Noisy neighbours/soundproofing Dog Kennel Hill Estate

[Ves89]

Hi all,

I recently bought a leasehold flat on the DKH estate. I am having a hard time with how much noise there is between my flat and next door and with upstairs. A lot of this isn’t due to the tenants themselves as they are just going about their daily lives (and upstairs the shouting and banging noises are children, which I can understand). The main issue I know is that there’s just no sound insulation between the flats. 
 

Next door however is a man with a booming voice who shrieks, yells down the phone and  sings (badly) at the top of his lungs at all hours. I can’t even believe how clearly I hear him. If he sighs I hear it and when he speaks it’s like he’s in my flat. I hear it the most in my bedroom and find it so invasive and horrible. I have spoken to him and asked him to keep it down and explained its the infrastructure of the building more than it’s him (altho him screaming a lot doesn’t help). He was very pleasant about it but he’s also got some stuff going on which I think means he’s not always in control of himself.

My builder has put up some sound proofing on my bedroom wall but it has done exactly nothing and I’m starting to feel at my wits end.

I wondered if anyone living on the estate has successfully soundproofed any of their walls/ceilings/floors and if so, who did it or how? 
 

And also interested in anyone’s interventions with Southwark over it. I’d even be willing to pay for soundproofing on his side if it would help absorb the noise but I suspect as it’s a council flat they wouldn’t let me do private works.

Only just bought and not in a financial or practical position to move. Also concerned I’d not be able to sell because of how insanely loud it is - I read that if you don’t disclose stuff like this in the information pack that the buyer can sue you for years after. Not an option for me as he only moved in recently when the flat I bought was empty so they wouldn’t have known. 

Grateful for any advice! 

 

[Kipper_1972]

I have 8x of the cheapest feather pillows (which I arrange round my head at night) and it's surprising how much they block out (not practical in the summer though) - also calms the nerves when you feel like you're loosing control. I've also considered creating a sound proof "shed" in the living room. Unfortunately I think only flats with concrete floors/walls have a decent level of soundproofing. I'm no expert but person to person litigation in this country is not the same as USA

[redjam]

My friend uses a white noise machine at night, which she swears by - she says it even blocks out the noise of foxes screaming outside her window.

Failing that, if it's any consolation, you do get used to noise - I used to live near a fire station and even managed to get used to the sound of sirens going off at all hours. Best of luck, though - it sounds tough.

[Sue]

40 minutes ago, redjam said:

My friend uses a white noise machine at night, which she swears by - she says it even blocks out the noise of foxes screaming outside her window.

I also use white noise if there are annoying noises at night (or other times).

I ask Alexa to play white noise, but I'm sure there are free apps for your phone.

I find it very effective.

Good luck.

Edited 6 hours ago by Sue

[sebastiondangerfield]

You want to be living there in the early seventies.😜

[Hasan wellman]

The floors of these flats are made of concrete. So your builder should have put in a dropped ceiling with RESILIENT bars. Then sound block insulation and sound block plasterboard. 
only at this point might you hear (or not😜) a difference.

But obviously these flats don’t have the head height to do that properly…… 

[SpringTime]

So how the eff is that useful?

Good grief. Worse than me. 

8 minutes ago, SpringTime said:

So how the eff is that useful?

Good grief. Worse than me. 

'But obviously these flats don’t have the head height to do that properly…… "

Why don't you have a shot at writing something helpful. Otherwise, eff off x

 

 

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