I can empathis with those of you struggling with noisy neighbors. I have had three in a row. The owners are clueless and reluctant to ask upstairs tenants to tone things down. On top of it all they tiled all the apartments, claiming they put soundproof cloth under the tiles but my neighbors have a new child and they wheel her around on their office chair all day long....driving me from my apartment. I have tried everything from complaining to using earplugs - nothing works. I think asking people to wear earplugs is crazy, since I can not possibly ask my visitors to wear them and wearing them for too long can have health problems including ear infections. It costs way too much to move. The resident manager was even put on notice because her kids were making way too much noise in her upstairs apartment and it forced the tenants who were renting under her to move out - that cost the woners money and their relationship has suffered as a result. Constant noise is stressful and can result in health problems and I have not only been driven from my apartment several times, but in calling the law found the tenants upstairs only too willing to retaliate. The owners dont care. HOWEVER they have some open units. I will be making up a nice sign to hang outside my door warning visitors of a possible loud noise sitution if and when they enter and that they shold be expected to wear ear plugs and or have our visit terminated early due to the din....hopefully the message will get through because I have even had to go to a friends house for a couple of nights in order to get sleep because I was exhausted from the constant noise. I have even read articles about tenants who have suffered so long they were driven to extremes - one guy blasted his neighbors alarm clock with a shot gun because it was so loud and woke him early every morning. I am constantly reading - oh just move, oh it isnt the fault of the tenants, or you are too sensitive, these are just excuses for bad behavior, inconsideration and owners not wanting to spend any money to remedy the problem. I was raised to respect others, includig their sensibilities, live can be lived without being a nuisance to others and it should be, but complacency is the new norm now and people are forced to deal with issues that are above and beyond reasonable.

What about just getting a better door? When I remodeled I got rid of the cheap hollow core original doors and got solid doors - much quieter. My bathrooms have the Panasonic Whisper fans on motion detectors. I have never thought of this as being a problem in any bathroom I have visited. What do people do when they have to urinate in a public bathroom if they have such delicate sensibilities? I assume at this point everyone has a smart phone and they could use it to turn on music or a podcast if they truly need to feel a aural disguise of some kind is necessary.

It seems to me that forum readers periodically post about wanting to replace their old, noisy bathroom fans with a new, quiet one -- so all you have to do is wait and pounce on someone getting rid of their old noisy fan! And it'll probably only cost you a few bucks for shipping! ;) Seriously, though, I'm not sure why you would want a noisy fan or white noise in the bathroom, when you say the problem is that people outside the room hear the bathroom noises coming form within. A noisy fan would just re-create the situation you have now: the bathroom occupants think their noises are masked by the fan noise, but outside the room, people hear everything. I'd think if you had a quiet fan in the bathroom, you'd at least remove that mask, and the bathroom occupants might be more aware of the amount of noise they're making. If, on the other hand, you're asking about a bathroom fan which is so powerful it sucks up all noise, like a black hole absorbs light, then that would be pretty cool -- but I don't think any such thing exists. Fans can't keep noise in; only better walls can door can do that. Perhaps you could do the wals and ceiling with carpet to absorb the noise? ;) -- Eric

If the fan is at the hood, then a silencer would help, possibly greatly help. I see no reason why the hood warranty would be affected other than the hood manufacturer covering its posterior against everything. The silencers from [US] Fantech have minimal restriction when matched to the duct diameter. Also, depending on the legal climate, the neighbor has a duty to not significantly pollute your environment. Reducing noise should be his higher priority than maintaining the hood warranty, particularly considering that the cost risk is limited to a blower. Perhaps more explanation about the 2-meter limitation would also help. Is this a neighborhood visual limitation? Height might move the apparent sound source to a better location, and in general the sound pressure level will drop in inverse relation to distance. However, given logarithmic hearing response, a significant distance might be needed for an apparent signficant reduction. It will take a heroic carbon filter to remove odor from a serious frying or grilling exercise. This is why outdoor ducting is usually embraced, to remove the odor (and grease particles too small to collect at the baffles) to the external environment. They have to be released high enough to not easily propagate to neighbors' houses. An upblast blower on a roof usually accomplishes this, and is the design most used by restaurants in the US. Often having a larger blade diameter than the duct size on which they are mounted, upblast blowers will generate less tip turbulence noise than a small diameter blower would for the same flow rate. kas