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AIBU?

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Original poster

AIBU to resent neighbours doing DIY on bank holiday Monday?

266 replies

Twisterlollies · 25/05/2026 16:20

It feels like every time the stars align and we all get the day off and the weather is good, the morons appear with their power tools/bonfires.

AIBU to expect them to knock it off for the day so for once we can all just bloody relax? This racket has been going on for 3 hours now and shows no sign of stopping (neighbour with his work bench and drills out)

OP posts:
FedBeGone · 25/05/2026 17:20

When would you like them to do it OP?

Some people have limited free time and this is their only chance. Do you have a temperature cut off below which it is acceptable?

Let's say that it is only acceptable on a Tuesday morning between 11am and 2pm if there is no sunshine and the temperature is below 18 degrees.

Some people work nights, so anytime during the day is going to be a nuisance.

Some people have issues with noise 24/7.

Some people are trying to get small children to nap.

Some people are studying

Some people are trying to work from home.

Some people have a migraine.

Some people might be jet-lagged.

Some people might be grieving.

...continue with the whataboutery ad infinitum

I've been out mowing our lawn today. It helped to drown out the screaming (proper, literal screaming - not the fabled MN "children having fun") from the campsite next door.

DefinitelyNotAFanOfSummer · 25/05/2026 17:20

I just hope all those people trimming hedges etc are checking for nesting birds before doing so.

Original poster
Twisterlollies · 25/05/2026 17:18

TerfOnATrain · 25/05/2026 17:16

I don’t think a power tool is any worse than screaming children or hearing someone’s (shit) playlist on a sunny day. I say that as someone who has adult children and grandchildren, but both are like a nail on a chalk board to me on a sunny afternoon.

I hope your neighbour’s new decking looks fabulous and he’s able to set his hot tub up on it now. 😃

It’s not decking!

OP posts:
Original poster
Twisterlollies · 25/05/2026 17:17

SparklyGlitterballs · 25/05/2026 17:17

I'm widowed and don't have a husband around to "play with his toys". If it wasn't so blazing hot where I live I'd have been out there today with my electric saw and drill, finishing off the shed base I've been building. Can't do it when it's raining, or when I'm at work, so I make the most of warm dry weekends. We all have different wants and needs. Your want for quiet doesn't trump someone else's need to finish a bit of garden maintenance.

I think it does.

It’s like doing it at 3am because the person works night shifts. It’s still rude and antisocial. You should be considerate of the needs of the majority.

OP posts:
Original poster
Twisterlollies · 25/05/2026 17:17

SylvanMoon · 25/05/2026 17:16

You really expect people to use power tools outside in the rain???!! Seriously, these are first-world problems. When most people are working during the week, but have DIY tasks to do, the logical day for them to do that is the weekend. As long as they're not being ridiculous in say, starting to drill/saw/mow/etc before 8am, they're not being anti-social.

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Most people are doing them in the garage. They can do that any time, rain or not.

OP posts:
Happyjoe · 25/05/2026 17:17

I think I would gladly swap DIY noise than what I've had the last 3 mornings. 3 houses with young children, 2 of those with dogs and all of them screaming and barking non-stop. From around 7.45am until lunch. And next door, the sound of the banging footsteps of their precious daughter running up and down, only relief from that is the grinding noise of the same child hopping on her scooter indoors.

Can't wait to move, I truly can't!

SparklyGlitterballs · 25/05/2026 17:17

I'm widowed and don't have a husband around to "play with his toys". If it wasn't so blazing hot where I live I'd have been out there today with my electric saw and drill, finishing off the shed base I've been building. Can't do it when it's raining, or when I'm at work, so I make the most of warm dry weekends. We all have different wants and needs. Your want for quiet doesn't trump someone else's need to finish a bit of garden maintenance.

TerfOnATrain · 25/05/2026 17:16

I don’t think a power tool is any worse than screaming children or hearing someone’s (shit) playlist on a sunny day. I say that as someone who has adult children and grandchildren, but both are like a nail on a chalk board to me on a sunny afternoon.

I hope your neighbour’s new decking looks fabulous and he’s able to set his hot tub up on it now. 😃

Original poster
Twisterlollies · 25/05/2026 17:16

LadyTable · 25/05/2026 17:14

Your neighbours don't owe you quiet, when they have work that needs doing.

So you stamp and sulk all you like, but you're just going to make yourself even more angry and miserable unless you accept that.

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If it needs doing then why wait til BH weekend? It’s an arsehole move, sorry.

Btw I’m not stamping, I’m cooking in the kitchen and hallelujah the noise has stopped!

OP posts:
Spidey66 · 25/05/2026 17:16

If you live near other people, which the vast majority of people in the UK do, you have to expect normal everyday noise.....and DIY on a BH is one of them.

I don't have kids but I don't complain about other people's kids playing in the garden, or a baby crying....because again it's normal everyday noise.

As long as it's 16.40 like someone mentioned and not 4.40! (Though I could still forgive a crying baby at 4.40 even if they did wake me up!)

SylvanMoon · 25/05/2026 17:16

Twisterlollies · 25/05/2026 16:47

They should do it across normal weekends, or when it rains (which is 80% of the time). Today is clearly a day for sunshine and relaxation for people.

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You really expect people to use power tools outside in the rain???!! Seriously, these are first-world problems. When most people are working during the week, but have DIY tasks to do, the logical day for them to do that is the weekend. As long as they're not being ridiculous in say, starting to drill/saw/mow/etc before 8am, they're not being anti-social.

LadyTable · 25/05/2026 17:14

Twisterlollies · 25/05/2026 17:09

I actually don’t care! I always show my neighbours consideration with noise, or guests parking on the road etc. and expect the same in return.

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Your neighbours don't owe you quiet, when they have work that needs doing.

So you stamp and sulk all you like, but you're just going to make yourself even more angry and miserable unless you accept that.

Fluffybuns88 · 25/05/2026 17:12

YANBU to be intolerant, but there's nothing you can really do about it other than some noise cancelling headphones.

If it's any consolation our old next door neighbour used to spend nights in his shed with what only can be described as flood lights on, when DS was a baby he'd drill and hammer until midnight, once he was even up on the roof on Christmas eve at 10pm. Man was bonkers.

Original poster
Twisterlollies · 25/05/2026 17:09

HobGobblynne · 25/05/2026 17:07

Perhaps the stars have finally aligned for your neighbours then and they’re using their only day off to get their jobs done…

I actually don’t care! I always show my neighbours consideration with noise, or guests parking on the road etc. and expect the same in return.

OP posts:
Original poster
Twisterlollies · 25/05/2026 17:08

cravingicedwater · 25/05/2026 17:07

Probably, I’m not getting my tape measure out.

Today we’ve also had several low flying aircraft, a helicopter, someone building something and on a still day like this we can hear boats and jet skis on the sea over a mile away.

Just grow up a little and stick some music on.

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😆

OP posts:
BridgetJonesV2 · 25/05/2026 17:07

We live in a village and it's been a non stop cacophony of lawn mowers, chain saws, strimmers and next door's screaming kids since about 8am. Usual bank holiday. I'm happy sit inside in the cool with the dogs watching old episodes of Bake Off tbh, better than being at work.

HobGobblynne · 25/05/2026 17:07

Perhaps the stars have finally aligned for your neighbours then and they’re using their only day off to get their jobs done…

Notmyreality · 25/05/2026 17:07

WerewolfOfLoudon · 25/05/2026 17:02

It's not brain surgery.

Not only do I know how to use one, so does my sister, female cousins and nieces. Just don't have much need for them.

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Haha do they all, really? That’s some excessive grinding going on in your family.

LadyTable · 25/05/2026 17:07

TheCurious0range · 25/05/2026 16:57

You're either a moron or rage baiting

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I'll have a tenner each way on this.

cravingicedwater · 25/05/2026 17:07

Twisterlollies · 25/05/2026 17:05

Are they 6 feet from you?

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Probably, I’m not getting my tape measure out.

Today we’ve also had several low flying aircraft, a helicopter, someone building something and on a still day like this we can hear boats and jet skis on the sea over a mile away.

Just grow up a little and stick some music on.

Original poster
Twisterlollies · 25/05/2026 17:06

ImthatBoleyngirl · 25/05/2026 17:05

Not in the rain, just on a cooler day.

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It’s like the posters think they don’t exist, it’s either a roasting hot bank holiday OR polar rain.

OP posts:
Original poster
Twisterlollies · 25/05/2026 17:06

Theyreeatingthedogs · 25/05/2026 17:05

Ah, the lazy buggers round your way will be hopping mad. Or the would be if they weren't so lazy and just want to sit around all day.

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Nothing says joie de vivre like spending your bank holiday replacing a window or drilling, does it?

OP posts:
Original poster
Twisterlollies · 25/05/2026 17:05

cravingicedwater · 25/05/2026 17:04

You absolutely would. You’re just being silly.

I’m sat out in the garden right now and I can hear the birds and someone mowing their lawn. I love it, nothing better than hearing human life around you knowing everyone is enjoying the sunshine.

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Are they 6 feet from you?

OP posts:
ImthatBoleyngirl · 25/05/2026 17:05

TheCurious0range · 25/05/2026 16:54

So you want me to use power tools outside in the rain? So you can lay in the sun......

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Not in the rain, just on a cooler day.

Theyreeatingthedogs · 25/05/2026 17:05

TheCurious0range · 25/05/2026 16:52

Exactly this, we've had a good blitz of the garden today, DH went out at 9 and cut and strimmed the grass, I've cut back the hedges and done the weeding, we had a break for a couple of hours around lunchtime to go to the garden centre and I've spent the rest of the afternoon potting and planting. The weekends have been so wet and miserable there's not been time to get it done when we both work. It's my birthday next weekend and I am looking forward to enjoying it in a lovely garden. DH was ready to go out with the mower at 8 but fear of a MN worthy neighbour had me curfewing him until 9

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Ah, the lazy buggers round your way will be hopping mad. Or the would be if they weren't so lazy and just want to sit around all day.