RC (reinforced concrete) apartments – can you hear upstairs neighbours?

23 comments

1. New building and the developers mentioned that floors are 30cm thick concrete and walls are 20cm thick.

   Cant hear a thing.

2. I used to live in an RC building from 2010, and you could still hear the neighbors upstairs and downstairs, lol. This is because raised floors can act like resonance boxes, and you can especially hear stomping. My downstairs neighbors had a young child, and I could hear him running around the room.

   On the sides, I couldn’t hear a thing. You could almost think you had no neighbors next to you.

   Maybe newer buildings are better insulated, so I can’t really comment on that.

3. I live in a well-built mansion from 2002. I can hear the little kid upstairs running around and something like a desk chair moving. Or maybe the kid rolling toys on the floor. It’s not super loud and doesn’t bother me but I can hear it.

4. New RC building (2024), not sure how thick the floors/ceilings are but I can sometimes faintly hear footsteps or things dropped from upstairs. Mostly quiet though, and tolerable since it doesn’t happen all the time

5. My RC building, which is new from 2024, basically, can almost never hear anything. Occasional sounds like if someone drops something heavy, but otherwise, effectively nothing. Cant hear peoples TV, cant hear footsteps, cant hear shit. Its awesome, RC for life.

   Even better than my old apartments in my home country which were double brick with concrete floors.

6. I live in a 6 or 7 year old RC マンション. Cant hear anything. And neighbours haven’t complained about my noisy kids. So would recommend.

7. I live in a pretty old RC building – built in the late seventies – but the sound insulation is generally fantastic. The only thing I ever hear is some footsteps when the kid in the unit upstairs runs around; I’ve never heard a peep from downstairs or the sides, and never had any issues my neighbours regarding noise even though I have some pretty solid speakers in my living room.

   It’s one of the things that keeps me here for now despite a few aspects of the older building being annoying – I’ve become so used to not worrying about noise even late at night that the idea of moving somewhere newer and discovering that the sound insulation isn’t this good is really offputting.

8. Living in a 20+ year old RC building, ground floor. Very occasionally hear when my upstairs neighbour drops something, and also when they open their insect screens, but otherwise nothing.

9. New RC building (2024), can’t hear anything from the side neighbours. You can occasionally hear stomps from upstairs, but it’s rare and infrequent. We were definitely surprised having read about poor noise insulation in houses here, but thankfully, RC buildings are really good at noise insulation.

10. I was in a Brillia tower (mid 2000s build) and couldn’t hear a thing from any neighbours.

11. I’m in a new (4ish years?) RC mansion and yes I can hear the upstairs neighbours making all sorts of sounds all hours of the day and night. No idea what they could be doing at 3am that sounds like moving furniture, dropping a phone every 2 mins, banging sounds, stomping around etc …

    Not loud/annoying enough to move out but enough to need noise cancelling headphones 3-5 nights a week to sleep.

    Edit: very rarely I hear muffled voices but that noise could be coming through the vents from anywhere

12. Generally no, but they’ve done renovations twice since I moved in, and the tile replacement and drilling of walls is difficult to ignore.

13. 2022, RC. Four neighbors – to the right, upstairs, and two across the hall have children. Apparently. Haven’t heard them. Even the crying babies. I play music rather loudly and they say they can’t hear that either. I’m also on the ground floor ☺️

    Upper floors not sure but I can’t hear anything from them. The rent is high so it makes sense. I’m hoping when I buy a place I get a similar build quality 😂

14. We live in a RC rental house with a next door neighbor and we can’t hear our neighbor at all. I can hear my son running around on the 2nd floor though lol.

15. I never hear anything from my neighbors other than the occasional quiet bump. Early 2010s build, next to an elevator.

    Previous one was an early 90s build, same. Very quiet.

16. i’m in a 40? year old RC and i’ve never heard any of my neighbors basically. sometimes I can hear the water running from upstairs? but it’s faint.

17. My apartment is RC and built in 2024. The ceiling and walls (with the exception of one) are all concrete and I can’t hear any sounds from the neighboring units.

    There’s one wall in the bedroom that I believe is wood since the AC unit is installed there and there’s a hole for the AC hose drilled in it. Occasionally I can hear the upstairs neighbor dropping things if I’m near that wall. The windows and sliding glass doors aren’t soundproof either, so I can hear cars driving by or noises outside but it’s rarely bothersome.

18. currently living in a rc mansion from 2009 and yes i can definitely hear my upstairs neighbors stomping and dropping stuff, otherwise i hear close to nothing from my downstairs or side neighbors.

19. I can’t hear mine mostly. Very occasionally a thump or something, I guess they dropped something heavy on the floor. Our building also requires flooring with 45 decibel rating, so that helps.

20. RC building from 2001, 8th of 9 floors, cant hear anything, I was actually surprised cause you can hear the train outside quite clearly through the windows but nothing through the walls.

21. I hear both my neighbors upstairs and next door. RC doesn’t automatically indicate sound insulation unfortunately particularly in older buildings.

22. Depends on how thick the floor slabs are.

23. I hear nothing but it’s a little like being buried alive.

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