Noisy Neighbors

[nin137]

a couple of months ago my wife and i moved into a new apartment as we were starting grad school/law school. after the first 2 nights we realized that we were in big trouble. it is one of those old buildings where you hear every creak, but that's not really the problem. the problem is the vent, through this vent (which is located in our closet directly next to our bedroom comes a plethora of noises. their are two problems with this:
1.) i have no idea which neighbors they are (our apt. manager said that he didn't know where the vent went) so they could be above us, below us, or to our sides.
2.) closing the closet door doesn't help at all.
so now my wife are privileged to hear everything from this couple's drunk tirades to their um, well making up afterwards

so i've decided to block the vent in hopes that it will reduce the noise. first i thought of putting just straight duct tape over it. then i thought of cutting up a paper grocery bag and blocking the vent (taping it on with duct tape). but lately i've thought about using cardboard as i think the corrugated portion of it may help to defuse the sound.
then, i thought about a movie i just recently saw in which a guy made a sound proof room with egg cartons. so i need some help in deciding (or some altogether new advice if possible) as to what the best way is for me to block this noise.

Thanks!

[HAL9000]

Get a big wad of fiiberglass insulation or foam rubber and stuff it down the vent, it will help absorb noise to some degree... the noise will still pass through the cardboard although you may want to try that as a final defense after the insulation or foam.

[mairving]

You probably need to find out what the vent is for first. If it is a AC vent or a return, you wouldn't want to block it.

[Stuey]

Originally Posted by mairving You probably need to find out what the vent is for first. If it is a AC vent or a return, you wouldn't want to block it.

If it's in the closet, how important can it be? I mean, I imagine with clothes and shoeboxes in there and with the door(s) closed, the vent is not going to see much airflow anyways.

How about egg-crate bed padding or similar shaped packing material? I imagine that that would be pretty good at reflecting and absorbing sound waves.

[nin137]

actually our apartment manager urged us to block the vent as there may be "some problems" when we first moved in. i like the idea of stuffing something into the vent, but this thing looks like it's soldered on or something along those lines. I guess I will just try and block it with the mixture of cardboard, egg cartons and duct tape.
i'll duct tape the cardboard on first and staple the cartons onto that and then place a final layer of duct tape over it all.
wow i sound like i'm clinically insane, but anything to stop the noise

[doctorgonzo]

Have you tried getting defensive by going on the offensive?

You say that nobody knows where the vent goes. Blast your own loud music through the vent and see who complains. When you discover who is on the other side, tell them to keep it quiet and tell your landlord who it is.

[HAL9000]

LMAO... actually, that is a VERY good idea.. sure, you may get one complaint, but then you will know who to complain about in the future for an eviction if need be.

[faulkner132]

Originally Posted by doctorgonzo Have you tried getting defensive by going on the offensive? You say that nobody knows where the vent goes. Blast your own loud music through the vent and see who complains. When you discover who is on the other side, tell them to keep it quiet and tell your landlord who it is.

I'm speaking from experience here... you DO NOT want to tick off your neighbors. Having a bad neighbor is about the worst thing possible.

[doctorgonzo]

Well, they already have bad neighbors! I'm not saying that they should do this constantly, but just to determine who the bad neighbors are. Perhaps getting a taste of their own medicine will convince the noisy neighbors to keep quiet, but if nothing else at least everybody will know who the culprits are.

[HAL9000]

You're right, you don't want to tick off neighbours, but at the same time they are being very inconsiderate to everyone surrounding them, they either need to quiet down or move (forced if need be).... I dealt with too many people like that in my previous residence and got rid of a lot of neighbours until I got one that was considerate and quieter. Sure, it makes for harsh feelings, and I went by all the rules for the eviction process which meant dealing with a lot of noise for a period of time, but noisy people have to learn the world doesn't revolve around them.

[tetsuo]

It is best to do this while your neighbors are asleep.

If you have a smoke alarm in your closet, remove that.

Set up a small grill in the closet, keeping it as far from all sides of the closet as you can.

Start burning whatever material you have handy in the grill, then shut the door. You may want to duct-tape around the door to keep the smoke from getting into the rest of the apartment.

Continue adding more material as needed.

Within a day or two, the neighbors should be quiet.

[sdkfz]

If you are handy - get some drywall, fibergalss insulation and some 1 by 1 lumber. Build a box that fits inside the vent with drywall on all sides and make it as tight as possible. Pack the void inside the box with the insualtion and place in the vent. Essentially building a mimi wall like they describe here

http://hometips.com/cs-protected/gui...oof_walls.html

As a final step, caulk the sucker in to stop bypass. You can also buy soundproofing matting, but this stuff is expensive, a neighbor finished his basement and use this all over the ceiling. It is heavy thick foam rubber with a solid rubber side. It works, but like I said it is expensive and you only need a little so you may find it hard not buying way too much.

You could try 'coaching' the make up sessions via the same vent- celebrating ...err... events ...maybe they do not know how well they are broadcasting.

[HAL9000]

Originally Posted by tetsuo It is best to do this while your neighbors are asleep. If you have a smoke alarm in your closet, remove that. Set up a small grill in the closet, keeping it as far from all sides of the closet as you can. Start burning whatever material you have handy in the grill, then shut the door. You may want to duct-tape around the door to keep the smoke from getting into the rest of the apartment. Continue adding more material as needed. Within a day or two, the neighbors should be quiet.

I don't think I would advise that one..... that's just asking for real trouble as it is a fire hazzard.

[faulkner132]

Originally Posted by tetsuo It is best to do this while your neighbors are asleep. If you have a smoke alarm in your closet, remove that. Set up a small grill in the closet, keeping it as far from all sides of the closet as you can. Start burning whatever material you have handy in the grill, then shut the door. You may want to duct-tape around the door to keep the smoke from getting into the rest of the apartment. Continue adding more material as needed. Within a day or two, the neighbors should be quiet.

You can't be serious. This is an extreme fire hazzard.

[doctorgonzo]

One thing to keep in mind here is that this is an apartment, i.e. they are renters. Even if the landlord did say it was okay to start making extensive modifications to the physical property, why should nin137 have to pay for fixing something he doesn't own? It is the duty of the landlord to provide a habitable apartment, one that does not encounter disturbing noises from neighbors. Sounds like the landlord is trying to run away from his responsibilities.

[EzyStvy]

Insist that your landlord deal with this or let you out of your lease

[nin137]

wow, well first off thanks for all the comments, although i don't think i'm giong to smoke anybody out just yet . the thing is since we are both in school again we are on loans and we fought long and hard just to get this apartment because they help you out (i.e. pay your utilities) if you meet certain requirements, married, have a family, etc.
the ironic thing about this is that i thought that this would limit my problems to begin with! oh well, i don't think we have any leverage on lease (and even if we did i doubt we'd want to get out of our lease).
i've thought about just blasting music but the problem with that is that i'll
1.) annoy my next door neighbors and others surrounding
2.) i don't think i want to get into a mud-slinging contest considering that i really just don't want to expend my energy on something which is exasperating as is

so i think i'm just going to pick up some cardboard from our recycling area, take the eggs out of the carton and create my own little sound-proof barrier, well "sound-proof". and hope that solves this problem.
the utter reluctancy with which i was met with by the manager in even thinking about dealing with the issue was really annoying so i figure if it really comes down to it and i'm studying for an exam the loud blasting music may be my final resort as we all know...law students don't sleep anyhow

[David M]

I do not believe in taking revenge on anyone for anything. The reason is that if you take revenge, suddenly you have an enemy who may retaliate against you. It is always better to have no enemies than to create an enemy. It is always better to resolve things in a non-confrontational way either legally or coming to some sort of gentlemans agreement preferably.

The responsibility for keeping noisy neighbors quiet is your landords and not yours. If your landlord cannot do his job properly then you have legal justification to move out regardless of what a lease or rental agreement states...but you don't really have that option, so......

As far as stuffing something down the vent goes; I would first find out the vents purpose. Secondly keep in mind you become responsible for any damages stuffing something down a vent causes, including mold damage if the vent is used for keeping the unit dry, amongst other types of damage.

If you do go ahead and decide to plug the vent with something, make sure it is non-flammable and will not create a source of food for rats, mice, cockroaches or other vermin. Fiberglass insulation is the only thing that comes to mind.

Buying some foam earplugs is probably your most realistic solution if your landlord cannot resolve the situation. I have lived in some very noisy places...foam earplugs allowed me to study and sleep through the noisiest of times. Putting in earplugs and putting on some music in the background with the volume up just loud enough to hear the music, (music which still allows you to think like classical or soft jazz), will drown out the noise and will divert your minds attention away from your lousy neighbors.

If you are lucky, their partying will cause them to flunk out, self-correcting the problem.