DIY noise is an epidemic?!

[Ts13folklore]

Just need some support.

I live near the Edinburgh city bypass and since buying this semi detached maisonette flat four years ago the DIY and construction noise has ruined my mental health.

There's been an onslaught of newbuild developments right behind my garden, and council tenants have been placed there. The amount of noise we hear from screaming children and dogs barking every second, to constant banging and dodgy DIY noise is appalling.

My upstairs neighbours footsteps are also unbearable. I don't feel like I can ask them to put in carpet as they've said they hate it. I dread to think about the noise when they start to have children.

The adjoining wall is a council property which constantly has families in and out and they trash the place every year so the council send workers to do it up and the amount of noise they produce is a joke. The people above next door are doing a DIY roof extension which has been going on since we moved in.

I'm awoken by noise around 4-5 times a week and have developed sound misophina. The ultimate goal is now to save up and get a detached house because at least that cuts out party wall noise and footsteps from above.

Separately, I hear similar stories from friends (who live in tenement flats) and family members (suburbs around Edinburgh and Glasgow) who have expressed similar concern.

People are constantly doing botched DIY jobs that take years(!!) to complete and often times need redoing only a few years later. At work, I've heard general theories that because getting work done is so expensive, people are DIYing it themselves. It could also be because people are extending their houses as adult children can no longer move out.

Have you experienced this?

It sounds as though you have an extreme reaction to all noise and "DIY" is just one of your long list of complaints.

People are pretty noisy. If it is not DIYing then it is kids screaming. Dogs barking or hot tubs humming. Lawnmowers or power tools. BBQs and parties.

The only solutions are ear plugs or to move away. I like silence. But it really does cost big money if you live on a crowded island.

You are absolutely right. I’m going to need to invest in sound therapy for misophonia at this rate!

Definitely..I think I’m going to have to actively seek quiet living spaces.

Oh no! Not - gasp! - council tenants!

I've always been super sensitive to noise, also rooms with no air flow so a double whammy! Alexa playing white noise, background music, ear plugs, but still drives me mad 😠 Ised to kive in a detached in a quiet area, now near main roads and I hate it, desperate to move but DP thinks aibu. Xxx

I love that DIY sounds different and worse to professional construction, and that "botched" or "dodgy ' diy sounds even worse!😂

And that tenants that pay their rent to the council sound different to those paying a private landlord! And I bet, so much worse than those who pay a mortgage to a bank!

You've obviously got very special ears OP.

OP has a point though. Some people doing their own DIY can take bloody ages to get it finished (I mean years), compared to a team of experienced/trained builders who get the job done in a week! It drags on for months. Plus professionals carry out the work Mon-Fri, whereas people doing DIY tend to do it in evenings and weekends which impacts neighbours.

Well said.

My area has lots of existing long-term council tenants. They’re all amazing! However, a lot of the new council tenants in housing schemes where developers dedicate 25% to social housing are very different. They seem to be very young with a minimum of 3 kids. They all have very barky dogs who all set each other off! They also play the radio super loud with loud bassy music! The council tenants I’m used to are not anti social at all..

You clearly have an unusual sensitivity to noise. I feel for you, that can't be nice to live with, but that is very much your problem, not the world's problem.

Yes. DIY takes much longer and is sporadically done. You never know when the person is going to stop and start and at what hours of the day they start. On the other hand, professional work men adhere to the council’s timings. This means you can make adjustments like go out for a walk or visit a family or friends house during the day if you’ve got a migraine, knowing that they’ll be done by 5pm.

In regards to your second point, I was complaining about people that also own their houses that do DIY. The post had nothing to do but complain about my alarming lack of tolerance/understanding towards noise and the trend of people being louder in neighbourhoods further out from the city and less thoughtful in general about the noise they produce

White noise machine! Drowns out next door's baby crying in the night (which I have no issue with, baby's are gonna baby! But it used to wake me up).

Are you actually me? I feel you completely about the windows open and airflow. It really doesn’t make my life easier 🥲 my DP agrees slightly but thankfully is down for a move to a detached house for me! It’s just the affordability part …

I know Edinburgh is expensive. Can you move to a tiny property in a nicer area? Sounds as though the neighbours are the problem rather than DIY.

So glad to meet someone else who has my issues! First thing I do when I go anywhere is look for an open window and if there isn't one I will do it! Have always hated outside noise I have no control over. We lived in a lovely quiet cul de sac, wish we had never left, it was perfect. Please find your quiet space, will be a while before I can again. Xxx

Great. Second council / social housing bashing thread I’ve read today.

Edinburgh is noisy I used to live in the city centre. I now live in the middle of nowhere and the neighbours are just as noisy. All the lambs have just been born and every 5 seconds it’s Maa answered by a plaintive Baa. As soon as they find each other another one lot starts up.

The barn owls sound like someone is screaming and the swallows nest on the other side of a 2 foot wall but somehow sound like they are in bed
with me. I wear earplugs. There is no escape, sorry.

I know what you mean. My mum was a council tenant and the entire block had been there for years and it was all pleasant and fine. Next block along had a ground floor flat which seemed to have a revolving door of questionable tenants. Lots of drug users.

The stairwell reeked of piss and there was a series of flytipped mattresses/ sofas abandoned out front almost like they were trying to be a cliche! I think it really put me off trying drugs as an adult as I always associated them with incontinence and squalor.

It only takes a few difficult people to have a pretty big effect on lots of others.

It sounds like there’s a lot of noise to deal with there.

Can you sell up and buy somewhere less busy?

My sister once said "There is always someone, somewhere using an angle grinder within earshot"
My sister is not wrong.

as i said: OH NO! NOT COUNCIL TENANTS!