Shortly after they were married, Brittany H.
and her husband moved into an apartment in Chicago’s Irving Park neighborhood.
With Victorian houses and vintage flats dotting the tree-lined streets, they assumed their new home would be a peaceful spot to build their life together.
But the couple got more than they bargained for.
At all hours of the night, they heard strange, loud sounds coming from the neighbors upstairs.
“It was midnight, and the loud upstairs neighbors sounded like they were dropping bricks on the floor,” Brittany says, vividly recalling her first night in the unit.
“Our ceiling light fixture rattled from the loud, noisy pounding.” When their lease was up, the couple promptly moved to the top floor of a different apartment building.
Brittany was so scarred by her experience with noisy neighbors, she says she’ll never live anywhere but a top floor again.
As a renter, you have to be ready for some day-to-day noise—that’s just part of living in close quarters with other people.
So, how can you reduce noise from upstairs neighbors? What causes noise from upstairs neighbors? If you’ve lived below noisy upstairs neighbors like Brittany has, you know the sound: the relentless stomping, dropped objects that seem to ricochet off every surface, the mysterious midnight furniture rearranging.
Beyond frustrating, it can feel inescapable.
In many apartments, especially older buildings, this kind of noise is more than a nuisance: It’s a feature.
Many vintage units were built before modern soundproofing standards were a thing.
That means there might be little to no insulation between floors, allowing every footstep, conversation, or clattering object to echo directly into your living space.
How to deal with the noisy upstairs neighbors While some level of noise is part of communal living, chronic disruptions can wear on your nerves and your sleep cycle.
But you’re not powerless to deal with it.
Whether you have noisy upstairs neighbors stomping around at odd hours or sudden loud thuds overhead, these renter-friendly tips can help restore your peace and quiet.
Try ceiling clouds and acoustic fixtures Say what now? Ceiling clouds are acoustic panels that hang from the ceiling and can reduce noise and echoes.
(Science!) Take that, noisy upstairs neighbors.
You’ve probably seen them before in auditoriums, atriums, and restaurants.
They can do wonders for cutting down noise in your home, too.
Just make sure to check with your landlord before installing them since they need to be securely mounted to the ceiling.
If your landlord isn’t on board, there are other less invasive approaches to dissipate sound, including acoustic light fixtures that claim to absorb sound.
Rearrange your furniture Have you ever lived next to a neighbor who plays the piano (or worse, an amped-up electric guitar) well past bedtime? If the neighbor won’t knock it off, you don’t have to move (or file a complaint with the landlord or police).
Just put some stuff between you and the pandemonium next door.
Start by placing bookcases or other heavy furniture against the dividing wall, covering as much of the wall as possible.
“The more mass between you and the neighbor, the less sound that will come through,” says Zach Ziskin, a recording engineer in Fort Lauderdale, FL.
Then, rearrange fabric-covered sofas or chairs so that they’re close to windows and doors.
And for more quiet, use lots of decorative pillows and throws.
“The heavier and denser the textile, the greater the absorption,” says Heather Humphrey, owner of the interior design firm Alder & Tweed, in Park City, UT.
Fill up your bathroom If you can hear your neighbors flush the toilet, they can probably hear you, right? That’s because open spaces with tile and hard surfaces, such as a bathroom, amplify sound.
