Owning your own home

Congratulations!

Whatever you do, if it involves speaking to neighbours, do it ASAP. The longer you leave it the harder it will be. We lived with it for 6 years in the last place. For the most part, it was totally reasonable walking around. But there was the odd activity (weights bench in their bedroom) that got really bad. I left it for too long to be able to reasonable have a friendly word. The chance of them either not realising then appreciating the heads up Vs them being totally inconsiderate sociopaths who don't care about what they do to others quiet enjoyment changes exponentially over time.

Anecdotally, I've heard that ceiling insulation does little to prevent the noise of impact (footsteps etc) from above. I'd be looking at carpet with good underlay or a friendly word to remind them their walking on someone's ceiling. I'm sure you'd want your downstairs neighbour to do the same.

With combis you pay for HW basically, id stick a 30kw in min but depends how fast you wanna fill the bath as there isnt much between a 24kw and 30kw price wise and jumps a bit when you stick in a 40 also now your basically paying for the warrantys so again depends on how long you want most decent stuff is min 5 years.

Thank you that's helpful

I insulated a floor in a house at a time when building regs were introduced requiring it. At least I remember it being a thing for a while.

The matting fitted under the carpet was an inch thick. 2 layers of thick rubber joined by the kind of foam you get in sofas, mixed density though. It was effective at reducing noise from footprints but staircase noise still travelled through the staircase structure.

Double plasterboard underneath as well.

We were told a lot can be achieved with sand or any really dense material between the floorboards. Didn't like the idea of a lot of weight on the plasterboard though.

The whole building was owned by the same person and being renovated at the same time which made the solution practically possible but still very expensive and not fully acoustically insulated.

Never went as far as false lowered ceilings but apparently they work well enough if they're mechanical isolated in some way, there are systems for hanging acoustic plasterboard.

@neu I would ask the neighbours to remember their floor is your ceiling, like others suggest. And do it soon / combine with introducing yourself. A reasonable person will have no issue with you mentioning.

Any insulation will have limited effect... as @Airhead pointed out, noises travel through the structure of the building as well. Our upstairs neighbours are absolutely fine, but we can here them leave via the stairs at the front of the house, even when we're all the way in the back of the extended part of our flat (we're ground floor, 1890s house converted into three flats). I'm certain floor insulation wouldn't make a difference.

Good luck!

I lived below a lovely neighbour, we never heard her, I always assumed we had some unreal insulation and sound proofing or she floated across the floors. A year before we moved out her boyfriend moved in, it sounded like he brought a herd of elephants with him.

I would ask the neighbours to remember their floor is your ceiling, like others suggest. And do it soon / combine with introducing yourself.

Ha, ha. I remember when we moved to our gaff in one of our neighbours opening gambits - he asked me to move my van as he wanted to park his van where my van was for reasons that were only important to him. I didn't actually own a van, so was a bit confused, but I still filed him under 'weird /silly' because, you know, if you want something from someone, you need to offer something too. Worth remembering. Maybe bring a bottle of wine...

I was halfway up a ladder at the time, mind.

A reasonable person will have no issue with you mentioning.

Hmmmm maybe but people are strange god only knows. Pick your moment, hope for the best...

If you have high ceilings an independent ceiling will make quite a big difference. Check Part E of the Building Regulations for full details.

she floated across the floors

I reckon it's this; I became good friends with my previous upstairs neighbour and asked how come he was so quiet compared to current residents. He said he made an effort to walk quietly.

Edit: actually I've become good friends with two of my previous upstairs neighbours, so there is hope out there for people being decent!

Finally near completion on our freehold purchase and need block of flats insurance. Anyone got any recommendations for a broker or insurer?

Blind saga continues.
Not getting racist ones now.
Anyone have any DECENT Venetian?
Assume all are made in china with cheap wood or MDF?

When we looked at samples we preferred the fake wood to the real wood (white painted). The fake wood showed a bit more grain and were also lighter (in weight) so you don't need as many vertical tapes.

We got a company (Kelly's Blinds) to measure and fit for the bay window which meant they looked integrated with the crappy plastic windows and made them look far better.

You’re not selling them to me…

Part E of the Building Regulations

Wow, that's a lot of info!

I reckon they can look decent with thick tapes but if you want shutters then shutters may be the only thing to scratch that itch. Ours were going into ugly plastic windows and now they look way better. Also only cost £300 quid in total fitted ...

TBF im not sure what I want, or rather nothing is perfect.
Want solid wood shutters for their looks and authenticity, but something slatted (blinds or shutters) is more practical.
Whatcanyado?

Why do people like shutters, when curtains are one million percent better?

I feel the same ab0ut carpet vs wood floors.

Is there an alternative to shutters where the top and bottom halves can be controlled independently?

Not that I know of but you can use a modern form of net curtain to obscure the lower part of a street level sash or obscure plastic on the inside.

Curtains are kind of all or nothing, whereas shutters can be used throughout the day.

Also work fine in bathrooms / kitchens.

You could easily end up in the golf club discussing window dressing.

Can you buy "bottom up" roller blinds?

Solid panel shutters? https://www.shuttershop.co.uk/pages/solid-panel-shutters

Yes, loads of people selling them if you search for that. They are apparently better than shutters, according to a firm that sells bottom up blinds.