Why is the girl living upstairs so noisy when she walks around?!?

Answer 1

She makes her living as a professional dominatrix and stomps about in 10 inch platform shoes as she whips her clients into a frenzy.

Answer 2

It may not be your neighbor's fault. I lived in an apartment when the woman below me complained about the noise from my cat walking across the floor. My cat is a petite 5 pounds and the floors were carpeted. I don't think my neighbor was lying to me. It's just that the building was poorly made and the sounds echoed below. If you dropped a one-pound item, it sounded like you dropped a 25 pound bowling ball. I spent 7 years tip-toeing around but she still thought it was noisy. I didn't wear shoes in my apartment, exercise or dance at home--in fact there were a lot of things that I simply didn't do because I was afraid of making noise. After I moved to a house, it took about two years for me to walk normally. And I love being able to dance when a good song comes on the radio!

Answer 3

The amount of noise you hear from upstairs depends largely on the construction of the building you are living in. If you have solid, concrete or masonry floors, you probably wont hear much of anything. If you are in a wood framed building, it depends on the quality of the building. Like so many things, the older ones are usually of higher quality. Many older wood frame apartment buildings were built with the floor of the upstairs units completely separated from the ceilings of the downstairs units. This goes a long way in isolating noise.
In addition the older units were normally finished on the inside with real plaster rather than wallboard, and the floors had a double layer of wood in their construction, a subfloor normally of yellow pine or douglas fir, and a finish floor of full thickness oak. All this contributed to a quieter living environment. As things were cheapened up in the 1960's and 1970's, buildings were built with wallboard interiors, and single layer floors, with the upstairs floors and the downstairs ceilings being supported by the same joists (beams).
Some higher quality newer buildings are built with the separated floors and a layer on concrete on the subfloor, but I have not seen many of these at all.
These days, with the wafer board being used for floors and wallboard being made as cheap as possible, you can hear your upstairs neighbor blink.
If the noise is a real problem, you may have to move to a building with better noise control construction. We once lived in a 1950's apartment building with concrete walls between the apartment sections, oak floors and separations between upper floors and lower ceilings, and you could not hear the upstairs neighbors even if they were klog dancing. Well, maybe a little, if they were klog dancing. Sure wish more buildings were built as well as that.

Answer 4

Do you have any other friends in the same apartments/ condos that have people living above them? Are there upstairs neighbors that noisy? It may be that her floor/ your ceiling isn't very thick and there is nothing she can do about the noise level.

Answer 5

I used to have the same problem. Instead of allowing myself to become angrier and angrier, I wrote a note to her telling her politely to try and be less noisy when she walks around as it echoed in my apartment. I then pinned the note to her door.
When she got home from work she came downstairs and told me she didn't realize how noisy she was and apologized. While we never did become friends, at least I didn't harbor any ill feelings after that.

Answer 6

Doc Schmoo explained the sound problems as well as anyone could.
With regard to what to do, I agree a nice note may do the trick.
Otherwise, I think it isn't only the elephant, but a couple of additional polo ponies that is causing the noise.
--That Cheeky Lad

Answer 7

Hit the ceiling with a broom.

I would slip her a note or something - tell her at somehow! It will eventually irriate you madly! Make sure she's nice though before you go about it - she might be really mean and purposely stomp or something. I'm sure she'll be considerate though! She probably just doesn't realise she's doing anything wrong.

Answer 8

Its not her fault. In these upstairs down stairs things the walls and floors are very thin. Im sure she doesnt do it on purpose. Perhaps she is a larger lady?

Answer 9

That's what the pitfall of living below someone is. Every step is amplified. If the roles were reversed she would be saying the same thing about you. As long as she pays her rent there isn't much that can be done short of moving.

Answer 10

OMG my neighbor upstairs is is the same way. I hear so many crashes and stomping it's horrible-I just beat on the ceiling with a broom handle :)

Answer 11

She doesn't have carpets and her landlord says he can't afford them right now. Plus I don't think she knows just how loud she is.

I used to live upstairs from a shop and we didn't have a carpet, my landlord told me to buy my own! And just tip-toeing is noisy, and we could hear every word that was said downstairs.