Noisy Neighbours

[brunetteonthebus]

I posted this in chat the other week but it was very quiet so I'm re posting here because I'm really not sure if I'm being UR or not. Feel free to tell me if you think I am (I know you all will!)

We live in a semi, attached by one wall, no other neighbours close by. House next door sold a while ago. The new people seem nice and aren't moving in until they've done some work on the house. About six weeks ago they started and apparently there's about another six weeks to go.

My god the noise. It isn't decorating. It's ripping out walls. Ceilings. Central heating. Windows. Bathrooms. It's constant banging and smashing from 8am - 4pm every single day even weekends (they do start at 9am on the weekends generally but it was 8 today which woke me up on the one day of the week I get a chance to have a bit of a catch up).

It is lockdown. DH is (trying to!) WFH. I am trying to homeschool a reception age child with ASD who gets sent into meltdown at loud, repetitive noises. I also have a toddler to entertain, who gets woken at nap time constantly which is having a knock on effect on night sleep meaning we're now all back to getting broken sleep at night after a year of her sleeping through and she's cranky as hell. We're trying to record videos of reception child reading for the teacher to assess etc and you can't hear a damn word. Thank god it's half term this week.

Ordinarily, DH would be at work, eldest would be in school and I could escape the majority of it with the toddler being out and about. I could even borrow a key from my mum and use her house for me and the toddler to be in if needs be for a bit. But I can't. We're stuck here.

I'm using ear defenders for DD where I can, we've tried moving rooms, DH has got a headset from work. None of its helping much. We're literally living one wall away from a building site and it's doing me in.

Lockdown is hard enough, without this.

I said to DH this morning that I was going to (nicely) ask them to please not start until 9am at weekends as I was so pissed off at being woken this morning after putting up with it all damn week again. He said I can't do that, that they're not doing anything wrong (he thinks it's UR to speak to them even though he too is annoyed at the noise). He's worried about getting off on the wrong foot with them I think, although clearly they aren't worried about the same with us.

So, am I UR? Should I just put up and shut up?

To add, I'm very conscious of noise that we make. I don't let the children run screaming in the garden early doors, we don't play loud music or have parties, if the eldest has a meltdown I move to the other side of the house with her so as not to disturb people. And to be honest we have never heard normal neighbour noise from their house even though the previous occupants had two very screamy little boys and a very booming deep voiced Dad (I used to hear them in the garden) so I don't think a normal level of living noise really carries or is a problem. It's the building noise! The new people have a baby and I'm not bothered if it cries and we hear it, we're used to baby noise.

I jokingly said a few weeks ago regarding my local house building works that it was ordained by God that construction can only take place between 8am and 4pm. If there are roadworks you will never see a workman (or woman) doing anything outside these hours.

It is now daylight in most of the country until after 5pm, no reason not to ask for a later start on a Sunday. Approach them politely first.

It's not like you get anything at the end of all this

I got a poinsetta from my NDN after 9 months of noisy hell !

@Roussette

It's not like you get anything at the end of all this

I got a poinsetta from my NDN after 9 months of noisy hell !

Well that's alright then! What're you moaning about?!

🤣
It died in a week ... that sums up the whole experience!

I have a similar issue in that want to ask neighbours to delay extension, as I have 2 teenagers. One studying for GCSEs (if they go ahead with mini exams) and other back from uni. I also have to work from home and deliver training sessions. I have discussed with employer about this and have advised me that if I cannot complete training I will be redundant!!!!! Cannot work from somewhere else as vulnerable and not allowed to form a bubble. I understand why they want to do work but they are moving out due to noise and dust while work is going on, I do not have that option.

God, you are all better than me. I have asked my NDN's builders to turn their radio down/ off a few times and even to stop their building works as it was so loud I couldn't myself speak (drilling and tearing down a wall right next to me) as I was leading a client meeting. Now they tell us if in advance if going to be excessively loud so we can cancel client meetings etc. We live in a tiny house, they don't live in the house they are renovating at all ?its empty apart from the builders) and the constant noise on top of juggling meetings and homeschooling is a nightmare. 6 months and another 6 weeks to go apparently.... we have kept it all pleasant but I don't know how much long I'll be able to.....

Sounds awful

I’d ask them to not work on Sundays.

And I would have no worries about children playing in the garden or general playing noise after they move in.

Update, I did go and speak to him yesterday after toddler got woken from her nap again and I was pissed off.

I was really nice, I hope, and after a brief 'how are you doing?' chat, I asked how much longer they're expecting the building work to go on for (even though I knew, roughly). He said about another three weeks (so that's better than I'd been told before) as they'd made good progress and he asked if it was a problem. Explained that I understand why they're doing it now etc, but that it's been very disruptive with trying to homeschool and not being able to leave the house etc.

He said he was really sorry; they hadn't thought about it being lockdown and us all being at home they just want it done so they can move in. Said the majority of the really noisy stuff is nearly done and the last two weeks will be things like painting and putting carpets in which should be much quieter. Also said sorry about starting early on Saturday, that I should have yelled at him out of the window and he'd have shut up!

He then went on to say that as they've been nuisance neighbours (his words!) he'll give us a knock when the restrictions allow and the weather is nice and he hopes we'll let him have a bbq at theirs and a few drinks to make up for it.

So all's well that ends well. Two weeks of big noise to put up with, but one of those is half term so only one more with schooling to do.

Ah that's nice OP. They sound like decent people, they just hadn't realised the impact on you. Good neighbours are priceless, evidenced by lots of the threads I see on MN!

Great news!
They sound reasonable

Once they’ve finished the demolition aspects of the work it should get quieter. If it’s the neighbours themselves who are doing the work rather than builders ( I might have misinterpreted this?) perhaps you could ask for a quiet period during your child’s zoom lesson which I imagine is only an hour or so?

No good complaining on here much as I don’t blame you if you don’t have a chat with them and ask for some minor concessions.

Sorry I missed your update. Well done!