To tell my neighbour I won’t stop running on my treadmill?

[Oldhag5]

Following on from the thread about the piano teacher where the consensus seems to be she can teach and play piano in her own home…..
I am trying to lose weight and bought a new treadmill which I have put in my garage. The garage is in a block and there are two flats above the block. I was running/walking on it and the neighbour from upstairs came down and said ‘that’s a very noisy machine you’ve got there’. The neighbours have lived there about a year and we get on ok, pass the time of day etc but this has made me feel really uncomfortable. It was during the day and I’d only been on it for about 15 minutes. I wouldn’t plan to use it for more than half an hour a day. Surely if you buy a flat above garages you would realise there would be some noise? Just like I live in a terraced house, one side the neighbours have a treadmill and they use it for about 2 hours a day (couple both very into fitness) and whilst it can be annoying I accept they are entitled to use a treadmill in their home. So should I just carry on using it, should I stop or should I just face him out and say I’m not going to stop running on it? Maybe ask if there is a specific time he would like me to avoid but other than that use my own treadmill in my own garage?

"I am sorry about the noise. Which 30 minutes in the day would be best for you?"

I'd say it's only half an hour a day. Carry on using it. Don't worry about it.

This. In the flats near where I live, the management company would come down on you pretty hard for using your garage as a makeshift gym. I forget the exact phrasing of the leasehold contract - something like ‘using the garage for the storage of one personal motor vehicle and associated items’. Nobody fusses if someone uses their garage for storage but something like this, they’d be on it like a shot.

You need to check your legal position on the garage. The rules when there is domestic housing built over it can be very different to a stand alone garage or one attached only to your house.

A carpet, whilst better than nothing won't actually absorb much noise, also what's above your head / is there a ceiling? Either way you can buy inexpensive things to really deaden the noise - probably not official treadmill mats as there will be a premium but you could definitely show willing by doing something and then after that, just crack on and well done on making healthier life choices - too many of us just think about it

Keep using the treadmill in your garage and try your best to forget about what your neighbour said. You need to do this for your health and mental well-being so don't let them make you self-conscious. It's only 30mins per day! Just do it!

I really don’t want to upset my neighbours but then I think they have upset me by making me doubt whether I can use my treadmill. I really need to lose the weight for my mental well-being

YABU here. Just because you feel upset that they complained about the noise does not give you the right to also upset them by making noise. The two are not comparable. And throwing mental well-being/health into every post as if it gives you the right to do what you want is getting out of hand.

Either decide to keep running and let them deal with half an hour of noise, or don’t. There’s no need to be so emotional about it.

That’ll be in my head for 3 days now, which is a not bad choice.

op I think it’s neighbourly to check with him if there’s a time he would particularly like you to avoid. But remember it’s reasonable to use your treadmill regularly and you don’t need to feel bad about it nor do you have to justify it to your neighbour. Lots of people do noisy things in their garages, I think it might have been naive of him to expect silence.

also look into soundproofing although I doubt there’s anything that’ll make it that quiet

I must be old fashioned or something. I thought garages were for the use with a car/motorbike. I’m used to people repairing said vehicles in them, so thought engine sounds and banging were the norm.

I don’t know how the neighbours would cope with those noises if they find half hour of treadmill difficult.

Forgot all about that. In the Seventies, my dad had a garage in a block five minutes' walk away rented from the council in which he stored our car, Bessie, and some tools and camping gear. One night the place went up in an explosion. About five fire engines came which is a lot. Someone was storing Calor gas bottles when he shouldn't have been.

Luckily the firemen and Bessie were okay but the people with nearer garages lost everything. You have to spell out rules because otherwise people do idiotic things. Sometimes they do them even when there are rules because they think: "What harm could that do?".

I think it’s really poor to not have a proper antivibration mat when you’re attached to neighbours. And garages tend to be particularly poorly insulated so the sound probably carries more than it would if you were just in a downstairs flat.

But keep up the running - it’s great for you. Helps with weight loss and builds cardiovascular fitness that just makes life easier.

You would only be unreasonable if it’s during the night. Keep on with your goals to lose weight 👍

If I bought a flat above garages, I’d expect noise from cars going in or out, or people accessing things at the weekend, but I wouldn’t expect it to be used as a kind of house extension. I voted YABU for that reason. As said above, you could also be breaching the rules.

Put it in your house or go for the cheapest option - running on the spot 😀

There's probably not a lot of soundproofing in the floor but as you're not pounding away at ridiculous hours it shouldn't be be an issue.

It’s quite possible that in a garage with a flat over, working on the car is banned, too. It is in the flats / garages I mentioned in my earlier posts.

If the developers had any sense, they will have addressed this in the original documentation. I’m pretty sure at least the garage will be leasehold since the flat over will be even if the OP’s house isn’t. If that’s the case, it doesn’t matter whether anyone thinks the OP’s behaviour is reasonable or not reasonable. If she’s contracted not to do it when she bought (rented?) her house, she can’t unless she wants the management company to get involved.

If there’s nothing in the paperwork to stop her, she can crack on (although it would be nice to mitigate the noise as much as possible) but I think she needs to check her legal position first.

I have one at a friend's and it is loud.

But there's nothing wrong with you using it in the daytime (And maybe not weekend mornings just to be extra considerate.)

My ex-neighbour had one at the bottom of the garden in a shed thumping away listening to Dolly Parton. It used to wake me up early on Sunday morning and when the husband got on it my house used to vibrate.

I would ask if there is a particular time it would be best to avoid (eg if they ate working from home).

Or even better, perhaps ask them to let you know in advance if they have zoom meetings at a particular time or whatever, which you then will avoid. At least this shows you are being considerate without promising you won’t ever use it at certain times of the day (which could end up being a bit restrictive for you).

You sound nice and considerate OP. I haven’t read all the replies but I would just try to talk to the neighbours about it. If they are reasonable they will be OK with you doing it for the time you’ve mentioned, especially if you ask what time of day would be best for them. It’s always better to try to get along with neighbours if you can, because if you continue to do it with bad feeling; you’ll get very stressed about it even if you’re in the right.

Sounds like they heard a noise they hadn’t heard before and just wanted to know what it was, to make sure there wasn’t anything wrong, they saw it was a treadmill and that was that.

@Oldhag5 Weights are silent and much better for your health and definitely easier on your joints.

She should be grateful. My neighbour whose garage adjoins mine keeps a couple of big motorbikes in it, think Harley type chopper bikes. He tinkers with them for a day at a time, starting them up and revving periodically.

@CrabbiesGingerBeer is talking perfect sense.

If there are no restrictions on how the garage can be used, it would still be kind and neighbourly to mitigate the noise as much as possible. Whilst they have not explicitly asked you to stop using it, you could consider asking which of the times you would prefer to use it, would disturb them the least.

Where are your kids when you are in the garage?

Your neighbour is being ridiculous. It's half an hour during day time. How on earth do they cope with people cutting their grass or something similarly loud?

"I live in a terraced house, one side the neighbours have a treadmill and they use it for about 2 hours a day (couple both very into fitness) and whilst it can be annoying I accept they are entitled to use a treadmill in their home."
I'm intrigued as to why you didn't choose to put your treadmill against the wall adjoining these neighbours? You could have run at the same time as they do, which might have made your annoyance with them less as you wouldn't hear them, just yourself IYSWIM? If I put a treadmill in my garage I'd never use it - I'm very 'out of sight, out of mind'. Whereas if it was in the room, and next door started up, I'd more likely jump right on !

I wouldn't worry too much about using it in the garage, though - unless your half-hour is in the evening so your neighbour can't hear the TV, or through the night so that you're waking them. Half an hour, during the day - meh! And as has been said by others, your neighbour may just have come to see what the not-heard-before noise was. Don't let that stop you using the treadmill.