Luxury Apartments - a load of BS

[Richard M]

So I've been living in this place now in Cardiff Bay since April.
Everything was great for the first few months but then the bugs arrived.
They've gone now because it's getting colder but some right ponces moved in a few months ago next door.
This guy thinks it's acceptable to knock on my door every time I play some music, no matter what time of the bloody day it is. "Can you turn the bass down a little bit?"
Was considering making a complaint but I don't think I'll even bother, I'll just take my money elsewhere because my contract is up in November and I'm not going to bother renewing it.

You'd think that places that start at £100,000 just for a studio flat would have decent soundproofing - or it may be that just because the guy can hear that I'm playing music he thinks that it's too loud, must be a silence freak.
Having to go through the ghetto that is Grangetown to get to my place is annoying me too, it's like having to go through an inner city dodgy estate part of London to get to a nice place like Kensington.

I think I'm going to go back to Roath, which is still inner city but is mainly a student area but on the other side of central and is much nicer to live in.

[paulyoung666]

finished ???????????? , sorry i couldnt resist

new places are all the same , wood and plasterboard crap

[Bifta]

Originally Posted by paulyoung666

finished ???????????? , sorry i couldnt resist

new places are all the same , wood and plasterboard crap

Absolutely! I was living in a 3 storey, brand new semi-detached townhouse, I could hear the next door neighbours walking up and down the stairs, flushing the loo, talking, open and closing doors etc, even above any music I was playing. I've since moved into a 30 year old brick, solid as you like terraced house and I can hear absolutely nothing from either neighbour (and vice versa)

[etccarmageddon]

Originally Posted by Bifta

Absolutely! I was living in a 3 storey, brand new semi-detached townhouse, I could hear the next door neighbours walking up and down the stairs, flushing the loo, talking, open and closing doors etc, even above any music I was playing. I've since moved into a 30 year old brick, solid as you like terraced house and I can hear absolutely nothing from either neighbour (and vice versa)

it depends on how your house and Richard's flat is contructed - if it uses traditional breeseblock inner and brick outer construction you'll hear sound. It doesnt just travel through walls - it goes through the floors.

if it uses the new timber frame construction then you're connecting walls with your neighboors are likely to be just plaster board which in my opinion is shocking. I'd expect that you'd get even more sound travelling!

Wilcon (aka Wilson Connolly) pioneered timber frame construction in the UK but have been taken over by http://bryanthomes.co.uk

If you want to see "modern" house building methods in progress - go and watch a timber frame block of flats being built and see how each flat is seperated from each other.


Good job Richard's renting - which means he has a quick escape route!

[Tricky]

My sister moved into a renovated mill and the same thing happened, ceiling and floors fine thick as houses! but the walls between the apartments were terrible. So bad that when they were putting up some shelves the screws (3") went through the neighbours wall at the other side. When she complained the builders said the west wall thickness in odd numbered rooms is only 2" thick whilst the east walls which have the services running down them are 4" - He recommended putting the shelves up elsewhere!!!

[greencreeper]

Originally Posted by Bifta

Absolutely! I was living in a 3 storey, brand new semi-detached townhouse, I could hear the next door neighbours walking up and down the stairs, flushing the loo, talking, open and closing doors etc, even above any music I was playing. I've since moved into a 30 year old brick, solid as you like terraced house and I can hear absolutely nothing from either neighbour (and vice versa)

It's painful to say this but I agree with Bifta

The place I have at the moment is an ancient terraced house and the noise levels are pretty low, even though the house about 6 doors up does play his music pretty loud. The best thing is that you can complain to Environmental Health with impunity - no one can know it's you because with terraced housing there are, er, loads of houses.

You only have to look at how quickly properties are built these days to question their construction.

[Richard M]

The walls, floors and ceilings here are solid concrete though...
I think it's those ones they make by lifting in the floor by crane and dropping them into place.

[etccarmageddon]

Originally Posted by Tricky

My sister moved into a renovated mill and the same thing happened, ceiling and floors fine thick as houses! but the walls between the apartments were terrible. So bad that when they were putting up some shelves the screws (3") went through the neighbours wall at the other side. When she complained the builders said the west wall thickness in odd numbered rooms is only 2" thick whilst the east walls which have the services running down them are 4" - He recommended putting the shelves up elsewhere!!!

sounds like the timber frame standard of construction. a lot cheaper to construct but where's your protection if next door catches fire?

[etccarmageddon]

Originally Posted by Richard M

The walls, floors and ceilings here are solid concrete though...
I think it's those ones they make by lifting in the floor by crane and dropping them into place.

on a timber frame house the inner walls a shipped pre-built from the factoring then lowered into place and hammered onto the base and hammered onto each other (I think) - these walls are wooden frames and replace the old sytle breaseblock method which is a lot slower. you can get the frames in place within a day! you then "build" around the frame your outer brick walls which are there for cosmetic reasons and to protect the house from the elements. if your wooden frame gets damp then your house could warp - I also suspect the life time of a wooden frame house is a lot shorter.

before they put plaster board on the inside, the wooden frame is protected by sheets of film which you should be careful when piercing (e.g. a hole for your picture frame! or a hole for that outside tap you are putting in!)

[Russ B]

One possible solution to this...have you considered actually turning the bass down a bit? Especially as you seem to enjoy all this modern 'boom boom boom' music. I don't know, music wasn't like that in my day, it always had a tune you could whistle.....

[Maggy J]

I wouldn't mind so much if next door would put carpet down instead of wood flooring.I'm sick of hearing the kids constantly drag the dining chairs across the floor. With all his savings on DIY he should be able to afford carpets surely?

Also if he would try not to use a drill every weekend I might be a little less irritated.

Oh and if he has summat to do over the Bank Holiday weekend in his garden like erect a shed I wish that he didn't start knocking and hammering at 7 am on a Sunday morning.

Then this man has the cheek to get uptight about our Raggae weekend partying neighbours from hell.Obviously he doesn't regard DIY 24/7 at a weekend as just as fecking antisocial.

The most annoying thing is that the only time I know I'll get any peace from him and his DIY efforts is during the week.However that's when the builders next door start at 8 am in the morning.

I feel sorry for my husband.He gets up and goes out every morning at 6.30 am.He makes EVERY effort not to make any noise and gets very irate with some old fool who shouts good morning at him every weekday morning for being too noisy,as this is the reward he gets on a well deserved Bank Holiday weekend rest.I've told him to make as much noise as he likes in future because no one respects his efforts at all(except me at the moment).

Incog.

[etccarmageddon]

perhaps the answer is to move into a detached property!

[Maggy J]

Originally Posted by etccarmageddon

perhaps the answer is to move into a detached property!

Oh yes a larger mortgage.When I've already finished paying off one mortgage. Also IF I'm moving from the home I've lived in for 40 years I'm moving into a bungalow and they cost three times as much as any detached.

I think the answer should be my neighbour being a bit more thoughtful myself.It doesn't cost him anything.

[Ramrod]

Never bought new, never will (unless I have it built).
We rented a new flat in Norwich for 18 months. The neighbour below us was always complaining about the noise from our flat.......all we were doing was walking around
(Thorpe Park if anyone wants to know)

[Mick]

Originally Posted by etccarmageddon

perhaps the answer is to move into a detached property!

I've compared my terraced house, size of kitchen, living room and even bedrooms to a brand new detatched house and I can say that to say its a detached house, space is lacking and I cannot get over how tiny some kitchens are in these new houses. You could fit 3 elephants in my kitchen. Never fault a terraced house, cheap and cheerful.