I’ve searched here and read a number of threads, e.g. [this one](https://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/comments/uzeln4/renting_apartments_concrete_vs_wood_vs_other/) where people make it very clear that wooden construction is terrible, and RC is king.
I’ve since added ALC (Autoclaved Lightweight Aerated Concrete) to my search, but I’m striking out in my price range and range from station I’d like to be at.
I’m wondering if there is any general consensus about a “Steel structure.” A house built 15 or so years ago.
In my mind you’re just as likely to have sound issues with steel as with wood, there are empty cavities between walls (ideally filled with insulation of course). Concrete is just going to be better.
That said… I’m wondering if steel is “good enough” that I should at least not swear it off completely?
I will say the sound insulation is important to me. I sometimes have meetings in the middle of the night and don’t want to worry about waking neighbors because I’m talking at 3AM.
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Unfortunately if sound insulation is important, concrete all the way (unless as you said, it’s especially mentioned that it’s been built with insulator in the cavities).
AFAIK (and really no inside or deep knowledge), steel helps with earthquakes and general stability when it comes to the construction. It might have a bit better sound insulation than wood but not as much.
I’m in the same shoes, trying to find a good place and whenever I forget to set the RC filter, always disappointed when I find a good place with wood/steel haha
When it comes to noise and problems with neighbors, the construction material is only 20% of the issue. The location of the apartment in a building is another 20% and the quality of people in the building is about 60% of the problem. I know because I have managed concrete buildings with over 200 residents before, and I got a lot of noise complaints.
Steel frame construction is about the same as wooden construction. Some of them have good sound insulation and others do not. The best thing to do is rent a house if you are concerned about noise.
If you’re going to have noisy (or sensitive) neighbours you’re going to have noisy neighbours. Regardless of construction materials, you should spend time scoping out the place and it’s surroundings. I actually asked an agent if I could sit in silence in my place for 10 minutes and just listen before I would say if I were interested, I also got him to go and shout in the elevator which the place was next to to see if I could hear him. My place is concrete and on the odd occasion I can still hear some movement, but I don’t have bad neighbours. That said I still wouldn’t choose anywhere but concrete. My ¥2.
Steel is only the frame of the building. The walls are still probably sheet rock and wood. While steel is more sturdy against earthquakes and can support structures up to 5 floors I wouldn’t count on it being more sound proof.
If you visit an apartment, lightly bang the walls with a fist. If it shakes and doesn’t feel like there is much weight behind it, it won’t block out sounds well, unless the wall is physically separated from the next unit.
Lived in wooden apartment buildings without a problem before and never heard the neighbours. Would look for a newer building but who you get as a neighbour is always a lottery
Ahh I thought you were building a house, was about to advise you on what I had built, but if you are just renting for a short while, then just find something modern, comfortable. Something you like. The construction doesn’t really matter if you are not invested in it.
My house (detached house, not an apartment) is 軽量鉄骨 light-weight steel frame construction.
On the plus side it’s pretty earthquake resistant, and is still standing straight after 30 years with no structural problems.
The negatives: the outside cladding and inside plasterboard are more or less directly on top of the steel beams, so in the winter there are cool patches on the walls where the beams are, and this can attract condensation resulting in patches on the shikkui walls of the washitsu. (Wallpapered walls are fine). It’s also not easy to move the position of windows, doors, inner walls during a renovation because the steel frame dictates the position of everything.
Overall, happy to be living in a strong but flexible structure in this earthquake prone country.
I lived in a variety of houses.
I have to say that for me RC is the only thing that works. But that’s mostly because of me and how I live my life. Playing guitar, watching tv late at night and things like that. Whilst prior I used headphones for the TV and all that to keep noise down. Now, I don’t really have to bother.
And tbh, on a more private note. If you have partner that’s loud. RC is the way to go. Neighbors complaining about sex noise is not fun.
Steel frame is the same as wood for all practical purposes.
The law doesn’t allow any building more than 2 stories to be made of wood due to earthquake resistance, but the construction is basically the same as wood. Only the structural framing is steel, the rest is wood, drywall or fiber board. Sometimes it’s even worse than wood noise and heat insulation wise, since it requires less framing.
If you’re looking at a house the considerations are different than an apartment. Rather than sound insulation you’re more concerned with environmental insulation because heating/cooling a house gets expensive quick.
Wooden apartments are noisy as fuck. Youll hear your neighbor at 3am. If you’re talking in your house loudly enough they can hear you at 3am the problem is you not the house.
On concrete idk if this is an edge case but my concrete building is built so well I can’t hear neighbors at all, like anything, when they are home. BUT anyone in the staircase you can totally hear everything. Heck if someone is running up the stairs the place vibrates.
Very tall buildings (condo types) are made of thick concrete walls. Can’t find better than that besides an individual house.
Lived both in concrete and steel houses. My take is this:
If you’re gonna be talking at night, you will most likely will be heard by neighbours. When I had a meeting at 1am in my steel apartment, 30 minutes after the start a neighbour close to the wall where I was sitting started knocking on it (I guess indicating I was loud). I thought it was a random knock, but as I went on with the meeting it continued. So I had to cancel.
HOWEVER: if your steel apartment has a room that is not adjacent to your neighbours wall – you will be fine. The isolation of steel houses is not great, but is better than wooden houses.
Its main problem is 1) echoes from footsteps – when my neighbour’s kids run around like dinosaurs it legitimately feels like there’s a small earthquake in the house. You can also hear those BAM BAM footstep noises.
2) talking/doing something when everyone around is quiet. If you have that same meeting during the day, your neighbours are also likely to be doing something so it won’t be that loud, but when everyone is sleeping, it’s easier to sound loud.
I have never heard actual conversations through the walls or anything like that, so it’s better than wooden apartments where you can even hear someone else’s alarm or toilet flushing. It’s just that if someone speaks at night you can probably hear that they are making a sound, but you won’t be able to tell what they are talking about.
That being said, like other people mentioned here, even if you end up living in a concrete house, if you’re loud, you’re loud.
Example: in my previous concrete apartment I had a neighbour who used to start playing FLUTE AT 11 IN THE EVENING. And I could hear every single wrong note through the wall even when sitting on the other side of the house.
Just so you know, an apartment listed as RC can be just as noisy as a steel one. If it’s cheap, it will have wooden floors and inner walls.. you’ll hear your neighbours. Hell, the first RC building I stayed in even had wooden outer walls (I never knocked to check).
Many rental apartments will be made like that – you need to find one that was originally made as an owners mansion or above a certain height so they were forced to build it properly haha.
Recently moved into an RC from a wooden and have to admit it’s a pretty sweet upgrade. We actually have cinder blocks for the walls (we believe it’s steel within them) and I really haven’t heard much from the neighbors.
I’m living in a heavy steel apartment built last year and since it was newly built I was able to test if I could hear anything from the room on the side and from outside. Since I couldn’t hear anything I took the place and it has been great, the rooms are full now but I don’t hear anything. I’m also watching videos and tv late at night and have never had a complaint.
The trade off is this:
Wooden construction means more space but more noise. I live in a wooden apartment built in 2018 that only have three total units. One of our neighbors had a baby and it was a fucking nightmare, but it’s also a 2LDK in a large city with 66m2 for 100k a month in a really upscale neighborhood near one of the best elementary schools in the nation. For 20k less I was paying for a 1DK with 22m2 in Tokyo built 15 years ago.
There are wooden buildings in Japan that have survived for hundreds of years with proper maintenance. The oldest wooden buildings have outlived all the reinforced concrete buildings. I own a wood-framed multi-unit building that I rent out to students. Build for your audience.