We've had a noise pollution letter from the council!!!

[Stillmonday]

We aren't big DIYers but February my husband fitted us a new kitchen, it took a whole month inbetween work and he always stopped any noise at 6pm.
Now we are doing some decking in the garden whilst on lockdown. Some sawing, sanding & banging again stops at 6pm.
A letter has just arrived warning us of noise pollution and excessive hammering, banging & use of power tools.

Our neighbour was really annoyed when we had our kitchen, they even recorded the noise it made one day but I tried to explain it was a one off and that's what happens when a new kitchen is being fitted.

Now we are quite shocked to receive the letter but don't know where we stand. Are we allowed to finish the decking or shall we not bother?!

You sound like my new neighbours and my frustration has nothing to with jealousy. Very confused by those comments.

New neighbours are doing the whole house up during the lockdown. I'm sure it's a fantastic time to do it and I bet they are getting lots done. Usually I'd be going to work and then it they were still at it we'd go out for a meal and the cinema. No problem. But we are stuck inside listening to it all day every day and can't get away from it for more than an hour while we exercise outdoors.

You get used the the sounds of your own home and DIY interrupts those sounds in an unsettling way. Its not background noise, every bang and tap is unusual and noticable. People are more unsettled anyway at the moment so it does seem more exacerbated.

I'd give the decking a week off to allow your neigbours a bit of peace and quiet. Going to the council was petty. I just had a word with mine and they've agreed to stop after 8pm.

Stuff your neighbours. If there is no noise after 6pm (and I’m assuming breaks in the day too) even if they do record it they are the ones who will seem crazy. Yes it might be frustrating but it’s not long term, even a month is relatively short for building work to be going on. I’d carry on with your decking but get it done in as short a time possible. It will all be over and done with by the time they’ve finished recording. if they threaten you again I’d report them to the police.

I think the problem is how long these noisy works have been going on for. If it was done by a company it would have been over much quicker. They've been patient but it must seem never ending and they've reached the end of their tether. Must he a nightmare for them

You sound horrible. Just because people don’t do upkeep to their houses doesn’t mean they are lazy or that they don’t deserve peaceful enjoyment of their homes. Not everyone can afford new kitchens, bathrooms and decking. Some people rent and it’s not their choice. Stop being a snob.

I think lots of people have missed you saying it was a month but only 4pm - 6pm each weekday, you stopped at 6pm.

Otherwise it sounds like you are fitting a kitchen every day for 30 days.

No, your neighbours are loons, noise is subjective, some people choose to live next to a train track, under a flight path, or if you are a hard northerner in your farm house in the middle of the M62! (they had to divert the M62 around the farm.)

I would contact the council with your own diary of "noise" that you made to correct them. I used to work at the council next to the environmental health department, you always had people complaining about noise and a lot of the investigations revealed most of them were malicious. Mostly by people with no lives and who were fixated on a particular neighbour and everything they did.

I think it would help you to stop seeing this in such a tunnel-visioned loop of "It's a one off. Why can't our house be nice?".

They're stuck in a related loop of "Oh my god. The noise. How many one offs will there be?".

They're stuck in the house, you're stuck in the house. You can make this easier by sending a note apologising, explaining the extent of the remaining work, then sticking to minimal noise afterwards for as long as possible afterwards (and not coming up with another project involving banging etc - painting is nice and quiet!).

(Oh, and it's a bit twatty to sneer at their house - maybe they haven't got the money or skills to sort out their property. Since you value living in a nice house, surely you'd also understand that living in a badly kept house isn't so nice, and there might be reasons for that?)

Do you know for certain it's next door who complained? I bet it could be several of your surrounding neighbours.

I wish I was isolating with a handy man who could do our decking. I think lots of people are making the most of doing up their home.

Yes the house would be annoying but if you want a nice house you have no choice.

How on earth is it taking so long to do the decking? I'm guessing it's already been going on for a few days at least given that the neighbours have had time to get annoyed and get on to the council, and it will have taken the council a little time to start taking action. It's normally a relatively straightforward job that doesn't take more than a day. So how come it may take a full week more?

The weather's not great, I suggest you put it on hold at least till after lockdown. Or else agree with your neighbours that you will make a mammoth effort one day to finish the entire thing and then there will be no noise after that.

I’d ignore. If you want decking then carry on. It’s allowed at the times you are doing it so I really don’t see what the problem is

I’ve sold three properties and never been asked this mythical ‘neighbour dispute’ question. Is it real?

I didn’t know decking was still a thing.

I think things are different at the moment. Don’t know if it is the case for your neighbours but I’m trying to work from home, make conference calls etc. It would be a nightmare for me, think we all have to perhaps think a bit differently at the moment. What is normally perfectly reasonable possibly isn’t at the moment with everyone at home.

That's really unfair on the neighbours. They are stuck home and you are drilling and sawing away.

Also, why does it take you so long? Surely you are not fitting acres of decking.

Also, decking is a bastarding thing for getting infested with rats.

Our NDN always has a project on the go and the neighbour to them is always sawing something

It sort of blends into the background but we do have biggish back gardens (next doors runs into acres) so the noise is several metres away

They have brand new fancy cars so clearly could afford the upkeep of their house if they wanted. They are retired but don't even clean their windows & never have in the 8 years we've lived here.

Just for the record- fitting decking is more about measuring and levelling with the odd bit of sawing & hammering. It's not constant at all. Far from it.

Are gardens are very long so any power tools are used at the end if the garden. It could only affect either side of us but one side makes more noise than us so I'm certain who's made the complaint.

My neighbours are doing home improvements. One has been building decking since lockdown began. Between them and others and my neighbour who likes to rev his fucking car for fucking hours, I have to do all my teaching recording at night. I'm about fucked.

Maybe more than one neighbour has complained?

They have brand new fancy cars so clearly could afford the upkeep of their house if they wanted. They are retired but don't even clean their windows & never have in the 8 years we've lived here.

That's neither here nor there.

Don't make this about being house prod and them jealous.

It's about noise and being disturbed by it.

My mum lives next door to someone who is constantly doing noisy DIY projects out in the garden during this lockdown. It's made her so so miserable as she is unable to go out and enjoy her garden. So if you're literally making horrendous noises with power tools all day until 6pm then I am totally on your neighbours side I'm afraid. It's not even like they can get away from the house at the moment to escape the noise. Did they try talking to you about it before contacting the council? The nice thing to have done before you started this work though would have been to warn your neighbours and agree times when you would be quiet during the day so they could have some respite.

You seem fixated on the fact that they don't do DIY - that's completely irrelevant. You are making noise and a lot of it.

I think it's quite obnoxious to do any prolonged DIY work without first discussing with your neighbours - if you start a dialogue (rather than just telling them!) you can typically agree on a schedule that minimises the disruption. You seem very focussed on making your home nice for you to live in without considering the impact on other people's homes and how unbearable it might be for them. Try to put yourself in their shoes.

Ignore them. Go about your life as you are. They can get earplugs and tolerate normal life, or move to the sticks.

If they were going away for the weekends why weren't you doing the work then? Or do you mean you were doing it then but they wouldn't have been bothered by it then as they were away? Were they maybe going elsewhere at weekends to get away from the noise?

Our cou cook have tomd people to avoid noisy DIY at present as people can't get out to escape it. It may be the same where you are. I have to say, I can see both sides. Obviously you want to get stuff done but it would really annoy me that it seemed never ending