(copy from journal - apartment woes)
Pulsing Hum Update
Ok, so last night, after reaching my breaking point (you know, not sleeping for four days because of the sound), I went and turned off the pool pump around 1am. Got back to the room and...no difference. That wasn't the problem. I believe, however, I have found the problem. One much more irritating and problematic.
It's my downstair's neighbor's ceiling fan.
See, they are running their fan at night now - something they never did before - and what's happening is that it's vibrating up through the floor and into the walls. It's making my bedroom into a tuning fork basically. Because it's a vibration, nothing I do masks or blocks it. And because it's the fan running, the noise is literally unwavering and utterly relentless. It. Doesn't. Change. It's just hour after hour of the exact. same. noise. When I compare it to something like Chinese water tourture, I mean it.
Last night, after exhaustion, a minor breakdown crying at the frustration of the noise and my utter inability to sleep in my own bedroom, searching the house for ear plugs AND researching online for anything I can do to dampen the noise (nothing I can do short of investing in extremely expensive materials, ripping up the carpet and installing them on the subflooring which, in a rental isn't even remotely an option) Love heard me and we dragged the mattress out onto the living room floor. Which is where we slept last night. And which is where we will most likely have to sleep again tonight.
When Love got up this morning to take his shower and went into the bedroom, he came out and said I was right - the noise was unbelievably loud. Being away from it allowed him to really hear it the way I've been hearing it. It's just a sound you can not get out of your brain.
So now I'm not sure how to proceed. I bought some ear plugs while I was out with my mom today but I can't even get them to stay in my ears. And I'm not sure (a) I can deal with them or (b) that they'll help anyway since it's a vibration more than a noise. I have really sensitive ears and because of chronic infections as a child, I have inner ear difficulties. The ear plugs don't want to fit and they hurt being in as well. This I don't think is going to be the solution to the problem.
But what is? I mean, I can talk to the management office and have them check to be sure it's not just an unbalance in the fan, but beyond that...? They won't put in more insulation or anything. Do I talk to my downstairs neighbors and just ask them not to run their fan? I mean, that's pretty rude, right? But this is literally a form of hell and it's not fair to spend $1,000/month on an apartment and not be able to sleep in my own bedroom. What if I offered to buy them a standing fan or something instead? I mean seriously, I'm not sure what to do here. It doesn't help that I've never said two words to the downstairs neighbors nor that we complained in the past aobut their sliding glass door slamming (which admitedly, they improved upon and now we don't hear them at all.) I'm just not sure what to do. Thing is, I can't be exiled from my own bedroom. That's not an option. But, really, what other options do I have?
To say this sucks is understatement of the year. It's such a shitty situation and one of the many, MANY reasons why I would give almost anything to have a house instead of an apartment. It's always something in apartments - and always things you can't control. The way things are though right now in Florida with the home owner's insurance issues and such, it's utterly impossible to get a house. People with homes are losing theirs because of the doubling, tripling or more of their insurance costs. Besides, I need an immediate solution. I just don't know what it is.
Ok, so last night, after reaching my breaking point (you know, not sleeping for four days because of the sound), I went and turned off the pool pump around 1am. Got back to the room and...no difference. That wasn't the problem. I believe, however, I have found the problem. One much more irritating and problematic.
It's my downstair's neighbor's ceiling fan.
See, they are running their fan at night now - something they never did before - and what's happening is that it's vibrating up through the floor and into the walls. It's making my bedroom into a tuning fork basically. Because it's a vibration, nothing I do masks or blocks it. And because it's the fan running, the noise is literally unwavering and utterly relentless. It. Doesn't. Change. It's just hour after hour of the exact. same. noise. When I compare it to something like Chinese water tourture, I mean it.
Last night, after exhaustion, a minor breakdown crying at the frustration of the noise and my utter inability to sleep in my own bedroom, searching the house for ear plugs AND researching online for anything I can do to dampen the noise (nothing I can do short of investing in extremely expensive materials, ripping up the carpet and installing them on the subflooring which, in a rental isn't even remotely an option) Love heard me and we dragged the mattress out onto the living room floor. Which is where we slept last night. And which is where we will most likely have to sleep again tonight.
When Love got up this morning to take his shower and went into the bedroom, he came out and said I was right - the noise was unbelievably loud. Being away from it allowed him to really hear it the way I've been hearing it. It's just a sound you can not get out of your brain.
So now I'm not sure how to proceed. I bought some ear plugs while I was out with my mom today but I can't even get them to stay in my ears. And I'm not sure (a) I can deal with them or (b) that they'll help anyway since it's a vibration more than a noise. I have really sensitive ears and because of chronic infections as a child, I have inner ear difficulties. The ear plugs don't want to fit and they hurt being in as well. This I don't think is going to be the solution to the problem.
But what is? I mean, I can talk to the management office and have them check to be sure it's not just an unbalance in the fan, but beyond that...? They won't put in more insulation or anything. Do I talk to my downstairs neighbors and just ask them not to run their fan? I mean, that's pretty rude, right? But this is literally a form of hell and it's not fair to spend $1,000/month on an apartment and not be able to sleep in my own bedroom. What if I offered to buy them a standing fan or something instead? I mean seriously, I'm not sure what to do here. It doesn't help that I've never said two words to the downstairs neighbors nor that we complained in the past aobut their sliding glass door slamming (which admitedly, they improved upon and now we don't hear them at all.) I'm just not sure what to do. Thing is, I can't be exiled from my own bedroom. That's not an option. But, really, what other options do I have?
To say this sucks is understatement of the year. It's such a shitty situation and one of the many, MANY reasons why I would give almost anything to have a house instead of an apartment. It's always something in apartments - and always things you can't control. The way things are though right now in Florida with the home owner's insurance issues and such, it's utterly impossible to get a house. People with homes are losing theirs because of the doubling, tripling or more of their insurance costs. Besides, I need an immediate solution. I just don't know what it is.