Management says I have to be 80% carpeted

Oh - it's a coop.

Lucid:
Get a couple of small runner/rugs from Century 21., to make-up the extra 15% of uncovered area issue.
They can't make you cover every floor in carpeting. Most co-ops require 80% "floor-covering".
I'm sure that most other apartments in your building have less floor-covering than you do but you live above "a dick".

This topic has been well covered: http://streeteasy.com/talk/discussion/17818-80-carpet-rules

Different coops enforce the 80% rule with different rigidity. The bottom line answer though, is "yes" - they really can demand you cover pretty much everything with carpeting except the bathrooms and kitchen.

And no one - NO one - wants to have to be awoken from a sound sleep every weekday morning by an upstairs neighbor (and/or their kids) because they have to leave earlier. I went through that in a co-op every weekday Monday - Friday and it totally sucks, and honestly, I thought the upstairs shareholder was the "dick."

FLOR tiles is your friend. Each tile is around 19.75" square. You can make custom fit pieces for a lot less than wool area rugs cost. Stay away from whiteish, bone color. Stains way too easily. I got one of the cheapest patterns at around $13 a tile.

OP: your neighbor is not being a dick. You are in the wrong here. Try to put yourself in his shoes. Coop's have the 80% rule for this reason.

Check your co-op house rules. "80% floor covering" doesn't mean it must be "carpeted".
Since the managing agent already "came in and measured the rugs, and says we are only about 65% carpeted..."
they have not made an issue out of the fact that you don't have carpeting, only an insufficient amount of floor covering.

Buy some rug-runners and put them down on the remaining uncovered floor spaces where there is foot-traffic in your apartment.

If "the guy downstairs (still) complains "that he can hear the kids", then his complaints are about the sound of your kids, (non-floor-covering related). Kids and adults talk and speaking isn't prohibited by any house rules. So if you and the kids aren't yelling, it's just the sound of normal family living activity.
Maybe he just doesn't like kids living in the apartment above him. Or families. Or living.

One other option (obviously too late in this case): a friend of mine just redid his floors and installed sound insulation. It was a minimal cost. His downstairs neighbor can longer here them so he's elected not to get carpets. As long as everyone is happy obviously the coop board is ok.

Bernie: You're the math guy.
But I know that 65% is only 15% less than the 80% requirement.
Cover the 15% and the OP is in compliance with the 80% rule.

I've always worn slippers in my apartments. More for comfort and because I don't want to track in dirt from outside.

Lucid: While you're at Century 21 buying rug-runners, buy a pair of slippers for each member of the family.

You are clearly out of your mind if you think a downstairs neighbor is a dick for being upset with you. I have kids and I would be horrified if they were waking up neighbors.

I'm a late-sleeper. I've had upstairs neighbors (with and without kids) who got up early in the morning.
They needed to get up to live their lives. Get ready for school. Eat the Cheerios. Shower, get dressed.
It didn't horrify me. They didn't bang on my apartment door trying to wake me up.

Nobody is being woken-up by kids on weekend afternoons.

Guywithcat: Does your kid's Caterpillar toy have a silencer on it?
Do you muzzle your kid when he plays in your apartment on weekend afternoons?

Lucid I am quite certain the neighbor is not a "dick". People don't just randomly want to get into an antagonistic tussle with their neighbors. I'm sure his complaints are warranted and, if anything, you're being defensive and indulgent of your needs and those of your kids. I found myself in an exact situation and had it remedied through the board. Children are bound to run and be noisy but you have an obligation to mitigate the disturbance and live within the strictures of the rules of the co-op.

So mitigate with extra rug-runners, wear slippers, take care to be extra quiet and don't yell in the morning(and strap your kids down and muzzle them on weekend afternoons.)

The downstairs resident may very well "want to get into an antagonistic tussle with their neighbors".

Lucid: What kind of floors did you have, before you put in those brand new hardwood floors?
What kind of floor-covering did you have, over the 80% area?
Were there no complaints from the guy downstairs before the new floors were put in?

I am assuming that your neighbor didn't start complaining until the new floors went in, so you probably had carpeting before. So you get new hardwood floors, which everyone knows is louder than carpeting, you don't have the foresight to insulate them, you create extra noise for your neighbor, and he is the one who's being a d*ck?

I second the slippers, they will keep your home cleaner as well as your neighbor happy. Also, would it be too much to ask of your children to keep things down in the morning? It would be an excellent lesson for them in being considerate to others, which judging by your attitude, I'm afraid they'll need (they learn from you, after all). And incidentally, 730 am is not "late". Just because you have children and are up at the crack of dawn does not mean that everyone abides by the same schedule.

I live below someone whose kids wake us up every day before 7 am, their living room is above our bedroom. It is a nightmare, we were patient for the first 6 months but are at our wits end. Try going to your neighbors apartment and see what it is like. Get carpets!

Thanks, and I've now looked at the other thread.

Before the new floors there were the old parquet wood squares over the concrete slab. No one wears shoes in the house. The people we bought from also had complaints from this guy, and they also had kids, and area rugs.

Can't tell what happened, but here's the kind of detail some buildings require when replacing floors:

"(a) Existing finished flooring and sub flooring shall be removed to the slab
level.
(b) A resilient underlayment shall be placed on the base building concrete slab
(leveled if required). Acceptable underlayments are "Kinetics SR Floorboard" or
"Akzo Enkasonic Mat", or other materials specified by the Corporation’s
reviewing architect or engineer. Manufacturer's installation instructions are to be
adhered to.
(c) Two layers of ¾" plywood with staggered joints to be laid over the
underlayment.
(d) Tape or tack-glue perimeter isolation of 3/8" thick fiberglass board to
isolate the floor and break the sound transmission path between floor and walls.
Perimeter isolation to be full height of underlayment and plywood layers.
(e) The finished wood floor can be nailed or screwed to the plywood.
However, the nails or screws must not penetrate the resilient underlayment."

Buy enough carpets to satisfy the 80% rule.

Put them around the edges of the unit, or other places that receive zero foot traffic.

Remove carpets from high traffic areas of the unit.

Grab your boots.

START STOMPIN'

Good suggestion from 1One re Flor. Tis a co-op. You know the rules. Stop being coy on the 80%. Play nice get it covered stop being a nickel and dimer because you prob spent alot of money on the new hardwood. Have peace in the land. Your home his home just git it done.

fuck coops !!!!!!

Who's being a "dick"? There are rules for a reason. Have some consideration for your downstairs neighbor and stop being a douche

The 80% rule is not new, it's battle tested , wide spread and accepted.
The Dude abides, so should you.

I have a RS 2bd 2b with a sunlen living room and wood floors. When i was mostly there i was cool in basically walking barefoot or socks cuz i liked it anyways. The building turned COOP, Then the bitch that bought downstairs told me i have to rug up the place cuz she was on the board and can hear me walking around.. I told that bitch " I ain't got to do shit mudafucka, who told yo punk ass to buy into this building? " Bitch azz didn't realize I GOT MORE RIGHTS THAN HER.

Doesn't your lease say the same 80% thing?

This also tells of the piss poor construction methods and materials used today. While a lot of materials used today is inferior to products used before, (e.g. solid hard wood doors being replaced by thin hollow metal doors of similar fire rating, bricks and concrete being replaced fire rated drywall, and etc.) the cost saved in newer materials also sucks in comparison to the sound proofing of the older materials. I hope the building dept. would develop higher minimum standards.

@ NWT ... Nope ..and it better not. I don't want carpet and NO MUDAPHUKA is gonna make me put down anything if I enjoy looking a great wood floors. Let the building insulate better for their tenants

Why the hell did you let them come in and let them measure your carpets?

The 80% rule doesn't require wall-to-wall carpeting.

Lucid: Who told you about the guy complaining about the previous owners? Did the managing agent ever inspect the apartment for sufficient floor-covering while the previous owners lived there?
Are those complaints in the co-op board minutes?

The guy sounds like a constant complainer. (Is he R.S.?)

How long have you been living in your apartment? Did the managing agent e-mail you before inspecting your apartment? When is the managing agent scheduled to return to your apartment for reinspection to check for compliance? Communicate with the managing agent via e-mail.
Get every member of your family a new pair of slippers. Buy a few rug/runners to put down on the 15% of bare floor. Make sure that your kids are as quiet as possible in the am.: no yelling, jumping, running. E-mail the managing agent to inform him that you are now in compliance with the 80% rule.

Go to the next shareholders meeting. Bring the receipts for the rugs and slippers, along with the e-mails to/from your managing agent.
If anybody asks you, whip the receipts and e-mails out.

NYC is a 9-5 business city. Many people with with kids must get up early (7-8am isn't unusual) to get ready for the day.
Lots of external things wake building residents up earlier than 8am: traffic noise, ambulance/firetruck sirens, garbage trucks. Construction. Inside: Having to use the toilet. Dogs barking.
People who don't need to get up early can just roll over and go back to sleep after.

You have the right to live with your children in your apartment. It isn't a retirement community.

Socialist: Because the right of the managing agent to inspect co-op apartments for house rules compliance is in the Proprietary Lease.

They have a constant complainer living below them.

and what will happen if you don't le them in? They will break the door down? When i lived in a co-op, I broke half a dozen rules and nothing happened.

Oh, and be sure to always complain to managment about all the "noise" your downstairs neighbors are makeing - be it real or imagined. Complain about their loud tv, thumping of broom sticks on your floor, their ceiling, and etc, etc,.

Lucid, do your kids wear shoes in the house? If so, step #1 in solving your problem is making sure they do not.

No, Socialist: They will make a big stink about Lucid refusing to allow the managing agent into the apartment.

No, 1OneWon: No need to file false complaints about the downstairs constant complainer. That will only make matters worse.

Trip: Lucid has said that they do not wear shoes in the apartment. My suggestion to purchase slippers for each family member is so that Lucid will have current receipts for the slippers, all the better to whip those receipts out, along with the receipts for the new rug/runners; at the next shareholders meeting.
(If the matter is brought up for discussion.)
She will be in compliance and have evidence along with the e-mails.

If you don't let them in, you'll start getting letters from the co-op attorney, which aren't so much the problem as the fact that the co-op attorney's fees will be put on your maintenance bill.

Ultimately the answer is "yes," they can make you comply, and "yes," they will do so. They will enjoy nothing more than to run up legal fees at your expense, impose fines on you (helps top up the reserve fund), and if you don't pay, let your mortgage holder know. A power game between you and the board is a waste of time and resources.

To be honest you seem like the type who should never have bought into a multifamily building, co-op or condo. Did you grow up in a single family home perhaps? Perhaps call a broker and start looking for a house in the suburbs.

Thanks for the catch, Truth; I had missed it. With slippers and no shoes, it looks like people are walking on the hardwood, and as much as you (Lucid) love your hardwood, rules are there for a reason, and everyone agrees to them when they move into the building. If you didn't like the rules, you should have chosen a different building, or different material for your floor.

May I suggest that you compromise with your neighbor? Everyone needs their sleep and in a big city with people working all kinds of different hours, phrases like "sleeping late" have no meaning. If his sleep is being disturbed, you have a duty as a neighbor to not do this. Have you ever ridden the train, or eaten at a restaurant, or visited a hospital, at 11 PM? If so, the people you interacted with are probably getting to sleep after midnight and consequently need to sleep past 7:30 AM. If they work the night shift, they might just be getting to bed at that hour.

If he's awake in the afternoons, on the other hand, your noise isn't disturbing his well-being, so see if he'll grin and bear it during those times.

80% is very reasonable. And it's not 80% of the entire floor, but 80% of the exposed floor, so the area under a couch, chair or entertainment unit need not count. And if that floor is that beautiful, an area rug over the most trafficed portion will help it stay that way. We're not talking wall to wall, but most likely an area rug in the living room or maybe a runner in a hallway. This is not unduly harsh, and doing so not only protects your floor, but shows a little consideration to the people under you who deserve not to hear high heels banging on the floor. You may also find it makes your apartment look a little nicer; Try a nice wool rug from Tibet.

We live on top of each other! Children play..dogs bark..music is played, this is life in the city. We tolerate each other because we choose to live here. Sounds like you are trying to be a good neighbor...that's the best you can do. Had our different neighbors below me..all lovely. New guy moved in straight from a house in the burbs and I have constant complaints.

*four different neighbors

Oh, please: Lucid's co-op board and management required and approved the new floor installation plans.
It's not as if Lucid has no floor covering at all and is complaining about compliance with the 80% rule.

The neighbor below probably complained during the floor installation, claiming it disturbed his sleep.
Then the floor installation was completed and he started complaining about hearing noise in the morning.

NYC is a 9-5 business city, many people work in finance and must arrive in their office at 7-8am.
Kids must be in school by 8am or 8:15-8:30.

Buy the family new slippers and buy rug/runners,Lucid. Keep your kids as quiet as possible in the morning while preparing to leave the apartment. You have then done all you can do to comply with the co-op rules.

The guy downstairs complains about noise on weekend afternoons. He's a constant complainer and the co-op board
probably knows about his schtick. Either they have taken action against the former owner of your apartment on his behalf or have ignored him and his complaints. The managing agent now comes into your apartment to measure the percentage of floor covering. They determined that you are 15% short of the 80% requirement.
Did you receive a notification of re-inspection yet?

Buy the slippers and rug/runners. Keep a file of purchase receipts and e-mail communications between you and the managing agent.

When the Easter Bunny shows up next week -- do not allow him to thump around your apartment.

Even rental buildings have this 80% rule. Its pretty much a Manhattan standard.

Let me play Devil's advocate here: Maybe Lucid & the brood are The Louds & are really the dicks in this situation. We're only getting one side of the story here, remember. Just sayin' . . . .

There is no "Devil".

If there were he certainly wouldn't need an advocate.