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When a neighbor accuses you of being loud or banging on the ceiling, you should take it seriously because loud neighbors are very annoying.
What would you do if your neighbors insisted that you must be pounding on the ceiling, but you truly weren’t?
That is what is happening to the people in this story, so they want to try to figure out what the noise really is, but their neighbors aren’t giving them much to work with.
Unfortunately, there isn’t really much they can do unless their upstairs neighbors are willing to help. Read through the full story below and see if you have any ideas for them.
Upstairs neighbors accusing us of banging on the ceiling!
Our upstairs neighbors have been accusing us of banging on the ceiling for months. But we are not.
This type of misunderstanding can cause serious conflicts.
We have gotten into altercations with them over this, which has resulted in 2 police calls about him trying to make things aggressive. We are at a loss and don’t know what else to do or what is causing this. HELP!
For backstory. My boyfriend and I live together in a 3 bed apartment, and recently my younger brother has moved in with us while he is in college because we live near the college he is attending.
Something is likely making the noise, so they should try to figure out what it is.
Before my boyfriend and brother moved in, I lived with my best friend for a year at this same apartment. Throughout all the roommate changes, the same family has lived upstairs and for years prior. 5 to be exact.
Recently, within the last several months, our upstairs neighbor has approached us on 5 separate occasions regarding this issue. We tried to tell him we are absolutely NOT banging on the ceiling and that we have no idea what is causing this. But of course, he doesn’t believe us.
Kids can be noisy; there isn’t much to be done about that.
They have young kids. We hear how loud they are ALL day. Running, jumping, chasing the dog, the baby crying, the garbage disposal, kids yelling, tv, etc.
But not even once have we made noise complaints or banged on the ceiling, after the year and a half we have been here. We are young, and don’t have any kids ourselves, but we absolutely understand how loud and obnoxious kids can be because we all have younger nieces and nephews.
Taking the time to find out what the noise is would be very helpful.
And there would never come a day where I would tell kids to stop running around and being kids. So, even though an unreasonable person would say all that warrants some ceiling banging, that is the absolute last thing I would do. Yet, they still don’t believe us.
I have asked the landlord, google, chatGPT, plumbers, and everything in between and everyone has a different answer.
If the neighbors won’t help track it down, then there is no reason to put effort into it.
At first, we thought it could be the dryer because it tumbles kind of loud. Then, we thought it was HVAC. Now I think it is the water pipes rattling (water hammering), but the landlord says that is unlikely.
Our neighbors have made it IMPOSSIBLE to help us try and figure it out because they believe the ONLY possible explanation is that we’re banging on the ceiling. But I will put my hand ON THE BIBLE that we are not.
Ok, they do have some information to work with.
The only inkling of detail that we have received is that it’s only when we’re home, sometimes it stops after they stomp back, and that they hear it in the middle of the night at like 3-4am.
They hear it the most in the back bedrooms (master bed and bath), but they also hear it all over. We have tried on multiple occasions to hear the noise they’re talking about but we are incapable of hearing it from our apartment. They’re the only ones that can hear it.
It seems very likely that the issue is related to the water.
The first altercation was directly after a shower, and we turned the sink on. The second was when the washing machine and dishwasher were running at the same time.
And the late night time frame they gave us is the same time frame where I get up to use the bathroom every single night. (3-4am).
They will need to do more investigation.
Yet, the landlord says it can’t be the water. When he came to “check it out” he turned on both showers for 10 seconds, didn’t hear it from our apartment, and then said “ok I don’t hear anything have a nice day”. No thorough water investigation was done.
He then told him he didn’t hear the noise so we must be lying. We are so beyond frustrated with being accused of something we’re not doing, but we don’t know how to prove it. Please help!
Why not exchange phone numbers and have them text every time it happens? This would be the easiest way to narrow down the potential causes. They need to work together with the neighbors on this.
Let’s see if the people in the comments have any recommendations.
It is unlikely that this would help.
Here is someone who recommends getting indoor cameras.
Well, this is just wrong.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this postabout a man who installs a fence after his neighbors cut a property line rope and move a canoe.
This seems a bit extreme, but it would work.
Yes, that is what they said.
This really doesn’t have to be a conflict. They can work together to find the cause of the noise.
Sadly, the upstairs neighbors are only making the situation worse for themselves.