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.
Showing posts with label sleep disturbance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sleep disturbance. Show all posts
Sunday, 1 February 2009
Friday, 2 January 2009
Living with laminate flooring noise affects personality
I am a different person when I spend time away from home. I can relax, I can sleep easily, I awake feeling good about the coming day. I can focus on anything I want to knowing I will not be ripped from my own thoughts by loud, harsh noises raining down from above.
Returning to my home I feel the dread closing in, as if I am walking into a prison cell. Even if the noise is not present when I enter, I know that it will come. Almost immediately I feel myself transform into another person - a person who is anxious and fearful, jumpy and depressed. It is like a light goes out inside me knowing that I have to live here until change comes.
The noise did come and it came loud. Three hours and three pairs of outdoor shoes running around all over the property upstairs. Three hours of doors slamming, furniture grinding and random thuds and bangs. It was impossible to find a place in my home, the place that is supposed to be my sanctuary from the world, to sit without noise. Loud noise.
Currently I do not have a bedroom. I sleep in whichever room I guess will have the least disturbance. I don't always guess right.
Life, like the chairs on the laminate flooring above me, grinds on.
Returning to my home I feel the dread closing in, as if I am walking into a prison cell. Even if the noise is not present when I enter, I know that it will come. Almost immediately I feel myself transform into another person - a person who is anxious and fearful, jumpy and depressed. It is like a light goes out inside me knowing that I have to live here until change comes.
The noise did come and it came loud. Three hours and three pairs of outdoor shoes running around all over the property upstairs. Three hours of doors slamming, furniture grinding and random thuds and bangs. It was impossible to find a place in my home, the place that is supposed to be my sanctuary from the world, to sit without noise. Loud noise.
Currently I do not have a bedroom. I sleep in whichever room I guess will have the least disturbance. I don't always guess right.
Life, like the chairs on the laminate flooring above me, grinds on.
Sunday, 21 December 2008
Noise Weekend
Yesterday I wanted to spend the day organising gifts, wrapping, writing cards and relaxing with my partner. We planned to do all these things and then watch a couple of classic films we rented.
The noise began - thundering, thumping, vibrations, doors slamming and people running and jumping. I could not sit in our lounge because the noise was so bad and every time I entered the room my heart rate increased and I felt stressed. It is made worse because the owner of the flooring knows that the flooring creates noise and so it seems that we are being bullied by noise. I went to the back of the apartment and I could still hear the bangs and feel the vibrations.
Eventually it got so bad that we left our home. We went to the cinema but there was nothing that we wanted to see, we have seen all the good films recently as we have been driven out most weekends. We found a quite place to eat a meal and we found ourselves killing time so that we wouldn't get home until after 9pm when the children seem to be put to bed and the noise is less than a crescendo.
Unfortunately the noise was still going on. I had nowhere to go. No matter what room I was in I was being subjected to thumping and banging and vibrations. I went to bed feeling stressed out, anxious and depressed. Doors were being slammed after 11pm.
This morning I was roused from sleep by thumping and rattling being force fed into my home and life by someone above me. Three hours later and the noise has not subsided. It is in every room. I feel hopeless and depressed. I look outside at the weather and cannot think of anywhere that I can go to escape this noise. I feel trapped.
There are people running, jumping and banging and what sounds like wrestling above my head, my lights are actually shaking and there is nothing that I can do about it.
The noise began - thundering, thumping, vibrations, doors slamming and people running and jumping. I could not sit in our lounge because the noise was so bad and every time I entered the room my heart rate increased and I felt stressed. It is made worse because the owner of the flooring knows that the flooring creates noise and so it seems that we are being bullied by noise. I went to the back of the apartment and I could still hear the bangs and feel the vibrations.
Eventually it got so bad that we left our home. We went to the cinema but there was nothing that we wanted to see, we have seen all the good films recently as we have been driven out most weekends. We found a quite place to eat a meal and we found ourselves killing time so that we wouldn't get home until after 9pm when the children seem to be put to bed and the noise is less than a crescendo.
Unfortunately the noise was still going on. I had nowhere to go. No matter what room I was in I was being subjected to thumping and banging and vibrations. I went to bed feeling stressed out, anxious and depressed. Doors were being slammed after 11pm.
This morning I was roused from sleep by thumping and rattling being force fed into my home and life by someone above me. Three hours later and the noise has not subsided. It is in every room. I feel hopeless and depressed. I look outside at the weather and cannot think of anywhere that I can go to escape this noise. I feel trapped.
There are people running, jumping and banging and what sounds like wrestling above my head, my lights are actually shaking and there is nothing that I can do about it.
Saturday, 20 December 2008
Laminate Flooring Noise Fragments Minds
Laminate flooring, by its nature, creates a singular canvas for sound. Each board is fitted to adjacent boards so closely that noise transfers without interruption from the point of impact to the outer edges of the flooring. If laminate flooring is installed throughout an apartment it is essentially a one piece sound conductor of every impact sound that takes place upon it. This means a thump in the front lounge can be heard in a back bedroom.
Living under an apartment where laminate was installed without acoustic soundproofing, where the laminate is butted right up against the skirting/walls and where the construct of the building means the upper floor and the ceiling below are one piece means that every sound is force fed into the apartment below.
There is a myth that rugs help but it is just that - a myth.
Impact noise on laminate floors is a unique way to disturb a person's life. It is not a constant noise like a television or a stereo, it is a random noise in pattern, frequency and decibels. One never knows when a footstep is going to fall or if it will be followed by running, jumping or stamping. Once the noise begins, one never knows when the noise will end. One can try to disconnect from the noise, but the longer one is subjected to these interruptions the less possible this becomes.
Living with laminate flooring noise essentially means that ones thoughts become ruptured by other people's noise. Attention to a television programme, or concentration on reading become fragmented as time goes on. In fact that is the best description one has for the longterm effect of laminate flooring impact noise on the mind - fragmented.
Living under an apartment where laminate was installed without acoustic soundproofing, where the laminate is butted right up against the skirting/walls and where the construct of the building means the upper floor and the ceiling below are one piece means that every sound is force fed into the apartment below.
There is a myth that rugs help but it is just that - a myth.
Impact noise on laminate floors is a unique way to disturb a person's life. It is not a constant noise like a television or a stereo, it is a random noise in pattern, frequency and decibels. One never knows when a footstep is going to fall or if it will be followed by running, jumping or stamping. Once the noise begins, one never knows when the noise will end. One can try to disconnect from the noise, but the longer one is subjected to these interruptions the less possible this becomes.
Living with laminate flooring noise essentially means that ones thoughts become ruptured by other people's noise. Attention to a television programme, or concentration on reading become fragmented as time goes on. In fact that is the best description one has for the longterm effect of laminate flooring impact noise on the mind - fragmented.
Thursday, 1 May 2008
Laminate Flooring Noise and Sleep Disturbance
"WHO guidelines say that for good sleep, sound level should not exceed 30 dB(A) for continuous background noise, and individual noise events exceeding 45 dB(A) should be avoided."
The DEFRA study on Laminate and Hardwood flooring says: "Impact noise from footfalls** is quite unique as the exposed dweller feels they are unable to avoid it, no matter which room they are in. Impact noise from footfall can occur at all times of the day and night dependent on the living style and sleep patterns of the upper occupants."
On the same page of the DEFRA study Table 3.1 displays the typical impact performance of floors in various dwellings. The table shows impact noise transmission of hardwood flooring ranges between 59 dB and 72 dB.
If it is the case that simple footfall transmissions at their lowest level measure 59 dB and WHO guidelines state that individual noise events exceeding 45 dB should be avoided during sleep, then it is not unreasonable to suggest that laminate flooring creates a noise problem that causes sleep disturbance.
**As stated in a previous post, footfall is only one type of impact sound experienced by those living below properties where laminate flooring has been installed.
The DEFRA study on Laminate and Hardwood flooring says: "Impact noise from footfalls** is quite unique as the exposed dweller feels they are unable to avoid it, no matter which room they are in. Impact noise from footfall can occur at all times of the day and night dependent on the living style and sleep patterns of the upper occupants."
On the same page of the DEFRA study Table 3.1 displays the typical impact performance of floors in various dwellings. The table shows impact noise transmission of hardwood flooring ranges between 59 dB and 72 dB.
If it is the case that simple footfall transmissions at their lowest level measure 59 dB and WHO guidelines state that individual noise events exceeding 45 dB should be avoided during sleep, then it is not unreasonable to suggest that laminate flooring creates a noise problem that causes sleep disturbance.
**As stated in a previous post, footfall is only one type of impact sound experienced by those living below properties where laminate flooring has been installed.
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