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Wow. After hearing this, I feel reluctant in mentioning my new upstairs neighbor of a few weeks, but beforehand, I will share some stories with you, similar to ones I've read here.

First I want to say I have always been an apartment dweller who is considerate and respectful of others. I have now lived in my current Apartment for ten years, where there have been few problems, except for some years back with a guy who had OBNOXIOUS sex all night, almost every night. All I could do is lay awake..feeling like I was in the room with them and thinking he was apparently "never satisfied" and how he had no regard for other neighbors. There was running, screaming, banging and knocking things over. It wasn't just me who was disturbed by this, but others who were within earshot. Luckily, I had a Manager at the time who tape recorded it for the Building Owners who took the situation seriously and the guy was soon removed from the premises, thank God.

Another time, I had a young guy next door who would play his music loudly each evening and after asking him nicely, would stop for a short time, only to begin doing so repeatedly. I eventually called the police, which of course, only tends to make the offender madder. He moved later on - probably only to find that other people don't like this sort of thing, either.

I had another experience years ago as I moved into a downstairs unit, with the option to take the one right above me. A week later, I regretted that decision when a family moved in above me only to be disturbed by this "foreigner" who would come in every night at 11:00 PM, slam the door and proceed to make unrelenting noise until early AM. It sounded like he was throwing furniture and abusing his wife and small daughter with a lot of screaming and yelling in another language. I called the police which did no good, having this guy give me dirty looks afterward. They had guests that would park in my space, too and the Building Owner was unhelpful. It was a nightmare and I had no choice but move again, shortly.

In the past few years now in my current dwelling, I have had no problems with subsequent neighbors. Luckily, they have all been guys who weren't home much and were responsible people on a schedule and except for "normal" sounds, barely heard them, except for one small guy who walked very hard. My last neighbor was so quiet I hardly knew he was home when he was and and was so grateful for his considerate behavior. He and his girlfriend bought a home and vacated.

So this brings us to the present. A few weeks back, after the place sat vacant for a time - an existing tenant from another unit here moved into the one above me. I figured she was getting settled and just tried to adapt to the "new noise" - knowing I was "spoiled". Then, I became aware of my regular tension every time she is home - the hard, fast, deliberate walking, scraping of dining room chairs across the floor, slamming of windows and the bedroom closet door for hours - it's nerve-wracking. I realized that when it is quiet, she is either not home or sleeping. I am on a different schedule and she wakes me up every morning, with her clomping around.

Not sure how I will deal with this, which is why I came on here to research and share. I feel I will find a moment to approach her nicely and possibly suggest she put "sliders" on the bottoms of the chair legs..and maybe walk a bit lighter, but you can tell I have been "chicken" to even try this yet. I just found out yesterday that her previous downstairs neighbor here was not happy with the noise she made, either. I was told that when she had asked this woman if she might be quieter, it would cease for a day or two, but reverted to the same thing later. Great.

BUT HEY, at least there are no kids, drug addicts, sex maniacs, loud music players / TV watchers, wife abusers or the like up there! It is a very quiet building, in general and purposely chose a building that was not "family oriented". I feel for anyone who experiences this sort of HELL.. we just want to live our lives comfortably. I like my music too, but would never infringe on others' enjoyment of their space. People should just be conscious of the fact that they are only a wall, floor or ceiling away from others, keeping sounds at a particular level. Like so many aspects, some parents lack in instructing their offspring to be considerate of others, resulting in this sort of behavior.

Y'know, they require renters to have good credit, but there should be other criteria to weed out potential nut cases or troublemakers and there should be more rules or controls set in place by property owners, however, they seem more concerned with getting $$. I've said that buildings are only as good or bad as owners and managers allow them to be.