I was woken from a deep sleep while wearing earplugs by slamming doors. I then lay in bed for a half hour listening to various loud thumps, rattles, and a heavy tread moving up and down over our room. Note- I had not removed the earplugs, we have a computer in our bedroom, AND I had a fan going.
I give up trying to sleep for the night. I get that their apartment is likely hardwood, but... still. How can you slam a door at 5 fucking AM and not realize it's going to wake someone?
I think it may be time for us to have a chat with the landlord, and I can't help but wonder if this is why the previous tenants moved out.
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...dropping things on the floor, slamming doors, wearing clunky shoes and tromping up and down the halls? That's... not exactly reportable. And BPD would likely laugh at us. We are currently pondering our options and figuring out a plan of action.
The landlord basically shrugged when I complained, so this went on for about a month. Then Larissa woke up one morning with a migrane while this was going on. I waited for the din to drop off then I tromped upstairs in my pajamas and rang their doorbell.
I calmly and firmly informed them that my wife suffered from migraines, they had woken us up every day for the last week, and that we could hear every word of their shouting matches. They were very, very embarassed by this (there were disputes over household chores and also allegations of cheating on both sides) and said they would do more to be aware of us.
I thanked them and as a sort of reciprocal olive branch, I volunteered that if we weren't turning our music down early enough in the evening (which was around 10pm and never really that loud to begin with) to just knock and let us know.
I guess they really weren't aware of how far their voices carried, because after that I think we were only woken by them once. Granted, part of that seemed to their moving their arguments to about 1:30 in the afternoons, but it was still a better arrangement than when things started.
I know we were lucky in how things worked out but I really would suggest a gentle confrontation to start and see what happens. At least then you can escalate with full knowledge that they're douchebags and not just shockingly ignorant.
And the one thing that working in customer service has taught me is, people are more ignorant than I ever could have possibly imagined.
I really really want to think that they just aren't aware of how loud things are, because being aware, and doing it anyway, is just a real jerkish thing to do, and I don't want to think of them as jerks.
We'll see what happens though.
As I mentioned to Cap, Bren will probably go up and talk to them. He is diplomatic and gentle, where I want to go storming up there all RAAR, which... is counter productive. :)
I think that talking to neighbours can only help, they might not realize how loud they are. If you are really, really afraid to talk to them, there's always the tactic of making lots of noise yourselves and seeing if they notice, but that can backfire in a lot of ways.
Would a white noise machine help?
You have my sympathies as well because I really hated living in apartments.
It's not been a problem the past couple of nights, I'm beginning to wonder if perhaps I'm just sleeping more lightly than usual, and therefore am being wakened by things I wouldn't normally be. I dunno.
I -am- very hesitant to do the 'make lots of noise in revenge' thing. Momma always said two wrongs don't make a right. :/
Our worst neighbour was in a row of townhouses not attached to ours but just beside, whose teenage son started yelling racial epithets at a family that had just moved in next door. I yelled at him to Shut Up and he did. It still surprises me that it worked.
.. quite a lot of the noise could be explained by cats. And since we have a rather rambunctious feline as well... yeah. I'm prepared to just let it go unless they get really loud again.