Reducing and handling noise between floors

How sound travels

Noise between floors comes in two broad kinds. One is impact noise, such as footsteps, dropped objects and furniture being dragged, where a blow to the floor travels through the building's structure. The other is airborne sound, such as television, music, voices and instruments, which spreads through the air and gets past walls, windows and gaps. Impact noise spreads through the concrete, so it can come from a flat diagonally above or next door rather than directly overhead, and water noise can travel along pipes. Blaming the flat upstairs the moment you hear something can start a conflict with the wrong household. Before deciding on the source, note the times and the type of sound.

Start with the noise you make

In a shared building anyone can be the source. You do not hear your own noise the way others do, so you need deliberate habits to reduce it. Heavy heel-first walking in particular is something people rarely notice in themselves. The measures below are inexpensive and can make a real difference.

• Lay thick mats where children play and along the main walkways
• Wear slippers and avoid striking the floor heel first
• Fit felt or rubber pads under chair and table legs
• Avoid the washing machine, vacuum and exercise equipment late at night and early in the morning
• Add soft-close buffers so doors and drawers do not slam
• Keep speakers off the floor and away from walls

What you can do on the receiving end

Realistically, it is hard to block structure-borne noise from the receiving side. What you can do is make it bother you less. Move your bed away from the wall or ceiling area where the noise is worst, and at night use earplugs or a steady background sound so sudden noises stand out less. Steady sound such as white noise does not remove the noise, but it can make it easier to ignore. Heavy curtains and rugs reduce airborne sound and echo in the room to some extent. If noise stress keeps you from sleeping or makes daily life hard, talking to a professional is an option rather than just enduring it.

Keep a record first

Whether you end up talking to your neighbour or to an advice service, a concrete record lets you speak in facts rather than feelings. Each time there is noise, note the date, time, how long it lasted and what kind of sound it was. Recording the noise itself on your phone helps too, but secretly recording other people's conversations can be a legal problem, so capture only the noise heard inside your own home. After a few weeks, patterns in timing appear, which also helps you work out where the noise is coming from.

• Date and time
• How long it lasted
• Type of sound: footsteps, thuds, music, appliances and so on
• Which room you were in and the direction it came from

Respond in stages

The exact procedures and standards differ by type of housing, region and time, so check the official guidance from your building management and public authorities. In general, work up from the lowest step. In a managed apartment block, first report the noise through the management office or residents' association. The key is to have a neutral third party step in rather than confronting your neighbour face to face. If that does not resolve it, you can ask a government-run noise advice service for consultation or measurement, and beyond that, apply to a public dispute mediation body. Going to court is the last resort and costs a great deal of time and money. If you need a legal view, get legal advice. This guide is general information, not legal advice.

What not to do

When patience finally snaps, people do things they should not, and from that moment the victim can become the one in the wrong. Mounting speakers on the ceiling to make retaliatory noise, banging on doors late at night or leaving threatening notes only escalates the conflict and can become a separate legal problem in itself. If you want to talk directly, do it in the daytime once you are calm, and simply state the facts from your record: when you hear which sounds. Often the neighbour had no idea they were making noise. A polite first conversation makes everything afterwards much easier.

Check before you move

Gauging noise before you move in is far easier than fixing it afterwards. When viewing a home, try to visit again at a time when people are in, such as a weekday evening or the weekend. Stand quietly for a while and listen for sounds from above, below and beside, and consider asking the management office or a neighbour, tactfully, whether noise complaints are common. Think about your own habits too. If you have children or work night hours, choosing a home with the people below in mind is a choice that benefits everyone.