Dealing with noisy neighbour in an apartment block

[el_expatriado]

My first two year rental here was on the 25/26th floor penthouse in a tower in Palermo Chico. I had the top two floors all to myself with no neighbors on my floor or above me. But you could hear everything going on below in a 10 block radius -- trains, colectivos, car honking, car alarms, everything. I got accustomed to the constant passing of the San Martin train, but what really drove me nuts was the military marching band that played at 6 am on the weekends. You learn quickly that sound waves travel upwards quite easily. And with no other buildings to block them out, you hear everything around you.

Next step was a building in Puerto Madero. That was quiet. And the building had double pane windows. Very nice. I had the Yacht Club in front of my building, though, and there were constant parties on weekends with electronic music, etc. Impossible to sleep. And no amount of complaints would help.

Then I went to a building in Belgrano. Back to the city noise again, but not so bad on a lower floor. This time the noise came from typical rude neighbors. Between the 3 AM coughing attacks, the kids who played all their sports indoors, the saxophone player, etc, it never stopped.

Finally, I had enough and I bought a lot outside the city in a country. When I went to check it out during the week it was dead quiet. I thought... I'll finally be able to sleep-in with nothing but the birds to wake me up. Just when you think you've won, Argentina knocks you back to reality. After I started going on weekends to check up on the construction I find there is apparently a small villa about 250m from my lot and they play non-stop cumbia villera all weekend long.

So the lesson is... Argentina will always win. No matter what you do to look for some peace and quiet, you will always lose.

 

[johnw100]

I often say to my Argentine wife when I have a bad hangover and a thumping headache, that it feels like i`ve got a Argentine living in my head.
She doesnt find it funny though.

 

[Matiasba]

Thats why I miss the most of Argentina, and probably why I will get there soon.

 

[EricBluegrassFiddle]

Well, like I said...I mean...you just have to deal with it and get used to it....unless you live out in the middle of nowhere. But you know, you'd be surprised even how noisy come of the little country towns in Argentina can get too on a weekend at least..

It's just a cultural thing and anyone coming here to Argentina to live has to learn to deal with it very quickly or their just going to have a really hard time and be misrerable.

Even so, I am regularly surprised by the insane amounts of noise pollution that people here can tolerate. Then we fly in to the US to visit my mom and it's so quiet...all I can hear is the ringing in my ears from the substantial hearing loss that I've suffered as a result of living in Argentina LOL.

When I stayed in a little Chalet that my Mendocino friend owned it was insane, this was Mendoza departamento de Maipu. he had a little place on the corner across from a plaza...window, bedroom windown right out to the street. ALLLLL you heard all night long was one noisy truck and car after the next, loud music, people yelling, and so loud, it sounded like they were coming right into the bedroom!! That was my first month in Argentina and I remember waking up and being literally so frustrated by it, I thought I'd go up onto the rooftop and throw myself off...just to find some relief from all the noise.

Now, looking back I just laugh, I'd fall asleep on the tarmac with a 747 running now and not even loose sleep.....thanks to Argentina, I've now become a battle hardened noise pollution warrior!!

 

[jantango]

I didn't stay awake in my bedroom long enough to know at what hour my neighbor and her girlfriend finally turned off their television. I gave up at 1:15am and moved to the living room to sleep on my yoga mat. To drown out he noise from the television, I listened to meditation music with headphones. I got some rest that way, but not the eight hours I need. Then I returned to my bed at 4:00am when it was quiet downstairs.

I look forward to the mediation hearing for my case.

 

[EricBluegrassFiddle]

I think another reason why noise pollution on the street, or coming from the street is so bad is also because of construction. Everything here is so condensely packed with buildings and houses, little to no space in between so all the noise get's "corraled" so to speak and emplified because of it. There's just no where for the sound to really escape to much

 

[ghost]

Argentines love noise. It drowns out reality.

 

[Ceviche]

what about noisy animals?

How to handle that case? They say " Oh..its a poor animal..what we can do"

 

[johnw100]

what about noisy animals?

How to handle that case? They say " Oh..its a poor animal..what we can do"

What I dont get is they just ignore their dogs. If a dog is barking back home the owner usually goes out and finds whats wrong with it. Because its annoying them and they consider their neighbours. Here they just ignore it. It isnt so bad when you have one noisy dog, but I counted 9, nine!! on my street. Thats just in one block, I`m the only weirdo without a dog because I have a house alarm, I can only assume they have so many dogs for security. But an alarm doesnt require feeding, doesn`t make a noise every time it sees a cat in the middle of the night nor does it shit everywhere.
It took me 6 months to be able to sleep through the night without waking to all the noise here, but now it doesnt bother me. When I eventually go back home, i think the silence will be deafening and I wont be able to sleep.

 

[ajoknoblauch]

What I dont get is they just ignore their dogs. If a dog is barking back home the owner usually goes out and finds whats wrong with it. Because its annoying them and they consider their neighbours. Here they just ignore it. It isnt so bad when you have one noisy dog, but I counted 9, nine!! on my street. Thats just in one block, I`m the only weirdo without a dog because I have a house alarm, I can only assume they have so many dogs for security. But an alarm doesnt require feeding, doesn`t make a noise every time it sees a cat in the middle of the night nor does it shit everywhere.
It took me 6 months to be able to sleep through the night without waking to all the noise here, but now it doesnt bother me. When I eventually go back home, i think the silence will be deafening and I wont be able to sleep.

Actually, it's the cats that run loose and shit everywhere. But I agree that many Argentines neglect their dogs.