Ceiling – Thin walls means lots of noise

ceilingnoise reduction

My bedroom is directly under my neighbors living room, he has crazy hours and I find myself waking up constantly. I tried talking to him and he's trying his best but it's just not good enough. What can I do (other than buying a white-noise machine which I did and is helpful but not helpful enough) to reduce noise coming from the top floor neighbor who admittedly walks around as if he weighed 5000 lbs.?

Best Answer

During construction of multi-unit dwellings, we install homasote on top of the subfloor (in the unit above yours). In the ceiling, we will add a layer of insulation. And then before installing the drywall on the ceiling, we would install resilient channel that keeps the drywall from directly contacting the joists.

Your options post construction are very limited unless you want to replace the ceiling. Ear plugs, fans, white noise, etc, may be the best you can do until one of you moves.

Edit: If you have option to rearrange your floor plan, I'd move your bedroom to be under another bedroom instead of a living room.