Apartment Etiquette

 

We have lived in our apartment for several years now and there have been a few things that I want to write about because those are things that tenants in buildings need to think about. Some of these may sound like common sense, but these are things that I have noticed and wanted to write about.

1. Laundry room – if you have a laundry room in our building, and it is shared by all the tenants, please be considerate of using the washer and dryer. Yes, please try and get down to the machine when the time is up, as other people will probably be wanting to do their laundry as well. Note what time you put your items in the washer or dryer and how long that cycle is, and don’t try and do your grocery shopping during this time. The laundry room in our building is the busiest on the weekend, as everyone that works a classic work week is trying to get their laundry done as well as all the other things. Please empty your dryer and washer when the cycle is finished so that someone else can use that same machine.
2. Recycling – in our building, we have bins out the back in our parking area where you are to put your recycling. Make sure you understand what goes into the recycle bin and don’t just put all your garbage it in as well. Boxes, especially if they aren’t filled with other recycling items, need to be collapsed so that they don’t take up all the room in the bins. If you have a lot of boxes or cardboard, try tying them together because then they don’t take up so much room.
3. Large item disposal – If your building has an area where you are to place the larger items that you want to dispose of, make sure you don’t just place it right at the front if there is room a bit further in. Know what you can place in this area and if this area is only open during specific hours. If there are specific hours, respect those hours and don’t just leave your items outside this area if it is locked.
4. Halls/Elevators, etc – All the common areas are used by everyone, so please if you drop something, pick it up and dispose of it in the appropriate place. If there isn’t a garbage right, there, maybe take it to your unit and dispose of it. Halls are not to be considered play areas for children because the noise will impact all the other units on that floor. Bouncing balls in the hallways, on the elevator, or even in your own unit will bother other people.
5. Unit doors – when you are entering or leaving your unit, try and control how the door closes. We have a control on our doors so that they don’t close quickly, but it seems like some people just let their door bang shut instead of closely it nicely.
6. Music – everyone enjoys listening to music but remember to keep the volume down so that it is impacting those around you. We have had situations where someone three floors above us put their music on and all you can hear is the pounding bass. This doesn’t make for an enjoyable time when that pounding is impacting your enjoyment of your own music. Also, don’t put your stereo right on the floor because that does impact the people below you.
7. Furniture movement or hanging items – be considerate of when you are doing these things. It is easy to think of doing something late in the evening, but maybe that should be done the next day and not then. The scraping of furniture along the floor is loud, and your schedule can be different from all those tenants around you. If you decide to hang a picture on a wall, try and do that either during the day or by 8 pm because this sound does carry a long distance.

These are just some of the things that I wanted to try and write about. I could probably think of more things that we have encountered, but I will leave those for another blog. So, if you live in an apartment or even a condominium, please remember that you do share walls, floors, and ceilings with other people.