aibu or is my neighbour?

[MsBella]

Its quarter past 8pm and I'm outside sawing wood on the grass and chucking it onto the patio, also using an axe to chop some logs etc etc etc. She just came to the fence all 'what on earth is all the noise!?' I said I'm just doing this and got back on with it. She was still standing there looking.... bewildered and shocked and told me it was too loud and she 'wants to sleep' but ffs I don't see how I can be quiter. Anyway I told her 'well I don't see how I can be quiter sorry' and got back on with it, she was pissed off

My idiot neighbour got her kid a dirt bike. He would ride it around and around their yard for hours on end. I quietly seethed until he decided to get on it at 8pm at night one night. I was over there hammering on the door within about a minute. It was the straw that broke the camels back for me.

Your poor neighbour already has to put up with you chopping every day, and then it suddenly happens at 8pm at night. I'm not surprised she's freaked out. She's probably been stewing about it for months. Some noise is unavoidable, but you should organise yourself to try and avoid disturbing the neighbours as much as possible.

8pm isn't too late to do outdoor stuff. The neighbor was being unreasonable.
We do most of our wood cutting in the summer time, Dh does the cutting and I stack it, so in winter we don't have to do much. Going and collecting it for use is bad enough in the rain. LOL.
But we buy a huge amount already seasoned and delivered by a man who clears orchards, so it's ready to use.

Well there aren't real rights and wrongs here, there are just feelings.

If I were your neighbour I might be a bit happier if you were a bit apologetic and explained why you needed to chop the wood right there and then, given that she told you it was a bit noisy.

She is being unreasonable. 8pm? That's practically the afternoon. If you are going to sleep that early you have to expect there to be noise. Our council says you should try to be quiet after 11pm and won't consider any noise complaints before that time.

your neighbour doesn't know you feel you have no choice but to chop wood at this time, you don't know whether the neighbour is ill etc. you could solve all this by listening and talking but instead you want it to be about Council noise control and who is right or not.

I think she IBU,it is just for a short finite time.

I like the sound of log chopping. I really don't think it is particularly loud (if it's splitting then it's usually a few loud thumps per log). If it's not a familiar sort of sound then I guess you might wonder what it was - the fact that the neighbour wasn't sure suggests that the OP hasn't put her out before, so it's unlikely to be a chronic 'straw that broke the camel's back' type problem (of course the OP might be generally noisy I guess).

Where I live many families supplement their heating with wood burners/fires and we tend to all get in a big stack in autumn and chop and stack a whole load at once, so it's just an autumn sort of sound to me. We only take dead trees, so fairly well seasoned already.

My neighbours have a log splitter and that is bloody noisy, but they tend only to use it for a few days in autumn (they are also very expensive).

Eight pm is surprisingly late to chop if it's dark, but also very early to go to bed. I'd not want to stop either, but it would probably have been good to explain that you need the wood to keep warm and that you were planning to stop soon.

Sorry but YWBU. Any repetitive noise is annoying, especially at a weird time like 8pm when she was probably trying to watch TV and relax. If you needed a bit of wood then you should have just cut up that amount to keep you going through the evening which wouldn't be that much, would have taken a couple of minutes. No need to have done a massive log cutting job at 8pm. It might suit your hours but didn't suit your neighbours. You shouldn't let your log pile get so low that you have to do it at that time of night. Houses around you might have babies going to bed at that time. What about them? Unreasonable and irritating. All the more so as you don't seem to get it.

I think you're spot on Midnite.

If you would like to have a good relationship with this neighbour, and assuming she is reasonable, I would go and see her today. Tell her you're sorry the noise was disturbing her and explain that it is a necessary noise. Then ask her what you can do to reduce the inconvenience. For e.g. is there a time of day that would work for you both? Shifting to the other side of the garden/patio? Not throwing the logs onto the patio?

It doesn't mean she gets to dictate what you do, obviously. Just that everyone would benefit from a reasonable discussion and understanding the others point of view. And she will feel listened to.

Neighbour disagreements can get ugly, fast.

agree whiteflame

YABU and as many pointed out it is late.
Well,it depends if it is terraced house or are you quite far away from your neighbour...?
Whatever it is and if somebody is complaining it is probably sign to be a bit more considerate.
You are asking about opinion yet you argue your position(previously complaining of lack of time to chop the wood....
Make your mind and stop being difficult...

yanbu , people need to do things sometimes ,some neighbours like to moan about everything, dog barking,kids playing,music on,drilling,mowing,bonfires, life going on :)

Tabliope, a couple of minutes- more like a couple of hours!
Well 3men its a semi detached so I'm only attached to her house but there are other houses very close who I hear doing things and don't mind. She has complained about things many times before and I never said sorry because she was always being very fucking unreasonable

The chopping of the wood wouldnt be as bad as the logs hitting the patio, couldnt you stack them without doing that. Easier to try and get on with neighbours dont you think.

I was trying to be quick that's why I chucked them onto the patio for dd to take inside

And yeah I do try but surely it goes both ways

Hmmm

A couple of hours for one nights wood?? A couple of hours used to do us a weeks wood. I think you need to change your technique if this does all your heating, you'll kill yourself!

MsBella

what else has she complained about?

You only very briefly mentioned it up til now

YANBU at 815pm and this is coming from someone with arseholes for neighbours!! She was vacuuming at 1030 last night FFS and if it's not that it's the dog barking or the insufferable kid wailing - Infact, I'm close to starting a diary for environmental health.

Anyhow, I digress, I also don't think your were being snippy, well, I DO think you were being snippy but I think if she's the sort to complain over nettles in your garden then YANBU to be snippy!!

KLou I was referring to the process of sorting the wood out

What else has she complained about?
A lot of things really including having nettles in my garden, the 'state' of my garden (its fine, not overgrown or anything but not the same as hers I.e. she has ornaments, little water feature etc.) she's complained about music in the daytime NOT loud at all and a few other things

KLow keep in mind that I have to go back and forwards to the woods by foot to get wood bit by bit

And how have you responded to that before?

Responded with sorry but I like my garden like this, ill make sure to keep the lawn mown etc. I wasn't rude, her husband was bloody rude (reaching over fence weeding my garden)
And about the music I said things like ill turn it down/off in the evening, its really not loud sorry if its bothering you etc.

She sounds OTT. I'm not surprised you are pissed off.

T