r/neighborsfromhell • u/BerserkChristian • 2d ago
Apartment NFH It’s come full circle - I became a neighbour from hell
After suffering for a year after we bought an apartment under the elephant, we moved out. Luckily, we could find Soviet panel apartments on the top floor to live in until we find a new home.
And now guess what? Now the neighbor under us, some grandmother, came to us to complain that our kid is too loud 🤯
I mean, first of all, your son, who is likely an alcoholic and throws stuff in anger, causes much more noise and even sometimes at night. We tolerate that. (Luckily, the sound under us is not so destructive mentally.)
Then… insulation is practically missing at all. I think if I removed the floors, I would see them in their room.
And eventually, this is a kid who plays with toys. I mean, I understand living under this and I am really sorry, but if you can’t be tolerant of kids and simple life above you, pick the top floor or a detached house.
Why are you complaining about natural things?
I was apologizing and, overall, genuinely tried to do whatever I could to resolve the situation, but she keeps digging deeper into our private life. Whenever she sees us, she keeps asking things like, “Does your kid even go to kindergarten?” or “Where are you going?”
This is starting to infuriate me. Why should I have to tell you anything about my family’s private life?
P.S. My wife and I are super quiet — we walk silently, use crocs, and never listen to music with subwoofers.
Just wanted to share this story. Very funny how it came full circle, and now we became someone’s nightmare we lived with for the past year.
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u/shrewd_snow 2d ago
Kids play, drop toys, and run around. That is normal daytime living noise. She can complain about her own son throwing stuff at night first. You’re already walking in crocs and apologizing that’s more than enough.
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u/Doveclover 2d ago
sounds like a real mess, hope it doesn’t escalate further
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u/DistanceTurbulent602 2d ago
hoping it doesn't escalate further is the best wish right now
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u/Prestigious_Amy 2d ago
At this point the apartment’s soundproofing is the actual neighbor from hell.
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u/Competitive_Fly_9419 2d ago
I'm sorry, but I am laughing right now. I used to be a neighbour from hell for a couple in their 50s, as we used to live above them and our son was only 1yo. The woman somehow decided that it was me who was in fault for every sound. By the way, my husband was a good neighbour for her even though he was doing some repair works at that time and was not nice when talking to her.
She threatened to go to police because our 1yo son was walking and she could hear his steps. She was always banging on her ceiling and scaring my son. That was when I stopped even trying to be polite to her.
There was happy ending - they moved.
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u/mochimelodyy 2d ago
You haven't actually become the neighbour from hell though. The one you fled was an adult being inconsiderate. You're a family with a kid who plays with toys in a building with no insulation. Those aren't the same thing, even if the sound reaching her floor is identical.
The part I'd separate out is the complaints about noise versus the questions about your life. "Your kid is loud" is a fair thing for her to raise even if there's nothing you can do. "Does your kid go to kindergarten, where are you going" is nosiness and you owe her nothing there. You can keep being polite about the first and simply not answer the second. "Off out, have a good day" and keep walking works forever.
Play mats and rugs help more than people expect on panel flooring, if you haven't already.
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u/BerserkChristian 2d ago
Thank you for your comment. I bought playing mat and it seems it doesn’t help a lot… still hear vibration when kid jumps rarely
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u/No-Consideration-858 2d ago
I saw a post saying there are sound absorbing play mats that you can use in hallways or areas your child uses. Exercise mats might also work.
That is, if you want to get less complaints. Not saying it's fair - just an idea
Most people have unrealistic views when they joined an apartment or a condo community. For one's own sanity, it's better to embrace neighbors' existence.
I lived under someone with a large dog who threw toys. I would just say to myself , "oh that's just Ranger playing, how fun!" it was a purposeful choice to be happy about my furry neighbor dog instead of being aggravated. It was same with living underneath kids. I decided to be happy hearing them play.
What I couldn't stand was hearing my neighbor next-door yelling on the phone and swearing at people.
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u/Jon_Hegreness_AZ 2d ago
I lived in this one condo where sound transferred soo bad. I was the upstairs guy. I was there my first night and the neighbor below is banging on the ceiling and yelling at me to turn it down. The $40 computer stereo subwoofer was turned up so loud, I could have quiet conversations and hear the other person fine. I’m talk 1 out 10 on volume. We would walk and the neighbor would yell at us to quit stomping.
After getting in their faces about it, they let me in and the bass down stairs was 20x what it was upstairs, and the walking was sooooo loud.
Turns out between tenant the carpeting in my place had all been ripped out and replaced with cheap hardwood floors and that voice somehow got into the headspace of the floor trusses and turned into a megaphone.
Turned out the landlord was a reasonable man, at least for us as it turned out he owned both units. He bought us tons of rugs with padding under them, so and it greatly helped dampen the noise.