'We're not stomping or jumping or running. We're living': Neighbors squabble over volume, upstairs neighbors agree to "walk normally"

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Sep 8, 2024 3:00 PM EDT

What would we ever do without our neighbors? If you've got kind neighbors, it can be such a blessing. If you've got a few cranky neighbors making your life miserable, however, you'll wish you lived miles from any other people!

U/PaludisVulpes had a bad experience with their neighbor. For those living in any downstairs apartment, they're always going to have to hear some sounds. If the neighbors are having a party, they'll hear music and tons of feet walking around. Maybe they'll hear the dog skittering around the apartment. If they have a baby, no doubt the neighbors will hear their middle-of-the-night crying. There's just not much to be done about it, especially in some older buildings. Buildings are always "settling," also known as the excuse for every creepy 3 AM bumping sound. If you have wood floors, they're going to creak a little or a lot, and the amount of noise really just depends on how old your home is, and how it was built and maintained. Even if you tiptoe, that wood is going to squeak! 

The woman in this story should probably not be a downstairs neighbor if it bothers her so much to hear the regular sounds of people walking about. Maybe once she's done complaining to the original poster of this story, she can start searching for an apartment on the top floor of a building far away from there. 

Next, check out these cool designs that are going to be so hard to ever keep clean. 

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10400280320
    via Meg on Unsplash
  • 02
    Downstairs neighbor demands we 'walk normal'. So we do. And she HATES it.
    via u/PaludisVulpes
  • 03
    We've been living in this apartment for three years. It's old. It's cozy. The building is ~20 years old and though the appliances and wall paint and carpets have been replaced... the floor has not. It's painfully thin. Every step we take creaks and groans and it's ANNOYING. Living
    via u/PaludisVulpes
  • 04
    on the 3rd floor, we know it's gotta be even more so for whoever lives below us. So, we've done our best to be mindful of their comfort, and try not to make too much noise. We had a new downstairs neighbor move in a couple months ago. And she is NOT convinced that we are literally tip-toeing around our apartment.
    via u/PaludisVulpes
  • 05
    Every time I get home and close my door? She's banging on my floor with a broom or something. Every time I cross the living room? Banging. Every time I vacuum? Banging. Every time my dog chews on a bone? She bangs on the dang floor and it scares my poor dog. We've been living on eggshells trying to be courteous, but she's driving us mad with her insistent BANGING every time we take a step.
    via u/PaludisVulpes
  • 06
    I guess she had finally 'had enough' because she came upstairs to yell at us the other day. "You are too loud! You need to be courteous and walk normal! You have neighbors!", she yells. She almost looked like she was going to cry. It was disturbing. We felt bad. My husband tried to explain that, ma'am, we do our best to be quiet, but these floors are really old and they creak.
    via u/PaludisVulpes
  • 07
    We're not stomping or jumping or running. We're living - but we'll continue to be considerate. She was NOT impressed with his answer, and continued to argue. "Well, I lived on a first floor before and my other neighbors weren't loud like you." "It's so loud and my job is so stressful so I want you to stop stomping." "I don't want to be a mean person but I really think you're too loud."
    via u/PaludisVulpes
  • 08
    So you know what we agreed to? To walk like normal people. "Okay, okay, we'll walk normally." We said. This is exactly what we had been doing. Nothing different. So she still bangs on the floor and gives us nasty looks. But we are being normal people who walk normal and don't stomp around! Our dog is a
    via u/PaludisVulpes
  • 09
    normal dog who chews on bones and walks from his bed to his food bowl, and gets excited when it's time for walkies! We are so normal! We'll be moving in the next month so it's no skin off my back. Hope the next tenant doesn't have kids... or maybe I do. And then she'll finally understand that we are normal people who walk normal. Maybe she'll miss us.
    via u/PaludisVulpes
  • 10
    Edit:: So I've noticed a LOT of y'all upset over me calling a 20something year old building. 'old'... Sorry. I should've called it 'dated'. I'm in a big city where most apartment buildings around here are pretty new, and have maybe only been around a decade or so. So this one is 'old' to me. Not new.
    via u/PaludisVulpes
  • 11
    Also. Thank y'all for the stories, input, and advice on how to be better neighbors. Some are pretty insightful! However, considering she banged on the floor again today while I was running the bath, I'm not too concerned with wearing slippers all day around the house, or
    via u/PaludisVulpes
  • 12
    padding the carpeted floors with noise-canceling material. Angry people like being angry. I'm excited for the move-out day, when people will be constantly walking around and moving heavy furniture. (:
    via u/PaludisVulpes
  • 13
    TechnOght My last apartment was like this and I was on the first floor. I finally realized it was the floors because I heard her cat jump down from somewhere and I swear to god I could hear the cat walking across the floor.
    via u/TechnOght
  • 14
    samamp I was able to hear my downstairs neighbours talk late at night when most people were trying to sleep. and got them to stop when i started talking back to them while lying in my bed, it was hilarious cause i could hear the pause and listened if that was really happening. like they said something and i would go "haha no way dude no way thats crazy"
    via u/samamp
  • 15
    knitknitknitknit You don't have old floors; you have cheaply constructed floors. The company who built the building is to blame.
    via u/knitknitknitknit
  • 16
    [deleted] Sorry, you have an old building which is 20 years old??? That's.... Not that old.
    via u/[deleted]

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dogs neighbors malicious compliance floor malicious-compliance-reddit floors noise walking building loud malicious compliance reddit apartment
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