Dealing with Neighbor Noise, Soundproofing (and Eavesdropping)

By Bill Primavera

When I first moved to New York City – or more specifically, Brooklyn Heights – I rented my first apartment, a studio, in a newly-constructed building. I was delighted with everything about it – the neighborhood, its street appeal, its layout and the view from my window.

Everything was copasetic until a divorced woman with a six-year-old child moved in directly above me. Suddenly my peace of mind and even my sanity were tested by noise from directly above. Between her high heels clicking around early in the morning as she prepared for work and the rambunctious jumping up and down of the child, I was miserable feeling that my whole world was being intruded upon.

When the noise would become intolerable, I would call her up (back in those days, the Dark Ages, you could actually find a person’s phone number in the telephone book or by calling the operator) and complain. That helped the problem until one day the neighbor sent down her tough boyfriend to bang on my door and threaten physical harm if I bothered her anymore.

My only option was to move and, when I did, I made sure that I picked an apartment on a top floor with no one above.

After I married, my new bride and I moved into another new apartment building which, again, was short on soundproofing. This time, the noise was coming sideways from an apartment next door occupied by two fellows who would have constant disagreements and slug it out verbally. In this case, the dialogue was so interesting that sometimes (I’m embarrassed to admit this) we would do the old trick of putting a glass to the wall with our ear pressed to it to hear better. Talk about young foolishness – or having a lot of time on one’s hands!

When we bought our first home, it was an antique two-family residence, again in Brooklyn Heights. We occupied the first two floors and rented the top two floors to tenants. There was no issue with noise from above because the floor directly above us accommodated the bedrooms.

One noise problem we had to deal with, however, came from the street. Directly across from us was a liquor store. Supply trucks would pull up in front of our house to deliver wines and liquors, and while doing so, the motors would be left running, vibrating against our façade. Like a madman, I would run across the street, into the liquor store and request that the driver turn off his motor. It was a real annoyance.

Next, it was time to move to the country where I anticipated escape from neighbor or street noise, but on the first day we occupied the new property, we were greeted with the barking of many dogs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Unwittingly, we had purchased a home diagonally across the street from Guiding Eyes for the Blind before the organization built soundproof kennels after years of pressure from surrounding neighbors, including me.

When the organization’s CEO asked me why we purchased a home if we were going to object to barking, I could only respond that every time we had visited the home, the dogs had retired for the night. But once the soundproof kennels were in place, there was no problem.

When it came time to downsize after raising our family, we sold the single-family home in favor of a condo at Trump Park Residences. Prior to our purchase, I investigated the soundproofing like Sherlock Holmes, and was pleased to find that our building had been planned and built with the utmost quality, including high standards of soundproofing from side walls and floors above, although we happen to live on the top floor.

For those who encounter unwanted noise, either by humans, animals or equipment, there are a number of remedies to deal with the problem. There are some reports of taking extreme measures to provide quiet privacy, such as building false walls in front of a neighboring wall, which creates an air space that deadens sound. Also, there are a variety of white noise machines which mask the offending sounds.  Before these machines were invented, I resorted to listening to music with earphones and even the old-fashioned remedy of ear plugs.

As I write this, I have just returned from my family’s Father’s Day celebration in our favorite diner. There was a large family next to us that was really having a good time and making so much noise, having fun, that we couldn’t hear each other speak.

Those are the times to be a good sport. Sometimes you just have to grin and bear it.

Bill Primavera is a realtor associated with William Raveis Real Estate and founder of Primavera Public Relations, Inc. (www.PrimaveraPR.com). To engage the services of The Home Guru to market your home for sale, call 914-522-2076.

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