E.Z. from outside of Connecticut writes:
Dear Mister Condo,
I live on the 2nd floor of my condo. The 1st floor unit owner complained about the noise and is claiming it comes from my unit subfloor. I read the master deeds of my condo. It states: The boundaries of the each of the units are as follows:
Floors: the upper surfaces of the plywood sub-flooring.
Ceilings: the plane of the lower surface of the ceiling joists.
My question is: Is the repair of the sub-floor my responsibility? Does the sub-floor belong to my unit? I thought the subfloor is the responsibility of the condo, Please help! Thanks!
Mister Condo replies:
E.Z., noise complaints aside, the “guts” of the building are generally the responsibility of the association. However, determining where this particular noise is coming from has become a classic case of neighbor versus neighbor. In your case, it sounds like the complaint is the sub-flooring. But how would anyone know if it is the sub-flooring or the joists below that are causing the noise? This is very likely going to come down to an opinion from some type of building engineer to determine whose responsibility it is to correct the noise issue. You might do yourself a favor and reach out to a local building inspector and pay for your own opinion so you do not blindly accept what you are told by the association. If it gets serious or expensive enough, you might wish to also hire an attorney to make sure your best interests are looked after. This could be as simple as some lose nails on your subfloor. It could be as large as a defective or decayed joist, which could cost thousands of dollars to mitigate. The bottom line is that you need to protect yourself during this process and work with all parties to bring about a successful solution. All the best!
This is really good. My neighbor had this problem and she was really irritated because the other party was not cooperating. But luckily, the management took care of everything. The conflict was resolved and the noise was taken care of. By the way, the noise was caused by a pet.
I am currently having an issue where my floor is extremely squeaky. I own the unit above a basement. We tried to nail from above but it didn’t help. I feel like there is a bigger issue at hand. I am apprehensive about bringing the issue to the management board as they are always very defensive and unhelpful. This information has given me the information I need to proceed further.
Thank you!