Are you tired of your upstairs neighbors stomping all day? Of course, you are. Living with undisciplined people is incredibly frustrating, to say the least.
Luckily there are a lot of ways to protect your peace and get rid of your loud upstairs neighbor’s never-ending stomping.
So what should you do now? We have brought to you a list of steps that one can take to stop hearing loud noises and stomping all day. Let’s go through them without any further delay.
9 Ways To Deal With Upstairs Neighbors Stomping
If you have done some research on how to save yourself from the incessant stomping of your neighbor upstairs, you might know that implementing decoupling techniques is the best solution. You should decouple the ceiling drywall from the joists that are holding the drywall in place.
For that, you need to take off the existing drywall and insert a flexible item in between the surface of the ceiling and the joists, creating a hollow space. This hollow space would capture the sound waves coming from upstairs, reducing the intensity of the vibrations and ultimately preventing them from reaching your ears.
If you aren’t going by a strict budget, you can also construct a new ceiling a bit lower on the wall, thereby creating a gap between the joists that are connected to the floor upstairs and the new ceiling.
Now, apart from the two methods we discussed, there are a lot of other methods to try out. Some of them are really effective in getting rid of noisy upstairs neighbors stomping. Let’s go through the different ways to deal with noisy upstairs neighbors stomping all day.
Convey your inconvenience and ask them to stop
The first way to deal with loud upstairs neighbors is to convey your problems to the neighbor and see how they respond. This is the simplest of all methods. Without wasting any time you should ask your neighbor to maintain a lower volume.
If they aren’t making such noises on purpose, they are likely to listen to your issue and take appropriate measures. But, if they are doing it on purpose, you have to take a different approach.
While conveying your problems, remember to be polite, humble, and respectful. Take time to discuss the issue. You must give them the benefit of doubt and avoid getting into an argument in the first place.
If your neighbors cannot understand when they are being loud, make a signal which would indicate you are getting disturbed by their noises. You can do a lot of things as signals. For instance, you can tap on the heating pipes that run through both apartments. However, doing this would affect the other neighbors too.
Secondly, you can knock on your ceiling or simply text them to be quieter. Thirdly, since your neighbor lives upstairs, you can easily climb a few stairs to explain to them about your problem personally.
No matter how you decide to signal them, make sure they are aware of it. Otherwise, they might become spiteful and start making louder noises. You must communicate every detail to ensure there’s no space for misinterpretation. If your loud neighbors upstairs come out to be highly uncooperative get ready to follow the next steps to get rid of their noises.
Ask them to lay underlays and carpets
If your neighbor can’t reduce the noises they produce, ask them to make necessary arrangements. For instance, you can ask them to apply thick padding on the floor. By doing so, the sound waves would be absorbed by the pads and carpets, reducing the intensity of the noise considerably. This is an extremely affordable solution, which offers effective results. Try convincing your neighbor upstairs to lay thick padding on the floor.
Explain to them that all they need to do is buy a thick carpet and lay it on the floor. They can also stack multiple carpets on top of each other. If the carpets are too thin to absorb sound waves, suggest them to use underlays.
The best part is any material can work as an underlay if it’s thick enough. Suggest your neighbor upstairs to use mlv, mats, or other products specially designed for sound absorption. If your neighbor proves to be a miser, advise him to use old blankets as a carpet.
However, no amount of carpeting would work if your neighbor has loose floorboards. If that’s the root cause of the problem, your neighbor has to nail their flooring first.
Try decoupling using resilient channels
We have talked about decoupling earlier in this guide. We would explain how decoupling works in this part. Decoupling means creating a hollow space between two surfaces, which acts as a cavity and traps sound waves inside it.
If you have loud upstairs neighbors, you have to decouple the ceiling’s surface from the wooden joists that hold it in place. This is a guaranteed way to get rid of your neighbors stomping. This procedure is complex and hence you are advised to take professional help.
In this method, you have to take down the existing drywall and attach it to resilient channels, instead of attaching the drywall directly into the joists.
Do you know what resilient channels are? They are single-legged metal strips, whose one corner is screwed into the joists and the other one hangs loose. While attaching drywall, keep in mind to screw it to the hanging side of the resilient channel.
So when the vibrations caused by foot travel through the subfloor and the joists, the hanging metal end of the resilient channel would absorb the sound waves.
Nowadays, a second kind of resilient channel is also available. They are called hat channels or double leg resilient channels. They come with an extra decoupling component called sound clips. These sound clips are fitted into the joists and then you fix the hat channels into position. Now, you simply have to attach a drywall panel and fix it with screws.
Try vibrating plates and motors
If you cannot block the sound vibrations by any of the above-mentioned methods, you can use some devices which would inconvenience your neighbor upstairs. However, get ready to experience a bitter relationship with your neighbor.
Have you heard of the “banging the ceiling with a broom” method? Electromechanical vibrating plates are an updated version of that technique. If you have a look at these machines, you would notice an extendable pole, with a motor and a few vibrating plates which produce noise.
These vibrating plates can easily be installed on the walls or ceilings. When your neighbor makes unnecessarily loud noises, switch on the machine and it sends loud vibrations to the ceiling. This would definitely annoy upstairs neighbors and send a clear message that they are being too loud.
You might have a tough time getting hold of these devices. Searching online is a better idea. If you didn’t get any machine of your choice, you can call an expert and set up a vibration motor anywhere around the ceiling. When your neighbor makes a lot of unwanted noises, simply turn it on.
Use devices that interfere with the noise
If you are tired of telling your neighbors to lower the volume, now is the time to make necessary arrangements yourself. If your neighbor parties and then and plays loud music all night, there are ways to reduce the sound from the speakers. The devices made for this purpose are called jammers.
They block sounds in their vicinity, preventing them from reaching your ears. So that next time you hear upstairs neighbors stomping all night, don’t forget to use these jammers!
If you have an audio jammer, you can make the speaker stop playing music! A Bluetooth jammer on the other hand would intervene with music devices in its vicinity, including your own speakers. Both of these devices are hard to find. Not just that, using these devices in some places is even illegal.
Therefore, we advise you to try out the other methods, before purchasing such devices.
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Fix a high-frequency antenna
If your neighbor turns a blind eye to your problems, this is another technique you can use. High pitched, loud sound producing antennas might make things inconvenient for your neighbor too.
Ever heard the kind of sound a cell phone makes when placed next to a powerful speaker? That’s pretty much the sound you will get with a high-frequency antenna. It’s sure to annoy upstairs neighbors. The only downside of this method is you too have to face such intolerable sounds yourself. So do the rest of the neighbors.
The efficacy of this method isn’t much, especially considering its effects. We would therefore suggest you refer to the other methods and keep this one as your last resort.
Even if you use a high-frequency antenna to deal with noisy upstairs neighbors, you must convey your problem to other neighbors and inform them of your decision. By doing so, you can keep them in your favor.
Inform the management
If none of the above-mentioned methods work out, you can take this matter to the higher authority. If things are going out of control, you must inform the building management and inform them of your case. Be as convincing and specific as you can. To make your complaint strong, you must present them with suitable evidence.
If your upstairs neighbor is a tenant, a strict warning might calm them. However, if they own the apartment, you might have to put in some more effort to stop them from being a nuisance.
If your neighbor upstairs is disturbing other neighbors too, you must bring them all together and file a joint complaint. If a lot of people complain against your neighbor, he’s expected to take the matter seriously. We would recommend our readers to take things straight to the management if your neighbor refuses to adjust despite your requests, instead of using jammers and sound interfering devices.
Call the police
Sometimes, informing the management isn’t enough. In that case, you shouldn’t hesitate to inform the police. We however don’t advise calling the police for mere reasons. Only after requesting the neighbor several times and receiving zero cooperation from them, should you inform the police.
When the situation gets intolerable, calling the police makes sense. The police would ask you several questions and ask for appropriate evidence. Therefore, gather as much evidence as you can before informing the cops.
File a legal action against your upstairs neighbor
As per law, if your neighbors produce noise louder than the maximum limit, you have every right to file a legal complaint against the concerned individual or individuals. The law would judge the matter and charge them compensation for violating the law.
You can sue your neighbor for the serious inconvenience he causes. You can directly file a lawsuit in a court, if you want money for the damages caused.
However, to win your case against the neighbor, you must have strong evidence supporting your claims. Your neighbor would present all sorts of false stories. So get ready to prove them wrong with your evidence.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, there are various ways of dealing with your noisy neighbor upstairs. While some arrangements can be made by calling a professional, some are legal steps that involve the law.
We however advise people to make every arrangement possible before informing the higher authorities. If you can convince your neighbor to lay carpets, rugs, flooring, underpayment and you attach decoupling materials, the incoming noise would be greatly reduced.
If you can’t decide which of the methods would be appropriate in your case, seek professional help and get the matter solved.