Soundproof Condo Chiang Mai

[Decaptcher]

Greetings,

 

I'm looking for a decent soundproof condo in Chiang Mai.

 

I've been living in a unit in one of those DCondo near Central Festival for a long time. Honestly, never had a problem for years. Recently, the condo next door was rented and, wow, just now I realize how bad constructions are here.

 

It's barely possible to make a sound, especially at night. I can hear the neighbors walk around, going to the bathroom, well, you get the picture. It's not a situation where I want or could complain. They are not noisy, I'm talking about normal daily routine. Since I've always been a night owl myself (but also considerate) I find this situation extremely uncomfortable.

 

My last resort will be to rent a house at the end of my contract, but I'd like to avoid extremes.

 

I'd prefer to live in a condo with amenities and well-maintained (pool, gym, security, parking, pest control, good condition, etc.) but it also needs to be soundproof (Or whatever it's called). I don't need to know what everyone else is doing all the time.

 

Any suggestions?

[Airalee]

Some older (or more expensive) buildings may be better but there is no guarantee.

 

Houses will depend on location.  Will the neighbors have a rooster?  Dogs? Party late into the night with loud music?

 

Not really any solution other than to move and take your chances or to buy and spend tons of money soundproofing the place.

 

The least expensive solution (which isn’t all that great) would be to buy one of those “white noise machines” which help drown out background noises to a small extent.

[Mormolin]

I am now always staying in villas exactly for this reason (misophonia is hell...). Even in a townhouse, when the houses are not separated and share the same wall, you can ear music and chair dragging, even if it's coming from a neighbor 4 houses further.

 

In Chiang Mai, I stayed a while at The Astra Condo. The amenities of this place are really awesome, but the soundproofing is aweful. I very often been waking up in the middle of the night by someone closing is door very loud or by someone dragging a chair. Even if the unit is far away from you and even not on the same floor, you can ear the dragging noise very loud.

 

We even often been waking up very early in the morning by cooking noise from the neighbor 3 floors below us.

 

I changed units 3 times in this building and each time it was the same thing. I became so angry that I just decided to move to Phuket and rent a villa. I definitely don't regret my choice! (But my wallet does... haha).

[EricTh]

There's no such thing as soundproof condo because the condos are linked together top, bottom and adjacent. That's one of the main reasons why I am renting a landed property in the first place. You don't have to put up with all the noise from your neighbour.

[jak2002003]

5 minutes ago, EricTh said:

There's no such thing as soundproof condo because the condos are linked together top, bottom and adjacent. That's one of the main reasons why I am renting a landed property in the first place. You don't have to put up with all the noise from your neighbour

Our condo in a busy (before Covid) tourise area is quieter than our house in a rural Thai village.

 

Having a house is no guarantee of peace. There are always chances of loud neighbours playing base music, barking dogs and cutting steel. 

 

 

[motdaeng]

i always rented on the top floor and a far away corner unit,

hoping the units next to my unit will be empty as long as possible ...

 

 

[Dante99]

2 hours ago, motdaeng said:

i always rented on the top floor

Yeh top floor is great.  Your get all the roof leaks and even if they do not happen you get the free heat radiating down from the roof.

[In Full Agreement]

7 minutes ago, Dante99 said:

Yeh top floor is great.  Your get all the roof leaks and even if they do not happen you get the free heat radiating down from the roof.

 

If the rental is in a condo, the  condo association would be the entity  to pay for repairs for roof leaks.

 

But overall in Thailand,  noise issues simply will not be dealt with as they may in Western countries.

 

[Mickeymaus]

7 minutes ago, In Full Agreement said:

 

If the rental is in a condo, the  condo association would be the entity  to pay for repairs for roof leaks.

 

But overall in Thailand,  noise issues simply will not be dealt with as they may in Western countries.

 

I once stayed in such a condo. Between me and the roof tiles was only gypsum. After every rain you could hear the drops falling down on the gypsum ceiling. Sometimes there was a hole in the ceiling and the water came into the room. But you never knew where. At the computer? At the router? At the TV? Could end very expensive. Therefore I often put a plastic cover on such things when I didn't use them.

 

In addition the heat. It is radiation heat from the ceiling and so the aircon will not help much because it is not only hot air in the room. 

 

In addition the outside noise. But great surround sound at thunderstorms. 

 

In addition - in the roof there were no walls between the condos. So every burglar could walk there from condo to condo. 

 

Condo association and repair? Perhaps, but when... 

[clivebaxter]

It's the only country I have lived in where I envy the deaf at times, even ear plugs and noise cancelling (reducing) headphones can do little to make the racket of dogs, music and banging doors very much better.

[BritManToo]

It's odd reading these posts because I've never had a noise problem anywhere I lived (12 years, 6 residences). The odd barking dog for a night or two, but that's about it.

[lanng khao]

21 minutes ago, Sticky Rice Balls said:

I had a place with this--squeaky main door....doors slamming and dragging chairs on tile..(screech)....I oiled the door and got felt pads from 20 baht shop

Politely and smiling I listened and found the noisemakers---knocked on door-during day...smiled again and used my best survival thai to explain the noise

 

I ASKED to place pads on door frame corners and under chairs-----the thais looked at me as usual(crazy man) and then returned to smile when they saw the results

 

Also ear plugs--a must in LOS and a noise machine....somebody told the manager who knocked on my door as they thought it was water turned on full blast! 555

What was your survival Thai? Tam Mai Khun Siang dang mak mak sow the <deleted> wow, something like that .

[Dante99]

1 hour ago, In Full Agreement said:

the  condo association would be the entity  to pay for repairs for roof leaks.

Yes and until they decide to do it you get the water coming in to damage your furniture and floor.  What a joy.  They are not in a hurry because their condo is dry. SO they pay to repair the roof, do they pay for your damaged stuff and inconvenience? 

[EricTh]

14 hours ago, jak2002003 said:

Our condo in a busy (before Covid) tourise area is quieter than our house in a rural Thai village.

 

Having a house is no guarantee of peace. There are always chances of loud neighbours playing base music, barking dogs and cutting steel. 

 

 

What do you mean by cutting steel?

 

[canthai55]

[Decaptcher]

The fact that I kind of lucked out in the unit location (Last floor, almost end of corridor, next to emergency stairways, empty front and adjacent units for years) is one of the main reasons I'm hesitant to moving out right away.

Might just as well wait till the end of the contract and see how everything turns out.

 

I'm not that bothered by neighbors noise, the problem is that even normal routine movements can be heard. I also do use the PC till very late (Not doing so lately just for consideration).

 

I don't mind renting a house as a last resort honestly, it's just a hassle. And I will probably need to soundproof a room anyway for my needs in that case (Gaming room).

 

 

[GammaGlobulin]

You need to find a HOUSE...not a condo...if you want quiet.  And, you need to choose carefully the location.  Watch out for the roosters in the morning, noon, and night.  It might take you years to find a quiet place.  It's just a matter of luck, and trial and error, and this can require years.

[GammaGlobulin]

14 hours ago, BritManToo said:

It's odd reading these posts because I've never had a noise problem anywhere I lived (12 years, 6 residences). The odd barking dog for a night or two, but that's about it.

Not only odd, but I would say that your experience is EXTREMELY odd.  I have never heard of such a case as yours.

[nickmondo]

the noise you describe is the reason why i would never live in a condo here.

my Spain appt is exactly the same.

it is virtually impossible to sound proof a condo.

if you build a new partition wall, you need a gap between the new and the old.

noise will still pentetrate through electric sockets, down the pillars, etc, etc.

You need to move to a detached house, on a Moo Ban, (a village) in a good location with security.

I rent such a place in Hua Hin, a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, fully furnished detached house for 11,000 a month, and I am never disturbed by a dog, music, or anything.......oh.........I tell a lie........there is a young Thai girl that screams a lot with excitement.........why do young Thai girls always scream?????

In the meantime, buy a couple of noisy fans and have them near your bed.

Saves money on aircon, and the constant noise of the fans is the same as White Noise

also, the ear plugs you can buy, the orange, squidgy ones.

 

[lopburi3]

On 7/22/2021 at 9:49 PM, Airalee said:

The least expensive solution (which isn’t all that great) would be to buy one of those “white noise machines” which help drown out background noises to a small extent.

Perhaps a better choice would be HEPA air filter units - run them on med to high fan speeds and they make white noise that is easy to get used to and also serve to clean your breathing air (which is doubly important in places like Chiang Mai).  

[SAFETY FIRST]

On 7/22/2021 at 9:14 PM, Decaptcher said:

. I can hear the neighbors walk around, going to the bathroom, well, you get the picture

The cheapest option would be to tile the wall. 

There are some great looking tiles to choose. Make a feature wall. 

[lopburi3]

Just now, SAFETY FIRST said:

The cheapest option would be to tile the wall. 

There are some great looking tiles to choose. Make a feature wall. 

Trust you mean acoustic tile rather than what most of us think of - ceramic tile.   Living in a bathroom is not my idea of quiet.  Years ago I did tile with burnt cork but that was messy to the extreme as decayed over the years.

[wwest5829]

On 7/23/2021 at 10:10 AM, BritManToo said:

It's odd reading these posts because I've never had a noise problem anywhere I lived (12 years, 6 residences). The odd barking dog for a night or two, but that's about it.

I think part of dealing with this is also in the mind of the beholder. Why I say this is that we have been in our current rental house for two years and plan on remains but ... We soon found out our neighbor raises roosters so every morning we literally wake up with the chickens ... but, well not a problem for us. Much preferable to barking dogs at all hours, I'm thinking ...

[1FinickyOne]

I actually lived in D Condo for several months.. there was some noise but not too bad and predictable in timing.. one family would let the little children run and scream down the hallway on the way to scxhool in the morning - but I was awake and it was brief... and at night there was some music late but not long and I have no idea where it was coming from...

 

I did find an older very quiet friendly building in town... pm me if you want info..

 

my larger issue w/D Condo was no convenience store nearby... and it was a long way to go around the block.. and walking to Central for some milk was also inconvient.. 

[jak2002003]

14 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

You need to find a HOUSE...not a condo...if you want quiet.  And, you need to choose carefully the location.  Watch out for the roosters in the morning, noon, and night.  It might take you years to find a quiet place.  It's just a matter of luck, and trial and error, and this can require years.

Yes....might take years. Then a few weeks after op moves in some new neighbours come with dogs and roosters...and open an outdoor restaurant with loud TV and music ever day. 

[NancyL]

The older condo buildings are built more solidly and as suggested by one poster, if you have one neighbor with a chair/door problem, you can politely offer to fix their issue.  

 

In an older building, carefully study what's outside the building because they have "good" and "bad" sides.  The "bad sides" will be the rooms overlooking main roads, restaurants that are open air and have live bands, have full west sun, etc.  

 

Also, remodeling noise can be an issue in older buildings, but every one I know has strict rules about days/times when noisy work can be done.  But the noise of removing old tile can travel throughout the entire building.

 

When we remodeled a large unit in an older building, we got a unit on a quiet corner and put closets/cupboards down the entire length of walls with our neighbors.  We never hear any noise from them.

[ChipButty]

If you own the property I would recommend using Gyprock Soundchek if it's available in Thailand or some other method of dry wall installation

 

Gyprock Soundchek provides sound control worth shouting about. This high density gypsum plasterboard has improved sound transmission properties to help maintain the peace when used in residential and commercial walls and ceilings.

 

https://www.gyprock.com.au/products/plasterboard-soundchek 

 

[GammaGlobulin]

14 minutes ago, jak2002003 said:

Yes....might take years. Then a few weeks after op moves in some new neighbours come with dogs and roosters...and open an outdoor restaurant with loud TV and music ever day. 

If this should happen, then, move again, and....it might take another many years.

[ChipButty]

I always say to people who are looking for property, make sure you go around at the night time mainly to  see if you can hear any load music

[SomchaiCNX]

Bought a D condo unit in Bangna, same problem so I know exactly how you feel.