apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

You could get a white noise machine. They have these in my boyfriends office. You can't hear a thing.
http://www.speechprivacysystems.com/pages/home_products_default

I hate those white noise machines. It's noise on top of noise.

i love my white noise machine but it isn't the cure-all. Poor Sleepless on U Street has a serious problem!

I agree that adding textiles around will help. One thing that helped me soften the sounds a little between me and my neighbor who shares a wall was to move the heaviest piece of furniture to that wall (it helped that it was a sideboard that housed clothes). Then, I hung a very large, pretty textile on a bamboo rod (attached to the wall with hooks) on that wall above the sideboard. But what you couldn't see was that the textile was covering many layers of other fabrics. One was a large banquet hall-size cloth table cloth doubled over for thickness, an extra blanket (relatively thin), and a large swatch of cotton batting. Behind all this, I had attached more cotton batting to the wall itself. And since the hooks protruded from the wall far enough, all these materials had the room to hang on that rod. Once the pretty outer textile was on the material, you wouldn't even know anything was back there.

Super heavy curtains are in order too. There are some out there that claim to help with soundproofing but I haven't used them so I don't know. I remember them being kind of expensive so if you can afford them, go for it. I live in Manhattan on a busy street and don't have a big budget so I made my own soundproofing/draft-proofing curtains. I bought an attractive but cheap blanket at Kmart. I have two windows in the room over the street so I cut the blanket down the middle and made two long, vertical panels. Then, I sewed each panel to the back of my curtain panels. The blanket-side faces the street. The pretty panel is what I see indoors. Since the blanket is attractive enough, it doesn't look garish from the outside (not that you can really see it anyway).

Carpets. I have a nice Oriental runner in the hallway and rug in the living/bedroom (I live in a studio). You may want to get a huge sisal rug to go UNDER your main carpet if you can.

Every little bit counts! I feel your pain. I live in a noisy city too but love the area and have found these tricks to work a little bit. Good luck!

some of the most effective things people can't/aren't willing to do in a rental, like installing carpeting, re-walling with sound-proof drywall (quietrock brand), installing new, double-pane/vinyl windows, etc... but the above mentioned ideas (curtains, etc.) can help.

you could also look to stop the noise at it's source... is the restaurant zoned to have live music? it might not be and it might be an un-reported lease/zoning violation (or were you aware that there was music before you moved in?). you might think to post a small, neatly drafted (laminated? the nice it is, the more likely it'll stay) sign on the chute about noise... maybe posting suggested hours for use. making it look like it came from "the mgmt" might not be a bad idea.

are folks allowed on the roof? weight limit? potential to propose a time-limit?

might be good to talk to the HOA or rental company about many of these issues... while you hate to be a buzz-kill, you also need sleep...

nice pics!

I have a friend who owns a restaurant. She got complaints about the noise and was forced by the city to install something on the ceiling that would muffle the sound. it cost her about 50 thousand dollars. you should contact someone to see if the club has taken this step. also you should get some kind of noise meter to see if the noise is exceeding acceptable conditions by gov regulation standards.

Check out these comments:

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/sf/noise/sf-good-questions-how-can-i-reduce-the-sound-of-street-noise-049303

ear plugs - they can work wonders

My friend had a similar issue and he told me they make a *Paint* that can soundproof your apartment. He said it's been rated higher than some traditional soundproofing materials and really works. Don't know what or where it is, just figured i'd mention it.

I live on U St too. Although noisy, I don't have a karaoke bar nearby (ugh--never understood that phenom). I have an air purifier machine in my bedroom that also doubles quite effectively as a white noise machine. I tend not to sleep with the bedroom windows open, since I'm guaranteed to be woken up, esp. on the weekends (esp at the exciting bar closing hour--if I happen to wake up, it's actually quite entertaining to watch). The result of not being able to have windows open at night is that I have to run the A/C more than I'd like to.

I second ear plugs--I like Mack's silicone--but my routine has been quite effective and I don't use them at home now.

Also, there are noisier and there are quieter places on U St. So, you could move, but still have location, location, location.

Mmmmm..... ben's chili bowl.....

I am a sound designer, and I've encountered similar problems in the past. I turn to SheetBlok.

http://www.auralex.com/sound_isolation_sheetblok/sound_isolation_sheetblok.asp

Get some giant MDF panels and affix sheetblok to the back of them. Nail them to the walls in problem spots.

6db more effective in blocking sound than solid lead!

Until you move - Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones
http://www.bose.com/controller?url=/shop_online/headphones/noise_cancelling_headphones/index.jsp

I have a loud neighbor in a relatively quiet neighborhood. I haven't found many solutions, truthfully, other than running a fan at night and using ear plugs. Just thought I'd tell you I share your pain.

The simplest best solution is a pair of quality earplugs. You can investigate your other options, but none will be easier or cheaper than a trip to the drugstore to pick up some earplugs.

Good ones work wonders.

One word of advice: try them out over the weekend to make sure you can still hear your alarm clock. Otherwise you risk being late to work...

My last apartment had a noise issue. I was going a bit crazy until I ordered a variety pack of earplugs from the Earplug Superstore and discovered a typle of earplugs that fit and were soft enough to sleep in. Then I got "sleepphones" earphones which can be slept in as well. Together, I could finally sleep soundly! Sorry, I don't think anything else will work over karaoke.

Check out FLOR Carpet tiles, they're modular enough that you can easily stick them to the wall, and they come in enough colors and textures that you can actually do something funky and modern.

I've used them at a clients on her wall (she could hear her neighbors sneeze, talk, have sex, etc) and we went to town on the wall. We used heavier double sided tape to attach them to the wall.

She liked the idea because it was a quick fix, for under a few hundred dollars and she could re-purpose the FLOR at her next residence as an area rug.

Good luck, Scott aka declutteryou.com

I think we got super lucky with our rental, since I believe a rock band could practice outside our door and we would never know. The other day I was in the shower and realized I still hadn't unpacked my toiletries after a trip. I shouted my boyfriend to bring me my shampoo. 5 minutes later I got out of the bathroom all wet to find him quietly reading the paper in the living room. I couldn't believe he didn't hear me until he went in the bathroom and shouted. A bare muffled sound. That, in a 700 sq ft apartment is not so bad, huh?