Baku
You’ve just bought an apartment in a brand-new residential building. You move in with excitement, carefully furnishing every corner, imagining peace and comfort. But by the first night, reality hits—hard. You’re not just hearing the occasional phone vibration or muffled voices. You hear everything: your neighbor’s alarm clock, their conversations, even their snoring. It feels less like a multi-unit building and more like one big, shared room.
Welcome to the harsh reality of poor sound insulation, one of the most common complaints from residents of newly built apartment blocks in Baku and other growing cities across Azerbaijan.
Built Fast, Built Cheap
The root of the problem lies in rapid, poorly regulated construction. Developers often race to finish and sell properties, cutting corners on materials and ignoring building standards.
“Many partitions between units are made of hollow blocks, plasterboard, or low-grade concrete,” explains real estate expert Elnur Asadov. “Soundproofing materials are either too thin—or entirely missing.”
By regulation, external and shared walls should be built from 29 cm-thick brick, while internal walls require 10 cm. But in reality, bricks are sometimes improperly sized or spaced out with gaps, further degrading sound resistance.
Every Step Echoes
The impact is felt—literally. A couple of children running upstairs can sound like a stampede. When a neighbor hosts a party, it feels like you’re part of it, whether you like it or not.
The result? Anxiety, sleep disruption, and frustration—especially for those who’ve invested heavily in what was meant to be their dream home.
What Can Homeowners Do?
According to Asadov, buyers must be proactive:
Inspect wall construction before finalizing a purchase.
Install additional soundproofing—such as acoustic panels or mineral wool—on interior walls.
And if noise remains unbearable, civil law may offer some recourse beyond building standards or property codes.
“Unfortunately, once you’ve moved in, the burden of fixing the problem often falls on the buyer,” says Asadov.
A Larger Trend
While insulation issues also apply to heat and cold, it’s sound that most directly impacts daily life. Many residents might tolerate an extra sweater in winter or a fan in summer—but the never-ending soundtrack of their neighbors? That’s a harder compromise.
As Baku’s skyline continues to rise, experts warn that if soundproofing isn’t taken seriously, apartments may look modern—but feel like dormitories.
