Neighbour building work and newborn

[Icreatedmyusername]

I’m due a baby in less than 2 weeks and my neighbour has begun building work today that will apparently take up to 6 months to complete.
I had no idea until I saw vans pull up and drilling and hammering started. We usually have a good neighbourly relationship so I’m a bit annoyed they didn’t prewarn us.
I understand work needs to be done and they have every right to, but I’m now concerned about where that leaves us with a newborn.
I know the noise isn’t likely to disturb baby, but from a personal (and maybe overly sensitive) perspective, I don’t want my babies’ early memories to be a reminder of constant banging and drilling.
We have plans for a family party to celebrate the baby when she arrives, I also wanted to video a lot of the early days (preferably without the background being sounds of building works) and it feels like it will be very intrusive to hear all day every day for 6 months.
Apparently the work will be 8am-6pm every day excluding weekends. I won’t feel up to going out much in the early weeks. I haven’t got anywhere else to stay.
I know I can’t stop the work or control anything so I guess I’m ranting and hoping anyone here has been through this and can give me a positive uplift?
My whole house is currently vibrating. It sounds like they’re in the next room and we’re only 3 hours in.

Your parents were lucky they were able to move it. I'm all in favour of giving people a heads-up but most of the time you have to fit in with when your trades are available.

I wouldn't worry too much about your baby screaming at night or young children making lots of noise early morning in the garden after this.

this

If they wait until next year they will likely be paying a great deal more . Stop being so ridiculous , they are unlikely to be drilling every weekday for 6 months , your baby will remember none of it and if you are concerned about noise in your videos then video in the evening / weekends .

I don’t know what’s spiteful about it?! They have their own lives and so do you. For all you know they have professional exams coming up, are caring for a sick relation and / or are going for a promotion. So feel they need their sleep so aren’t thrilled about having a newborn next door

The heavy duty work normally takes place at the beginning. It won’t be continuous ear shattering noise for the whole duration of the build.

Perhaps it’s actually better timing for you in that the weather will hopefully be warm and mild during this first stage phase and you can go out for walks with baby to escape.

Also most builders start at 8am but clock off quite early.

It’s just something you’re going to have to deal with realistically.

Make friends with the builders. That way they'll be happier to prewarn you on particularly noisy days or make more of an effort to work around naps

Bloody harsh replies!!! Typical MN these days unfortunately.
I totally get where you're coming from @Icreatedmyusername.

I don’t want my babies’ early memories to be a reminder of constant banging and drilling.

They won't be. Calm down.

Some really mean replies on here, I can understand why you'd be upset OP.

You spend a lot of time home watching box sets with a baby sleeping on your lap in the early days. Invest in some noise cancelling wireless headphones that talk to your TV. And use a white noise app or machine for other times. I don't think the noise would disturb your baby, the sound of your heart and digestion means the womb is as noisy as a motorway!

I took lots of videos of DC as babies but the sound isn't really important as they only gurgle a bit, and that's after many months. Visual records of them looking around gormless or laughing in their sleep etc are more precious.

Find your local park and baby groups anyway, so you have somewhere to get out and escape the noise.

You might want to think about dust from the building as well - eg getting in a fan if the room that you'd be in with the baby a lot would have its window closed to stop dust getting in.

You just have to accept that the dates they chose are to suit THEM, not you.

Just like you did not consider the neighbours needs, when you planned to have a baby.

You didn't ask a question - as you say, it was just a vent.
The joy of having neighbours, I'm afraid - if you buy a house attached to another, there'll be noisy things happening.
Much like when your new baby cries in the night!

Ours was our own building works. It was supposed to be finished before DS2 was born but the scaffolding went up when I was 38 weeks and the roof came off the day we came home from the hospital.

The first few days were absolutely the worst. And after that it got a lot quieter and more manageable - not quiet, but I do think taking things apart is a lot noisier than putting them back together so you should have a fair amount of time when it's not so bad.

DS2 was an absolute champion and slept through anything the builders threw at him.

This. It’s poor they didn’t tell you; but you can’t do anything about it. As long as there’s no noise overnight

Literally in the same sentence of the OP where she said she was having a rant, she asked if anyone who'd been through similar could give her a positive uplift. 😂

Both of my adjacent neighbours had extensions when my first was 9-18m. We managed but it would have been far better the year before when she was tiny! If they wait until next spring then it'll interfere with your time in the garden with a crawling/just walking/cruising child.

Its undeniably annoying for you, but that's apart just love really. I just went out a lot. My toddler liked to nap outdoors, so it was park naps rather than garden ones etc. It won't all be noisy, but I'd suggest going out a lot and headphones when it is.

As it's not your first, you won't be staying at home much anyway I expect. I don't think I started at home even one day tbh. If it's a nice day, take a picnic blanket and a book and go to the park if you are toddler free. For reading days and when the weather turns, I expect it would be a lot quieter with windows and doors shut etc.

Try not to worry op - giving birth to you lovely baby is the most important thing right now!

From experience, building noise isn't constant. There are lots of jobs like plastering, plumbing and laying floor which generate minimal noise and fuss.

Just ask your neighbours to let you know if it's going to be a heavy noise day - for example, breaking up hard standing or knocking through a wall. There will likely be a day of wiring and the drilling will be annoying but it won't last six months.

Bricklaying is also quiet.

It will be much better than you fear, I absolutely promise you.

I bet the noise early in the project will be the worst. It general quietens down as the project moves forward.

Usual dumb replies from some posters. It amazes me that when they post, they're often looking for sympathy but seem to delight in being cretinous in their own responses to other people
Anyway, when it sounds like someone is literally coming through the walls they're probably rewiring and chasing in new channels. Shame they didn't take a couple of minutes to forewarn you but that does give you the opportunity to reciprocate their behaviour should you feel the need
It is much better though that professionals are doing the work, rather that than endless late nights of DIY which are not subject to any time constraints. As PP said, they will knock off promptly as well
Building work is a much more acceptable noise than pissed up karaoke or any shouting or amplified noise so it could be worse! And hopefully it all improves the area and maintains at least house values
Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy, and if possible I would try and leave the house each day with the baby for a change of scenery and some perspective. Hopefully the builders will crack on and finish in good time

Wow some of you need to go back to school and learn to read. Our houses are very soundproofed they won’t hear my baby and Ive never heard any of theirs 😅heavy impact sounds will be heard no matter what. I even stated in my first post it’s their choice, I don’t expect them to change their life for me, but I did ask for experiences how it will be and how to manage it which many lovely people have given. They chose to book dates during their childrens school holidays so yes it is a weird choice of timing. And if they had prewarned me I could have made plans to stay elsewhere occasionally, it’s now too short notice.

I appreciate all the nice replies and helpful tips, good to see there are still some decent people on here! We have big sliding doors at the back, is there anything I could use to prevent any dust blowing in or will it be a case of keeping them closed all summer? 😣

We’re currently going through this.

Baby is 11 weeks and next door (terraced) is having a full house refit. Started when baby was 1 week and should have taken 6 weeks but no end in sight.

At first it was fine, they kept short hours. Now it’s all day, every day - including Saturday & Sunday. They start at 7am and finish 8/9pm. The most frustrating thing is parking as they’ve taken to leaving cones out on a street which is only street parking.

Make friends with the builders. That way they'll be happier to prewarn you on particularly noisy days or make more of an effort to work around naps

I second this. I was able to negotiate the builders next door doing quieter stuff around nap time if that was at all possible. They were lovely and one had a baby himself so knew how precious sleep is.

you could well do without this, and it would have been polite for your neighbours to tell you, but I really hope it won’t be as bad as you think. And please don’t worry about your baby’s first memories being of drills and hammer noise. DS can sleep through anything and I wonder if that’s because as a newborn noise was so familiar to him. I can also sleep through most things and grew up in a ridiculously noisy house - DFs constant major DIY which started after he finished work for the day and went on till I don’t know when. It was a detached house luckily for the neighbours. I was the youngest and there was a big age gap between me and my siblings. They had friends round, playing music and talking, in the bedroom next door to mine etc while I was in bed. I actually find quietness a bit unsettling.

You think they booked their renovations out of spite??

oh boy.

they might have planned to do it next spring but the stars aligned for now.

I very much doubt you even entered into their thinking

I think the best thing to do is let them get on with it and let them get it done as quickly as possible. If you start to try to negotiate down time etc or ask to be consulted about noise, or complain, you risk delaying and lengthening the whole process. The worst thing that can happen is you get stressed about something small (on the scale of things), and the stess will transfer to your baby. Just play soothing music during the daytime so that the building noise is in the background, and try not to worry.

BTW, where I live , if you don't grasp the opportunity then it might not be possible to have work done for some considerable while. If they want to start I just let them.