noise. My place is constructed fairly well for a condo (especially for Florida standards). I don't hear voices, TV, etc., just when people are literally running hard inside the unit and would almost guarantee it's happening right next to the common wall. The problem has improved significantly over the past few weeks since I began turning up my stereo ONLY when the loud pounding occurs, which is absolutely my right under the circumstances.

To the poster that mentioned they don't hear their next door neighbor much, I would bet they are fairly considerate people and aren't running around the unit. Sorry to hear about your downstairs neighbor.

The neighbors I have now are but through the years, there have been those that haven't been. It's something about how the building is constructed though none of us have been able to figure out what it is. My downstairs neighbors are quite considerate but I can still hear their voices (though not the exact words) at times. It's just the nature of the beast here. I've come to accept it as long as it doesn't go late in the night or start my china cabinet shaking in its shelves...:D My longest term neighbor raised teenagers while she was next door and we discussed often how odd it was that we could hear so much from downstairs but nothing side to side. I hope your situations resolves quickly for your sake.

Thanks. It seems to be, for now! lol. Hope yours does too.

Yes, you're oversensitive, these are the children they have the right to run around, screaming and stamping :) definitely you don't know what nuisance neighbourhood means. I used to live in flat under the students who had eternal party from 8 pm to 6 am, and so on. Nightmare.

Nah. I don't think you're being oversensitive especially if you can feel your floors and walls vibrate. That's not good. Currently, I have quite a few friends and family with young kids around that age, some of whom live in city apartments, some in townhouses and some out in the suburbs. Yes, they can get noisy, but none of them would allow their kids to shout, run and jump to the point where it would disturb their neighbors, especially ones with a shared wall/floor/ceiling. One friend's kid is hyper, like in very ADD, and even she wouldn't.

I don't know if you mentioned to the neighbors the fact that you could feel the walls and floors shake, but if you didn't it would have helped. I think most people would reconsider the effect of the noise and jumping if they knew. I know that the problem is more or less resolved, but in the future that tidbit might help.

I wish more neighbors were like you.

This is indeed a tricky situation. Kids need to be kids and you also deserve to have live comfortably. Sound proofing sounds like a really good option.

With regard to deliberately keeping the noise down in your apartment, I would say we do tend to think people will treat us the way we treat them. Unfortunately that's not always the case. Enjoy your life YOLO. I wouldn't worry too much about what people think so long as the noise you make is within reasonable limits and times.

I know someone that threw a party. A few days before he dropped polite notes at every neighbor's door to give them the heads up about a reasonable amount of noise, influx of people and cars. Neighbors respected him for that and that note even went viral online. YOLO ;)