Too noisy.
Too hot.
Too cold.
Too far away.
Too low of a floor number (can hear street traffic)
Too big….. oh wait, I don’t care about that if the price is right 😉
There are days when I feel like I really am too picky or demanding.. but then I think: Wait, I’m paying good money for this, why shouldn’t I find the best (most quiet) place for my money?
I’m not interested in having fancy amenities such as a dishwasher, or access to a pool, sauna, gym, etc… I just want a simple kitchen, separate bedroom area, living room and most of all.. PEACE AND QUIET!
It’s always something or another here with these buildings.
They just don’t seem to be solidly built, nor as soundproofed as possible, considering that there are hundreds of people living in the same building.
A wall that has electrical humming that is loud enough to grate on your nerves…
….or the pipes rattle every 4 minutes when someone uses water above you
…..or it’s too close to the ground so all you hear are cars and traffic
…. or you are near a huge ventilator/fan for the garage that won’t shut off and keeps making a loud humming noise through the night
…or you hear your neighbours “stomping” when really, they’re just walking normally above you.
I can accept a certain level of noise expected in an apartment, but when you start coming across serious, sleep-depriving noise problems in every apartment you stay in, you start to get annoyed at the shoddy workmanship.
Wood carries noise. Concrete and stone does not.
Apartment buildings? Why are so many of you made out of wood on the inside? 🙁
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I completely agree – searching for a nice, quiet apartment is challenging. It's always something, but the noise issue is my number one pet peeve, then dirty housemates and smokers. People have to be more thoughtful when they share a space with someone who is paying their hard-earned money to live there. Can't wait to move out of my current place, but gotta stay put because well, I like not paying an obscene amount for a 1BR apt and like being able to pay off my debt faster and have extra money. And the devil you know is better than the devil you don't, so it's gonna be something else no matter where I live. Good luck in your search.
This is absolutely the reason why I can\’t live with roommates any more. I tried for a number of years, but they just drive me crazy… and I probably drove them mad too 🙂
I hope you find something better (or at least, better people!)
Thanks. Definitely looking forward to better things. 🙂
I was woken up by my downstairs neighbor's lady friend at 4:30am to her over-exaggerated sexual moaning.
I hate him, I mean hate him with a bloody passion.
He's had so many noise complaints against him, but still I have to listen to my walls reverberating with his crap ass rave selections when I'm trying to read, quietly.
Common courtesy people!
BF takes the direct approach. He walks up to the apartment, knocks and kindly asks them to stop making so much noise. 😛
Yea, that wouldn't work for me. Since I'm a single lady living on my own, and this guy had already tried to ask me out once before. I found his business card taped to my door one morning as I was leaving for work. I've never been so disgusted and disturbed in my life. Oh and also he keyed my car, twice, because of the noise complaints that I made to management. I have no proof, so I can't make him pay for it, but both keys happened right after I sent in letters. It's so unfair, when you actually fear for your own personal safety against inconsiderate douchebags.
Ugh, that must suck big time. Yes, common courtesy – where is it these days?!
I actually had a leasing agent laugh at me once for asking if an apartment's walls were made of concrete. He told me, in a very condescending manner, that I wasn't going to find an apartment with stone walls anywhere in this city. It was the first place my roommate and I had ever toured, so we were pretty clueless and didn't think to argue. A week later we visited a downtown apartment with solid concrete walls. We became much more aggressive with the agents after that.
I will say that a white noise machine + ear plugs (the cylindrical kind, not the cones) can do wonders. I think that's the only way I survived living in dorms.
*LAUGH*
I am still sticking to my feeling that these houses and apartments are all made out of wood. It\’s really depressing to hear that nothing can be made correctly for soundproofing, especially with SO MANY PEOPLE living in one space.
I can\’t sleep with a white noise machine.. the whoosh makes me stay up. 🙁 And earplugs, I\’ve tried, but they tend to fall out or make me feel very uncomfortable/dizzy…
Just wait until you try to BUY a place. Something has to give, and it's really hard.
I thought it was required for apartments to be made of concrete for the fire code (which I learned while I was participating in a “help encourage reading” program at an elementary school near my university 7 years ago). This could just be Toronto, rather than everywhere though.
I do know that we have absolutely no problem with noise, other than hearing the streetcars zoom by, but that you can ignore pretty easily. If you are out on the balcony, noise does seem to be amplified from below (i.e. you can hear people sneeze or laugh), but once you’re inside you don’t hear a thing.
The only time you can hear the noise from other apartments is when you are in the hallway, given the wooden doors. Once you get inside the room and close the door, you don’t hear noise from other apartments (only noises from people in the hallway, if they are being loud).
It is.. but in between the apartments, they do a VERY thin layer of concrete and then a lot of wood. :\\
I think the apartments with 10 floors or less, are the worst. The ones that are higher, newer and more modern, tend to be a LOT better… but it\’s hard to find them where you want to live. :\\ For cheap 😛
Oh and your other point is great too! The higher up you are, the more you \”hear\”, but the windows tend to close out the traffic noise..
I\’m just too picky I guess. Or my brain focuses on the noise a lot more than other people\’s 🙁 I wish I could change..