When was the last time you talked to your neighbors?
We're not talking just about the ones directly beside you, but the ones above and below you as well.
If you're anything like the 1,000 New Yorkers surveyed by Homes.com, you've probably sought out a conversation with your neighbors for one thing: noise.
According to DNAinfo, 46% of the 1,000 people surveyed in the study have had disagreements with neighbors due to excessive noise. Apparently, it's the #1 reason why New Yorkers fight with their neighbors.
Hopefully, you don't go the route of Mr. Heckles from Friends and bang on the ceiling with a stick in order to alert the neighbors above you of their unnecessary ruckus, though we're not above that at 3 a.m. when upstairs starts getting busy on a rickety old bed.
Apparently, we as New Yorkers pretty much avoid unwanted human interaction like the plague, with 34% of the surveyed going more than a week without speaking to the inhabitants directly beyond our walls.
We're not all that surprised that this issue spanned to the outer boroughs, with 52% of surveyed residents of Manhattan and the Bronx stating that they argue with their neighbor about noise, while the Bronx was slightly behind with 49% reported.
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So what is it? Are we just inherently noisy people? That's probably not the case. According to Michael LaFratta of Silentium Soundproofing, 85% of his customers have issues with sound from the neighbors above rather than beside.
He points out that there have been more complaints in the pricier Manhattan neighborhoods where the layouts of apartments have changed from floor to floor, so people who were once living directly under a one bedroom may now be living under a noisy hallway.
"I tell people, it's not their neighbors that are the problem... Rather, the problems is the way that buildings are constructed," he told DNAinfo.
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Unfortunately, soundproofing is an expensive process that could take up valuable inches from the ceiling to install, but we're pretty sure the end result is worth the slight loss of headspace.
This may just be us, but we're pretty sure it's worth developing a relationship with your neighbors just to open a method of communication regarding noise. Or, you can always go the passive aggressive route and pull a Mr. Heckles.
Moving because of a noisy, awful neighbor? Want to know where the noisiest areas of NYC are? Check out this map from Place I Live, that maps all of the noise complaints to 311. Now you know where NOT to move. You're welcome.
Check out These New Yorkers Snoozing on the Subway.
[via DNAinfo] [Feature Image Courtesy RentLingo]