If your neighbours have had a loft conversion...

[WoolyMamamoth]

Has it made it significantly noisier in your house? My neighbours have recently had a loft conversion and I can hear every little thing. Their stairs are not on the adjoining wall yet I can hear them walking up the stairs, hear them having a root, hear them showering, walking around on the floor.

It's also not helping that they've moved an additional six people into the house so there's now 6 adults and 7 children in a three bedroom terraced house.

We get on really well and I don't want to cause any tensions, but I have gone from never hearing them (apart from when the children were outside or when they were having a bedtime tantrum) to hearing every thing that happens in the loft and the upper bedrooms.

I am most likely not going to say anything, but about to have our loft done and I am looking for advice on what I can do to try and minimise the sounds.

I've never lived in a house adjoining one with a loft conversion so unsure on what is normal and what is not normal!

6adults and7 children in a 3 bed house!!!!

@10kstepsaroundthegardenthen Yes. They've moved in relatives so they can sublet their house. I am understanding (ish) of this as they are at risk of losing their jobs.

The noise from the loft is what I need to know about!

www.which.co.uk/reviews/loft-conversions/article/loft-conversions/loft-conversion-building-regulations-and-planning-permission-aYaeU0I5DW7O#what-building-regulations-will-affect-my-conversion

Might be worth having a look at the building regulations part and party wall agreement.
Also the house is overcrowded, might be worth having a word with your local council.

No, it made no difference to the noise when our neighbours did this. It is an old house with thick walls though.

Have they converted into your loft?

The loft conversion is fine, even with adjoining stairs and bathroom - don't hear a thing. But the kitchen extension the previous owners did (same wall) is a nightmare, I can hear then using the blender every morning.

Thank you, I did sign the party wall agreement, but the bit about noise is very interesting.

I really don't want to fall out with them though - they are lovely people and I am sure they don't realise it's now become an issue. I am wondering if they've put the kids up there as it's the biggest room.

Also don't want to raise overcrowding as it's stressful enough with money as it is and if they don't have income, they lose their house, and I could end up with horrible neighbours!

I'd tell them that their is a big increase in noise coming from the house particularly from the upstairs and ask if the builder who did the conversion installed decent soundproofing in the loft party wall and floor. This ideal should have been done to mitigate the additional noise.

I'm not sure whether any soundproofing is a consideration for building regulations but you may want to check that out.

Have they converted into your loft?

I hope not, but to be honest, I have checked our loft since their beam went in!

Can people actually do this?? They do know that our loft will be being done and have known since I signed the party wall agreement!

(Apologies this is probably sounding trivial at the moment with everything going on)

@Herbie0987

www.which.co.uk/reviews/loft-conversions/article/loft-conversions/loft-conversion-building-regulations-and-planning-permission-aYaeU0I5DW7O#what-building-regulations-will-affect-my-conversion

Might be worth having a look at the building regulations part and party wall agreement.
Also the house is overcrowded, might be worth having a word with your local council.

@Herbie0987 is right, check the party wall agreement and planning & building regs. Did you get any notification of these from them? Also they could be flouting houses of multiple occupancy rules(HMO) re how many families and people live there. Check with your L.A.

Mine unofficially converted theirs and have now moved their teen up there.

There is significant more noise. Gone from minimally hearing them to hearing from when they get up to when they go to bed. So basically can hear from 545 to about 130am!

Both us and next door neighbours in semi-detached houses have our lofts converted and we hear very little, definitely less than through the original house walls. I know our builders built our wall with a gap from the party wall which probably helps. In your case, the sheer number of people next door is probably the issue!

It’s not overcrowding. You can have as many people as you want living in your own home. It’s not a HMO.

Op, ours did loft and had to by law offer to pay for us to have our own surveyor or use theirs who would act for both of us.

We went with theirs and he came into our house to look at every existing crack in the party wall.

He noted everything down.

We don't hear noise from them but general living noise we do and always have.

The house used to be an illegal hmo and was packed to the gunnels and noise then was a massive issue.

'It's also not helping that they've moved an additional six people into the house so there's now 6 adults and 7 children in a three bedroom terraced house.'

Where do you live OP, Coronation Street?

When you do your own loft I suggest you install very high standard acoustic insulation. That should cut down on what comes through from your neighbours for you - as well as the other way.

13 people in a 3 bed house! I'm not surprised you can hear them.