Being Bullied By Noise?

When a person has been enlightened to the fact that their laminate flooring creates a serious noise intrusion into the home and life of their neighbour, one would expect a decent person to take some sort of action to combat this.

Sadly the most common response is a sort of defensive denial, a placing of responsibility onto the person hearing the noise. The person hearing the noise needs to fix their hearing, stop hearing the noise, get a life, live and let live etc. The complainant becomes demonised in the situation - sometimes not just between the complainant and the noise maker, but also in the gossip ring that springs up in the community.

The noise maker retains a sense of self-righteousness and denies that their flooring is really a problem. It is the victim of their noise who is bad, wrong, defective, mad, sensitive and at fault.

Point blank refusal to bear witness to the actual noise the flooring sends into the property below, followed by an increase in the noise levels may point to denial, or it could point to something darker.

Does the knowledge that councils and legislation support laminate flooring owners and fail to protect those that live under them create a sense of freedom within some people? A will to make as much noise as they like, knowing that they are disturbing and upsetting the people downstairs?

Anti-social impact noise before dawn

Living under laminate flooring has a long list of negative influences, but one of the most frustrating, upsetting and disturbing is the intrusion into sleep. Sleep disturbance and deprivation is one of the most common forms of torture and living under laminate flooring exposes a person to this kind of torture.

The body needs good quality sleep to repair itself and the mind needs good quality sleep for relaxation and emotional health. It's not rocket science. So why local councils and the law continue to allow residents to install laminate flooring in upper flatted properties is beyond reason.

Being woken at 6am on a Sunday morning by thumping, banging and thundering feet is not the healthiest way to end a night's sleep and it is not the healthiest way to begin a new day. Quite why people feel the need to slam doors and run on their laminate flooring at 6am on a Sunday morning is beyond comprehension.

Ruptured sleep on a regular basis pushes a person to the edge.

Lack of Legislation = Lack of Solution

1. Start building a relationship with your neighbour
2. Have a quiet word about the problem
3. Have a stronger word: explain the impact on your family
4. Employ mediation services
5. Contact your local authority
6. Contact abatement societies
7. Take legal action

Above is the suggested trail for resolving a neighbour noise problem as posted by Noise Concern. Unfortunately, lack of any legislation regarding laminate flooring and noise means that any and all of these options could be fruitless.

Options 1-3 involve the owner of the flooring being willing to take responsibility for the noise issue. If the owner of the flooring is not willing to do this, has been led to believe an underlay is adequate, or has actually been told by an Environmental Health Officer that their neighbour "is just experiencing impact noise" - then any and all of the following options may be pointless suggestions.

Mediation Services are, by definition, meant to be impartial and unbiased. If people are not required by law to adequately soundproof laminate flooring, mediation appears to be simply a way for local authorities to wash their hands of the problem. The DEFRA study also noted that “Mediation was the most widely attempted mechanism for dealing with impact noise problems however it had the lowest success rating.”

Since it does not appear that any local authority, nor any law, considers laminate flooring noise to be a nuisance, there is little hope of successful legal action. Research for this blog has thus far not found any examples of a case where a successful resolution to a laminate flooring noise problem was procured through the courts.

Essentially the law supports individuals in adversely affecting the health and lifestyle of neighbours, leaving people who live with this noise problem with no hope of a solution.