Local

‘Like a jackhammer:’ Renter complains about unusual noise in Uptown apartment building

CHARLOTTE — Spencer Gallimore lives in The Reed in Uptown Charlotte.

He emailed Action 9′s Jason Stoogenke saying he and his neighbors are subjected to an erratic loud noise in their building.

“It’s been good living here overall except for this issue,” he told Stoogenke. “It can be very disruptive.”

“I’ll be sleeping … at four in the morning, it’ll just immediately come on and it sounds like a jackhammer noise,” he added. “Not knowing what day’s going to be a good day, what day’s going to be a bad day.”

He shot videos of the sound and downloaded an app to measure the decibels. “I’ve monitored it over 80 decibels,” he said.

Several studies say 80 decibels is equal to heavy traffic or a garbage disposal. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say two or more consecutive hours of exposure could cause you to lose your hearing.

Stoogenke contacted the building managers who acknowledged the problem and said that Gallimore wasn’t the only one dealing with it.

The email said: “Our organization has engaged an engineer to provide us with insight as to what is causing the situation. We are anticipating at least an initial response to the matter from them at some point this week so that we can evaluate viable options to resolve the matter. We will continue to keep you in the loop throughout the process.”

>> Click here to read more Action 9 stories

Around noon on Friday, they emailed Stoogenke again saying they figured out the problem.

They said: “To address the situation, our architects and mechanical engineers made repairs and additional adjustments to the vent pipes in the affected units, which helped reduce the noise. We will continually monitor the adjustments, noting that the noise only occurs when the wind is blowing from a certain direction and speed. We are continuing to work with engineers, including an acoustical engineer, with the goal of a long-term solution to this matter. Rangewater is communicating with residents affected by the wind noise and providing them with updates as information becomes available.”

Advice from Action 9 for renters:

- You are entitled to peace and quiet in your home, wherever it is.

- If your landlord is the one causing the noise, that’s more straightforward. Ask him or her to stop or you may have to sue. There really isn’t a middle step for an issue like noise.

- If the culprit is a third party such as your neighbor or mother nature, that can get more complicated. You can still sue, but lawyers say these cases can be hard to win because there’s not much case law on what price tag you put on noise.

(VIDEO: How can you push back against HOAs?)