ade's Profile

I live in a building with about 50 studios/one bedrooms. I can hear a lot of what's going on within my neighbor's apartments, upstairs and on both sides. My upstairs neighbor likes to exercise at odd hours in the night, and I can hear it even through the carpeting+cement in between. Both my next door neighbors throw parties and come home drunk and late, mostly on weekends and sometimes on weekdays. One of them has a bed that bangs right against our wall- and a loving steady partner, apparently-. None of those things seem unreasonable to me. Not even the jumping around at 2 am, since I don't know if my upstairs neighbor has a tough schedule.
I'm also aware that sound travels through pipes and that some noises could come from two floors up.
I also have a chronic insomnia problem, where it's very hard for me to fall asleep on most nights. I deal with it with meditation and earplugs. No need for me to stress over stuff I cannot control over nighttime.

I have lived in a similar situation to the writer, where one cannot have peace in their own house because of other people's complaints and I do not wish it upon anyone.

This is great! Makes it easier to be more responsible with heating! The impact of the things we do doesn't stop when we pay for them. Just to be aware of the problem (poor insulation, for example) is a first step to solving it and getting better control of the temperature in the house.
If you're concerned about privacy, just close the blinds, it's thermal imaging, not 'x-ray vision' :)

@Pi I absolutely think it is a cultural thing, which is why I respect it when I go to someone's house (irked or not) or when someone wants to remove their shoes in my house in the US, but I would never ask anyone to. I would feel very rude towards them if I did. At my other house, I would be baffled if people just take their shoes off, and people will stare at my impoliteness if I just removed them when I go into someone's house, so there is definitely a big cultural component here.
I think the other big difference here is the tile floor vs. carpet, etc. I didn't have a porch either and it was never a problem, I had a mat outside and another inside (and it keeps the cat/dog dirt at bay too!). Cleaning tile floor is something you do in a snap, even if it's mud.
In my US house I still have two mats, one on the hallway and another inside, so my carpet never gets dirty of mud. For me is a reflex, I guess, to look for a mat and wipe my shoes until dry, but I don't expect it from my guests, they can do whatever makes them comfortable. That said, I mostly invite close friends in my house, so jumping in the bed would be allowed too :)