Condo Noise

[kccrackednut]

Interesting articles in Minneapolis Star Tribune (5/22) about condo noise.

[bahua]

Nice of you to tell us about it!

[AllThingsKC]

Well, sign me up for the Minneapolis Star Tribune! 

[bahua]

Once, I broke a bathroom door down! There might be an article about it somewhere.

[kard]

http://news.google.com/news?q=condo%20n ... a=N&tab=wn

Woah--it's no. 1!

http://www.startribune.com/389/story/443689.html

Part I: Luxury living or glorified apartment?
As the pace of condo, loft and townhouse construction continues unabated, some buyers are discovering myriad problems with their "carefree" homes.
Karen Youso, Star Tribune

Nancy Miller loves her Minneapolis condo but does not love her noisy neighbor whose entertainment center rattles the pictures on her walls at odd hours of the night.

Eager for a carefree lifestyle, Sandy Obermiller proudly moved into her new condominium across from City Hall in St. Louis Park on Thanksgiving Day 2002. She had purchased it a year earlier, before the development was even a hole in the ground, and was promised a luxury condominium for her $250,000 investment.

What she got was a condo where she can hear neighbors talking, phones ringing next door and other people's washing machines draining. The windows and basement leak. The deck floor is failing. The building looks unfinished.

[kccrackednut]

The website contains an article about a new condo project in the Twin Cities that features an innovative means to reduce noise between units.  A supplemental article advises potential buyers and sellers about condo noise.  This must be a ubiquitous problem.

[bahua]

Kard++

[dangerboy]

Jeez.  It's her own fault if she never considered that living in an attached dwelling might mean hearing other people's noise.

There should be an application process for buying a loft or condo.  It should include an intensive educational component about the facets of urban living that aren't common in the suburbs.  Passing a test at the end should be required before being allowed to purchase said loft or condo.

[KCPowercat]

If this article was written in the Star there would be 15 people on this site alone stating "only in KC".

[DaveKCMO]

we have a bit of a noise problem in our building due to the massive amount of concrete surfaces (ceilings and floors in the hallways and in every unit) and exposed duct work. most people are used to it now, but we've just come to be a little more respectful of each other. i think it's far different from an apartment experience in that we own the building and have some leverage over the use of common areas. i also know more of the people that surround me vs. in an apartment where i didn't care (or simply didn't want want to know my neighbors).

basically, if you can't stand being aware that others live around you, don't buy a condo. there's something fulfilling, however, about the shared experience (and the reduced environmental impact... have you calculated your CO2 footprint in a single family home????).

[kccrackednut]

It also depends whether the neighbors live similar lifestyles.  At first the residents may find the noise "fulfilling," but it gets old real fast with uncooperative or indifferent neighbors.  A KC realtor told me that questions about floor/wall noise are quite common now among potential buyers as opposed to a few years ago as people wise up to the ways builders cut corners. 

[DaveKCMO]

yes, i asked a lot of questions about noise when i was shopping. even though i was assured the sound board in adjoining walls would help with that, no one warned me about the concrete floors/ceilings. basically, i can hear a pin drop above me because any sound made by objects striking the the concrete resonates perfectly throughout. not to mention the cacophony created by 30 chatty people in my unit when i have a party.

that said, i'm pretty used to it now. it's a trade-off for the sense of space and wash-n-wear ease of concrete! if i were to buy in a building that wasn't a converted warehouse (say, 21 Ten), i would have gotten hardwood.

separately, we experienced a strange design flaw: i share an actual pane of window glass with my neighbors on each side due to the window cuts in the brick walls. since humans haven't perfected melding drywall and glass into a seamless bond, there was an actual half-inch of visible gap between the two (which allowed in a lot of noise). we remedied this with some foamcore and a little elbow grease.

[Long]

Jeez.  It's her own fault if she never considered that living in an attached dwelling might mean hearing other people's noise.

There should be an application process for buying a loft or condo.  It should include an intensive educational component about the facets of urban living that aren't common in the suburbs.  Passing a test at the end should be required before being allowed to purchase said loft or condo.

A thumping stereo system is one thing-- but it is very possible to design and build a brand-new building where you can't hear normal conversation and ringing phones from one unit to the next.  Especially at the price-point many condos go for.  And there are things that can be done to make renovations better-- a shared pane of glass between two units should be unacceptable.