I kind of wish that multi-unit housing came with sound isolation ratings. That'd create an incentive to have better isolation and help customers weigh the tradeoffs.

I love this game! I used to play it all the time back in the day...

• maybe they're holding a sumo wrestler training camp?
• or possibly training for the hobbyhorse championships?
• they could be amateur wine makers and they're stomping grapes?
• they might just be working on their sweet parkour moves?
• it's possible that they're working on their MMA game?
• slim odds, but they may be anthropophobic and love a good game of bocce?
• they're perpetually stuck on the P90X plyometrics workout?
• you live below Kriss Kross and they're reliving the glory days?

Edit: in all honesty, some people have just never learned the toe->heel method of walking so they clod around like horses

Many people have terrible gaits and slam their heels down as they walk. I don't know how someone comes to walk this way, as I'd imagine it is comfortable or great for the joints.

I had a neighbour I lived next to that no joke the kids used to play basketball inside the apartment. We met the poor person below them once and she asked almost jokingly if they play basketball. Yes, yes they do that is what they're doing.

Luckily at my new apartment I don't have to wonder what they're doing because in addition to the stomping I can also hear their kids fucking screaming the entire day. Do they jump on their bed at 5 am? Why yes. Do they chase the dog around at 2 pm? Why yes, yes they do. Does their dad come home and yell at them at 5 pm? Why yes! Yes he does.

The worst offenders are usually obese people with bad gaits where they pound the ground with their heels every step

We call ours the centaurs who live upstairs sometimes. They're just some college girls, definitely not disabled or anything. They make just as much noise flying up and down the stairs sometimes. They're definitely louder than anyone else who has ever lived above or below us. I think they legit do some sort of dance or exercise routine because sometimes it's very regular, rhythmic. Idk it's happy sounds. Happy neighbors having a good time don't usually bother me, no matter how noisy they are. I'm sure I have a limit, but noisy walking and the occasional party isn't gonna get me there.

So, people can't walk around their own apartment? If I pay rent, I expect to be able to walk around my apartment as much as I want, even wearing shoes, this is not unreasonable. This is a building code problem, not your neighbors being assholes.

There's a huge difference between walking in one's own apartment and throwing raging parties and stuff like that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IRB0sxw-YU

It's possible they are either disabled or have a disabled friend / family member visiting. Someone who can walk but not well. In either case hopefully it's just one off.

Did you already tell them there is a problem with the floor dampening and you hear every step very loudly? Surely you would not just expect them to know that they are not supposed to walk around in their own apartment and instead of talking to them tell everyone on the internet how bad they are? Because that would be pathetic.

Down the road from me is "Top Floor Gymnastics and Dance Center".

I'm pretty sure the building they operate out of has commercial space on the ground floor and one or two floors of apartments under the gymnastic center.

Everyone's Upstairs Neighbors

Does it sound like a giant toddler walking on their heels?

I remember my last apartment. These were my neighbors: https://i.makeagif.com/media/7-02-2015/yTS99e.gif

So it's not just me? I know they're not just walking around; the insulation is pretty good. But they certainly thump around in random intervals up there, like they're constantly arranging furniture. I thought maybe they had a dog but they don't. And they only seem to be active between the hours 3 and 6 am.

Still not as bad as my next door neighbors who come outside their front door at 5am every single day, standing right in front of my bedroom window and yell at each other for an hour. I'm 🤏 this close to opening the window and yelling at them to STFU.

Are there people who really just get the top floor, and think “I’m so smart, and everyone else can get fucked”

They won't look so smart in the summer.

Go and have a chat with them. Perhaps as a half joke buy them a really nice pair of slippers for Christmas.

As an aside, I did once share an upstairs flat with a woman who had a prosthetic leg. We had wooden floors. The people downstairs were not amused, though she tried to move around as quietly as possible

Obviously their Roomba wears wooden shoes.

Sounds like there are actually people living there. Naturally people don't just sit all day, they also move around their flat. People in the flat below yours hear you too when you walk. Better get used to it ....