Hello!
After living in our condo for a few months, we've started to notice that there's something strange with the acoustics. The building was constructed in 2006 (I think), and it's completely silent except for certain noises. If our neighbor yells or plays loud music, you don't hear a thing. However, bangs on the floor and walls sound very loud. How can that be?
For example, the neighbor has their kitchen against our bedroom. They don't have soft-close, and every time they close a cabinet, you can clearly hear a loud bang. The neighbor above has a staircase above our living room (duplex apartment) - and it's very loud with "thuds" when they run up and down the stairs. If the neighbor below slams their door, it sounds like a tractor is crashing into the wall. The residence is relatively new and there must be around 30cm of concrete between neighbors, yet there is such incredibly strange acoustics when it comes to banging noises. It's hard to describe the sound itself, but it's like thuds with a short echo that are very loud. Like it's far away but not really.
I do understand that sounds can be heard between neighbors in a condo, but what I don't understand is how sounds connected to the structures "structural noise" can be heard so incredibly much while voices, yelling, and music aren't heard at all? In the previous apartment from 1930, it was the complete opposite - you could hear the neighbors talking through the walls, but it didn't make a sound when they slammed their kitchen cabinets.
Is this a common phenomenon in newly built homes? That the sound accelerates and spreads in a strange way. Back in the day, they probably had straw and things in the walls which might have counteracted structural noise better than 30cm of concrete.
Is there a good way to capture sound coming from specific locations? For example, I know exactly where the staircase from the neighbors above is, so I would just like to have the sound coming from there captured in some high-tech device ;-) Feel free to give tips on how to isolate sound from specific spots. I neither have the economy nor the desire to add additional insulation to the entire ceiling and walls, and it feels very strange to need to do that in an apartment built in the 2000s. I can add that we have a normal amount of furniture, rugs, and double curtains in the bedroom and living room, which should catch the sound quite well. Another interesting thing is that it echoes immensely in our bedroom, despite heavy curtains, a big bed, a rug, etc. Another interesting thing is that there are plasterboards between the structures and our exterior walls. In other words, there are no concrete walls directly in the apartment, but they've put plasterboards and probably insulation between the structure and the interior wall, which in itself should be insulating? I don't know if it's common to do so.
Thanks!
After living in our condo for a few months, we've started to notice that there's something strange with the acoustics. The building was constructed in 2006 (I think), and it's completely silent except for certain noises. If our neighbor yells or plays loud music, you don't hear a thing. However, bangs on the floor and walls sound very loud. How can that be?
For example, the neighbor has their kitchen against our bedroom. They don't have soft-close, and every time they close a cabinet, you can clearly hear a loud bang. The neighbor above has a staircase above our living room (duplex apartment) - and it's very loud with "thuds" when they run up and down the stairs. If the neighbor below slams their door, it sounds like a tractor is crashing into the wall. The residence is relatively new and there must be around 30cm of concrete between neighbors, yet there is such incredibly strange acoustics when it comes to banging noises. It's hard to describe the sound itself, but it's like thuds with a short echo that are very loud. Like it's far away but not really.
I do understand that sounds can be heard between neighbors in a condo, but what I don't understand is how sounds connected to the structures "structural noise" can be heard so incredibly much while voices, yelling, and music aren't heard at all? In the previous apartment from 1930, it was the complete opposite - you could hear the neighbors talking through the walls, but it didn't make a sound when they slammed their kitchen cabinets.
Is this a common phenomenon in newly built homes? That the sound accelerates and spreads in a strange way. Back in the day, they probably had straw and things in the walls which might have counteracted structural noise better than 30cm of concrete.
Is there a good way to capture sound coming from specific locations? For example, I know exactly where the staircase from the neighbors above is, so I would just like to have the sound coming from there captured in some high-tech device ;-) Feel free to give tips on how to isolate sound from specific spots. I neither have the economy nor the desire to add additional insulation to the entire ceiling and walls, and it feels very strange to need to do that in an apartment built in the 2000s. I can add that we have a normal amount of furniture, rugs, and double curtains in the bedroom and living room, which should catch the sound quite well. Another interesting thing is that it echoes immensely in our bedroom, despite heavy curtains, a big bed, a rug, etc. Another interesting thing is that there are plasterboards between the structures and our exterior walls. In other words, there are no concrete walls directly in the apartment, but they've put plasterboards and probably insulation between the structure and the interior wall, which in itself should be insulating? I don't know if it's common to do so.
Thanks!
Member
· Västra Götaland
· 3 534 posts
That will be resolved once you stop "working" from home 