Renters: A question about noise

Hi all

We rent a second floor apartment in a legal 2 family house. It seems to be carpeted properly (only the kitchen is not)

The landlady complains that my kids make a lot of noise at 7am. We are constantly shushing them, and we almost always are out of the house (at least 5 days a week by 7:45)

We also hear her grandkids, and they literally SHAKE the house when they are down there.

How can we muffle the noise either way?

Renters: A question about noise

Can you place area rugs over parts of the carpeting? Maybe that would help

Renters: A question about noise

You can't probably. The house was probably not built as a 2 family so it was not built to stop noise like a normal apt building would.

Renters: A question about noise

I can't think of anything... the area rugs might help though, I don't know by how much.

Re: Renters: A question about noise

Have you asked her what specific noise the kids are making ?
Are they talking too loud, running ?

Certain people just view normal living sounds as "noise".
I live in a carpeted co-op and can hear my downstairs neighbor, and the people on either side of me. It's part of shared living space.
My downstairs neighbor is old and crazy and complained to management about "noise" coming from the crawlspace, from the walls, about noise that DH and I were making all the time (we work and are out of the house about 12 hours a day). She called the police because we were making noise during the night. I wouldn't know, I was sleeping when the cops rang my bell at 3am.

Other than your landlady installing an acoustic ceiling to block some noise, there is nothing more you can do.

Re: Renters: A question about noise

I just wanted to say, I don't think this is only from living in a house. I rented an apartment in an apartment complex before I got married and the noise I could hear from my neighbors (on all sides) was nuts. I just figured it was part of apartment living.

The guy above me was a videogame nerd and would play really loud war games nonstop. It was annoying feeling like I lived in a war zone with constant shoot and bombs going off but I tried to just laugh about it as much as possible.

Re: Renters: A question about noise

Re: Renters: A question about noise

Unfortunately I think this is normal apartment living.

She's probably annoyed because you have to get the kids up for school at 7.

In our house we are up early too and I've had my sister complain when she's slept over that we are loud, but just walking around is noise in that situation.

Re: Renters: A question about noise

Sounds normal to me, especially in a house. We lived in a legal first floor apt and we always heard them walking upstairs. In apt buildings, I've heard our neighbors, upstairs, downstairs and next door, as well as people in the hallway. You just kind of get used to it. That's one of the trade offs to living in a shared space.