We’ve all heard and seen the large and loud Texas-sized trucks that barrel and roar through the streets. There’s nothing wrong with having a large car and a big engine. But when you live in close quarters and the noise happens at all hours of the day, it’s easy to become aggravated and possibly lose your cool towards the neighbor with the loud truck.
Before you go and file a noise complaint, or worse go off on your neighbor, there are steps you can take to quiet things down.
If the Noise Is Coming From a Car Radio…
First Attempt
Ask nicely the first go-round. Introduce yourself to see if the car owner lives in the building as well. Compliment them on the effectiveness of their super-duper sound system. Then, politely ask that they turn it down a tad since you can clearly hear it from a great distance. You’d be surprised how responsive most people are if you ask from a genuine place.
Second Attempt
If asking nicely didn’t work the first time and the bass-thumping continues, let the property manager know of your concern. Request that they also ask the person to nix the noise.
Third Attempt
If the neighbor just really doesn’t care by the fact that they’re disturbing others, you may need to take more serious action. If they are persistently playing music early in the morning, late at night or blasting lyrics with profanity, then you may need to alert the authorities and lodge a noise complaint. Note their license plate number and model car, so the authorities know exactly who is causing the problem. We can’t stress enough that you should only resort to this step after all else fails.
If the Noise Is Coming From a Car Alarm…
There’s nothing more annoying than a car alarm that triggers for no apparent reason. This one can be difficult to address if it’s unclear who owns the car in question. However, a call to property management should do the trick. They’ll have records of all the residents’ vehicles and can contact the owner to alert them that their car alarm is wailing away.
If it’s a reoccurring problem, their car alarm may be set to a high-sensitivity level. If you know the owner, try asking them politely to lower the register. Empathize with their concern over protecting their wheels, but make sure you let them know that it annoys the entire building.
If the Noise Is Coming From Car Maintenance and Cleaning…
It’s great that a neighbor takes pride in their vehicle, and wants it to look good and run efficiently (see below). But, if they’re running a vacuum cleaner right near your window at 7 in the morning or making noise with their tools, ask them politely if they can work on their car at a later hour that doesn’t disturb sleep.
If the Noise Is Coming From a Loud Muffler
Unfortunately, not all of us can afford nice, new cars that are built to reduce sound pollution. Even worse, some people actually choose to have loud cars and motorcycles. What’s even worse is that there’s very little that can be done about loud mufflers, beyond hoping that it has to be fixed after a failed state inspection. If the noise is bothersome, try having a conversation with the owner and ask them to keep the engine revving to a minimum.
Take Matters into Your Own Hands by Blocking the Noise
You may not be able to influence which cars your neighbors drive, but you can take noise-cancelling actions in your own apartment. Here are a few tricks that can drown out those annoying car sounds.
- Keep the fan on to create white noise.
- Use a white noise device.
- If you can paint the walls, use acoustic dampening paint on the exterior wall.
- Line the exterior wall with acoustic paneling.
- Use a door silencing kit to reduce noise coming from the front entrance.
- Make sure the windows and patios doors are well-sealed.
- Need to move into a quieter apartment complex? Use Apartments.com to find a new place.
