Condo residents often complain to condo management about mechanical noise, hum, or vibration in their apartments and demand that management take action to fix it.

Party walls, also called demising walls, are essential to any multi-family building.  Party walls provide separation between dwellings.  They must provide fire and noise resistance specified in the Ontario Building Code (OBC). The noise resistance (level of party wall soundproofing) is specified in the OBC as minimum Sound Transmission Class (STC) 50 or, if tested in the completed building, as minimum Apparent Sound Transmission Class (ASTC) 47.  However, this requirement does not apply in Ontario to buildings built before 2012.