ilovefuzz.com

Me and my madame have been living in this apartment for close to three years now, and the woman living underneath us is so god damn annoying and I don't know how to deal with her.

She's lived here for 30+ years, and the previous owner of our apartment lived here since the 60's, so she's like 100 years old now, if still alive at all. The woman living in the apartment below us has been used to having an aritifact in slip-ons crossing the floor five times a day to get some food or go to the bathroom, not a fuzz loving creature like myself. So, naturally there's trouble a-brewin'.

- The first week she had her husband come up and fix the door to our balcony, because it squeaked too much whenever I went out for a cigarette. I didn't think too much of it and thought it a friendly gesture.

- The following week she came up to ask us if we had any chests around and if we could be so kind as to stop slamming them shut in the middle of the night (read: 10pm). Long story short, it was us closing our doors around the apartment. The previous owner must have kept them all open all the time or something. I don't know, but I was already starting to feel the fucks I give for this woman slowly fading away.

- As you might imagine by now, she's not into noise music much. Whenever me or my gf play music, there's a knock on my door. After five minutes of playing, she's there. Like clockwork. I've tried playing the mornings, afternoons and evenings. Doesn't matter. She's fucking there with a toothless fake smile on her face telling me to stop playing, and if I don't she'll have no other option than to report us to the board.

For three years she's been the only one in the whole block to come knocking. I can hear the guy next to us playing techno every friday and saturday. I can hear the guy two floors down from us singing motown songs at 7:30am or him having VERY loud sex with his gf at night. I can hear a baby crying all night on the same floor. And worst of all, the woman who complains argues with her husband for two hours almost every single night while I'm studying, without them having me come down and tell them to shut their pie-holes.

Today when I was playing I heard her knock on my door, and I simply ignored her, even though she kept at it for a good five minutes straight. I don't know how smart a move that was, but I'm just so sick of her ruining my groove. I get this stomach-turning feeling whenever I want to get my fuzz on, and I don't feel as if it's justified. We don't throw parties, we're quiet at night, we close our doors very carefully after 9pm, our dogs aren't allowed to chew bones at nights because they might drop them down and make a big thud, and we always reply to her politely when she tells us to keep it down. I'm just running out of fucks to give, and fast.

So, how do you deal with sourpuss neighbours and what should I say to or do with mine? We own the apartment and have settled in, so moving is not really an option.

That sounds horrible. My condolences. This type of shit is why I moved out of cities. This type of stuff is hard to deal with.
I still have neighbors, but there are fewer of them, and more space between. Which my sanity requires.

My wife (back when she was my girlfriend) rented a small apartment with a mutual friend. It was an affordable apartment
in San Francisco. Hard to find then, perhaps impossible now. The problem was that the lady next door had cats. And she
would get into heated, extended verbal arguments with them late at night. Like, borderline insane stuff—every night—that
went along the lines of:
"Toby! You little monster! Did you piss in my bed again? Come here so I can hit you with my cane!"

Listening to this was funny. Until it wasn't. Then it was frustrating. Then it seemed sad. Then it just pissed us off.

There was a courtyard you had to thread through to reach the doors to the apartments. Lots of vegetation, low-hanging branches,
and a pack of wild rabbits. They would come out at you from the shadows at night, seemingly wanting to jump at your face as
you stooped over to walk under a low-hanging branch. During the day an old guy would "water" the garden with a hose. Which
mostly meant just irrigating large mountains of rabbit shit until they looked like an overflowing bowl of Coco-Puff cereal.

In San Francisco I lived with four roommates in a railroad apartment that had central window shafts. Sound reverberated in that
air shaft. Over several nights and mornings my roommates and I heard the sounds of a "domestic dispute". A man sounded like he
was close to beating the shit out of a woman. A child was crying. It was horrible. After a day or so of that the woman came ringing
at everyone's door to confront her neighbors and find out who had reported the apparent abuse to Child Protective Services. I told
her that I hadn't but wished that I had. She just stood with her son hoisted on her hip, fuming. Then finally left.

When I lived in Queens, New York with my wife we lived in a 5-storey apartment building. It had a huge interior light well/courtyard,
so sound would reverberate in there from all the apartments. Instead of walking it down, people would toss their bags of garbage out
their windows to the courtyard below. But the real problem was that EVERY DAY, and let me be clear about this, MULTIPLE TIMES A DAY,
somebody would absolutely BLAST the same song over and over and over and over again. Every day. The same song. Constantly.

I heard that song so much that I've now blocked out what it actually was. It was some sappy type of slow-tempo Elton Johnish pap. Due to
the acoustics of that interior courtyard (five flights of windows on four sides) it was impossible to tell where the song was coming from, so
I couldn't knock on any doors to tell them to turn it down, or stop playing it constantly. I did stick my head out my apartment window a
few times and scream at the top of my lungs for them to turn it off. To no avail.

Through the thin walls of an apartment in Manhattan I was also able to chart the entire relationship arc of our neighbor: late-night loud sex,
pleading, arguments, breakup. All of which was accompanied by the clippity-clop of the nails of a Great Dane on the floor. What must that
dog have seen and heard? Reminds me of that part in Jenny and the Ess-Dog where Trey the dog wears a frayed bandana and has a window into
Jenny and the Ess-Dog's relationship.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyCMqbmRK64[/youtube]

All of which is to say... your situation sucks. Diplomacy is tough in such situations, especially when "the rules" don't seem to be mutually
adhered to. It's hard not to become petty in such situations.

Good luck!

she's old, probably a heavy sleeper. Get some wireless headphones, break in through the balcony one night and slip them on her - playing slow fuzz drones while your voice comes in: "shhhh....admit it....you love fuzz.....everyone loves fuzz.....you especially love your upstairs neighbour's fuzz.....he will play and you will.....accept it all.....shhhhh....."

Seance wrote:That sounds horrible. My condolences. This type of shit is why I moved out of cities. This type of stuff is hard to deal with.
I still have neighbors, but there are fewer of them, and more space between. Which my sanity requires.
...
All of which is to say... your situation sucks. Diplomacy is tough in such situations, especially when "the rules" don't seem to be mutually
adhered to. It's hard not to become petty in such situations.

Indeed. We are moving out of the city for sure when we're done with our studies. I'd love to get a house in the middle of the woods where I could fuzz out to my hearts content. I am very close to becoming petty, and that's why I made this thread. I don't want to stop playing music through my amp (because it's my sound), but I don't really want to go "well, if you want me to use headphones instead of an amp, why don't you start arguing with your husband via morse code" either. I'd like to be civil. I've considered asking her if there are any weekly things that she does away from the apartment. That way I could play when she's not in, since she's the only one who seems to care.

Also, my cat's name is Toby to! I don't cane her though.

weed_killer wrote:she's old, probably a heavy sleeper. Get some wireless headphones, break in through the balcony one night and slip them on her - playing slow fuzz drones while your voice comes in: "shhhh....admit it....you love fuzz.....everyone loves fuzz.....you especially love your upstairs neighbour's fuzz.....he will play and you will.....accept it all.....shhhhh....."

Yes! You're on to something!

Maybe contact the board first. Find out about any decibel limits and whatever. Perhaps take some measurements yourself and explain the situation. Take note of what she complains about and when. Pre-emptive strike.
There are free dB meter apps for your phone.

UglyCasanova wrote: I'd love to get a house in the middle of the woods where I could fuzz out to my hearts content. I am very close to becoming petty, and that's why I made this thread. I don't want to stop playing music through my amp (because it's my sound), but I don't really want to go "well, if you want me to use headphones instead of an amp, why don't you start arguing with your husband via morse code" either. I'd like to be civil. I've considered asking her if there are any weekly things that she does away from the apartment. That way I could play when she's not in, since she's the only one who seems to care.

Also, my cat's name is Toby to! I don't cane her though.

I have had friends who have soundproofed a room in their house, or in their garage, just to avoid stuff like this. Of course... that isn't a cheap option.
And often isn't an option (space-wise or money-wise), especially if you're thinking of eventually moving.

When I lived in NYC I had no amps. Just a Pocket Rock-It "Stereo Sound Processor" that plugged right into my guitar and used headphones. It wasn't "my sound".
But that's how my guitar sounded while living in NYC. I also recorded onto Cubase sometimes. But... my system at the time wasn't optimal, and had a
juttery time-lag issue. Not ideal.

I'm glad to hear your Toby isn't caned or otherwise berated!

goroth wrote:Maybe contact the board first. Find out about any decibel limits and whatever. Perhaps take some measurements yourself and explain the situation. Take note of what she complains about and when. Pre-emptive strike.
There are free dB meter apps for your phone.

These are all very good, solid suggestions. With a series of readings of decibels (yours, or perhaps even her arguments heard through your walls) you are
then able to have a discussion about actual things, as opposed to perceptions. Other people's noise is almost always more annoying than your own.

sorry to hear about that.
it sounds like she has you guys walking on egg shells
i've had the pleasures of some weirdo neighbors.
and. i've had the ceiling pounded on. *letting me know. turn turn the Fuzz down*

your dogs can't chew bones .. cause they may drop them .. and make a noise!! wtf.

i would either talk to her directly.
saying. that you pay rent. and no one else complains. and. you ARE being respectful.
also. what Goroth said.

Am I the only one that came in here expecting totally different subject matter?

Like maybe something along the lines of setting a world record of some sort?

Fortunately the 70ish dude who lives under me is cool and doesn't give a rats ass. I don't play with my electric, but I'll have people over latish hanging out and stuff.

The people in the building next door have a band and practice some afternoons.

I live right off a bar street so we'll get drunk people being loud around bar time and junk.

Only annoying thing is the guy in the building back-diagonally from me yells at his dogs a bunch, but that's not too bad.

Ancient Astronaught wrote:Am I the only one that came in here expecting totally different subject matter?

Like maybe something along the lines of setting a world record of some sort?

I mean, if that's what's required to settle this dispute then I guess we'll have to load up the ILF-Jet.

goroth wrote:Maybe contact the board first. Find out about any decibel limits and whatever. Perhaps take some measurements yourself and explain the situation. Take note of what she complains about and when. Pre-emptive strike.
There are free dB meter apps for your phone.

This^ Had a neighbor that would complain constantly about my dogs barking during the day (when we were at work). I tried different things; anxiety meds, mellow music, pheromone collar but nothing worked and she kept the bitching constant. I wanted to try out everything possible before getting a bark collar. After weeks of constant anxiety over the battle axe, I called animal control and explained the situation. Since I keep them quiet when I'm home and I've taken measures to try and pacify them when I'm not, they told me I'm cool so I told the battle axe to call them and say that it's not good enough (so basically they could tell her to make sweet tender love to her old wrinkled goods).
.
A few week later (after much research) I ended up buying a bark collar.

weed_killer wrote:

Ancient Astronaught wrote:Am I the only one that came in here expecting totally different subject matter?

Like maybe something along the lines of setting a world record of some sort?

I mean, if that's what's required to settle this dispute then I guess we'll have to load up the ILF-Jet.

Well then I guess I'll go fill er up and put the crew on notice. Let's do this.

My neighbours on the left side of my apartment have loud afternoon sex, usually around 2, 3 pm. The neighbours on the right fight every night and throw stuff. Cops have been called about it, but they haven't done anything because the couple say they are okay and not hurt.
The guy who is my age below me used to bang on the ceiling any time I made a noise louder than keyboard typing. After this went on for a month straight I called the landlord about noise levels and disputes and how can I prove I'm at an acceptable level. One day my landlord called and told me she was coming by, checking a moving out and wanted to talk more. I invited her in and after a minute of talking between the two of us, the guy below starts banging on his ceiling. My landlord had enough, and walked out and met with him. I didn't catch most of their conversation but he has stopped immediately. Dude must have had super keen hearing, or was just a jackass.

I've had more shitty experiences with roommates than neighbors.

There was this one time though I saw my neighbor nude, and yeah, it was hot. Totally would have fucked my neighbour then.

I went from an elderly couple upstairs to a series of families with small children who apparently don't believe in inside/outside voices, no running/jumping/ball bouncing indoors...or any sort of actual parenting.
Now the current family has a kid with some sort of developmental disability.
Tantrums, stomping, running and skipping every day for an hour in the morning, plus a few hours spread into the evening after school gets out.
Mixed in with piano playing and other acoustic instruments. I know they have a lot to deal with...so I leave them alone, and they've never called or knocked on my door despite me playing electric and electronic instruments. I try to play when I know they're out; as I can hear them walking around and stirring when I begin to dig-in, which is distracting and yet sometimes....the discomfort leads me in positive sonic directions
Paper thin walls in an old converted schoolhouse...it is what it is. Could be a hellovalot worse, be careful what you wish for

In the apartment I had in Flint, MI, I'm pretty sure the dude across the hall from me was a dealer of sorts...but..ya know..Flint. He would leave his door opened all the time and stare at you all tweaked out as you walked by, which I had to because I was at the end of the hall. The lady directly across from me was really sweet though. I only ever had my downstairs neighbor bang on the ceiling a few times, but the dude above me would stomp to have me turn down.

When me and my wife (then fiance) got a place together in Bowling Green, OH, while she was in school, we lived in a three level town house with adjoining neighbors on either side. She hated it, because they where all undergrad partiers (she was getting her masters, and was done with that scene). I however didn't mind, because I never complained about their music and parties, they never complained about my guitar, and at the time I had a 5150 half stack.

Now we live in a rented house in the Arizona. It's far more ideal, but you still deal with neighbors...ours was trying to sell his house, and offered to have his maintenance guy clean up our yard when he did his, to make everything look nicer So the guy comes, and as he is weed wacking, the machine throws a stone through our front door, shattering it... The maintenance guy replaced it, but the neighbor himself never came to apologize or even acknowledge it..

So, houses are better for sure, but I agree, move into the woods!