New upstairs neighbors

These are always difficult situations and they can escalate to serious shit. I'm not suggesting you're over-sensitive, but when something a neighbour does disturbs us, it's very easy to fixate on the annoyance, for that to become an obsession and then every trivial thing they do totally pisses us off.

Maybe your new neighbours are self-centred, half-deaf, inconsiderate dickheads the weight of baby elephants who insist on wearing combat boots at home. But it's also possible they simply don't know that the sound insulation in the building they share with you is crap and they're disturbing you. An awful lot of people are oblivious to such possibilities, not because they don't care who they bother, but because they're basically not very smart.

I know it's an outlandish idea, but perhaps you could go knock on their door to introduce yourself and mention, in a very polite and apologetic way (even though it seems you have nothing to apologise for) that it seems there's no floor/ceiling sound insulation, they might want to bear in mind that you can hear them talking, and you hope they'll let you know if you do anything to disturb their peace.

You live in an old apartment building.

Basically, give them time to settle in. The reason you can hear them talk is due to not having enough furniture around them to absorb sound (i.e. sofa, rugs, drapes, etc), so you're going to hear their conversations for a while until all their shit is set up. Another thing is, your building has thin walls, so footsteps will be an on going occurrence that you'll have to deal with; I suggest getting noise cancelling headphones.

When to call the landlord? If they are being unreasonably loud at night by:

- Playing loud music.
- Hosting a wild party.
- Having screaming arguments.

Unfortunately, if they are loud during the day and there aren't any strict rules on noise, then there isn't much you can do about it until nighttime comes around when they have to be quiet. Hopefully, they don't have children or pets, if they do, I suggest renting a house or something.

Get a broom and bang on the ceiling with the handle.

Talk to them.

It is difficult to be patient but yeah, probably just settling in.
If this goes on for more than a couple weeks like someone else suggested, THEN it is likely a problem.

The footstep thing might be something unavoidable. I don't think that is something they would do maliciously. His overly loud talking though is a different story.

At least it isn't like my next door neighbors who had to be threatened with legal action if they didn't stop putting their dogs out to bark at 5 or 6 in the morning.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D4IRB0sxw-YU&ved=2ahUKEwj34JXTsJnnAhXBVt8KHWpcA-gQo7QBMAF6BAgAEAQ&usg=AOvVaw0v0_ERIHaudBnRxynwXEby

It never stops being funny. Sorry for your life=/

If it were me I would give at least two weeks for them to settle in, and then I'd probably tell the landlord.

Blow the whole building to kingdom come

Just politely ask them to keep it down after 10pm or something. And if they don't stop complain to the owner/management.

they are inconsiderate sort it out now

Give them about a week. If they're still staying up and being noisy late at night, turn the tables on them. If they're awake late at night, they must get up late, or want to sleep in. So, at 5:00 am or 6:00 am, do karaoke, dance, practice drumming, make smoothies, or practice your throat singing in the bathroom.

The upstairs apartment was vacant for five years?

Well that's apartments for ya. I can't wait to get a house one day. I am sensitive to noise and at night I can hear my upstairs neighbour going to the bathroom, walking back from it and even snoring if they do an extra loud snore which they do from time to time.

this is why i always gits top floor in apartments barracks dormitories hotel rooms air raid shelters or hospitals

They hopefully will quieten down after the novelty of moving into a new house wears off.
Are they renters? Because I'm pretty sure you are not allowed to drill anything, unless they are setting up their own furniture that requires a drill.
If they continue to be too loud play music at a high volume and give them a bit of their own medicine. But you probably don't want to start some neighbourly feud. Its a tough one! I would never rent something that is directly connected to another home. I would only ever rent a free standing home.

Honestly, if them walking around is getting to you so much then the problems probably with you, or you have a really thin ceiling.