4 ms·

I live in a apartment with a courtyard, it's taken me 10 years of knocking on folks doors. Normally it's new tenants who don't know how much noise they make and

I live in a apartment with a courtyard, it's taken me 10 years of knocking on folks doors. Normally it's new tenants who don't know how much noise they make and I have to ask them nicely if they could turn down their devices and show consideration. There have groans, feuds and aggressiveness towards me for asking for peace. I'm not unreasonable. If you wish to have a party, do it adult without DJs blaring till 3am. Most of the time, it's that they didn't realise. But it's had aggressive moments where it's turned to "It's my apartment ..."; and I get it. Folk don't like being told to show consideration for their neighbours and only when the noise effects them do they realise how disrupting noise is. The courtyard too has seagulls and at 5am it turns in to a hellish frenzy. So luckily this has taught folk a lot about how peaceful quiet actually is and on cases have made others move out. And too the courtyard faces the back of a couple of restaurants which are were the exhaust fans for their ovens stand. What I presume is due to lack of calibration as these whirl sometimes up until 2am even though their restaurants close at 11pm. You can really feel the level of atmospheric vibration drop when they shut off. It's a sigh of relief when they do. I've plead, and the local council is useless so I have put up with it. 3am is really the only time I can actually relax my ears in to a slumber because having hyper audio sensory really sucks. Peace is nice and I wish others would value it more. But with peace, folk don't know what to do. It scares them at first because it's rare to encounter in this day and age.

dnemmers 2mo ago
Even though the restaurant closes at 11, doesn't meant there isn't plenty of cleaning and 'closing' still left to do by the staff, often into the 'wee' hours.
- doublerabbit 2mo ago
  These restaurants are locked with shutters down at 11. What I presume is that the cool down is on a uncalibrated timing like unfair traffic lights but you can't really demonstrate this as they just shrug and tell you it's not their problem.
nradov 2mo ago
Other HN users keep telling us that we should support dense housing development. I think those people have never lived in an apartment complex with trashy neighbors.
- richwater 2mo ago
  As we continue to devolve into a lower and lower trust society, the problem will get worse. If people want to live in a shoebox surrounded by thousands of other people in a shoebox, I wont stop them but I"m not going to normalize it either.
- vouaobrasil 2mo ago
  It's usually because they're not the ones living in the dense housing, or will ever.
- Foreignborn 2mo ago
  i live in shibuya and i have countless videos where it’s <40db outside. just make the damn building with noise in mind (RC, interior insulation, gapped flooring, etc). it’s very possible. (btw I am as country bumpkin as they come, my village has less than 200 people so i understand rural living.)
  - somenameforme 2mo ago
    Japan isn't America. People, all throughout Asia, are a million times more considerate and reasonable, with Japan near the top of this list. There's also far fewer crazy people - be that mentally unwell, people on drugs, or whatever else.
  - bob1029 2mo ago
    > interior insulation How to live like a king. Putting material like rockwool in the dead spaces can make an incredible difference in acoustic performance.
  - m463 2mo ago
    You know what wonderful thing I noticed about Japan wrt noise? Their heavy equipment doesn't have those backup beepers. I watched a construction site and all I heard were the well-muffled excavators grunting a little to move their hydraulic arms.
caymanjim 2mo ago
I can relate, but the problem here is that you shouldn't live in an apartment. I never will again, for all the reasons you outlined. It's unreasonable to expect quiet in apartments. People have different schedules, they're different ages, and some are just assholes.
- doublerabbit 2mo ago
  I rented for six, and the landlords offered me to buy it, I got an amazing deal. It's been awesome for those six but in the last four, city construction and all the rest has come and ruined the noise. The felling of trees near-by really ruined the peace.
- elric 2mo ago
  > you shouldn't live in an apartment I wish I were rich enough to distance myself from the noise of the riffraff. But with some 8 billion humans on the planet, that seems unsustainable. Building with soundproofing in mind would be a good place to start. Asshole-proofing is trickier. There's nothing unreasonable about expecting people to behave in apartments (or elsewhere). Many (most?) places have laws about noise and nuisance, getting them enforced has not been easy in my experience. Edit: 8+ billion people, apparently. I'm getting old.
- solatic 2mo ago
  It is very reasonable to expect quiet in apartments. It is not reasonable to expect that you will never need to confront people to achieve it. If you want to never talk to neighbors, then don't have any. Sadly, this is becoming more and more of a luxury, particularly in areas with economic opportunity.
epihelix 2mo ago
Agreed. I live on an acreage with the sound of birds and the sea for company, and I could not possibly deal with high-density living. Peace, every single day, is just wonderful. (I'm so sorry for your situation -- it sounds ghastly. Move if you can. It's not worth living like that.) However, I also know that many people find my lifestyle agoraphobic, and positively need high-density living. Many PhDs at my institute seem to feel the need to constantly surround themselves with noise and distractions that would do my head in (they literally have TV series playing on their phones as they do repetitive analysis tasks ... it is freaking weird!) I'll never forget my first time living in the UK, describing my happiness of hiking in the wilderness to my English colleagues, and them looking at me in absolute horror, telling me that the idea of not being able to see a human house in any direction would scare them half to death. And now, even when I go hiking, I encounter people who feel the need to hike with a bluetooth speaker blaring out their music / podcast / audiobook at themselves and everyone else. I love silence, but most of the world seems genuinely scared by it.
- vladvasiliu 2mo ago
  > And now, even when I go hiking, I encounter people who feel the need to hike with a bluetooth speaker blaring out their music / podcast / audiobook at themselves and everyone else. Man, I really have no issue with people who can't enjoy the silence, and feel the need to occupy their ears. But imposing this on other people is beyond inconsiderate. I have no idea how this kind of behavior came to be so widespread. And at least out in the forest, you'll be a nuisance for a few minutes while you pass someone. But the same shitty behavior happens every day in cities, on the street, and in public transport, where you're being an asshole to dozens of people for possibly dozens of minutes at a time.
throwawayffffas 2mo ago
Why don't you move? Exhaust fans till 2am seagulls at 5am. I would be out in the first week.

dnemmers 2mo ago

Even though the restaurant closes at 11, doesn't meant there isn't plenty of cleaning and 'closing' still left to do by the staff, often into the 'wee' hours.

doublerabbit 2mo ago
These restaurants are locked with shutters down at 11. What I presume is that the cool down is on a uncalibrated timing like unfair traffic lights but you can't really demonstrate this as they just shrug and tell you it's not their problem.

nradov 2mo ago

Other HN users keep telling us that we should support dense housing development. I think those people have never lived in an apartment complex with trashy neighbors.

richwater 2mo ago
As we continue to devolve into a lower and lower trust society, the problem will get worse. If people want to live in a shoebox surrounded by thousands of other people in a shoebox, I wont stop them but I"m not going to normalize it either.
vouaobrasil 2mo ago
It's usually because they're not the ones living in the dense housing, or will ever.
Foreignborn 2mo ago
i live in shibuya and i have countless videos where it’s <40db outside. just make the damn building with noise in mind (RC, interior insulation, gapped flooring, etc). it’s very possible. (btw I am as country bumpkin as they come, my village has less than 200 people so i understand rural living.)
- somenameforme 2mo ago
  Japan isn't America. People, all throughout Asia, are a million times more considerate and reasonable, with Japan near the top of this list. There's also far fewer crazy people - be that mentally unwell, people on drugs, or whatever else.
- bob1029 2mo ago
  > interior insulation How to live like a king. Putting material like rockwool in the dead spaces can make an incredible difference in acoustic performance.
- m463 2mo ago
  You know what wonderful thing I noticed about Japan wrt noise? Their heavy equipment doesn't have those backup beepers. I watched a construction site and all I heard were the well-muffled excavators grunting a little to move their hydraulic arms.

caymanjim 2mo ago

I can relate, but the problem here is that you shouldn't live in an apartment. I never will again, for all the reasons you outlined. It's unreasonable to expect quiet in apartments. People have different schedules, they're different ages, and some are just assholes.

doublerabbit 2mo ago
I rented for six, and the landlords offered me to buy it, I got an amazing deal. It's been awesome for those six but in the last four, city construction and all the rest has come and ruined the noise. The felling of trees near-by really ruined the peace.
elric 2mo ago
> you shouldn't live in an apartment I wish I were rich enough to distance myself from the noise of the riffraff. But with some 8 billion humans on the planet, that seems unsustainable. Building with soundproofing in mind would be a good place to start. Asshole-proofing is trickier. There's nothing unreasonable about expecting people to behave in apartments (or elsewhere). Many (most?) places have laws about noise and nuisance, getting them enforced has not been easy in my experience. Edit: 8+ billion people, apparently. I'm getting old.
solatic 2mo ago
It is very reasonable to expect quiet in apartments. It is not reasonable to expect that you will never need to confront people to achieve it. If you want to never talk to neighbors, then don't have any. Sadly, this is becoming more and more of a luxury, particularly in areas with economic opportunity.

epihelix 2mo ago

Agreed. I live on an acreage with the sound of birds and the sea for company, and I could not possibly deal with high-density living. Peace, every single day, is just wonderful. (I'm so sorry for your situation -- it sounds ghastly. Move if you can. It's not worth living like that.) However, I also know that many people find my lifestyle agoraphobic, and positively need high-density living. Many PhDs at my institute seem to feel the need to constantly surround themselves with noise and distractions that would do my head in (they literally have TV series playing on their phones as they do repetitive analysis tasks ... it is freaking weird!) I'll never forget my first time living in the UK, describing my happiness of hiking in the wilderness to my English colleagues, and them looking at me in absolute horror, telling me that the idea of not being able to see a human house in any direction would scare them half to death. And now, even when I go hiking, I encounter people who feel the need to hike with a bluetooth speaker blaring out their music / podcast / audiobook at themselves and everyone else. I love silence, but most of the world seems genuinely scared by it.

vladvasiliu 2mo ago
> And now, even when I go hiking, I encounter people who feel the need to hike with a bluetooth speaker blaring out their music / podcast / audiobook at themselves and everyone else. Man, I really have no issue with people who can't enjoy the silence, and feel the need to occupy their ears. But imposing this on other people is beyond inconsiderate. I have no idea how this kind of behavior came to be so widespread. And at least out in the forest, you'll be a nuisance for a few minutes while you pass someone. But the same shitty behavior happens every day in cities, on the street, and in public transport, where you're being an asshole to dozens of people for possibly dozens of minutes at a time.

throwawayffffas 2mo ago

Why don't you move? Exhaust fans till 2am seagulls at 5am. I would be out in the first week.