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Tips for buying, renting or selling a noisy apartment

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By Teri Karush Rogers  |
June 3, 2011 - 9:40AM
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If you're contemplating buying, renting or selling an apartment besieged by street noise, remember that not all noise pollution is created equal: Very high and very low-frequency sounds like screeching sirens and rumbling garbage trucks will be harder to block by replacing or soundproofing your windows.

"Diminishing the sound of talking from the street will be easier than a stereo with a deep bass," says Leon Geoxavier of Rand Engineering & Architecture

Garbage and fire trucks aside, "everyday normal street traffic and talking can be almost eliminated to the point where you see the cars, trucks and buses passing by but you don't hear them," says Michael Damelin of Cityproof, which manufactures and installs the interior soundproofing windows that some apartment dwellers prize as much as customized closets, high-speed Internet, and running water. 

(Full disclosure: Michael Damelin is a really knowledgeable guy who takes his work very, very seriously, and his company, Cityproof, is a sponsor of BrickUnderground.)

The most common noise complaints, says Damelin, "stem from sirens, car alarms, garbage trucks, construction and demolition sites, loaded trucks hitting potholes, music from bars, noisy neighbors across a courtyard or next door, heating/air conditioning units on a nearby roof, cars/trucks/buses accelerating from a red light, general car and street traffic, people walking by and talking loudly, people hanging out outside a bar smoking, talking and generally being rowdy because they had too much to drink, etc, etc. Every neighborhood is different."

So if you're considering buying or renting a noisy apartment, how do you know if a little self-help in the soundproofing department will buy you a good night's sleep?

Damelin says he gets about 10 calls a week from potential residents, who want  to know if Cityproof has done any work in that building or the vicinity.  

"We can advise on what has worked in a particular neighborhood and possibly put you in contact with people experiencing what you think you will," says Damelin.

He receives about half as many calls from sellers with noise problems, including a recent one from an Upper East Side seller saddled with an apartment affected by the Second Avenue subway construction.

"The seller put in windows on the broker's recommendation and raised the asking price by $100,000," says Damelin.  The outcome? Still pending.

Related posts:

Inside Story: Apparently love for surround sound is genetic

16 things I wish I knew before buying this place

Living next to a church bell

A white noise machine that hears too

Ask an Expert: The lowdown on soundproof windows

5 steps for putting a neighborhood nuisance out of your misery

Teri Rogers Headshot - Floral

Teri Karush Rogers

Founder & Publisher

Founder and publisher Teri Karush Rogers launched Brick Underground in 2009. As a freelance journalist, she had previously covered New York City real estate for The New York Times. Teri has been featured as an expert on New York City residential real estate by The New York Times, New York Daily News, amNew York, NBC Nightly News, The Real Deal, Business Insider, the Huffington Post, and NY1 News, among others. Teri earned a BA in journalism and a law degree from New York University.

Brick Underground articles occasionally include the expertise of, or information about, advertising partners when relevant to the story. We will never promote an advertiser's product without making the relationship clear to our readers.

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