How to be a Good Neighbor in 2018

It's 2018! We are well into a new year and recent complaints about noise in the building make it a great time to take stock of where you are and where you want to be. In that spirit, here are three things you can do this coming year to be a better owner/tenant/neighbor at 24 Norman Street.

1. Be Aware
We live in a small building with nonexistent soundproofing. The lack of proper soundproofing in this building cannot be overstated, especially in-between floors. It is possible to hear activity in this building that would go unnoticed in others. Walking around, flushing toilets, music and TV's playing, alarm clocks going off, coffee grinders, dishwashers, all can be heard. For this reason we have fairly strict sound ordinances in the condo rules, violation of which can cause all kinds of problems in the building community, and can get you fined or evicted.
There is some gray area in how that ordinance is interpreted by various individuals
however the wording is pretty broad. Below is the actual language of the condo sound ordinance.
"No Residential Unit Owner shall make or permit
any noxious or offensive activity or disturbing
noises in the Units or do or permit anything to
be done therein which will interfere with the
rights, comfort or convenience of other Unit
Owners. No Residential Unit Owner shall play
upon or suffer to be played upon any musical
instrument or permit to be operated a
phonograph or a radio or television or other
such device in such unit between the hours of
eleven o'clock p.m. and the following seven
o'clock a.m., if the same shall disturb or annoy
other occupants of the Units, and in no event,
shall any Residential Unit Owner practice or
suffer to be practiced either vocal or
instrumental music. No Residential Unit Owner
shall give vocal or instrumental instruction at
any time. "

Basically, any noise made after 11 PM and before 7 AM which could potentially irritate or annoy a neighbor might be a problem. Weather or not it is a problem depends primarily on the tolerance of your immediately adjacent neighbors. So be mindful. Nothing pisses people off like being habitually awakened in the middle of the night, or a "screw you, I'll do what I want, whenever I want" attitude.

Remember: as an owner you absolutely have the right to insist that the tenant respect the sound ordinance. You also absolutely have the right to insist that Markwood enforce that ordinance.

2. Be Considerate
Basic consideration of your neighbors goes a long way to heading off potential problems. Be aware of the sound ordinance in the condo rules, (noise between 11 PM and 7 AM) and if you are an owner make certain that your tenants are aware of them as well. Be mindful of your schedule. Try putting yourself in your neighbor's shoes. Don't assume that everyone keeps the same schedule that you do, or has the same tolerance for noise, or shares your taste in music. (Headphones are a wonderful invention, use them when possible).

3. Communicate
Recently a unit owner was doing construction in their unit...on a Sunday. It may have been necessary for the work to be done that day, that sometimes happens. There are no direct prohibitions against construction on a Sunday, but you still have to ask yourself the question, does anyone really want to hear hammering and sawing on a Sunday afternoon? Probably not. This owner followed the letter of the condo rules, but not the spirit of the rules.
Part of being a good neighbor is thinking about your neighbors. So, what should the owner have done in this situation? Reschedule? Probably not, but if they knew they were planning something that was likely to make noise, like say...renovations, it would have been a good idea to let their neighbors,
(above, below and on either side), what they were planning on doing,  when they were planning on doing it and for how long. Some owners have have been very conscientious about doing this. It makes a situation that could be really irritating, more tolerable.

Take This Sound Test

 

 


Are you watching a movie or TV show on your television, playing a game on your computer, or listening to music on your stereo? Go out into the hallway and close the door. Can you still hear your device plating? Then it is probably too loud.
If you can hear it outside your unit, then your neighbors can hear it too, either down the hallway, through the wall, or the floor. (Headphones might be a great idea).

If you live at 24 Norman Street and don't know it already, you will quickly find out that it is a small building, and there is minimal soundproofing. The building was converted to condos in the 1980's, before newer building codes stipulated more robust soundproofing. For example, in newer construction, there is a minimum of one foot of space between your ceiling and the floor of the unit above you. We don't have that here. Basically your floor is also someone's ceiling.

That means that sound is easily transmitted. Walking heavily, flushing toilets, running your dishwasher, dropping things on the floor all sound like a heard of elephants stampeding, a tropical rainstorm, and a gunshot respectively. Add that to the outside ambient noise of downtown Salem, and you have a recipe for stressful living. Now we all chose to live here, so there is some expectation of noise, but it is a razor-thin line between acceptable and actively annoying.

Be aware of the time of day as well. There are restrictions in the condo bylaws that prohibit any noise between 11:00 PM and 7:00 AM. But I'm sure that if you're playing loud music or hammering something into a wall at 8:00 AM on a Sunday morning, you're not going to be engendering much good will from your neighbors.

Here is a link to a blog article titled: "How to Complain About Your Noisy Neighbors Without Being That Guy" , which has some good tips for dealing with sound the almost universal issue of noise. 

This is all a way of saying, please be aware of the level of noise you are making, and try to be considerate of your neighbors. It goes a long way to improving the quality of life here.

LAUNDRY ISSUES: Dryer ist kaputt

The Maytag dryer that is closest to the back of the laundry has broken and is beyond repair. A new dryer has been ordered but it is going to take about 3 weeks to get delivery and installation done. This means that we are down to only (2) working dryers for 39 units. It doesn't take a genius to see that this might lead to some potential problems.

I bring this up because yesterday I was doing laundry when a young couple came in and expressed dismay that their load of laundry had been removed from one of the dryers and placed on the sorting table. Apparently it had also been mixed in with someone else's load of laundry. Although I could relate (I don't like it when people remove my clothes from either a washing machine or dryer in my absence) there is little point in getting upset if other tenants remove your clothes, especially if you do a load and then leave it sitting for several hours.
Since I had been down there earlier in the day to empty the machines of quarters, I knew that this particular couple had left their laundry sitting in the dryer for several hours. However, I would also be upset if I found my laundry mixed in with someone else's.
As much as possible you need to be "present" when you do your laundry. Do not leave the building to run errands, or take a trip. You need to be around. If for some unavoidable reason you have to leave and are delayed in getting back to the laundry, do not be surprised if your clothes have been moved. No one likes it when this happens to them, but with so many people in the building and only 3 washers and 2 working dryers, you're going to need to have some patience and consideration for other people. Everyone has to use these machines, and the longer you tie one up, the less chance there is for someone else to use it.

That being said, here is some basic laundry etiquette.
Here is a scale of acceptable to less-acceptable practices.

ACCEPTABLE
If a dryer has completed it's cycle and the clothes are completely dry, and have been sitting for more than half an hour, go ahead and remove them. Please place them as neatly as you can on the sorting table at the back of the laundry. Make sure not to drop them behind the dryers or on the floor. Do not fold them, (that is just creepy). If there are multiple dryers being used, do not assume that the clothes all belong to the same person, and do not mix or pile two loads on top of each other. Make sure you clean the lint filter before you put your clothes in.

LESS ACCEPTABLE
If the dryer has finished it's cycle and the laundry is still damp, allow some extra time for the person to
come and restart the cycle. If you wait an hour or more and they still haven't come, then remove them and place on the sorting table.

REALLY DISCOURAGED
Removing wet clothes from the washing machines is really not OK unless they have been sitting in a machine for more than 2-3 hours. It just makes a mess. If you are feeling particularly generous and are in a hurry to do a load of wash, you could place them in a dryer (if empty) and start the cycle for them.

Try to balance your need to get laundry done with imagining how you would feel if they were your clothes. Hopefully things can go back to normal once the new dryer is in place. Thanks!

Don't Do This

When placing cardboard into the paper recycling bins, remember to break down boxes, etc. as much as possible. Don't do what is pictured here. The lids of the containers must be able to close, so that when it rains or snows, the bins don't fill with water and turn the contents into a sodden mess. It also keeps this stuff from blowing around in the street. If the bin is already full, save the recycling for next week, or throw it in the dumpster. Thank you.

About NOISE

A reminder of what the 24 Norman Street Rules and Regulations actually have to say about making noise, especially in the evening:

4. No Residential Unit Owner shall make or permit any noxious or offensive activity or disturbing noises in the Units or do or permit anything to be done therein which will interfere with the rights, comfort or convenience of other Unit Owners.
No Resdential Unit Owner shall play upon or suffer to be played upon any musical instrument or permit to be operated a phonograph or a radio or television loud speaker or other such device in such unit between the hours of midnight and the following nine o'clock a.m. , if the same shall disturb or annoy other occupants of the Units, and in no event, shall any Residential Unit Owner practice or suffer to be practiced either vocal or instrumental music for more than two hours in any day between the hours of six o'clock p.m. and the following nine o'clock a.m. No Residential unit Owner shall give vocal or instrumental instruction at any time.

Please Don't Do This

Recently someone left a bag of household recyclables sitting in the front stairwell near the recycling and trash bins. Please do not fill the hallway recycling bin with your household recyclables.
Those should be put in the bins outside by the dumpster. The recycling bin in the front hall is intended primarily for things like junk mail and other discarded papers such as magazines and newspapers. It is not intended for glass or plastic bottles or food containers.
Likewise for the trash barrel, it is intended as a convenience for small items, not for wet or smelly household trash.
Your cooperation in this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Spills

The stairways at 24 Norman Street are busy, people coming and going all the time. Sooner or later someone is going to spill something; coffee, juice, soda, occasionally the contents of their stomachs.
It is important that if you spill something, you don't just walk away and let it sit, like it's someone else's problem. If you spill something, it would be nice if you took a minute to grab a paper towel and clean it up yourself (even though no one really expects that these days) what we do expect however, is that you will call Markwood Management and let them know about it, so that they can send someone to clean it up for you. Otherwise it just sort of sits there and turns into a science project. No one is going to fix blame on you if you call in a spill. In fact, you wouldn't even have to leave your name, just call and say "There is a large puddle of coffee on the second-floor landing of the front steps that needs cleaned up". That's it. That wasn't so hard was it?