How to Deal with Noisy Upstairs Neighbors (10 Best Solutions)

by Jennifer Porterfield | Last Updated: March 25, 2021

Why is it that upstairs neighbors are notoriously always loud? If you’re like me and have lived below SEVERAL noisy neighbors, then you’re ready for change! You’re in need of a noisy upstairs neighbors solution. I too had a noisy neighbor in my apartment and tried a lot of different techniques to keep the noise out.

In the following article, I will be explaining the steps that I took to reduce noise coming from my upstairs neighbors which ultimately provided me with the peace and quiet I needed. I have listed 10 of the best solutions here that will teach you to deal with them properly and more effectively without causing any confrontational issues.

Table of Contents

• How to Deal with Noisy Upstairs Neighbors (10 Best Solutions)
  • 10 Best Ways to Deal with Noisy Upstairs Neighbors
  • 1. Find Out the Source of the Sound
  • 2. Talk to Your Neighbors Personally
  • 3. Build a Drop Ceiling
  • 4. Increase the Density of the Ceiling
  • 5. Soundproof or Insulate the Underside of the Floor Ceiling Assembly
  • 6. Ask your neighbors to use carpets on their floor
  • 7. Ask your neighbors to soundproof the floors using Interlocking Floor Mats
  • 8. Try the Old School “Tap on the Ceiling” Trick
  • 9. Contact Your Property Manager
  • 10. Compromise or Move Out
• Conclusion

How to Deal with Noisy Upstairs Neighbors (10 Best Solutions)

10 Best Ways to Deal with Noisy Upstairs Neighbors

1. Find out the source of the sound.
2. Talk to your neighbors personally.
3. Build a Drop Ceiling.
4. Increase the density of the Ceiling.
5. Soundproof or Insulate the underside of the Floor Ceiling Assembly.
6. Ask your neighbors to use carpets on their floor.
7. Ask your neighbors to soundproof the floors using Interlocking Floor Mats.
8. Try the Old School “Tap on the Ceiling” Trick.
9. Contact your property manager.
10. Compromise or Move Out.

1. Find Out the Source of the Sound

This is one of the main things that you need to do before following all the other stuff that I have mentioned in this article.

You need to find out the source of the sound before taking any further action, if you don’t find the source of the sound and do the necessary steps to tackle that issue then you are simply wasting your time and money. So this is not optional, this is mandatory.

Look at your ceiling carefully with a torch or flashlight. See if you can spot some small holes or cracks. Also, look for damages on the ceiling if the building is a bit old. If the sound is coming from the wall then check out these best curtains for noise reduction.

Also, look for particular sections from where more noise or sound is coming from, mark those places, and work on soundproofing that particular section. Doing this would save you a lot of money and also time.

2. Talk to Your Neighbors Personally

This is important alright. Let’s get this done with like a gentleman or gentlewoman alright… Just walk to your neighbor’s door and knock on the door. Let them politely quiet down and also explain to them that they are causing you issues with the sound.

Most of them wouldn’t even know that they are causing trouble so letting them know is priority number 1. Make them understand and also tell them to keep it quiet or ask them to soundproof floor.  This would work if your neighbor is good and empathetic. If they do it again then go ahead and tell them one more time then try implementing all the other stuff that I have mentioned.

3. Build a Drop Ceiling

You might be wondering what the heck is a drop ceiling, then a drop ceiling is an additional layer of ceiling that is hanging underneath your actual ceiling. More like a ceiling that is dropping. Check the image representation above for example. The space between the drop ceiling and the actual ceiling is called Plenum Area.

This Plenum Area is really important alright because in this area or section all the sound that is passing face difficulty in penetrating because of the multiple layers that are present on the ceiling. Also, there is a proper scientific and engineered explanation for this.

The Scientific and Engineered Explanation is that the air in the plenum area is very much compressed so when a sound wave passes through a compressed air it tends to disappear due to the compression in the air because sound needs air to travel. So this acts as a Soundproofing Material.

To build a drop ceiling contact as a professional contractor to it. Also, this would cost you more because it takes a lot of work to get something like done but its totally worth it and very effective, to be honest. Out of all the methods that I have mentioned to deal with noisy neighbors this is definitely more effective and the best one according to my experience.

4. Increase the Density of the Ceiling

Do you know the actual density of your ceiling, if you don’t then you need to know ASAP. Because the density of your ceiling will totally determine the sound waves to pass.

So let’s say that you have a thin ceiling or low-density ceiling then you definitely need to thicken it or increase the density of the ceiling to stop hearing sound from the top neighbor.

There are some soundproofing materials that you need to use to add a layer to your ceiling which will more density. For example, you can use Drywall.

Drywall is a thick soundproofing material that will help you add a layer to the ceiling. You can get drywall and install it on the ceiling with Green Glue Compound. Green Glue Compound is a glue-type substance that is a soundproofing material.

How Green Glue Compound works is that when the sound waves pass through the glue compound then it would convert into heat waves thus not making any noise.

If you are looking for a Green Glue Compound Recommendation then check this Green Glue Noiseproofing Compound on Amazon.

5. Soundproof or Insulate the Underside of the Floor Ceiling Assembly

This method requires you to do some construction so this is a difficult technique. You need to remove the ceiling and soundproof or insulate the bottom side properly.

So firstly, you need to remove the ceiling and add some resilient channel in between the ceiling. So when you place the resilient channel in between there are some air pockets with compressed air is been generated and the resilient channels are dampening the sound and also reducing very much.

After installing the Resilient Channel you can add a gypsum board on the top of and will have a normal-looking ceiling after the gypsum panel is added. and also soundproofed completely.

6. Ask your neighbors to use carpets on their floor

This is easy for some people and also super hard for some people. Just walk up to your neighbor’s place, knock the door and ask them to use carpets on their floor and state the reason. Tell them that they are disturbing you by making a lot of noise.

Carpets on the floor will keep the sound a little off because of it a thick material. Carpets are usually thick, the thicker the better. So when carpets are put on the floor it acts as a barrier for the sound to pass through.

So tell him to place a thick carpet or rug, yes rug also works very well.

7. Ask your neighbors to soundproof the floors using Interlocking Floor Mats

This is a pretty cool one. I am sure you would have already seen these interlocking mats on kindergarten schools. You can get these Interlocking Mats on Amazon, so just walk up to your neighbor’s place and ask them to place these mats on their floor. If they don’t own it they just order it from amazon and gift them for Christmas or for birthday.

These interlocking mats are pretty thick and dense so when placed on the ground they will act as a sound barrier and stop the sound from passing through.

8. Try the Old School “Tap on the Ceiling” Trick

Friends TV Show? Then you would remember where Monica and Rachel’s neighbor keep taping on the ceiling with the broom when they make more noise, yeah you need to do that too.

Whenever you hear any noise then just get your broom, take it and tap it on your ceiling. They will get to know and stop whatever they are doing. I have tried this too and it worked so it’s pretty effective and do that.

9. Contact Your Property Manager

I know this one is really hard to do but you gotta do what you have to do. If you really can’t tolerate the noise just go and complain about it to your Property Manager. They might speak with them or do something to make it stop.

10. Compromise or Move Out

This is tough. If none of the stuff worked out and even the property manager is not able to do anything about the loud neighbors then you got to let it go. Or you can just move out and live peacefully with your life.

I know this is tough but maybe 1% of the people would be in this situation so it’s pretty rare. If you ask me then Moving out would be the best advice for anybody who is in this situation, here is a fun suggestion check these noisy neighbors revenge ideas.

Conclusion

Noisy neighbors can be extremely maddening. Even worse when they are upstairs causing all sorts of disruption to your sleep schedule. Hopefully one of these ten solutions helped or a combination of all to give you the peace and quiet deserve. If none of these suggestions worked then we have information content on how to block noise from next door neighbors. Hopefully, some of these tips can work.

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