Seeking help to solve noise issue

[Dannell0]

My husband and I are new to being hosts on Airbnb. 

We are booking out our new basement suite downstairs. 

In our profile, we mentioned we have a one year old living upstairs but did not mention anything else about noise before people booked. 

We are now learning that noise REALLY carries to the basement. 

Our one year old usually sleeps all through the night but the past few nights she has barely slept and has been very noisy. 

I assume this is waking up our guests at night as it’s very loud. 

Right now, we still have about 25 guests who have booked in the future and I’m feeling doomed about the noise at night issue. 

I’m really wanting to give our future guests an honest heads up about that issue so they have time to cancel if this is not for them. 

Any suggestions on how to go about doing that? Or any suggestions in general on this problem? TIA

[Tim-and-Holly0]

@Dannell0:
As you are finding out, most basements are not sound proofed enough to have separate living quarters top and bottom.

Here are my suggestions:

1. Swap out the door at the top of the basement steps for an exterior door that is sealed around the edges.

2. Have a company come in and blow insulation to fill in the deadspace between the celing and floor.   The holes in the sheetock can easily be pactched. Recheck the sound situation. If it is still a problem then go on to suggestion 3.

3. If you still have sound problems then cover your entire celing in sound proof boarding. It can be purchased at almost any major home building store.  Be sure to butt the pieces tightly against each other to minimize any cracks were sound can leak through. Re-cover your celing with sheetrock and finish normally.

In my duplex we have filled in the deadspace with insulation and then on each side added soundproof board, sheetrock, a second layer of sound board followed by another layer of sheetrock.  If a TV or radio is up loud you can still hear through, but not usual noise levels.

Unfortunately your choices are going to be expensive, but if you already have 25 bookings then it may be well worth the investment and recoupable in the long run. Anything I've outlined above is tax deductible too since the upgrades are being made for your business.

[Gordon0]

If it's as bad as you think, @Dannell0, giving your guests a heads-up is a wise decision...however, it's not as easy as that.  If guests choose to cancel they'll loose their booking fee (and that wouldn't be fair).

If somebody told me to expect some noise from a one-year-old I'd imagine some muffled sounds (after all, it's a seperate unit) so I'd be pretty peeved if it was much more.

In the short term you aren't going to be able to fix this, so it's about getting a very good idea of just how bad it is, and making a call - with helpf from Airbnb.

In the meantime, be prepared to feel very anxious every time your child makes a noise when somebody is downstairs!

Good luck. 

 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Dannell0 

baby's cry is THE most irritating sound in nature. It has to be such to get the parents attention and what is needed  (food, drink, etc...).  So I assume all of your guests will cancel if you tell them they might hear it during the night. I would.

I am afraid you will have to quit hosting or sound proof your basement.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Dannell0 

In addition to letting guests know in advance, you could also provide ear plugs.

Also, there are some fairly easy ways to soundproof your home/room and reduce the amount of noise that "travels".

https://www.thespruce.com/soundproof-your-room-or-apartment-4062945

[Dannell0]

Thank you for the support!

We tested the volume in the basement to see how loud everything actually was and I was pleasantly surprised. I think we will make it through these next few months okay. Sound carries to the basement from the kitchen and living room but not much at all in the bedrooms. As well our last guests said they had a great stay.

Have you found that guests get annoyed if it’s a bit noisy during their breakfast for example? Or would it be acceptable just to focus on it being quiet during sleeping hours as I still want us to be able to have a life. 

We will be quitting Airbnb after we finish the bookings we have as I realize this still isn’t the ideal situation for Airbnb and we don’t want to spend much more money on this.  

[Sandra126]

Could you rent out the top and be in the basement during bookings? Until child gets less noisy? And add textiles, they muffle sound. Both upstairs and down.