4 ms·

I would not have minded living in such small of a space in the past. With two big caveats. Based on actual experience, I've found the two biggest problems livin

I would not have minded living in such small of a space in the past. With two big caveats. Based on actual experience, I've found the two biggest problems living in apartments -- well, sharing walls/floors/ceilings with strangers, anyway -- is the noisey neighbors phenomenon, and the smoking/non-smoking thing. No matter what the official policy is on noise, there will be that guy who decides to operate what sounds like a jackhammer at midnight, on a work night. Or you'll be in an absolutely non-smoking building, floor, apartment, etc. and yet this mysterious cigarette smoke will come out of the ventilation system. Providing a small living space? Not that hard of a problem. Solving the rude neighbors problem and/or totally insulating/mitigating it? Harder. (Still not impossible, in my judgment.)

pwthornton 15y ago
Sound insulation isn't that difficult, it just costs money, and it's one of the easiest places to cut corners. When people are looking at an apartment they look to see how the kitchen is, if it has hardwood floors, a balcony, etc. No one asks, "how is the sound insulation," but they should. Municipalities would be doing civilization a huge favor if they upped the minimum sound insulation requirements for apartment/condo buildings. Some neighbors are just plain rude and in their own world, but a lot of the issues that buildings can have are from poor materials. The good news is that it's pretty cheap to throw down extra foam insulation under the floor to mitigate noise issues. But don't expect builders to do it.