Posted by
woutr_be
6 yrs ago
This is kind of a long shot, but I figured I ask here anyway.
I moved in into a new apartment 2 months ago, when I first saw the apartment, everything looked okay and I didn't think about checking for outside noise.
Now after living there for 2 months, I can barely sleep at night. I live on the 13th floor and can hear everything that's going on on street level. There's hardly any difference between having the windows open or not, the amount of noise from cars is the same. Busses is even worse, there's barely a difference between being outside on the street and being inside my apartment.
This is keeping me up at night and I have barely slept in the past few weeks.
I've informed my landlord about this (through the agency), and she replied that it's too much trouble to replace the windows with double glass.
I'm willing to pay a repair man to have a look and potentially insulate them better. But I'm not sure if this will help much.
Are there any laws that will allow me to break my contract earlier because of this, as a last resort?
I know there are some implied laws: http://www.eaa.org.hk/en-us/Information-Centre/Publications/Monograph-Hong-Kong-Domestic-Tenancy/-3-Contents-of-a-Tenancy-Agreement
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you have to wait for at least a yr to break a contract else your deposit will be forfeited
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I can't help with the lease/landlord issue, but having nearly been driven insane by barking dogs and noisy neighbours I would recommend putting a white noise machine such as the dohm made by marpac next to the bed.
It'll emit white noise which you quickly get used to, but it'll help mask the outside noise.
It's not perfect, but it helped my sleep significantly (I have 3 now).
just make sure you get the UK version with the right plug for HK.
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Ed
6 yrs ago
A simple fan running next to the bed can also help drown out the noise...
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Make your own double-glazing with sticky tape, clear plastic and a hairdryer. Simple. https://youtu.be/_IYuEI6mLRw?si=wRwhnBzd8Icpwf_h
Or use magnetic strips.....http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Double-Glazing/
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Baap
6 yrs ago
I don't know if sticky tapes stop much noise. If it doesn't, you can think of other materials as well, for example as in the link posted by foxmulder.
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I'm not sure if sticky tape would help.
However the DIY solution with acrylic/plastic seems plausible, is there any shop in HK where I could buy this?
Large sheets of plastic I can easily cut myself. But acrylic would need to be custom cut somewhere.
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Invest in good earplugs, i have wax ones which drown out almost anything.
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I don't know about the landlord but I also have a white noise machine and it works wonders! You should give it a try
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