“I haven’t experienced floor noise while living for nearly a year.”
“Like any apartment,’Inter-floor noise caution’ broadcasts often come out.”
Even though Blue City, Gaon Village 9, Sejong City, is the same apartment complex, it is the architectural technique that shows a very different appearance in terms of inter-floor noise.
The implementation company, Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH), introduced a’ramen method’ and a’free plate structure’ in both buildings with the goal of becoming a’long life apartment’, a house that lives for 100 years. The ramen method is a structure composed of columns and beams (a member that supports the load horizontally). The solid plate structure consisted of columns and slabs (flat plates) without beams.
Ji-young Park, senior researcher at LH Land and Housing Research Institute, said, “Since the wall structure of a general apartment supports the load by the wall, the noise of the upper house and the next door is well transmitted by the bearing wall.” “The ramen method in particular plays a role in catching the noise,” he explained.
In fact, when a reporter measured the noise level with a noise meter on the two floors of an apartment building with a ramen method, when a bag weighing about 5 kg from the upper house was dropped from a height of 0.5 m, the instantaneous noise level of the upper house was 48 dB to 81 dB. It went up to, but the noise level of the lower house was only up to 53㏈. When I flushed the toilet in the upper bathroom, the noise level in the upper bathroom rose to 71㏈, but the lower house maintained the level of 48㏈. Column-type apartments without bearing walls are said to have a lower inter-floor noise measurement by more than 5 dB compared to wall-type apartments.
Reinforcing the standard for the thickness of reinforced concrete slabs is one of the noise reduction methods. In 2013, the government mandated the slab thickness to be 210 mm as a countermeasure against weight impact noise. However, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport recently said, “Currently, measures to reduce inter-floor noise are being reviewed in various ways, but there has been no decision on how to increase slab thickness.” The problem is cost. Senior Researcher Park said, “Pillar-type apartments are 5% more expensive per area than wall-type apartments, and 3% more expensive for free plate structures.” Considering that it can be a factor in raising the pre-sale price, it is difficult to expect a construction company to voluntarily apply a high construction cost method. It is for this reason that interfloor noise has become a chronic problem in apartments. New apartments that have been recently occupied in Seoul are also not free from complaints among residents due to noise between floors.
The first step in resolving the interfloor noise dispute is mediation through an apartment management office. According to the Multi-family Housing Management Act, the management office may recommend stopping the generation of inter-floor noise and taking measures for sound insulation, and tenants are obligated to cooperate. An official at the A-Apartment Management Office in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul, said, “Most residents submit complaints to the management office rather than protest directly, and the management office communicates the damage to the neighbors to mediate.
If mediation at the management office fails, the inter-floor noise management committee composed of residents can receive mediation. The interfloor noise management committee of B Apartment in Seocho-gu, Seoul interviews with the victim within one week of receipt of the dispute in accordance with the management rules, and based on the result of the interview with the victim. This is to listen to and comfort the opinions of inter-floor noise parties. In addition, in order to objectify the facts before the interview, the results of the noise measurement and the efforts to prevent inter-floor noise of the affected furniture should be described in detail. An official from the management committee said, “If you let the parties directly describe the facts, you can objectively grasp the situation and the dispute can be easily closed.”
It is emphasized that those involved in mediating floor noise maintain respect for the other party in the mediation process. In particular, they say that they should refrain from reporting to the police. Seoul environment expert Choi Wang-taek said, “If the landlord refuses, the police cannot enter the house without a warrant to check the noise problem, and noise in the house is not subject to minor crime punishment.” It has no effect other than giving the sun a warning,” he advised.
If the interior of the apartment cannot be resolved on its own, inter-floor noise parties can request counseling and coordination with external agencies. The Korea Environment Corporation’s Inter-floor Noise Neighbor Center provides consultations on inter-floor noise and goes to the site to diagnose noise. Local dispute mediation committees conduct mediation with legal effect. If the parties do not agree to the mediation, they may file a fiscal application with the Central Dispute Mediation Committee or file a civil suit in the court.
Officials of the Dispute Mediation Committee argue that the inter-floor noise dispute is the most difficult among environmental disputes. Environmental expert Choi said, “In the process of disputes, emotions are hurt as bad as possible, and there are many cases where compensation for damages is requested for mental damage, but it is rare that the result of mediation leads to compensation in Seoul only three cases in the last five years.” It takes four to six months to complete, but if the dispute is not resolved in the end, the situation will end only when one side moves.”
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