After a long day at work — or just being out and about — all you want is a little peace and quiet at home. But if you live in an apartment building, that can be hard to come by, especially when you can hear every footstep from your upstairs neighbors.
So, what can you do when their movements become a constant disruption?
Start by trying to reach a friendly compromise with your neighbors before considering more serious actions. You can also explore noise-reducing solutions like white noise machines or noise-canceling headphones. If the problem persists, more involved fixes like installing a drop ceiling or adding soundproofing insulation and panels may be necessary.
There are several ways to tackle this issue before it escalates. Keep reading for practical tips on how to deal with noisy upstairs neighbors without losing your sanity.
How Do You Deal With Loud Footsteps Upstairs?
Constantly hearing loud footsteps upstairs can get nerve-wracking very quickly. You may have already considered ignoring the noise or waiting a few days to see if it goes away. However, if you find it’s too much of a nuisance, you’ll need to deal with it.
Here are a few things you can do to get your neighbors to stop making so much noise.
Compromise: Have a Discussion With Your Neighbors
They say you catch more flies with honey, so there’s no harm in trying to talk to your neighbors about the loud footsteps you hear. If they have kids, they may be stomping around, and the parents don’t know about it.
Consider compromising. Your neighbors might understand if you gave them a rough outline of your day so they would keep it down during your sleeping hours or when you have a meeting. Many people work online nowadays, so avoiding noise during the daytime might be more crucial than at night.
Also, it’s best to discuss with your neighbors which rooms you hear more noise in — so they might be able to divert their foot traffic away. I highly suggest that you go about talking to your neighbors nicely — do not engage in a conflict, especially if you don’t already know your neighbors very well.
Involve Your Building’s Management
Not all neighbors are willing to compromise, and sometimes you need more than a visit with a basket of muffins to get them to play nice. Consider filing a complaint if you live in a building with a superintendent or your landlord is frequently around.
You might also involve the homeowner’s association if the complaint warrants it. While none of these entities can force your neighbor to pipe it down, it doesn’t hurt to try!
Can the Police Help Stop Noisy Upstairs Neighbors?
If you believe the noise is unbearable, you might find it helpful to call the police. Most of the time, the police will be willing to come and warn your neighbors about the noise complaint.
However, remember that calling the police too frequently for such things is considered a waste of time.
In any case, most law-abiding citizens will follow the rules if they get them directly from a police officer. After that, you might not be a favorite neighbor — but you’ll get your quiet time.
Other Legal Routes to Take for Noisy Upstairs Neighbors
Believe it or not, some states will allow you to sue your neighbor for making noise beyond a maximum tolerance level. For example, California’s Noise Control Act enables neighbors to file a lawsuit for this specific purpose.
I don’t recommend going the legal route unless you’ve exhausted all other options. If you decide this is an option you must pursue, hire a lawyer to advise you on specific laws in your area.
Related: How to Get Revenge on Your Neighbor Without Them Knowing
Ways to Dampen Footsteps and Other Noises
You might not always want to have a conflict with your neighbors. The only option you have might be to seek other methods of reducing the noise from footsteps upstairs. Luckily, with today’s technological and construction innovations, there are various sound-dampening and soundproofing options you can explore.
Let’s go through each of those options.
Soundproofing Options
The most effective way to ensure you don’t hear anything from your upstairs neighbor is to soundproof your home or parts of it. However, keep in mind that soundproofing methods are costly.
Here are a few soundproofing options to consider:
- Carpeting on the ceiling. You might’ve already heard about using carpeting to soundproof a room, but very few people know that you can apply it to your ceiling. This option may be slightly costly, but it is highly effective at dampening noise from the ceiling. You could also buy your neighbor a carpet or a rug.
- Acoustic panels. Hanging acoustic panels from your ceiling is a cost-effective soundproofing technique. You can also do it yourself without the need to hire a contractor.
- Soundproof paint. This option is a quick-dry paint that can dampen sound to some extent. Keep in mind that it is not as effective as complete soundproofing, but it can be suitable if the noise from your upstairs neighbor isn’t too loud.
- Install drop ceilings. Drop ceilings are a more permanent but highly effective soundproofing option with various designs and materials available for drop ceilings. It is a complete renovation project — so expect the process to be costly.
Canceling the Upstairs Noise
Not everyone has enough room in their budget for a full-on renovation of their ceilings. Don’t worry because if you can’t reduce the noise, you could still try to cancel it. There are two main Noise-cancellation options I will explore below.
White Noise Machines
Popular as a sleeping aid, these machines play an ambient sound that should mask the noise from your neighbors. Some machines play soothing sounds, such as waves or rainfall, but plain recordings are available. Don’t be fooled by their size because some white noise machines can mask the sound of a loud lawn mower!
I found the LectroFan Evo White Noise Sound Machine (available on Amazon.com) perfect for this job. The sound doesn’t loop and comes with soothing sounds to help you sleep.
Active Noise Canceling Headphones
Insulated headphones are a must-have for online meetings and serious working from home.
Active headphones protect from outside noises by producing noise-canceling sound waves like white noise machines. You don’t need to buy expensive headphones for this feature — the Soundcore by Anker Q11i from Amazon has a long-lasting battery and is comfortable to wear.
Reasons You Are Hearing Footsteps
Before you decide on your approach to canceling, dampening, or reducing the noise coming from your neighbors upstairs, consider why you’re hearing so much noise in the first place.
Ask yourself these questions:
- Have your neighbors always been noisy?
- Did they recently renovate their floors?
- Are they new neighbors?
- Do they have children?
- Is the noise in all your rooms, or is it restricted to one room?
- Are they having construction done, so the noise is temporary?
Once you’ve considered all these factors, you should be able to decide how much time and energy you should invest into this. For example, let’s say your neighbors just renovated their floors, removing carpeting. This issue means that the noise you hear is likely permanent, and it is best you find a permanent solution.
On the other hand, if some of their family members with kids are visiting or are currently renovating, you might have to wait it out. If you’re friendly with your neighbors, I highly suggest having a polite talk with them in that case.
It’s best to wait a few days and explore why you hear noisy footsteps before considering renovating or soundproofing your home.
Considering the Type of Noise Upstairs
Another factor you should consider is the type of noise you are hearing. While you think you can hear footsteps from the ceiling, they may very well be coming from elsewhere. As such, you should pay close attention to the noise you hear. Is it impact noise or airborne noise?
Impact Noise
This noise is due to the impact of two objects striking together. When you hear footsteps in your home, impact noise is the sound of the feet or shoes impacting the floor. Sound vibrations travel through the base of your upstairs neighbor’s apartment and travel into your ceiling and your apartment.
The best solution to reducing impact noise is soundproofing the ceiling using any method. To check if the reason you’re losing sleep is impact noise, take note of what you hear when your neighbor is being noisy. If you hear furniture, objects falling on the floor, and footsteps — it’s likely due to impact noise.
Airborne Noise
Sometimes you can hear practically everything your neighbor is doing, not just their footsteps. You hear muffled conversations, footsteps, and even the sound of their TV or running water. This sound often travels through the air, not through physical barriers such as the floor and ceiling. One would classify this type of noise as airborne noise.
White noise machines and active headphones are the cheapest solutions to airborne noise. However, you should check where the air travels from your neighbor’s apartment to yours. Typically, air vents carry a lot of noise between rooms and apartment units, so check those out.
How Is the Noise Traveling Into Your Apartment?
More often than not, the noise of footsteps carries into your apartment through a minor flaw in construction. For example, I’ve seen some homes where the noise upstairs travels through a small hole in the ceiling. This issue is typical if the noise is only a problem in one or two rooms.
In that case, plugging up the hole using insulating foam or spackle can be sufficient to reduce the noise in your apartment significantly. In other cases, the noise might travel through poorly installed hardwood or laminate floors. I’d suggest more permanent renovations to help reduce the noise in your home.
Reducing Noise in Your Apartment Overall
Although the noise from upstairs might be the main reason you lose sleep and lack focus during your work-from-home hours, overall noise reduction is not a bad idea. Sometimes the noise comes from upstairs into another room, but you still hear it because sound travels freely around your home.
Here are a few things you may consider doing to reduce noise traveling through your apartment:
- Get rid of the open floor plan. While it is trendy, an open floor plan typically means a large portion of your apartment shares the same sound waves. That is, the noise in the kitchen is also in the living room.
- Use soundproofing curtains. Heavy soundproofing curtains absorb sound waves instead of bouncing around the hard floors and walls. This absorption will dampen any noise pollution in your apartment, but only to a degree. Use soundproofing curtains in conjunction with other soundproofing measures.
- Install solid core doors. Heavy, old-school doors made of solid wood are an excellent way to block out noise of any kind. The wood can absorb many soundwaves, reducing the amount of noise you would hear from the other side of the door.
- Insulate your windows. An excellent way to reduce airborne noise is to insulate your window. This strategy will have the added benefit of reducing your heating/cooling costs because when air flows freely between rooms, it carries sound along with temperature changes.
- Polystyrene ceiling tiles: This option is the most affordable — you only have to glue them to your existing ceiling.
If you implement some (or all) of these changes to your home, you will significantly reduce noise levels — wherever they originate. You’ll be able to get some quality sleep and focus on your work as needed.
To Conclude
While hearing loud footsteps from your upstairs neighbors can be very annoying, there are ways to remedy the problem. You can tackle the problem directly by negotiating with your neighbor — or seek the legal route if all else fails.
Alternatively, You can use noise-canceling technologies or improve the soundproofing of your apartment. Ultimately — you deserve your quiet time at home — and there is reason to sacrifice your peace of mind.
