noise from neighbours - help - just signed for an extension

[myheartisinusa]

I posted this before and got some advice. Finally plucked up courage to ask neighbours what noise was and tell them we could hear it reverberate in every room upstairs and downstairs - apart from hall and landing which arent on the party wall.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/2350534-Extend-a-semi-but-have-slightly-noisy-neighbours.

Neighbours seemed ok - said they thought they know what it was and the husband said thanks for telling us and he didnt like it either.

I thought this would be the start of something and they might put the fan heater on a noise dampening mat.

This was about 1.5 weeks ago. Nearly every day/night, even in this spring weather, we hear the fan heater off and on at brief points of the day and an hour or so in the night and it stops at around midnight.

I find this late. Especially as we can hear it in every single room. The difference in noise when the fan heater goes off is quite significant.

As i mentioned the noise, i felt fairly ok that it given what the husband said, something might happen. So, we sign an order for an extension.

I can still hear it and it grates worst bewteen 11-12 midnight when im trying to sleep.

I feel like we are going to waste 40k as i will hate living in this house.

I am scared to talk to them again as i dont want this to escalate and turn into tit for tat as we have young children but they usually dont scream all through the night and they dont get up til 7.30 am ish.

I like them as neighbours, they are great: no noisy dinner parties, no loud radio/telly, pleasant to our children and are fine with the noise the kids make during day (im always asking the kids to play quietly) etc and dont want it to turn nasty.

We dont have the budget to get a detached house that DH and i agree on and Dh says the noise isnt that bad. So cant just move to a detached.

If we cancel the building we'll be liable for a few thousand up to the costs of the architect work/plans i think although i cant find that bit of the contract or mentioned anywhere.

How would you feel if your neighbours asked you again about a noise?

How would you like your neighbours to ask you to change the way you use an item?

What the hell do i do?

[VivaLeBeaver]

Is it loud enough to get environmental health involved.? I wouldn't do an extension. I'd get the noise stopped or if unable to then move.

[myheartisinusa]

Thanks viva, we dont have the right budget to move to a detached that both DH and I can agree to. I would rather have a small 950sq ft detached with a postage stamp garden than a 1200 sq ft semi with a 200ft garden. Dh also doesnt think its that bad.

[charlestonchaplin]

Unless the fan heater is faulty, I think you have to accept your are either extremely noise sensitive or extremely unrealistic about noise, and probably both. What do you expect them to do? Have you bought them a noise dampening mat seeing as they aren't doing anything unusual by using a fan heater?

You really need to move to a detached with lots of land because I think most people would upset you if they lived next door to you.

[myheartisinusa]

Thanks charleston. i grew up in a detached but ive lived in various semi or terrace houses over 20 years and this is the first thing ive mentioned to any neighbour. so generally, most people dont upset me, hehehe! i do find it interesting the husband next door said they dont like it either. I think it is extra reverber-y as it is sat on wooden floor boards.

My questions were would it be ok to mention the noise again and although i didnt write in OP, would it be rude to offer a noise dampening mat to them?

[Agrestic]

You're being unrealistic.

In your previous thread you said you'd heard this noise 4 times in 4 months. I'm sure they've heard your kids more than that!

Do you know for sure it's a heater? Seems odd that you rarely heard it but now it's warmed up you're hearing it every night...

If you offered me a noise dampening mat I'd definitely roll my eyes, a lot! But I'd use it, unless it looked horrible. You've not got much to loose, it'll cheaper than moving if it works.

[myheartisinusa]

Thanks, Agrestic, it has become more frequent and yes they confirmed the noise is a fan heater. Yes, it does seem strange now that the weather is warmer. I haven't kept a diary but it is more frequent later at night now.

A drone/ reverberation noise at 11pm is annoying when you're trying to sleep. Id rather have children noise after school until 8pm than a drone for an hour at 11pm - 12pm and a noise that wakes you in the middle of the night.

[Marmitelover55]

Ear plugs? I have found them a godsend.

[grumbleina]

Wait so it's just a heater sat on boards?

Just ask them to put it on a mat. Honestly not a big deal. Or, go to argos and buy them a quieter one. They're like £20, and they're not normally very loud at all. Maybe they've just got a dud one.

[VivaLeBeaver]

Does your Dh find the noise annoying?

My mother is very noise sensitive. Every car she's ever had is constantly been sent back to the dealers due to "rattles" which she is irritated beyond belief by. To the point she can't drive the car. They're rattles which I would never have noticed and even when they're pointed out they're not very noticeable to me.

I do agree that Id rather have a smaller detached than a bigger semi. I do actually live in a semi, but the party wall is where the hallway and kitchen is downstairs and bathroom and box room upstairs. The main living areas and bedrooms are in the outside and we never hear next door.

[reallybadidea]

I'd mention it to them again and/or buy a mat.

Your previous thread said it had only happened about 10 times since Christmas. Has it got worse then if it's happening every day now?

[Cosmonautarian]

I'm very noise sensitive. I can't go to sleep if my own boiler is switched on, and it's in another room because even the hum and click of it drives me mad. However, since I started sleeping with a fan on a year ago, I can sleep through most things now. Have you tried white noise of your own in your bedroom?

[myheartisinusa]

Thanks for responding. Yes. I think so. I hear it more often now since i posted in early april. Im now panicking that it will all go wrong IF i ask them to use a mat that i provide, like im demanding things. I would feel a bit put out but then i'd let it go as i would want no neighbourly agro. Yes DH hears it some times on his own but mostly when i point it out to him (there is a reason behind that though).

[reallybadidea]

It seems very odd to be using an electric fire more now than in the winter! I would speak to them again definitely. I really sympathise because a neighbour a couple of doors down had a wind turbine installed on his roof and it drove me absolutely crazy. I could hear this high pitched whining constantly, would stop me going to sleep etc. Luckily he hasn't got planning permission and had to take it down.

[wowfudge]

Are they putting the heater on more because they have turned the heating off but it hasn't actually warmed up much so far this year? So it now feels colder in the evenings.

Get earplugs OP. I am a light sleeper and a few years I started using them and they have made a huge difference to me.

[stripytees]

Your extension works will cause your neighbours months of disturbance so I would just let this one go for now to keep your relationship with them good enough.

[flanjabelle]

Any chance they are growing weed? I know that sounds like an odd question, but someone I knew used fan heaters to get his plants to the right temperature and there was extractor fans too. It would come on all hours of the day and night..

[SweetAndFullOfGrace]

If you're considering losing several grand on cancelling the extension would it not make more sense instead to ask the neighbours if you can replace the fan heater with an oil bar heater (ie a silent heater) at your cost. They're not very expensive.

Or divert some money from the extension to insulate and sound proof the party wall?

[OverAndAbove]

Won't it sound petty to complain more about their heater, and then arrange building works which will involve hammering, angle grinding, cement mixers, skip removal etc etc?

I think ear plugs are your best answer for sleeping; they really do work. Otherwise you'll set yourself up for months of complaints from your neighbours, and these complaints will be much more justified!

[DownWithThisTypeOfThing]

Fan heaters aren't particularly noisy are they? If they are just making "normal" amounts of noise I think it's down to you to soundproof your side if it's you that is particularly sensitive if that makes sense?

Our neighbour (who we're not attached to) once asked us not to use our boiler, washing machine, tumble drier or extractor can between certain hours (as in most of the time we're at home!). We did politely say we couldn't promise that - we're not excessive anyway. She does have an issue with noise - she's paid out to sound proof the side where she's attached to a neighbour. The other neighbour is a single academic who works long hours but his "noise" drives her to distraction. Fair play to her for accepting her sensitivity is her problem but I think if it was me, I'd probably come to the conclusion that living in a semi in an area full of families wouldn't help. We do take her into consideration but ultimately we pay a lot of money to live in our house and we should be allowed to do normal household things within it.

[pictish]

I hope they're rather more tolerant of your builders and building work than you are of their fan heater.

[Spickle]

You love your home but you're not happy with this vibrating noise, so you've been thinking about moving to a detached house, but realistically, can't afford the right one in the right area. So, you would like to extend with a loft conversion and/or rear extension and have already paid out money on architects/planning fees. You've spoken to the neighbour and while they acknowledged that it was their fan heater, they are still using it and you've still got the same problem.

To me, the best solution with everything you have told us, would be to get some noise insulating plaster board on all walls adjoining the neighbour's house. You have been advised to do this on your other thread and, while I do understand that you have already spent money on paint and plastering the downstairs, the vibrating noise is obviously irritating you, so for the sake of your own well-being, get this work done as a priority. If the noise is still there afterwards, move and don't do the extensions.

[grumbleina]

I hadn't thought of the extension noise.

I don't want to sound harsh but I'm afraid I would think you were a bit bats if you came over with a mat to put under my fan heater and then started an extension- because that's real noise, and while it's not at night it's a pretty massive upheaval for everyone around.

Given that the noise is from an appliance, and thus can be ended very easily, I'd leave it until after the extension, and yes definitely have soundproofing installed while that's going on. If it's coming along the boards then you might be able to do something where you cut boards and insert rubber plugs between them (under the skirting or something) so that it can't get to you.

If it's still there after you're done then I second the oil radiator suggestion.

[myheartisinusa]

Thanks for the replies.

i dont think i can have insulation as its reverb noise rather than airbourne noise.

the noise can be heard over my boiler and sounds like someone is using a high wattage hairdryer or microwave or something in the next bedroom in my house for extended periods. hard to explain but i suppose i should accept that is ok even at 11pm and im noise sensitive.

[myheartisinusa]

Its hard to explain without actually having one of you here so you can see if i'm over sensitive ... ! it just sounds louder than a fan should in our house.

thanks for replies.