How to deal with thin walls, broken elevators, and a useless HOA
Uninsulated walls transmit neighbor conversations and outside construction noise directly into living spaces, while failing elevators and unverified HOA repair assessments drive up unexpected costs. These building maintenance and management failures trap residents in deteriorating living conditions with no clear path to accountability.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Using noise-canceling headphones or earbuds
- 2Switching bedrooms to get some sleep away from shared walls
- 3Walking up or down four flights of stairs when the elevator breaks
- 4Considering selling the property despite market conditions
- 5wearing earplugs
- 6increasing TV or music volume
- 7trying to reroute the system intake
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Unfortunately, I quickly found out there’s no insulation in the walls connecting my unit to my neighbors. None.”source ↗
“Also the elevator gets stuck often when people don’t properly close the door then I’m having to walk up or down 4 flights of stairs in a hot stairwell.”source ↗
“Now the HOA wants to get serious about replacing the roof but the quote has gone from $4k to 7k and now sitting at 10k and we haven’t seen any physical documentation or quotes in our HOA portal.”source ↗
“Separately, the building is having issues with water leaks, water damage and mold.”source ↗
“I am currently sitting in my bedroom (1st floor) and can hear verbatim the conversations and extremely loud music of the construction crew nextdoor (quite literally 5 ft from my window).”source ↗
“wanted to ask if anyone has tips for making a rental property outside noise free?”source ↗
“So sorry if this is the wrong sub, but I am desperate!”source ↗
“I want to reroute the intake for the furnace so it intakes from the utility room as it is really loud. Especially when the ac is going all day making the basement almost unbearable.”source ↗
“When they have the AC on this is the exact noise I hear inside my apartment.”source ↗
“Even though it isn’t in damaging dB range, it makes my heart race and my hears start to hurt a little whenever they have it on and they have it on and off almost all day and night because they get hot really easily.”source ↗
“During the day I can take it but it makes it really hard to sleep at night because it sounds especially loud in my room.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 2How to block low frequency bass rumbling in a house
- 4How to deal with a neighbor playing loud music past quiet hours
- 2Why does my furnace make a loud banging noise?
- 13Why is my new dryer vibrating and buzzing?
- 23How to fix previous owner DIY nightmares
- 2How to stop cracking and popping noises when walking on floors