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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

4am Every morning - what are neighbours doing?

180 replies

KnobZombie7 · 22/08/2018 16:57

New neighbours moved in before the summer in the flat next door. The water pipes in our building are shocking and make such a lot of noise and we're occasionally woken up at 4am with the sound through the wall of them turning their taps on for 2 seconds then turning them off again. This can go on for up to ten minutes sometimes. On/off, on/off...They don't work night shifts. I usually drift off back to sleep straight away. Didn't think much of it until...

Early this morning at 3.45, I was awake and decided to stand outside their door to see if I could get some clues as to what they do at 4am. Because I was bored. And nosey. I was as silent as a mouse. Sure enough, the taps were turned on/of, on/off for a while then I heard a noise like water being sloshed around in a big bowl right behind their front door. This went on for about 2 minutes then all was quiet again.

What do you think they are doing? I assume there are bowls by their front door that they fill up with fresh water at 4. But why? AIBU to think this strange?

DP says it's a burglar deterrent but why refill the water and why refill it at the same time each day and at an antisocial time? And why not just let the tap run and fill the bowl in one go?

Any ideas? Please help otherwise my nights will be spent loitering around the communal area and trying to figure it out myself.

OP posts:
GreenTulips · 23/08/2018 16:40

lilyblue5

Hedgehogs are noisy buggers. Sounds like a very fat man having a heart attack - for a long time!

mumda · 23/08/2018 17:31

My neighbour does washing half the night. It doesn't normally wake me up until about 6am though.
He must be running a laundry as his washer never stops and his lines are always full.

shallichangemyname · 23/08/2018 17:35

@SimonBridges can you please dress up as Inspector Clouseau and follow them? We must know!

Strongmummy · 23/08/2018 17:36

Is the noise bothering you? If so, ask them to stop. If not, you’ll just have to remain in the dark.....

FWIW I think they’re satanists sacrificing a chicken

Tiddler7 · 23/08/2018 17:52

SimonBridges weekly trip to Billingsgate Market?

SeedyM · 23/08/2018 18:03

Water softeners do some sort of refreshing cycle at night. Ours was programmed to 4am originally. They discharge a fair bit of water and might sound like tap being turned on and off.

SeedyM · 23/08/2018 18:05

Worth taking to them if its waking you because if it is a water softener it's easy to changetgr timer to a more sociable hour.

Rhiannon13 · 23/08/2018 18:24

If it doesn't bother you noise-wise what's it got to do with you? Listening outside someone's door is a really weird thing to do. If my neighbour did that I'd be seriously pissed off, especially if I was dealing with a health problem of some sort.

Original poster
KnobZombie7 · 23/08/2018 19:10

Between DP and me, since they moved in, we've been woken up around 30-40 times at 4am, usually separately but sometimes at the same time. It's once every other two/ three mornings on average. We usually go back to sleep fairly quickly - I think it's fair to want to know what was causing us to wake up.

I can touch their front door if I stand outside our front door, we're on a small landing, so when I stood outside their front door, I was also standing outside my door if you see what I mean, if a little closer to their door than our door. I was probably there for 3 minutes in total.

Creepy, yes, a little I suppose, but I wanted to know what the recurring noise was. I didn't have a manic grin on my face or squash my face up to their door or peer through their key hole, I just stood there, half asleep and listened for a bit.

I'm glad I did, for now, thanks to insightful Mumsnetters, I have an idea of what is most likely causing the noise.

But...Buddhists use 7 bowls and they turn on and off their taps for about 40-50 times a morning, not just 7! Maybe they're filling them up bit by bit. I may buy them a jug.

OP posts:
Original poster
KnobZombie7 · 23/08/2018 19:15

I meant my neighbours turn their taps on and off 40-50 times, not Buddhists in general...

OP posts:
Juells · 23/08/2018 19:16

Blimey, you're very polite. I'd tap on their door and ask (nicely) if they could use a container for the water, fill it up at a reasonable time and not run taps at night. If they insisted on running the taps anyway (like pp who won't use a water bottle for taking her meds) the gloves would come off. I'd wake them three or four times for a few nights.

yaqub · 23/08/2018 19:19

Could your new neighbours be Muslim? If so, 4am is a time that they would be washing their hands, face etc to do their morning prayers?

TomHardysNextWife · 23/08/2018 19:26

I'd pop a note through saying the noise from their pipes is waking you repeatedly and it's getting to be an issue. Can they please contact the water board or the landlord to get it dealt with, and you appreciate it's not their fault.

beanaseireann · 23/08/2018 19:35

yaqub
Do all Muslims get up at 4 am ?

sunshine11 · 23/08/2018 19:39

I would say they almost certainly have a combi boiler with the water set to be warm from about 6-7am (when someone would usually get up). This would sound very like taps being turned on briefly. I know because ours does exactly the same thing!

Could also be a very quiet washing machine, again, we have the same and I do set mine to come on at around 5am so it's finished by 6.30 when I get up!

yaqub · 23/08/2018 19:42

The morning prayers can be read anytime from around 3.30am up to around 6am here where I am. This can change around 20mins or so depending on your city. The morning prayers are 1 of the 5 compulsory prayers per day. But of course this all depends if the new neighbours are Muslim or not!!

thenightsky · 23/08/2018 20:17

All this talk of religion is a red herring. There is nobody who needs to turn taps on and off at 2 second intervals 50 times.

I reckon one of them has OCD.

Member745520 · 23/08/2018 20:18

@ Becca

Do you live in a hard water area? I always take a glass of water up when I go to bed but used to find it disgusting and undrinkable especially if I wanted it later on in the night.

Then I found if I filled it from the water filter jug it stayed sweet and clean-tasting right through til morning, even uncovered. Just a thought Smile

Becca19962014 · 23/08/2018 20:51

No. It's soft water. I was advised to get it fresh from the tap every time as I was finding I was getting an upset stomach in the morning which disappeared if I got fresh from tap.

Rebecca36 · 23/08/2018 21:10

Buy earplugs

makingmiracles · 23/08/2018 21:15

SUrely the solution would be to fill a bottle to take tablets at night? I can’t see how bottled water with a lid on would give you an upset stomach over water just poured from a tap, if it’s got a lid on it’s not going to become contaminated or anything Hmm

busybarbara · 23/08/2018 21:30

Our dishwasher makes this noise. I turn it on when I go to bed at midnight and then about 20 minutes later it sounds like someone turning a tap on and off over and over in a totally different part of the house - I just figured it's the pipes.

wildewillow · 23/08/2018 21:39

People are strange. Get some ear plugs.
Every time I go to the loo or have a bath I can hear my weird neighbour suddenly needs to be in his bathroom too. 9 times out of 10 this happens. Hoping he hasn't got a spy hole somewhere in the skirting board.

Helpimfalling · 23/08/2018 21:40

Muslims waking up for fajr prayed and performing wudu

pinkstripeycat · 23/08/2018 21:42

Maybe someone has OCD?

SimonBridges - that sound like something to do with swimming to me. I know people whose kids are on swim teams and they always swim at 3 or 4 am