If I didn't have such a noise problem with my upstairs neighbors, I would say that fighting noise with noise is immature and should be avoided.

However, I have come to see it as a tactic to try only when all else fails, and you don't care about the relationship with your neighbors anymore.

For me, it has only worked in the short term. I actually put thought into it beforehand. The first time was when my upstairs neighbor BLASTED music at 1:00am, dragging her kitchen table across the hardwood floor, and I could hear her and her boyfriend literally rolling around on the ground (seriously nauseating). Besides slamming on the ceiling at the time, I woke them up by slamming on the ceiling when I got up at 7:00am. The second time was about a month later. I slammed my vacuum on the ceiling in the morning to wake them up after they were really noisy the night before (and incidently really did break my vacuum and have to buy a new one).

I can tell you that both times I felt elated that I was making her miserable (sorry, I'm not sadistic, but her noise and schedule has been ruining my life for over a year). Both times she quieted down for a few weeks, so I know she can be quiet, she just chooses not to.

Did it work, though? Obviously not in the long run, or else I wouldn't be posting here. However, since it is the only thing to make a dent, I will probably do it again the next time she's out of control.

I'm hoping my positive punishment conditioning techniques will work for good one day!

Yes,I have. Where I used to live,the lady upstairs sounded like a herd of elephants.All night long she was stomping about and my lights would shake.
I started taking the broom and banging the ceiling really hard. I would also take some of my husband's really loud heavy metal and blast it during the day to aggravate her.
Really,none it helped~so we just moved when our lease was up.

I fought back the terrible heavy walkers from upstairs on a few occasions. After asking them several times to please not stomp around late at night because I was trying to sleep I decided that payback was in order. I have an excellent surround sound system for my TV with a 2000 watt subwoofer which can really make the explosions on screen feel real. So, in the morning when I would get up to go to work I decided to make sure my neighbor woke up with me and I would start watching any movie with loud sounds, such as Top Gun. I would simply skip to the scenes with fighter jets and crank it up. If you were outside listening you would swear a jet was flying by somewhere close.

He would stomp on the floor to get me to stop but I wouldn't. Every night he made his noise, the following morning I would make mine.

socal - I wasn't there, so I don't know if they were walking heavily on purpose or not. What if they were just walking around normally and the sound carries? I know that when my upstairs neighbors get ready for work in the morning, I can hear every footstep if I do not have my earplugs in. The fact that they have not learned to levitate or float across the floors does not entitle me to assault them with extremely loud noise that I make on purpose.

What did your neighbors say when you asked them not to stomp around late at night? Did they say 'we are not stomping, we are just walking, and we have the right to stay up late if we want?'

just curious.

Fighting noise with noise only invites retaliation and escalation.

Agreed.

When I confronted the guy upstairs the first time he didn't even answer the door. It was only because I continued knocking for several minutes did he finally open the door. Other times when I asked him to please keep it down he would always give me that "whatever" look and roll his eyes.

and no, it was not normal walking around. He was heavily walking and stomping sometimes. Slamming doors, dropping pans and pots, using powertools (yes, you read that right. powertools.) and going in and out of his apartment all night, slamming the door closed each and very time. Trust me, he was not a nice person.

as a side note, he was arrested for having a drug lab in his apartment just a few days after I moved out.

Socaldisneydude, i know about the stomping on heels part also, I have tryed it myself and i actually have to TRY and do it, also it shakes everything, SO they MUST know they are doing it! They just dont care until they are the target of unwanted noise. I have also confronted my almost a year unemployed loser neighbor too. No go here either.

One night I was folding and hanging up my laundry around midnight. Apparently this bothered the people who live below me. They pounded on the ceiling for probably two minutes straight. I sat in complete shock.....I live alone, I don't watch tv, I have like one friend who hardly ever comes over, and I don't talk to myself. The nerve of these people to get mad at me for hanging my laundry in the closet at midnight.
I stopped fussing in the closet after their pounding and I became much more conscious of my movements around the apartment. But for weeks I tip-toed around the apartment worried about disturbing the people below me.
Eventually I decided that I cannot live like that, being paranoid that I might disturb the people below me.
This is not an old folks home, I could have a screaming baby living in the apartment & then what would those rude people below me do? Pound on my ceiling and yell at the baby for crying? They should be thankful the biggest annoyance they've faced is me hanging up my laundry.
The next time they pound on the ceiling I will take that as my non-verbal cue to get out my trumpet and play them a song.
I am ready to give them something to actually be upset about.

"The next time they pound on the ceiling I will take that as my non-verbal cue to get out my trumpet and play them a song."

Thanks for giving me a good laugh!

Glad to make you laugh, it's the truth, I really am a trumpet player, though I tend to play only during the day, on weekends, with a mute.

You people who CAN retaliate are lucky.
My upstaris neighbors have no carpeting (it IS required but LL won't enforce it - says "maybe they have allergies & can't have carpet), and the woman wears HEELS ALL DAY & ALL NIGHT!
And she never sits still. She is up, clomping around, until 2:30 - 3:00, and at 6:15 every morning it starts again! So there are no hours that I can disturb them with noise unless I stay awake at 4 AM. And that wuld probably disturb ny downstairs neighboe, who is quiet as a mouse.

Doesn't management care about the noise issues going on?

We have been incredibly luck I suppose. We had to take a downstairs apt because our dog is 10+ and is sick. The steps here are in the front door and there are 15 of them, no way she could do those. Plus on the bottom floor, there is a great front porch and huge patio so she can just walk out either door.

We have never heard the people upstairs, never. I mean once in a while you have a "sense" someone is up there by a little scooting noise or something, but that is it.

I was so worried living downstairs because my rule has always been upstairs or now way, but with an older dog there was no way.

I will really appreciate my neighbors extra special after reading these posts.

Do you all not have statements in the leases that state if you must respect the enjoyment of others at all times you must leave without notice? We had to sign two addendums stating that we understood that we would be asked to leave without notice if we disturbed anyone at any time. Everyone signs this and everyone here knows this is a living community, not a party place. I wonder if these strict rules are not common???

Best wishes to all you fighting this noise! I have lived through it in years past with other apts.

Terms of a lease are only as good as either 1 - A landlord who will enforce them ,or 2 - the lawyer you hire to get them enforced in Court.

I've lived in 3 apartment buildings. In one, a great old NYC place, we heard absolutely nothing! The place was soundproof. The next place, also an older building, but in the burbs, we heard a little from the downstairs neighbors, but only under certain circumstances & certainly nothing very disturbing.

But the place I am in now - I can listen to phone conversations from my neighbors both above & below me. and this is the place billed as a "Luxury Apartment" and is much more expnsive than the others. But it is in a location that is in a great school district, and pretty much devoid of rentals.

So really, the construction of the building probably has alot more to do with hearing noise than lease terms being followed.

You are right there..........the building we are in now is brand new and is better construction than the $300,000 house we just moved out of! Sad , huh?

It has soundproofing windows, you cannot hear anything outside through them. There are concrete walls between each unit and of course we picked the end unit that is next to the model unit so we have no neighbors on either side.

In our first apt, I think the floors and walls were made out of cotton because the guy upstairs from me used to keep me awake from his snoring!!!! talk about thin floors!