4 ms·

If you use shared walls you will need proper soundproofing, and you can't do that in wood any longer. You'd have to build in bricks instead of wood and sheetroc

If you use shared walls you will need proper soundproofing, and you can't do that in wood any longer. You'd have to build in bricks instead of wood and sheetrock, and if you do multistorey you'd have to put in a soundproofing layer in the floor as well. It's a quality-of-life issue, and it's especially important to keep the peace in a confined space. A colleague from Kenya said this: "If you can hear your neighbours you know you live in a slum." Americans have gotten used to poor quality in construction, which seems part of the appeal of single-family housing in the US, even if you plunk down half a million dollars it's still sheetrock and chipboard, it's shocking to see for any foreigner. For this purpose, and on this scale, what you suggest is entirely unfit for purpose.

baddox 13y ago
I'm not completely convinced that hearing neighbours is that large of a problem for that many people. I can hear everything through the walls in my $1800 studio apartment (a very modern building), but hey, maybe that's just another example of San Francisco being a horrible place to live.
- wwweston 13y ago
  As a contrasting anecdote: I've got an otherwise satisfactory shared living setup right now, but the fact that I can hear everything -- and hear everything well, especially conversation in the kitchen, footfalls on the main staircase adjacent to one wall, and footfalls in the room above mine -- essentially means I'm unable to sleep when and for as long as I choose (and often not getting as much sleep as I need). It's pretty common for +30db impulses to find their way through my walls and ceiling. My options for fixing this problem seem to be moving, invest in soundproofing for a property I don't own, or somehow get a significant behavior modification program to take sustained root among 9 other people (some under 8 years of age). All of them suck, but I'm leaning toward the first one.
  - Scramblejams 13y ago
    Earplugs with an old cell phone shoved into your pillowcase to act as a vibrating alarm? Supplemented by some ambient noise (like a rain machine) as needed. Worked wonders for me.
    - lostlogin 13y ago
      Moving was the solution for me. After a while irritating noises weight heavily on me and set me right on edge. Our 'new' house is unrenovated, old, draughty, damp, leaks and it very run down. I love it to bits and its problems are slowly being dealt to. Unlike problems caused by others, the other stuff is within my power to change.
    - wwweston 13y ago
      My experience is that earplugs + ambient noise works OK for conversation and some limited higher frequency noise, but that it's essentially useless for the kind of low-frequency impulse noises that footfalls make.
      - annnnd 13y ago
        I am guessing noise cancelling headphones are not a real option for sleeping, but maybe something like this exists in a form of speakers? It should be doable, you just need something to track where your ears are... I haven't seen anything like this yet though.
        wwweston 13y ago
        Again, I suspect the trick is impulses -- noise canceling tech I'm familiar with does pretty well with steady-state noise like jet engines or highway sounds, but not with sudden and short bursts like dropping a handful of dishes in the kitchen. If there's something I'm not familiar with, though, I'd love to hear about it.

baddox 13y ago

I'm not completely convinced that hearing neighbours is that large of a problem for that many people. I can hear everything through the walls in my $1800 studio apartment (a very modern building), but hey, maybe that's just another example of San Francisco being a horrible place to live.

wwweston 13y ago
As a contrasting anecdote: I've got an otherwise satisfactory shared living setup right now, but the fact that I can hear everything -- and hear everything well, especially conversation in the kitchen, footfalls on the main staircase adjacent to one wall, and footfalls in the room above mine -- essentially means I'm unable to sleep when and for as long as I choose (and often not getting as much sleep as I need). It's pretty common for +30db impulses to find their way through my walls and ceiling. My options for fixing this problem seem to be moving, invest in soundproofing for a property I don't own, or somehow get a significant behavior modification program to take sustained root among 9 other people (some under 8 years of age). All of them suck, but I'm leaning toward the first one.
- Scramblejams 13y ago
  Earplugs with an old cell phone shoved into your pillowcase to act as a vibrating alarm? Supplemented by some ambient noise (like a rain machine) as needed. Worked wonders for me.
  - lostlogin 13y ago
    Moving was the solution for me. After a while irritating noises weight heavily on me and set me right on edge. Our 'new' house is unrenovated, old, draughty, damp, leaks and it very run down. I love it to bits and its problems are slowly being dealt to. Unlike problems caused by others, the other stuff is within my power to change.
  - wwweston 13y ago
    My experience is that earplugs + ambient noise works OK for conversation and some limited higher frequency noise, but that it's essentially useless for the kind of low-frequency impulse noises that footfalls make.
    - annnnd 13y ago
      I am guessing noise cancelling headphones are not a real option for sleeping, but maybe something like this exists in a form of speakers? It should be doable, you just need something to track where your ears are... I haven't seen anything like this yet though.
      - wwweston 13y ago
        Again, I suspect the trick is impulses -- noise canceling tech I'm familiar with does pretty well with steady-state noise like jet engines or highway sounds, but not with sudden and short bursts like dropping a handful of dishes in the kitchen. If there's something I'm not familiar with, though, I'd love to hear about it.