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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Downstairs neighbours hoovering at 7.30am

77 replies

user1490817986 · 01/06/2017 07:58

Neighbours downstairs who are lovely have just woken me up at 7.30am with their hoovering. I was watching a film in bed at 10.30pm one night and she started hoovering. Also put the washing machine on at midnight sometimes, and it sounds like a fucking helicopter.

I don't know if this is passive agressive behaviour, because sometimes my cat is a bastard and runs/scuttles/meows along my bedroom floor to harass me for breakfast. The floor is laminate but I can't afford to put carpet down.

He did it once this morning (he hasn't done it for a few weeks) at around 6.20am, so i'm wondering if they are being passive aggressive with the hoovering at 7.30am.

I'm always considerate of them and I won't hoover in the evenings because one of them works shifts but I'm not sure when/times etc.

AIBU to think they are being dicks to hoover at 7.30am?

OP posts:
rhinorocks · 01/06/2017 08:46

Hoovering at 7.30 am is fine.

silentpool · 01/06/2017 08:46

We recently lived in a ground floor flat and it sounded as though we were living beneath a herd of elephants. I could hear every move they made. But such is life, living with near neighbours. It did mean, I didn't tiptoe around either.

ptumbi · 01/06/2017 08:49

I think it's rude to hoover that early or late. It's basic manners - I am usually leaving for work at 730! It's not 'manners' - it's the start of the day. I personally wouldn't hoover at 730, but only because I don't have time.
Most builders start work at 8am, but they are setting up and getting ready at 730. That can be noisy.

But then I have been flamed on a certain thread, defending a OP who was terribly 'bad-mannered' in sitting outside until 1030pm, on a friday evening, in her own garden, drinking and talking with 4 friends.....
Consensus was, it shouldn't be allowed Grin

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 01/06/2017 08:50

Our neighbour has floorboards and we can always hear her moving around. I've got used to it though. We're ground floor and have laminate or tiling throughout and it wouldn't surprise me if she can hear our cat even though she's upstairs! The leases are identical though (and old) and don't mention anything about carpet.

namechange20050 · 01/06/2017 08:53

Your flat lease will have a clause in it about acceptable hours during which to make noise. Have a look at it.

Original poster
user1490817986 · 01/06/2017 09:01

Thank you all. The flat already had the wood floor when I moved in, I'm going to try and save for some carpet. The floors are concrete though so I'm hoping it's not as bad as most new build flats.

OP posts:
AwaywiththePixies27 · 01/06/2017 13:40

7:30 is fine.

I've been awake a good couple of hours by then.

10:30pm at night is pushing it though.

AwaywiththePixies27 · 01/06/2017 13:41

GlitterGlue it's half way through the day for me! Grin

In fairness I don't sleep very well and my son always gets up at the crack of a sparrows fart too.

RubbishG3nericUsername · 01/06/2017 13:44

I've already left the house by 7.30am on a weekday! It's a bit of hoovering, get over yourself. YABU.

harderandharder2breathe · 01/06/2017 13:51

YABU it's normal household noise and your cat makes more noise at more unreasonable times

Allthebestnamesareused · 01/06/2017 14:55

Maybe they had their landlord inspection that day so as a one off hoovered in the morning.

Washing machine - as someone else said - probably on economy 7 so that is when you are supposed to do your household chores.

Its made worse because you have a floor covering that doesn't deaden it.

Maybe (as they are lovely) just mention it disturbed you and ask was it a one off? They might not realise but if you tell them then they will know.

PeanutButterJellyTimeforTea · 01/06/2017 15:04

Your cat wakes them up at stupid oclock and you complain that they make noise over an hour later?

robinsongyal · 01/06/2017 15:11

I have lived in flats for the past 3 years and can safely say that laminate flooring is VERY noisy..the guy above has it so we hear him aaaal the time but we aren't going to stop him living his life just because we live below him. YABU, put down a rug and accept that the people below you are going to make abit of noise from time to time!

HelenaDove · 01/06/2017 15:26

I was woken up at 8am on Tuesday morning by a bloody wood chipper outside my bedroom window.

ohgoshIdontknow · 01/06/2017 15:30

Why aren't you up at 7.30am on a weekday? It's not early at all! Genuine question - I would think only babies/teenagers/OAPs are still asleep at that time!

GimbleInTheWabe · 01/06/2017 15:32

Oh no I wonder if I'm like your annoying neighbour...
Sometimes my cat will leave huge fluff balls on the bed from his fur so I'll Hoover it up before I get in to bed (which is when I notice it) but I try to be as quick as I can. Also I put the dishwasher on before I go to bed too.. would that be loud? I'm in the middle floor of a 3 storey building.

PeanutButterJellyTimeforTea · 01/06/2017 15:49

Why aren't you up at 7.30am on a weekday? It's not early at all! Genuine question - I would think only babies/teenagers/OAPs are still asleep at that time!

Why shouldn't she be? I'm usually still asleep at that time and I am none of the things listed.

HelenaDove · 01/06/2017 15:58

My neighbour does night shifts and goes to bed at 6.30 AM. He was over the moon about the wood chipper noise obvs.

Back in the 90s my neighbour got her own back over someone that woke her up while working night shifts. She waited until 3am then stood outside his house blasting him with Bon Jovi.

When he leaned out of the window and had a go at her she replied " if i cant sleep at night then why should you. " He stopped the 7.30 am drilling after that. She had already reasonably asked him several times if he could start a little later in the morning so she could sleep after a night shift He laughed at her.

HelenaDove · 01/06/2017 16:02

"GlitterGlue Thu 01-Jun-17 08:38:03
During the week 7:30am isn't early. Surely most people, especially those with children, are up by then?"

If your kids got ill and had to be taken to hospital in the middle of the night would you want them to be treated by an A and E nurse who had been kept awake early in the morning because of others inconsideration. Would you sue if she made a mistake due to being tired.

expatinscotland · 01/06/2017 16:11

I've worked nights and lived in flats. It's unreasonable to expect the rest of the world to curtail daytime noise at acceptable hours (most councils use 7am-11pm as acceptable) because I worked nights. I used earplugs and white noise.

PhuqIt · 01/06/2017 16:14

Your cat would drive me insane OP. You can't complain about them hoovering at 7.30 when there is a racket coming from your flat at 6.30!

PhuqIt · 01/06/2017 16:15

An A&E nurse wouldnt be home and in bed by 7.30! 😂 Chance would be a fine thing!

nannybeach · 01/06/2017 16:15

Are you sure they are "hoovering" they may have a Dyson, in which case they would be vacuuming, "hoovering" is not a verb its a manufacturer of vacuums!

expatinscotland · 01/06/2017 16:15

The guy next door works as a baker. He's not overly noisy at all, but I can hear him when he gets up at 2.30am for work because the walls are like fag paper. That's my problem, not his.

expatinscotland · 01/06/2017 16:16

'Back in the 90s my neighbour got her own back over someone that woke her up while working night shifts. She waited until 3am then stood outside his house blasting him with Bon Jovi. '

I'd have called the police on her. I'm sure her other neighbours were so pleased to be woken by that.