Is (a decent amount of) soundproofing a landlord's duty?

stainluss

We just moved in to a nice apartment but its beside a busy road and the noise from passing cars is massive. I believe the main culprit is insufficient soundproofing on the edges of the window as the window itself is double glazed.
Any ideas/strategies to get the landlord's help with this?

Gumbo

stainluss wrote: »

We just moved in to a nice apartment but its beside a busy road and the noise from passing cars is massive. I believe the main culprit is insufficient soundproofing on the edges of the window as the window itself is double glazed.
Any ideas/strategies to get the landlord's help with this?

Part E of the building regulations cover this issue during its construction.
When was the block built?

I think legally the landlord has no duty to above and beyond that to be honest unless there's an obviously defect causing the noise in the first place.

Michael D Not Higgins

Soundproofing is not defined as a minimum requirement for rented houses. This would be the tenant's responsibility to check before renting the property.

athtrasna

Did the main road only appear between your viewing and moving in? Sorry OP but this is all down to you, renter beware. If it's that much of a problem, seek to reassign your lease and move on.

Eric Cartman

OP, not to burst your balloon, but apartments here are pretty bad with soundproofing. If passing cars are getting to you, then perhaps apartments are not for you.

We have had threads about people being driven mad by neighbours for making even the slightest noise at night, or even the noise from building fixtures such as water pumps.

My only advice to everyone would be , if you couldnt sleep with a television on a low-medium volume or a constant hum in the background , do not live in an Irish apartment.

MarkAnthony

It's usually the seals/catches on the windows. It's worth investigating with a glazier.

Hollister11

It's up to you to sort it out OP. If your not happy, the LL may allow you to break the lease early, and leave. He would probably have a new tenant in a couple of days in this market.

Sleeper12

I think it's just about getting used to it. People all over the city live on main roads. I can't say if their soundproofing is any better than yours but I see plenty of them have their Windows open during the summer.
I've been in plenty of homes backing onto the dart line. Id say how do you sleep through that? Answer is always the same, you just get used to it.

The Ging and I

My apartment is beside a main road. I found it as noisy with the windows open or closed.
Reason crap construction. The only way around it for me is to replace the 80s double glazing and take the plaster board off and replace it with insulated board.
I called into two places who do high end wooden windows gave the measurements- email -phone number etc. Neither bothered their A$$ even giving me a quote .... the good times must be back !

Gumbo

The Ging and I wrote: »

My apartment is beside a main road. I found it as noisy with the windows open or closed.
Reason crap construction. The only way around it for me is to replace the 80s double glazing and take the plaster board off and replace it with insulated board.
I called into two places who do high end wooden windows gave the measurements- email -phone number etc. Neither bothered their A$$ even giving me a quote .... the good times must be back !

In fairness that's not crap construction. That was the normal method back then.
People might look at homes built this year in the future and claim they are crap construction too.

What you had to do was upgrade old worn out and outdated building fabric.

The Ging and I

Sleeper12 wrote: »

I think it's just about getting used to it. People all over the city live on main roads. I can't say if their soundproofing is any better than yours but I see plenty of them have their Windows open during the summer.
I've been in plenty of homes backing onto the dart line. Id say how do you sleep through that? Answer is always the same, you just get used to it.

kceire wrote: »

In fairness that's not crap construction. That was the normal method back then.
People might look at homes built this year in the future and claim they are crap construction too.

What you had to do was upgrade old worn out and outdated building fabric.

Point taken on "the method back then". But sticking blobs of plaster on a concrete wall and attaching slabs of plaster where you can see the joints after its been skimmed is a very poor normal.
I did not buy it from new but I would love to have been there to hand the snag list.

SarahMollie

Sleeper12 wrote: »

I think it's just about getting used to it. People all over the city live on main roads. I can't say if their soundproofing is any better than yours but I see plenty of them have their Windows open during the summer.
I've been in plenty of homes backing onto the dart line. Id say how do you sleep through that? Answer is always the same, you just get used to it.

+1 to this.

I used to live near(ish) the dart - other side of the street would have been worse but you could still clearly hear it. After a while though, it was just white noise to me. Visitors would comment on it, but I'd normally react with "huh?" as the noise wouldn't have even registered with me.

PierreLeCake

I grew up on a busy main road in a house with the single glazed metal windows. You could hear everything. When I moved to the USA I was living on a quite road in a quite suburb. I found it very strange at night. No noise from heavy traffic, police cars, ambulances , fire brigades, drunks shouting etc. It took me a week before I could get settled.
OP do you have any ventilation holes. These might be the main source of your noise. I have just upgraded a rental property. I insulated the walls and put in proper double glazing but building regulations require ventilation so I have a lovely big hole through my new insulation. I expect tenants down the line will block these up and then complain in 6 months time about mould. Its par the course being a landlord.

Gumbo

The Ging and I wrote: »

Point taken on "the method back then". But sticking blobs of plaster on a concrete wall and attaching slabs of plaster where you can see the joints after its been skimmed is a very poor normal.
I did not buy it from new but I would love to have been there to hand the snag list.

Your snag list may have been thrown straight back at you back then. Different times, different building methods, different building regulations. None relevant in today's industry.

CruelCoin

Eric Cartman wrote: »

My only advice to everyone would be , if you couldnt sleep with a television on a low-medium volume or a constant hum in the background , do not live in an Irish apartment.

Add "faint background barking" to that list and you can pretty much include every semi-detached house in any estate.

Build quality for so many homes tossed up during the boom is not great OP.

Borderfox

I got new hinges put on our old double glazed units and they made a difference between hearing traffic and not