What I meant is 100 to 1000 times louder.
I suppose the groan is for my math mistake,
Trust me it's loud. And I'm not sure if the phone can even pick up the low frequency vibrations coming from the floor
Nope, the math is correct, 4-8 times louder.
50-60 dBA just isn't very loud, and below the legal alarm values (65-70 dBA).
Tom
Good starting point, and if the agency doesn't act then keep bothering them until it is sorted!
Perhaps the previous tenant really wasn't bothered by it, some people can sleep through anything. Or they were and it's the real reason they moved out?
The hauswart is presumably the building concierge/caretaker/janitor? They're paid by the agency from the rental monies, sometimes partially in kind (usually cheaper rent on her own apartment), and is supposed to do a certain number of hours work a week, as well as being avaliable to the other tenants if they have questions or minor problems within their powers to fix. Their main jobs are things such as cleaning the communal areas, fixing small issues within the building, supervising the laundry rota (a swiss obsession) co-ordinating visiting workmen, etc..... bigger individual problems such as yours really need to be taken directly to the agency or owner.
It's not just the noise it's the type of noise. We stayed in a place where the whole bedroom was vibrating from a bad air-con unit in the unit below.
My a/c unit runs at about 35db but I wouldn't want to sleep with it on. The compressor makes the sound less tolerable. I have technically noisier fans which appear to be quieter.
60db is about the sound of someone knocking on your front door, and incidentally the level of the 'clunk clunk' audible in the bedroom that comes from the dodgy old lift in our place. It's enough to disturb TV watching during the day and enough to wake me up during the night.
I think anyone who says 60db isn't loud must already be deaf :-)
Are you sure that alarm values are 65dB? This is for example a normal voice from 1m distance. I think it is far from legal to hear your neighbours as they are talking next to you in the night, so why would it be ok for heating?
Anyway, this is what I measured with the phone, who knows how accurate that is, or if it picks up the whole spectrum. At least I tried with the few apps and 2 phones, and the average readings went from 50dB to 75dB in one app (although I doubt this one is accurate)
They are in the link you posted in your OP.
Tom
the problem with the math/physics is "louder" is not a standard term. 4-8 louder is correct for perceived loudness while 100-1000 is for the sound intensity (power level)
She is literally 80 years old and walks with this thing:
http://i01.i.aliimg.com/img/pb/017/4...421017_669.jpg
I don't think she is capable to do anything except annoy apparently most of the neighbours saying all the stuff we can't do in the building, and running the most ridiculous communal washing plan where everybody bought their own machines as nobody can use the common washers which are free 90% of the time (although this is actually good for us in the ground floor )
the average dB is frankly a bullshit in case of measuring the noise disturbance, but I had to start with something. same sound wave pressure (same dB) is very differently perceived by humans at different frequencies.
the only way to subjectively measure this is if someone comes with the "flat" microphone and measures the frequencies from inaudible (vibrations) until very high frequencies, and makes a frequency/power chart. At least I think so.
But, I had to give at least some value that I'm not crazy sensitive.
These are emission values, at least I think so. And it is for external noise generators within urban area, and it's probably measured from the outside of the building.
(As it says, once the limits are passed there is a need for isolation windows etc).
This is actually what I didn't understand at this article, but I assume it's for the planning of buildings and commercial areas.