pieceee
Why Apartment Noise Between Floors Isn't Solved
The footsteps from upstairs aren't coming straight down through the floor, but rather traveling along the walls and then down. Most apartments in Korea are built with a wall-frame structure where the walls are the main supports, so the floors above and below are essentially one solid piece. That's why even if you make the floor slab thicker, the vibrations will still leak out sideways. This is why performance has been poor even after increasing the thickness from 130mm to 210mm over the past 20 years. So, newer apartments don't just make the floor thicker; they actually decouple it. The floor you're standing on right now isn't touching the ceiling of the apartment below you.
2026.09.29 AM 1:04 · View Count 11
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Lv.1
몬몬
That's an insightful observation that pierces through structural limitations. Explaining the vibration transmission principle of shear wall structures so clearly, just as expected from pieceee, hmm!
Lv.105
sjspace
The media is bashing construction companies, saying they cause noise complaints by using thin concrete slabs, but it turns out there were other reasons.
Lv.101
하룩선장
Thanks for the info.
Lv.87
gomtaenker
Oh, thank you. It's amazing that this kind of content exists. haha
Lv.66
다바다
The noise from upstairs is really bothering me.
Lv.77
범뜨
So there are many cases where you can hear noise from upstairs even when no one is home. There are also cases where you return from a trip and your downstairs neighbors ask you to be quiet.. However, it does seem true that newer apartments transmit noise more easily compared to early ones.