Noisy Condo Tenants

[AGTO]

Can you provide a source or evidence of this? This does not sound like it would meet fire code, I have a hard time believing that a single stud wall is separating one suite from another. I'm quite sure that concrete or cinderblock walls are standard in Toronto highrise residences in at least the past 20 years. That said, noise can still travel through these materials.

How about you go and look at a new condo?
You can also look up the building codes yourself.
If you rather not, then you'll have to accept that 2 layers of 5/8" type X drywall provides a 1 hour fire rating, which is acceptable to the City of Torontos building code.
Since you're 'quite sure' that I'm wrong, how about providing some contrary evidence?

 

[simuls]

Look at any condo or conversion built in the past 10 years, you won't find poured concrete between suites.
Off the top of my head:
the printing factory lofts
the garnment factory lofts
edge lofts
the tannery
feather factory
all have single stud drywall partitions between suites.

'Last you seen' must have been 10 years ago.

Every example you give above is a conversion. Not a new build. As I've only bought condos built within the past 5 years, I can unequivocally state that every single one of them is built with concrete walls and is quite soundproof.

Anecdotally, walking around downtown on a daily basis and seeing pretty much every condo built, I can again, unequivocally state that I have never ever seen anything but concrete being used for walls separating suites. Right now, go look at Cityplace, Liberty Village, Maple Leaf Square, X, you name it and they all have concrete walls.

You might be completely correct about conversions though...a good thing to know as they're something I'm very interested in.

 

[AGTO]

Every example you give above is a conversion. Not a new build.

I mentioned new builds and conversions. Edge is new, not a conversion, and the condo tower at the printing factory is new, not a conversion.

As I've only bought condos built within the past 5 years, I can unequivocally state that every single one of them is built with concrete walls and is quite soundproof.

Why don't you name them? You were wrong in your first sentence, why should I believe you now?

Anecdotally, walking around downtown on a daily basis and seeing pretty much every condo built, I can again, unequivocally state that I have never ever seen anything but concrete being used for walls separating suites.

Your ancedotal evidence doesn't trump mine at all. The new builds I see around the city have single stud drywall partitions.

Right now, go look at Cityplace, Liberty Village, Maple Leaf Square, X, you name it and they all have concrete walls.

I've looked at cityplace and liberty village, thay have single stud drywall.
Why don't you go and look at some of the condos I mentioned...and tell me where the concrete walls are?

You might be completely correct about conversions though

You might have some facts in your past as well

 

[w.ll.am]

and the condo tower at the printing factory is new, not a conversion.

Since this building isn't finished yet I'd say it's pretty tough to know what the partition walls are made of.

I've looked at cityplace and liberty village, thay have single stud drywall.
Why don't you go and look at some of the condos I mentioned...and tell me where the concrete walls are?

Someone in this thread posted that they are concrete in cityplace and they live in the building.

Stop blowing sunshine.

 

[AGTO]

Since this building isn't finished yet I'd say it's pretty tough to know what the partition walls are made of.

The fact that about 8 floors have been poured and there are no walls on them indicates that the demising walls will be drywall.
The conversion has single stud (not double, staggard) drywall partitions as well.

Someone in this thread posted that they are concrete in cityplace and they live in the building.

Someone posted that drywall doesn't meet code, and they're wrong, someone also posted that Edge was a conversion, and they're wrong as well.
...you didn't mention that in your post though...ignore it when it doesn't support you ?

Stop blowing sunshine.

Stop posting garbage.

 

[casaguy]

AGTO do you get violent when you drink?

 

[cdr108]

Someone in this thread posted that they are concrete in cityplace and they live in the building.

The following 2 posters live at CP commented on the poor sound proofing; however, they didn't indicate if it was concrete between the units.

My guess, if it was concrete, the sound proofing would be better.

Cityplace sound proofing is absolute garbage. This is the reason I moved out of Cityplace. No one in their right mind would want to own property in any of these buildings. Purchasing in these buildings is a bad investment, and things like crappy sound proofing will not attract long-term owners.

My neighbour was extremely noisy and would often arrive home at 3am with 5 of his buddies and continue to party until 5 or 6am. Luckily, I was good friends with the owner below his unit as well. Together, each time one of us heard him making noise, we would contact each other and both make noise complaints. Eventually, or time, there was enough noise complaints written that formal letters were send from management office instructing him to be quieter.

It worked, for the most part. There was still the odd night where he would be partying too loudly, but all in all things got better.

Now I live in Spire, where the sound proofing is far better and before I moved in I had my real estate agent knock on the doors of the unit next door to get the dogs to start barking, while I listened from the master bedroom.

Long story short: do your due diligence when purchasing a resale unit, and don't buy in cityplace.

When I asked the sale guy at Cityplace Presentation Centre about the noise situation from upper neighbors he looked annoyed and said it wasn't an issue -no surprise coming from a salesman.

The tenants (from Hell?) haven't thrown any wild parties (thank God) in the last 4 weeks but their small dog never seems to sleep. I'm waken at all hours of the night. It drops things (toys?) on the floor almost every 10-20 minutes (day or night) and I can hear it running across my ceiling when I'm in bed. In fact I was waken so many time last night that by 2:30am I had to turn on my aircon (on a cool night) to filter out the noise. I can live with the late night, weekend howlings from morons in the amenities courtyard but this dog is really stressing me out.

 

[CanadianDriver]

i've witnessed the construction of cityplace buildings west of spadina over the years and i did see cinder block partitions between suites.

i have no photo handy, but if i find one in my archives, i'll post it.

 

[cdr108]

i've witnessed the construction of cityplace buildings west of spadina over the years and i did see cinder block partitions between suites.

i have no photo handy, but if i find one in my archives, i'll post it.

I'm not sure if it's a matter of confusion or clairification; however, when I say concrete partition walls are not being used between units, it's not to say there are NO concrete partition walls at all.

I have found that new construction/engineering methods have allowed the concrete partition walls to be needed between every 20-40 ft vs. older practice of 10-20 ft; and not always on the exterior wall facing the hall.

One of the 'tricks' I use to determine if there is a concrete structural wall while looking at floorplans is to look at the architectural drawing of the whole building. These will appear as the solid thick lines, while non concrete walls tend not to be shown or alot thinner.

In the above image, you can see there are no concrete walls between units and common hall as you can see directly through.

 

[AKS]

The following 2 posters live at CP commented on the poor sound proofing; however, they didn't indicate if it was concrete between the units.

My guess, if it was concrete, the sound proofing would be better.

Is it? I've once heard sounds coming above me. It sounded like marbles dropping on the floor, however they're probably something heavier. I'm pretty sure there's concrete on the ceiling. I can't verify materials for the walls since I wouldn't know unless I break it. There's not much noise from my neighbours next door. So either they're really quiet or it's fairly sound proof. The doors are not sound proof. When someone chats in the hallway loudly, I can hear them in my unit. If someone parties and turns on their music loud, I can hear them in the hallway. The glass walls/windows of the building is double layered. It's not 100% sound proof but it blocks off loud noises. If the balcony door is closed, I can still hear humming traffic sounds (like it's from a distance). I can hear muffed sounds of trains too. It's just louder when the balcony doors are open. When the parade goes by, there's a thumping sound with the balcony doors closed (I try to keep it closed during parades or else it will be noisy).

 

[AGTO]

I'm pretty sure there's concrete on the ceiling.

Impact noise can travel through solids very well. Sound can also be carried by liquid and gas.

 

[Thesb]

Interesting discussion, guys. I think the soundproofing advantages of concrete over drywall may be overstated, though. I've lived in units where I had to use a hammer drill just to hang a picture, and units where the walls were not much better than white chocolate, and there wasn't much difference between the two. In my experience, sound problems are a floor and ceiling issue more than a wall issue (and - as AKS indicated - a good front door goes a helluva long way to ensuring peace and quiet in a condo building). Unless your neighbor walks on walls in stillettos or is playing out Steve McQueen fantasies from the Great Escape with a worn baseball, I don't see a real cause for alarm.

'Course, we are just entering the "TV hanging on the wall" era... trouble ahead, perhaps.

 

[w.ll.am]

The following 2 posters live at CP commented on the poor sound proofing; however, they didn't indicate if it was concrete between the units.

My guess, if it was concrete, the sound proofing would be better.

Partying travels through concrete quite easily. Also as indicated it could come through the hall.

The second example ... also as mentioned is from above.

So the only post that actually states what the walls are is the one I cited and is the closest thing to proof you can get without getting plans for the building which I'm just not that interested in doing to prove a point.

@agto
I pointed out the specifics that I did to show that your comments should be taken with a grain of salt since some of your facts are wrong.

 

[AGTO]

So the only post that actually states what the walls are is the one I cited

No, not at all. Many posts contain facts. Yours contain some facts, and a lot of speculation. Other posts contain absolute garbage, as was shown.

I'm responding to your falsehoods to show that your posts should also be taken with a grain of salt.

 

[w.ll.am]

Back to the point.

Noise travels through everything to varying degrees. People are sensitive to varying degrees.

If you're worried about sounds ask to see the blueprints or just tap on the outer walls of the unit you're buying. If a new development won't let you see the blueprints, which they may not as they usually aren't finalized think about buying prebuilt or from a developer you know uses good practices.

Every place has a chance at having noisy neighbors so I don't think there's much you can do to pre-empt getting those.