Neighbour's loft conversion

[Lou573]

Good evening.

Just seeking some advice on something I'm getting myself a little worked up over - entirely likely to be at least half be due to pregnancy hormones.

My neighbour (edwardian terrace) has today informed me that he intends to have a loft conversion done this Autumn. No issues with that generally, we would like to do one ourselves at some point so keen not to create unecessary problems. What I am upset about is the timing however - it will be when I'm likely to be bringing a newborn home. I assume having builders above me for 6 weeks will make it impossible for me at least to get any sleep during the day as I'm very sensitive to noise, no idea about babies (it's our first). Plus I understand it's very likely there would need to be some minor repair work on cracks in our house following the work - I really don't want builders traipsing up and down my stairs with a brand new baby.

I know I have to sign a party wall agreement, is there any way I can give consent subject to the timing? Am I worrying unecessarily or just being precious? And is this just one of those things I'll have to suck up living in a terrace?

Thanks for any words of advice, just had a little sob in the bath.

[BabyGanoush]

It sucks

Just one of those things really, is it?

Don't think you can do much.

I had the same situation. I slept through hammering and drilling! As did the baby. Normally I am quite sensitve to sound, but bought earplugs and thought: even if I won't sleep, I'll rest. And often I fell asleep

Newborns sleep through almost anything as well

Good luck

[GraysAnalogy]

You have my sympathies OP.

But to be honest it's going to effect you and the baby whether he/she's a few days old or a few months.

I don't think there's anything you can do really :( I wish I had more to say to make you feel better.

[MadgeMak]

Sorry, but YABU. When we had some building work done last year our builders had only one time slot left for that calendar year so if we hadn't taken it then we would have had to wait until the year after for our extension, which would have been problematic to us because we needed the extra space for our own new addition to our family.

And what if you did manage to get it delayed by 6 months for example? You'd still have a baby that napped in the day at that point anyway.

[Lou573]

Thanks all for the sympathies. I think it's just been drummed in to me how much I'll want to try and sleep when baby sleeps in the early days - if I'm up all night breast feeding and kept awake by builders all day I'll be no use to anyone. If it were delayed 6 months I would hope by then I can get through most the day at least without a nap.

[GraysAnalogy]

Unfortunately asking to delay for 6 months would be out of the question. That's an long time OP.

The only advice I can give is try to get planning on arranging your home so you can be the furthest away from the noise. i know that's not much help but it's the only thing you can do really.

[MadgeMak]

White noise is your friend, helps block out external sounds.

[ThinkIveBeenHacked]

I was never able to sleep when mine slept as babies anyways - with the first I was just so on edge about it all, what if she needed me etc, and with dc2 he mever slept for longer than 20mins at a time in the day. The noise (and relentlessness of it all) would be my annoyance - can you ask your neighbour to speak witb his builder and may e establisb when in the build the noisiest/dustiest work will be taking place and maybe try and arrange to stay at your mums for a week (or similar)? The break may help, away from it all.

[Lou573]

Will give white noise a go. Worst case scenario baby and I could go and stay with my mum, but that's not really not the cosy new family set up I had in mind and would make it difficult for my husband to spend much time with baby once he's back at work.

[Christelle2207]

Hi.
We had loft conversion done in our house when I was pg- not ideal. However I have to say that the noise factor was not that horrendous and the neighbour was not particularly bothered by it. Down on the ground floor of our house it really was fine so I think aim to spend time in your lounge during the day when tbh you would be anyway breastfeeding. Better when baby is tiny than in proper routine. Biggest issue for us was actually vans and skips in drive and materials stacked up in garden though hopefully you wouldn't have this. Our windows were filthy when work completed so I ended up paying for ours and neighbours to be thoroughly cleaned.

[RitaKiaOra]

Look, it sucks BUT I would completely suck it up if only to remind them of it if when your baby is hollering due to teething or inconsolable at 3am with croup/colic or going through screaming ab dabs tantrum phase. Their building work = your get out of jail free card.

[Lou573]

Thanks, I'm glad to hear the noise wasn't too awful for you Christelle.

RitaKiaOra, I would take some small measure of satisfaction from baby waking them up, but we're joined staircase to staircase so can't hear a peep from each other normally, even when their teenagers are yelling at each other.

[superram]

Appoint a surveyor (your neighbour pays) for peace of mind regardless. Easier to take a baby out in a sling than in 6 months time-I think in the future you will glad it was done ASAP.

[shewillhaveherway]

In many ways I think it might actually be easier when your baby is a newborn and not a 6 month old. Newborns are far easier to get to sleep than when they are that little bit older and you will be in the flush of 'just had a baby' adrenaline that keeps you going.

It's a horrible thought to have hanging over you though and I know it would have made me want to cry too. With our second child, a home was being about 8 houses away from us and they always seemed to start the pile driver just as I was trying to get her to sleep. God it I used to fantasise about the workers falling over dead.

[Marmitelover55]

We had a loft conversion when dd1 was nine months old. I put a travel cot downstairs in the dining room and she had her naps in there. I retreated to the sitting room rather than bedroom when necessary. I don't remember it being a problem . Good luck.

[BlackbirdOnTheWire]

One of our neighbours did a loft conversion when I was pregnant/had a NB. The other did it when I had a school-age DC and pre-schooler. We did it when I was pregnant with DC2.

Of all three, the first was the one I noticed least, the other neighour's was the worst by a long, long way (not their fault!).

If you intend to do it too, jump on the bandwagon and get their company to give you quotes. It's going to be a lot easier now with a NB than with a crawling baby or toddler poking their fingers into everything, picking up screws that the builders drop, needing to be carried across dust sheets etc, having bits of plaster pop out of their ceilings whilst they sleep.... Much easier to have a small baby nap downstairs than an 18-month-old!

But yes, basically, YABU. You cannot expect everyone else to arrange their lives and finances for your convenience...