500 Sherbourne Condos (Times Group Corporation) - Real Estate -

Displeased said:
I heard a rumour that our maintenance fees will be going up in December. Does anybody have any more information? I am curious how the Times Group management will attempt to justify the increase.
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I have no clue if they will or not, but they probably will. It happens with every condo. Developers set an unrealistic first year budget, and then condo corps spend the first couple years increasing the maintenance fees until they are realistic. After that, they just rise with inflation.

Developers do this so they can market their projects competitively and quote the maintenance fee amount in advertising.
 
Every unit has one or more HVAC (heating and a/c) electrical systems.
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That's called a heat exchanger. It consists of a fan and a radiator.

There must be a common one which all the units are attached to.
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Yes, this is generally how it's done. There is a central heating and cooling plant, usually on the roof. During the summer, chilled liquid is circulated through the radiators in the heatexchangers, during the winter, heated liquid is circulated. Some buildings have two loops so heat and A/C can be available all year.
 
TorontoArchitect said:
The entire gym floor has a rubber floor, what I think is making that noise is when they lift the bench to an incline position, which is quite loud if you don't hold it while moving which most don't do.
I do hear my neighbor when he's on the phone in his bedroom and when he comes home late. Our bedrooms are back to back, thank god he hasn't had a wild night of sex (yet).
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I agree that the benches make noise but the noise that I hear sounds like, "kaklunk kaklunk kaklunk," but louder like a couple of 70lb dumbbells being dropped. If that floor is considered rubber it is not the standard flooring used for a gym to absorb sound. Those rinky dinky black mats under the benches should be all over the weight room area. It is standard to have several inches of thick rubber mats in free weight areas in gyms.
 
leighelay said:
Is anyone else experiencing a high level of noise transfer? I live on the 16th floor and the person who lives below me (but not directly below) plays music all the time and I can quote the lyrics from my bedroom - a few weeks ago this went on til after 12 am on a Tuesday and the resident refused to turn off the music when asked by the concierge. I sent an email outlining the various times I had encountered the noise transfer but received no response from property management. I have lived in condos previously (most recently RadioCity) and didn't hear a peep now I hear everything including people walking in the units above me. We have been encountering noise issues since we moved in... six months ago. I'm not sure if we are just surrounded by loud party people or if others experience the same issues...
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I live on the 16th floor also and I have experienced similar noise problems. On separate occasions, I was able to hear my neighbours walking, talking, and playing loud music. It didn't bother me and I thought it was normal. I know it's a building and I can't expect complete silence.

Things quickly escalated though because my neighbours on the 17th floor started throwing party marathons every weekend. The police was called at least four times in the odd morning hours as an attempt to stop their inconsiderable behaviour. Property management has sent several warning letters to them but that did not help either. I tried speaking with the concierge and he said every weekend he fears working at this building. All he gets is nothing but complaints about noise levels from numerous parties.

I am not sure what's the reason behind the everyday noises that we hear. Maybe it's an engineering problem with the building or unlucky people like you and I that get stuck with noisy neighbours? One thing for sure is that this building is full of people that love to relentlessly party!
 
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miketr said:
I live on the 16th floor also and I have experienced similar noise problems. On separate occasions, I was able to hear my neighbours walking, talking, and playing loud music. It didn't bother me and I thought it was normal. I know it's a building and I can't expect complete silence.

Things quickly escalated though because my neighbours on the 17th floor started throwing party marathons every weekend. The police was called at least four times in the odd morning hours as an attempt to stop their inconsiderable behaviour. Property management has sent several warning letters to them but that did not help either. I tried speaking with the concierge and he said every weekend he fears working at this building. All he gets is nothing but complaints about noise levels from numerous parties.

I am not sure what's the reason behind the everyday noises that we hear. Maybe it's an engineering problem with the building or unlucky people like you and I that get stuck with noisy neighbours? One thing for sure is that this building is full of people that love to relentlessly party!
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That's pretty disappointing. This seems to be an issue in most of the newer condos. I don't know who's responsible for the building codes...but buildings should be forced to be soundproofed better. Either have thicker concrete floors/walls or have dropped ceillings, etc.

I shudder when I walk by building sites of luxury condos and I can see the same old thin cement walls and ceillings as you'd find in a condo that cost 1/4 of the price. Never knew 500 was a party building.
 
These sound complaints seem very inconsistent from the upper floors compared to the lower floors. Perhaps the builder skimped on the higher floors. I live on a lower floor and I had a hell of a time trying to drill into the ceiling concrete to put up curtain rods. It wasn't concrete that we were used to. My relative couldn't believe how hard it was. The concrete in my relatives condo was a piece of cake compared to my unit.
 
AKoko said:
These sound complaints seem very inconsistent from the upper floors compared to the lower floors. Perhaps the builder skimped on the higher floors. I live on a lower floor and I had a hell of a time trying to drill into the ceiling concrete to put up curtain rods. It wasn't concrete that we were used to. My relative couldn't believe how hard it was. The concrete in my relatives condo was a piece of cake compared to my unit.
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I live in X and never hear anything from the units around me. I honestly think it comes down to the builder. You get what you pay for I guess.
 
WeirdFishes said:
I live in X and never hear anything from the units around me. I honestly think it comes down to the builder. You get what you pay for I guess.
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Not really. It's not like Great Gulf goes over and above the required soundproofing requirements. My buddy lives at Thompson Hotel and there are a lot of noise issues there and the prices are on the high end. It really depends on your neighbour. I've had some good ones. One I had an issue with, but for the most part my neighbours have been quiet and so have I. All it takes is a douchebag to move in next door and you'll be complaining about soundproofing at the mighty Great Gulf.
 
miketr said:
I live on the 16th floor also and I have experienced similar noise problems. On separate occasions, I was able to hear my neighbours walking, talking, and playing loud music. It didn't bother me and I thought it was normal. I know it's a building and I can't expect complete silence.

Things quickly escalated though because my neighbours on the 17th floor started throwing party marathons every weekend. The police was called at least four times in the odd morning hours as an attempt to stop their inconsiderable behaviour. Property management has sent several warning letters to them but that did not help either. I tried speaking with the concierge and he said every weekend he fears working at this building. All he gets is nothing but complaints about noise levels from numerous parties.

I am not sure what's the reason behind the everyday noises that we hear. Maybe it's an engineering problem with the building or unlucky people like you and I that get stuck with noisy neighbours? One thing for sure is that this building is full of people that love to relentlessly party!
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It's not the building, it's your neighbor. I have heard that things are in motion to deal with the problem. FYI!
 
my partner and I live on the 27th floor and in all honestly, we don't have any noise complaints. We never hear our neighbors. They had a party a couple of weeks ago, and the only reason we knew it was going on, was because we had walk by their condo to take out our trash.

Plus, we never hear the people above us or below us.
 
we are on 26th floor and don't hear anything on our floor, above or below. the unit next door has sold, so lets hope no one noisy moves in !
 
TheKingEast said:
Not really. It's not like Great Gulf goes over and above the required soundproofing requirements. My buddy lives at Thompson Hotel and there are a lot of noise issues there and the prices are on the high end. It really depends on your neighbour. I've had some good ones. One I had an issue with, but for the most part my neighbours have been quiet and so have I. All it takes is a douchebag to move in next door and you'll be complaining about soundproofing at the mighty Great Gulf.
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Well, my neighbours had a party on the weekend and I could not hear a thing. But hey, maybe it was a book party.
 
The only time I hear people talking is when they are in the hallway. My next door neighbours have had parties in the past and I've never been disturbed. I'm pretty sure they weren't whispering but I wasn't able to hear them once the door is closed. I've asked my neighbours if they ever hear me and THANKFULLY they said, "never." :)
 
My neigbour who lives above me....I hear her vacuum every morning. Neighbour on one side I've never heard. Neighbour on the other side I don't hear unless they have parties... Some people just don't know how loud they are so it's up to those who are being inconvenienced to tell their neighbours.

I think there should be a "condo ettiquette" posting inside the elevators

- don't leave garbage in the waste rooms
- don't throw things off the balcony
- turn down the bass (that's what really travels) in your music
- book the party room if you're having large parties
- respect your neighbours
etc...

This isn't a knock on the building or builder. It's the people living in it.

I'm pretty happy with the building overall.

If there are noise issues, what steps should be taken?
 
I hear people above, below and beside me. And in the hallway. It is really really annoying!!

I hear people going to the bathroom, running water, coughing, talking, dropping things on the floor, vaccuuming, playing music, etc etc.
I can only assume this goes both ways and they can hear me too. I can't begin to explain how terrible it feels to think that in my OWN HOME people can hear me and there is no privacy!!
And yes, when they do party, I hear that too.

I don't blame the people for living their lives and making a normal amount of noise (except the parties) - I blame Times Group Corporation for building a condo with such inferior sound proofing.

To attempt to reduce/dampen the noise in a building with crappy sound proofing: rugs, wall hangings, ???
 
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