Inconsiderate Neighbours

[Gorillaandme]

AIBU to think it would be polite if having loud building work done to prior warn next door neighbour (semi detached) of it taking place when they know I have a toddler? (As do they)

I have new neighbours who are completely renovating next door. I have already had issues with them drilling and hammering late at night. Once until 1am. My husband has already had a polite chat about this and they agreed to stop at 8pm. I'm aware most of the renovations are happening after work so that's why we agreed 8pm.

They are having windows fitted this week which we knew nothing about. My daughter (18 months) will only sleep in her pram and I have to push her around for an hour before she falls asleep. This week she has also been teething so getting minimal sleep. Yesterday I took her out and walked around until she fell asleep. I returned to the house shaking and the noise was horrific she woke up instantly and was really distressed. My dog who had been at home well I poped out had shit on kitchen floor because he was so scared and today isn't eating and got upset stomach from stress.

I ended up having to go out in car to let daughter sleep. I got no rest and I didn't have anywhere to take dog.

I'm just angry because if I had known in advance I could have arranged with my sister to go round there with daughter and dog. I'm not sure how long this will be going on either.

Do you think this is inconsiderate on there part or am I the unreasonable one? I don't know whether to say something because I don't want to fall out with them.

Neighbours used to tell people if there was going to be loud noise, party, building work etc. It was good manners. Unfortunately, nobody bothers now.

That is true @CleansUpDragonsPoo. I was thinking more that banging on about what is okay where I am may not be helpful for OP, but I wasn't considering the bigger picture really.

It sounds as though you have an agreement now OP, but as CleansUp said, it may be worth checking for any future occurrences. Hope it is all done sooner rather than later

@NorthernSpirit

"Check permitted building work times on your council website - from memory it’s 8am - 6pm Mon - Fri & 8am - 1pm Sat. No works allowed on a Sun or bank holiday.'
Remember that whatever the council's building work times are, this does not apply to DIY. It applies to when you are having work undertaken by companies.

You can do DIY in Saturday afternoons, on Sundays and after 6 p.m. in the week.

It would be polite if your ndn let you know when noisy renovation work is being done. However, they don't have to.

I wouldn't bother telling a ndn if I was just having new windows fitted. That's not usually very noisy.

As you have agreed they won't work after 8 p.m., and they seem to be adhering to that agreement, I wouldn't say anything further to them.

They don't know the details of your little one's requirements to get her off to sleep and don't need to. You now know when they work they will stop at 8 p.m. so can work around that.

@CleansUpDragonPoo we usually give our dog calming tablets in fireworks but you have to give them 24 hours before and I'm not going to drug him all the time for sake of it. Also fireworks are nowhere near as loud as this building work. However if we had prior notice he could go to my sisters house during the day.

What noise are we talking about?
When it comes to loud noises (brick cutting, drilling etc) our council allows hour chunks.

We has a nightmare with year-long renovations from ex-friendly neughbours.

OP, you have my utmost sympathy.

When would you like them to fit the windows ? The workmen dont know your Daughters nap times.

@Lowlandlucky I think your reading my post all wrong I'm not saying don't make any noise I'm saying please let me know if it's going to be excessively noisy so I can remove my dog and daughter from a situation that is distressing to them.

@SkaraBrae yesterday the noise was them cutting out the old french doors. Like power saw noise but the wall to my kitchen was shaking and it sounded like they were in my kitchen it was that loud.

I think the fact of the matter is workmen work on their own schedule doing a morning here an afternoon there change jobs depending on the weather emergencies etc it would be impossible to know exactly when they turn up . Wouldn’t you be more annoyed if your NDN said noise all day Monday and Tuesday and the builders turn up on Wednesday and Thursday?

Gorilla that sounds like the kind of noise doesn't allow for more than an hour at a time in the day.

Do you know how long they have left? You can email/call your local council and they will send someone to have a look.
If they go on at unreasonable times it is best to log it.

@skarabrae it’s not an hour a day it’s hour chunks or building sites would only allow to be open one hour a day and that’s not the case . I very mush doubt they were cutting french doors all day. Unless they live in a mansion of course

Sorry @SkaraBrae i see you know it’s hour chunks not an hour a day will teach me to read properly

Just wanted to say I feel your pain OP.
I brought my newborn home a couple of weeks ago and the first day she was here next door were electric drilling on the wall ALL DAY. I was shattered, sore and unable to leave the home really because I had given birth 24 hours before.

I just sat and cried and apologised to her because I haven't provided anything better.

It's been ongoing every.single.day since.

I have a mortgage advice appointment booked for this week.
As well as the diy they constantly scream and shout at each other and the children are only young. I woke up this morning to their toddler screaming how much he hated his parents and his parents screaming back. Awful.

If you can, leave and get a detached. If they are that inconsiderate, it honestly won't end there, it will be loud TVs, shouting, garden parties, being a duck with parking, it never ends

You sound like the unreasonable one here. Agreed, working until 1am is rude and inconsiderate, and you were right to talk to them about it. But having to inform you about every bit of hammering and work is unrealistic.
Your toddler will also have to learn how to nap through noise if you're pregnant with number two now!

It wouldn't kill them to put a note through your door

This. We do it, so I don't see why they can't. Currently, both neighbours are having 'minor' works done. Did they tell us? Of course not. First we knew was when they started drilling. If I'd known, I could have made arrangements to be out.

We don't have young kids and it's bad enough, so I really feel for you.

Gorillaandme Tue 01-Oct-19 13:10:56
@CleansUpDragonPoo we usually give our dog calming tablets in fireworks but you have to give them 24 hours before and I'm not going to drug him all the time for sake of it. Also fireworks are nowhere near as loud as this building work. However if we had prior notice he could go to my sisters house during the day.

Oh gosh, @Gorillaandme, I agree, you definitely don't want to drug your poor dog non-stop. Is there a canine equivalent of feliway, which is a pheromone which helps calm most, not all, cats? I wonder if you, the toddler and the dog could camp out day time at your sister's til the worst is over? I know if it were my sister in this predicament, I'd be insisting they spend the days at mine, returning late afternoon / early eve. I'd also tell the builders that and ask if they could get all the really noisy work done from say 10-5 M-F. Builders are fathers too, surely they'd try to help if possible, have you spoken to them, or only the neighbours?

I really feel for you which is why I've been posting all this stuff about councils and work hours. I live next door to the only horrible people on our quiet street, everyone else would give advance notice of any work or parties, and when the neighbours had the builders in, (no note or anything to us) our party wall was vibrating and it was so noisy I couldn't hear my radio. So I spoke to the builders, not to them, and got a rough idea of their schedule, and was able to avoid the worst of it. The builders foreman was very nice and understanding and it did help that he appeared to be sympathetic, especially as the 6-8 weeks turned into 12-14 weeks work. I had to lock my cats inside as I was afraid they would run away, they were so terrified.

I do hope you get some peace soon.

PS. The drilling is bad enough, but why do builders have to play bad radio at full volume? Grrr!

@tiredtrumpet poor you, how awful. Just appalling. It's not love that makes the world go round, it's courtesy! And a little goes a long way.

but why do builders have to play bad radio at full volume?

I'd love to know that too!
Unless they are hating their job so much they are trying to make everybody's life as miserable as they think theirs is? It should be illegal.

Some decent firms take the noise issue very seriously and don't allow ridiculous loud radio on all day.

CannonCaboodle Tue 01-Oct-19 17:49:14
You sound like the unreasonable one here. Agreed, working until 1am is rude and inconsiderate, and you were right to talk to them about it. But having to inform you about every bit of hammering and work is unrealistic.

@CannonCaboodle she doesn't expect them to inform her 'about every bit of hammering', just the really noisy bits. Nothing unreasonable about that.

YABU. Bar the 1am, which was clearly a one off, building work is an entirely normal and to be expected, part of life.

@CleansUpDragonPoo glad someone is actually understanding my OP. I also did say the 1am was the point when we were forced to say something it had been going on late into the night before that. And my husband had been round at 11pm at night and they didn't answer.