Martin
From a neighbor's perspective, taking a shower can be considered noisy. In most cases, however, a shower is not a problem as long as it does not take too long, even in the middle of the night if necessary ... having a bath is a different case since it is way more noisy, i.e. you should not fill your bathtub at night.
The idea that a shower could exceed the acceptable sound limits is inconceivable. My partner can take a shower while I'm asleep and it does not disturb me with only a door to separate the sound. Are most apartments sound transparent? Do apartments not have building codes which dictate how a wall must be constructed inorder to control fire hazard but noise transmittance? Or are these noise issues more prevalent in older buildings?
You're missing the point! The volume of sound created is irrelevant.
It's simply the rules.
I think I may have missed the point. So its not that after 10pm sound must be kept in check, after 10pm sound is prohibated? Do the TV and radio stations stop broadcasting at 10 please please do not tell me that they do
Not at all.
They continue broadcasting in order to highlight the infractions of the rule-breaking foreigners, thus making it easier for the law-abiding Swiss residents of the apartment complex to have them evicted.
The whole nation is in on this, Sykes. Do not let your guard down, ever.
Put headphones on, that's what I do.
It does seem to depend a great deal on the building - partly in terms of its construction, but also partly in terms of what demographic currently occupies it. Students tend to congregate together; young families tend to congregate together; and old fuddy-duddies (sorry summerrain!) who are fussy about their peace and quiet also tend to congregate together.
If you accidentally move into a building full of the 'wrong sort' you are almost guaranteed to have neighbor trouble, and there is little you can do except either adapt to the existing norms (regardless of what your contract says) or move out again.
She means 'Swiss people' here, Sykes.
She's just too polite to say so...
It is so lovely to live in a country where you can listen to you favored music like Bill Haley 160 feet away from your radio on the patio BTW I am hard of hearing But it also can be lonely when no neighbours coming over to complain Go west young man go west ,to CANADA
Sorry I can`t ,I have no Boobs
hee hee no worries, I admit that I can be quite the grump when it comes to noise - a bit rich coming from me as I have a young dog and bang on the piano 3-4 hours a day.
Mathnut's point about moving into a building full of the "wrong sort" is bloody excellent though - I am assuming that you've yet to arrive in Switzerland as your location says NC, USA. The first step to a peaceful existence here in Switzerland is not only to find an apartment you like but in the right building full of likeminded people. Something people tend to overlook in their haste (desperation) to find housing in this competitive market.
Post-aduki effect
Don't you ever fall off?
actually yes, the requirements that apartments have to have a certain level of soundproofing is only in force since 1985 (Noise Protection Order). If you live in an older house, a neighbor taking his shower can indeed be very loud, I don't even want to imagine what it would be like to live next to or under a bunch of joyful students.
We live in a new house and if I didn't see the neighbors every now and then, I would assume they are all dead. Either they only whisper, sneak around in slippers and never wash themselves or the soundproofing is quite good. We could hear upstairs one having sex every Thursday morning at 6.45 for some time but luckily he has obviously broken up with the girlfriend now.
And when I complained about this(my neighbour staying upstair takes his shower after 12 night) to my rental agency, I was told that there are no such rules ---and they can take shower when ever they want!!
My former flatmate used to complain that I typed too loud and the trouble is, you could actually hear it in the other room, so I decamped into the kitchen until he was fast asleep.
The people above me have fits of being bonkers, dropping what sounds like bowling balls on the ground in the middle of the night and squealing with delight. I'm the type who goes and sees the people directly and trust me, it doesn't get you any further or make you more popular than those lovely little notes. So I understand why some people just call the police, but I think that's not the way to go with people who potentially have access to your post and attic space...
I admit, I like peace and quiet and get irritated by things like people slamming doors or a persistent baseline disturbing my studying, even when it is before 22.00. Having spent a while in shared accommodation I have come to the conclusion that there are people who are just loud with every pore of their being. The walk loud, talk loud, blow their nose loud, crash pans on to the stove, slam doors, just constant noise. And no amount of "keep the bloody noise down" will help these poor elephants, they're just made that way - special, like...
In fact, to take a shower between 10pm and 01am is in the tolerable part, if not done endlessly. TV and radio can be watched, but not at disco force.
Things have changed anyway. I still remember the times when Radio DRS stopped broadcasting at midnight, brought the National Anthem and then got silent and only resumed operations at 05.58 for the early morning news. TV, with three programs available, SFDRS, ARD, ZDF, started broadcasting at 5pm and stopped at midnight. And TV of course was just black&white.
I had that wrong sort increasingly between 1991 and 2002, quite nice at the beginning, but then a new Co-operative chairman moved in and the more tolerant folks got evicted. Between 2002 and 2009, people where I was staying had a medium age of roughly 80, and the housekeeper, otherwise a nice gentleman, heard everything. It is different now. The calm and discreet Vietnamese to my right is very very tolerant, the Russians one door after him are nice but a bit loud, the Portuguese to my left are charming folks but very load and Mr Caramba above me has the habit to move furniture around at 24.15 until 24.35, so what
The only times I have addressed neighbors about their noise was back in the US.
The "first" was a mother-daughter pair who moved in above me and for some reason, the mother felt some great need to vacuum the floor at 10pm nightly. I asked nicely for her to stop the first time it happened, she apologized and said she'd be more quiet... but kept it up. My successive visits were less and less nice and before long every noise she made irritated the mess out of me. It was A LOT of noise... I still find it quite baffling that two females who were size 4 (picture Vogue model thin) could make so much noise simply by walking.
The second was when a new neighbor moved in and was being quite loud on some day that I'd had a particularly stressful day at work. The neighbor had guests and I believe it was a holiday so they certainly would expect to be "able" to make celebratory levels of noise but I was nursing a headache of migraine proportions. Even so, I went up and asked them to keep it down for a little while so I could take a nap. THIS particular neighbor became a friend actually.
So, as others have said, perhaps there is a reason why the level of noise you are making is unacceptable, no matter what time it is. Maybe they have young children who go to bed early, maybe they have to get up early for work themselves... maybe YOUR noise levels are SO HIGH that they can not hear their own TV / computer / whatever.
I am quite happy to live on the top floor now and do my best to keep my noise down out of respect to my neighbors here. (Hubby is another relatively "fit" person who walks like a stampede of rhinoceros however... what is up with that anyhow?)
Some people are simply very dense.