Noise. Your first concern is noise.
I live on the bottom floor. The unit above me was apparently vacant for the better part of the year that I have lived here. The people that moved in a few weeks ago.... let's just say that I hate them.
Part of it isn't their fault. I shouldn't be able to hear every footstep they make, but I do. Every last step. But part of the reason I hate them
is their fault, because they simply create a bunch of noise and heavy footsteps at off hours. I think they have a dog, too. I can hear them playing with it. My guess is they'll throw something, and it sounds like something with a little weight to it, and the dog will go bounding off, chasing at it, each fast football thudding directly through my ceiling and into my ears. But people should be able to play with their dog, right? Sure.
But not at 1 o'clock in the morning. Surely, they have an idea what it must sound like to someone living under them. After all, they have someone also living above them that I assume they hear. And hate.
Oh good. They're playing with the mutt now.
Oh, and then there are the people that live in the unit immediately adjacent to mine. They apparently hate
each other. Always yelling, always fighting. I feel like walking over there and patting them on the back for trying to keep it together but advising that ultimately this deal isn't going to work. Best to go their separate ways now before someone gets physically hurt. At least there aren't any children, after all. Hopefully. Anyway, when they're not fighting, they're playing loud music. They had the police called on them once, probably by the people living opposite them on the other side of the building. They were blasting music at midnight on a Thursday, and people were trying to sleep. 12:30, local police were pounding on their door. The music hasn't been as loud since, but they still play it a bit too loud. Turn the bass down, jackholes. Especially after 9 PM.
And now about the outside. Every step up the wooden stairs... I hear. The stupid birds and their incessant chirping... I hear. In the early morning in the spring, it was literally impossible to sleep. Nocturnal insects? They about drove me crazy in September and early October.
I have a fan in my bedroom to try to drown out most of that noise. It works on the birds, works most of the time on the insects, provides a minimal amount of protection against heavy footfalls from above, but sometimes the solution is worse than the problem. Instead of the environmental noise driving me crazy, now it's the stupid fan!
Never live in an apartment made completely of wood.
