Top floor apartment has concrete slab floors. Footsteps from my own chair sounded like drums. Cheap foam mats did nothing. Then I grabbed 1cm cork tiles from the hardware store, stuck them under the desk and chair area. Cut them with a box cutter, no glue needed. Total cost around $30. Neighbor below texted me saying she could finally sleep. Anyone else try cork under furniture?
I kept buying overpriced shelves for my tiny bathroom and they always warped with the humidity. Last month I grabbed two $6 tension rods from the hardware store and wedged them across the shower corner above the pipe. Now I stack three small baskets up there for shampoo, towels, and cleaning spray, and they haven't slid once in 5 weeks. My landlord even asked if I added a wall rack and I told them it's just rods, no holes, fully reversible. Anyone else rigged up something similar without drilling into those awful plaster walls? I'm curious what else people have hung off tension rods that I haven't thought of.
Back in 2014 my grandma visited my first studio in Cleveland and told me to stop using those adjustable tension rods for my clothes. She said to pick up a couple of 2x4s and some heavy duty brackets from Home Depot, then anchor them straight into the studs. I thought she was being old fashioned, but after 8 months one of those cheap rods came crashing down at 2am with all my shirts on it. Took me a weekend and about $40 in lumber and brackets to follow her advice. That closet has held up through 3 moves since then. Has anyone else had a relative give them a fix that actually worked better than the modern stuff?
Been dealing with my neighbor's 2am footsteps for like 6 months straight. Tried foam earplugs, tried talking to him, even hung up those acoustic panels from Amazon for $40. Nothing worked until I got a $25 LectroFan from Target last week. Now I sleep through everything and honestly wish I just tried this first instead of wasting money on all that other stuff. Anyone else have a cheap fix that worked way better than the expensive options?
I was looking up apartment statistics on RentCafe last week and found out the average studio in downtown Seattle is about 475 square feet but people pay like $1,800 for it. Meanwhile my one bedroom in a building from the 60s is 600 square feet for $1,200 and I still complain about hearing my neighbor's blender every morning. It got me thinking like maybe we're all focused on the wrong thing here. The debate is either you spend more for a newer building with better soundproofing but less space or you take an older unit with thick plaster walls but deal with outdated fixtures. I've been in my place for two years and my toilet handle broke twice but I can't hear my upstairs neighbor walk around. Which side do you guys lean toward? Feel like everyone just says get earplugs but that's not really fixing the issue right?
I finally got sick of the thumping one night and slid my couch against a load-bearing wall instead of the shared one. The difference in floor vibration was night and day. Anybody else find that moving furniture cut noise more than foam panels?
Honestly, I got desperate after hearing scratching in my walls for two weeks straight in my Brooklyn studio. Paid like $30 for a 6-pack of those plug-in ultrasonic devices from Amazon after reading reviews that swore they worked. Plugged them in every room and even put one near the baseboards where I saw droppings. After three nights, I heard scratching louder than ever and woke up to a chewed hole in my cereal box. Turns out the mice just walked right past them and set up camp under my sink. Learned my lesson the hard way - just called an exterminator for $150 and they sealed everything up in one visit. Has anyone else had any luck with those things or is it all just marketing hype?
I timed it one night when I couldn't sleep. Counted exactly 47 creaky floorboard steps every time they go from their front door to the kitchen table, which is about 15 times an evening. Has anyone else memorized their neighbor's daily walking routes from the sound patterns alone?
I keep seeing people on here saying they staple moving blankets to their walls to block out noisy neighbors. Tried it myself last month in my apartment near downtown Austin and it barely did anything. Those blankets are thick but they don't stop low frequency noise like bass or people stomping around. My upstairs neighbor plays drums at 10pm and I could still hear every beat through three layers of em. What actually helped was getting some mass loaded vinyl from a hardware store and hanging it behind my couch. Costs more upfront about $80 for a roll but it actually works. Has anyone else fallen for that moving blanket myth or found a better cheap fix?
I was crashing on my couch last Tuesday when a THUD shook my whole living room and I swore someone rolled a bowling ball across the floor above me. Turns out my neighbor was just moving his heavy oak dresser at 2 in the morning without sliders or anything. Has anyone else had to figure out if weird sounds from upstairs are regular life or actual construction?
After 3 months of hearing bass thump through my bedroom wall at midnight, I picked up a $30 LectroFan and aimed it at the shared wall. Has anyone else found a specific frequency or placement that works best for muffling low end?
Last Wednesday I was ready to snap. The guy above me starts his nightly routine around 1:45am every single night. Stomping, dropping things, dragging furniture. I tried earplugs, a white noise machine, even a fan pointed at my face. Nothing worked. So on Thursday I grabbed a cheap bookshelf from Facebook Marketplace for 15 bucks and stuffed it with all my thickest towels and blankets. I shoved it against the shared wall under where he walks. It cut the noise by like 60 percent. I still hear some thumping but I can actually sleep now. Has anyone else tried filling a wall with random soft stuff for soundproofing? Did it last or did you find something better?
Picked up a LectroFan off Amazon last month because my upstairs neighbor stomps around like he's training for a marathon at midnight. First night it helped cover the noise. By night three that fan sound was driving me nuts. Couldn't sleep. returned it yesterday and went back to earplugs. Anyone else find those machines more annoying than helpful?
My upstairs neighbor got a new subwoofer for his gaming setup and I was about to lose my mind. The whole wall shook every night around 9 PM and I couldn't hear my TV over the bass. My buddy Jake from work kept telling me to try those foam wedge panels but I thought they were just for music studios and looked stupid. Finally caved and spent $40 on a 12 pack off Amazon and stuck them on the wall between our apartments. First night the bass was way less punchy and I could actually watch my shows without cranking the volume. Still hear some thumping but it's like 60% better which is wild for foam squares. Anyone else tried these or found something else that works for low frequency noise?
My upstairs neighbor used to stomp around until 2 AM every night. I tried talking to him twice but he just slammed the door. Last Monday I put a note under his door asking if he could keep it down after midnight. To my surprise he actually wrote back saying sorry and he'd try. It's been 7 days now and I've actually slept through the night 4 times. I even heard him tell someone in the hall that his sleep schedule got fixed too. Has anyone else had a random note actually work better than talking to someone?
I spent $150 on those foam egg crate panels off Amazon thinking they'd fix my neighbor's TV noise through the wall... did absolutely nothing. The thin walls in my complex just let the bass right through. I should've saved up for mass loaded vinyl or even just hung heavier curtains. Three months later I had to throw them out. Anyone actually found a cheap way to block bass noise in apartments?
I swear I spent like 3 months trying to figure out where this low rumbling was coming from in my place. Kept thinking it was my washing machine or the building's HVAC. Finally asked the guy downstairs if he had a sound system and he's like 'oh yeah, I got a subwoofer on a concrete slab, is that bad?' I nearly lost it. Has anyone else had to deal with bass you can feel but can't pinpoint?
I went with the headphones after three sleepless nights in my Chicago studio, but now my ears get sweaty after an hour. Has anyone tried both and found one actually works better for bass-heavy footsteps?
Finally had a leak from her unit into my bathroom, so I had to go up there with the super. Her floor is basically my ceiling and she walks like a normal person, totally changed how I hear sounds. Has anyone else changed their mind about a neighbor after seeing their side?