Upstairs vs. Downstairs apartments, which is better?

Question

I'll be moving soon to a place with a fairly cold climate. Which should I choose, an upstairs apartment, or downstairs? My two considerations are:

- heating. which stays warmer?
- noise. Whenever I've lived in a downstairs apartment, I always heard my neighbors above. When I lived upstaris, never heard a thing.

So, what do you think!?!?!?

Answer 1

up
heat rises sweetie
and you wont be bothered by late night walking/stomping
and just think of the great cardio workout, up/down them stairs

Answer 2

Well, like you said, upstairs is less noisy, and usually gets a better view. But in places like Chicago, the wind makes the buildings sway. Bottom floors also have an advantage. When you move, you don't need to go so far up with all the luggage. Instead of a few trips to, say, the seventieth floor, you could have a couple trips to the third floor. It takes less time, but lower floors are noisier. Street noise, and noisy neighbors are a real problem. Honestly, I believe heating will be the same throughout the building. There may be a slight difference in temperature from bottom to top (very small. maybe a couple of degrees).I think upper floors are better.

Answer 3

heat rises so there is an advantage and yes being up keeps noise levels down especially if the people have kids above you or are heavy on their feet. Disadvantages are the moving of furniture up stairs depending on what you own, only having a balcony instead of walking out a slider onto a patio and yard, and if the washer and dryer are community the stairs make it annoying. However upstairs has more privacy.... you need to weigh it out and ask but most apartment places have free heat it is the ac that costs more so up or down wont make a difference in this situation if you are in a cold climate.

Answer 4

If you're in a cold climate then I'd suggest go for the upstairs apt. since it should stay warmer due to Heat rises. Plus if the apt has their heater on, think about it, they're heating your place for free too LOL b/c heat rises! And that will solve your noise prob too. Also if you have any major mataniance issues like a broken water heater, at least you'll be on the top level... see if you were on the bottom level and the apt above you had a leek then it would also become your problem too, but if you're on the top and the one bellow has probs then you have NO worries c0z your on top! But then again, if things aren't fixed properly, you would have a risk of falling through the floor into the apt below you.


But downstairs apt. can be nice, their easy to move into, and in the hot months they tend to stay cooler. And personally I like being on solid ground (no worrys of the bath tube falling through to down stairs LOL).

Hope that answers your Q!

Answer 5

We recently lived in a upper lower duplex while we built our house, I would never do it again. We lived in the lower duplex we could hear the people upstairs walking, pulling out chairs, moving furniture it wouldn't have been so bad if they didn't do it in the middle off the night. In my opinion if I ever had to rent again I Would look for a side by side. My sister currently is living in a tri-plex she lives in the middle unit and can't hear any of her neighbors. When looking for a place to rent also take age into consideration the older the unit the less insulation it will probably have making it so that you can hear more noise.

Answer 6

If your quiet people, then live upstairs.

But the heating consideration, is this, the downstairs people will probably have control of the heating system, as most places down have two furnaces for that.

So you must ask them to either turn it up, or down and they may not like it like you do, and there may be trouble in that..(unless you can get with them and show then how to block up heat ducts so they dont get hot and you get some heat going up stairs.

Also, if you are downstairs, you may have to cut the grass, and have control of the wash room in the basement.

I wish you well...

Jesse

Answer 7

I live upstairs on the 3rd floor. It is not easy. It is nice in regards to Heat rising. I do sometimes here my neighbor blasting his tv at night. It can become bothersome sometimes. I would highly recommend the first floor. I never had any problems when i lived on the first floor. I can honestly say i have never lived in an apartment with kids in the apartment above me, so i can not say how that situation might be.

Answer 8

It's tricky as they say half a dozen of one and 6 of the other. Upstairs is better for noise and heat, they say heat rises, so in the summer your apartment is going to be roasting. Then you have to deal with all those stairs, if their isn't an elevator, with moving and groceries.

Answer 9

Even though heat rises it is best if you dont live at the top. Stay at the bottom but just use sweaters and blankets if it gets cold. This will save you money as well. Also you can do more since there is no one living under you.

Answer 10

Upstairs, definitely. Heat rises, so it's warmer and you won't have the annoying clomping around of neighbors overhead. One drawback, lugging groceries up a flight of stairs.

Answer 11

Downstairs