To think I buggered up with neighbour

[Clappingforjoy]

Go easy please but I am contemplating on apologising to my neighbour for been a knob yesterday.
My neighbour in flat above is sort of the fussy sort she hasnt complained excessively about things that me and dp may do or dont do we have had things such as banging on the ceiling at night if we chat and it's quite late and then yesterday she complained about my dp leaving dusty footprints outside her door and down footprints he is in building trade so things can get messy.
Her door is on the side thru a doorway and our shed is thru this door so it's like communal access. Yesterday she opened the door and said she is fed up of dusty footprints and to please clean up and that do knows he is doing it and doesnt offer to clean it.
I feel I handled it wrong as I told her that we need to try and give some leeway if in a communal setting and she ranted at me that she was giving a simple request to clean up ourselves and that she never complains about other stuff like the door banging shut and the mess in our garden caused by when dh removed old cupboards removed from the shed which we hadn't of yet managed to dispose of.
I feel aibu and feel that I need to apologise.

Is this communal area inside or outside? Inside, he needs to sweep it. Outside, she needs to get a grip.

Oh Christ, why do people get so het up about this? Unless you actually have to squeeze past or climb over other people's rubbish, I just don't see why some people find it so annoying.

Cause it's a bloody eyesore in the garden

OP did you let them know you were going to get cupboards removed? That would have massively peed me off if you didn't as how are they to know you aren't leaving them there for good.

Cause it's a bloody eyesore in the garden
Really? A bit of old furniture/discarded stuff is such an affront to people's delicate eyes? People need to get grips. I live in a flat, one of three in a converted Victorian house, with a shared inside staircase and hallway/landing. One or other of us (usually the other two flats as I have the biggest flat with more storage space) always has some kind of discarded furniture/bags/a hoover/DIY stuff in one of the communal areas. I can't say it's ever made me clutch my pearls and I've never flapped about what an 'eyesore' it is.

The door keeps banging shut because I think it needs a restricter fixing on.

Just keep hold of the handle and close it rather than letting it bang and make DH take his dirty boots off before traipsing dirt through the corridor.

@DarlingNikita will have to agree to disagree, I live in a converted Victorian property too. We all manage to dispose of our rubbish in the correct bins or take it to the dump, if it is waiting to be collected by someone external we leave a note on it or let each other know. I envy you that it doesn't concern you, for me mess is an eyesore and encourages more mess/dumping!

My neighbours and I generally do let each other know if we're keeping anything major in the hallway for any reason, and apologise, but I just have too many more important things to think about to find it a problem.

@Clappingforjoy we lived in a middle flat and could hear horrificly loud sex noises, headboard banging, woman moaning. For months I thought it was the poor woman upstairs, I would bang on the ceiling and shout up at her... turned out to be the downstairs neighbour.

I was too mortified to apologise 🤷🏻‍♀️ Just clean up after yourselves and avoid her like the plague. Flats are awkward enough to live in!

YABU.

If you leave dusty footprints in the communal areas you should clean them up straight away. If your partner struggles with this then he should buy some of those disposable shoe covers and pop them on when he walks in the block.