We (DH and I) live in a mid terrace and have been here for over 10 years, and have neighbours both sides and although we have heard noise from both sides over the years (the odd row, party or next door'a baby crying), it's been a manageable part of life in a modern terrace.
6 months ago, our old neighbours sold up and moved out and in moved a young couple. From day 1 it's been constant noise. Originally it was them doing the house up and people around constantly for barbecues over the summer. A bit irritating because of the constant repetitive banging and the smoke smell, but nothing upsetting by any means.
Then they got a puppy and instead of training it to go out for wees, from day 1 it was just shoved outside and left to howl, bark and cry for up to 30 minutes until they'd bring her in, slam the door and then proceed to yell at her for being a bad dog.
On top of that, it seems (and this is purely speculation) that they may have installed laminate flooring throughout their house, which means that every footstep echoes through the walls. I'm lying here in bed now listening to their STOMP STOMP STOMPING around and it's driving me to the edge of sanity!!!
It's constant, thudding, bassy footsteps, slamming doors or dog howling and I am barely managing to hold myself back from hammering on the walls and screaming at them to shut up! I know that that's totally not the way to manage this. They have an end terrace, so no one on their other side so I couldn't pop an anonymous note through the door without seeming like a total weirdo.
I don't see these new neighbours around much. When I have seen them, I have tried to build a bit of a rapport with them, but either get blanked or nothing more than polite small talk; certainly not enough for me to be able to casually bring up how thin the walls are.
So what the heck can I do?
How can I handle this without appearing like a grouchy old git or being mega passive aggressive (like dropping shampoo bottles into the bath at 4am because I know that their bedroom is next to my bathroom... believe me, I've thought about it)?
It doesn't help that they've just had a very perm baby so I'm loathe to come abuse bad feeling when they've got that to deal with and also, because of that, they aren't in at all much (and have been leaving dog at home for 12 hours straight to howl). I've tried to offer to look after dog for them, mostly for my sanity, but they've brushed it off - fair enough as they don't know me to trust me with their pet. I just feel like Ive got no way in to try to ask them to be a bit more considerate without being stroppy or confrontational.
It's gotten so bad now that I'm thinking of moving house to get away from it and I realise that there's no guarantee of quieter neighbours or as nice an area as this, but I'm feeling desperate now.
Help! Please!?! Any suggestions of how I can deal with this?