To just want a peaceful life?!

[SpiderStan]

Me and DP moved into our house in August last year. Lovely 3-bed house in a quiet cul-de-sac in a nice little village, we searched a while to find this home.

3 weeks into lockdown (in April) a new family moved in next door. We quickly learnt that this couple (and teenage daughter) are the proud owners of a big barky dog, and two Subaru's with noisy exhausts. The husband goes to work every morning in his one and the wife uses hers throughout the day (to run errands I'm guessing), and when they fires either car up it vibrates throughout our entire house. Unlucky for us, we picked the bedroom at the front of the house (right above their driveway) to be the babys room, and I see this being a problem in the future (I am currently 5 months pregnant). No matter which room we choose, the noise vibrates throughout the whole house and can be heard from the back garden too. It's so annoying. They are nice enough people, but their cars are ridiculous.

I feel your pain op. Our house is detached but at right angles to our neighbours so our bedroom window in next to their garage.
Every morning at 6 the husband gets his noisy van complete with loud exhaust and shrieking from starter motor out of the garage.
Thing is he then doesn’t leave for work until 8. Wakes me up every morning.

Is your house a new build? Could there be structural issues? Noisy vehicles shouldn't cause a whole house to vibrate.

What exactly are you expecting them to.do? Not drive their cars?
They could revert to a standard exhaust system.
Is your house a new build? Could there be structural issues? Noisy vehicles shouldn't cause a whole house to vibrate.
You obviously haven't experienced this. It's a reverberation of low frequencies and it can be very disruptive.

I've experienced plenty of noisy vehicles, been disturbed but never a vibrating house. That seems odd.

@recycledbottle

Is there something wrong with the exhausts of both cars?

No, I think they were made to be like that.

The reason it vibrates throughout the house is because both cars are parked forward-facing, so the exhausts are right up against their own wall, and the noise travels through the small alleyway in between our houses that leads to our back garden causing the noise to be even more concentrated and rattling against the walls. And the other reason it vibrates throughout the house is because their exhausts are ridiculously loud! I don't know what they have, or why, their exhaust pipes are 3-4 times bigger than the one on my car.

I am relieved to read that my baby should sleep through the noise, and I am hoping this is the case! Thank you.

@riotlady

I can’t honestly believe that they have two cars with such ridiculous exhausts that they make your house vibrate. I think you might be a touch over sensitive.

I couldn't believe it either. I remember the first time I heard it, I thought the boiler was about to explode or something but no, it was their car rumbling on their driveway and echoing up through the access alleyway between our houses. Unfortunately, all of the bedrooms, besides the box room, are on that side of the house.

Seriously, I urge you to get a car with a loud exhaust like theirs, have the car start up while the exhaust is pointing in the direction of a narrow gap between two houses, stand inside one of them and let me know what you think.

I may need to ask if they can park front-on so that the noise doesn't travel down the gap, as I think that's causing it to be a bigger problem than it otherwise would be.

Look at the exhausts and if they look modified then they might be illegal.

My DH has a Subaru with a huge exhaust. It is a bit noisier than some cars when starting up but nothing like you are describing. I suggest that either there is something wrong with their cars (not so likely if it’s both, but possible), they are revving them up too much or, possibly, you are particularly sensitive to the noise. It could be a combination of the the last two factors.

Others are right - your baby is very likely to sleep through this noise. If it bothers you hugely then you could speak to them nicely and ask whether they could try to mitigate the noise when starting up.

My DH’s exhaust is not modified but that is a good point - theirs might be. I hadn’t considered that. I wouldn’t ask if they are modified. But you could ask if they are working correctly as the noise is so loud. See what they say. Depending on the road it might be dangerous for them to reverse out onto it but so long as it is safe then doing that seems A good idea. It won’t reduce the noise but it might reduce the vibration.

Asking them why the exhausts are so loud without directly asking if modified sounds like a sensible suggestion.

I have a basement carpark directly below me, and a porsche owner that thought he needed to rev the engine for ten minutes or so every Saturday morning - noise and vibrations were awful.
Stopped after I went down one morning (yes, got dressed, went down into car park and he was STILL doing it) and explained how noisy and disruptive it was - not to mention car park filled with fumes.
Now its just the random residents that decide to do all their DIY below my flat.....