Dear Architects: Sound Matters
It doesn&#x27;t talk about it much but...Apartment noise from neighbors. Oh. My. Gosh.<p>I live in an area where many expensive, luxury apartments have been built in the last few years and every single one of them have complaints from &quot;hearing the person above me set the toilet seat down&quot; for example.<p>I now base what apartment I live in by the thickness and sound isolation of the walls and ceilings&#x2F;floors.<p>I lived in a complex built in the 80&#x27;s. It&#x27;s dead silent. I can jump up and down on my floor and the neighbor below me will never hear. Now in a newer complex, I can&#x27;t walk across my hardwood floored kitchen without knowing my neighbor will hear every footstep. I have to take the people above me a bottle of wine and ask them kindly to try and not make as much noise as it sounds like they are moving furniture ALL THE TIME. Even though it&#x27;s not their fault...and they really aren&#x27;t moving furniture every evening...They are just walking around...<p>Architects, engineers, whoever...please, please, please, stop skimping out on noise insulation in new construction. You are creating a whole generation of buildings that are awful to live in. My next apartment, I have no idea what I&#x27;m going to do...the tour ends right away for me when I hear thumps from above the second I walk into the room.<p>I seriously shouldn&#x27;t and don&#x27;t want to know every time the couple next to me has sex or the guys on the other side of me are watching a loud action movie.<p>I would pay so much more in rent per month for a place that had more sound insulation. Take note building developers. I WILL PAY MORE.