Neighbours smoke alarm - advice please

Sheepdish1

Hi. Was just hoping to get some advice on how to handle a situation.

I live in an apartment block and my neighbour across the hall has a smoke alarm at their front door which is beeping ''low battery'' sound day and night.
It is beeping/chirping every 40 seconds every single day and night and has being doing so when I moved in two months ago.

My apartment is small. I can here it throughout my house and my bedrooms are situated opposite their front door - I can't leave my bedroom doors open at night and I can hear it in bed when trying to sleep. I have a young baby so am here at the house a lot in the mornings and can hear it go off literally once a minute the entire time I am here

Its starting to really frustrate me....for example I am studying and working when my baby is asleep in the mornings and sometimes at night. If we are eating in my kitchen or relaxing in the sitting room I can hear it.

I can't leave my kitchen/sitting room door open because of the beep so instead of letting baby sleep in the bedroom and keeping an ear out for him I have to settle him and then drag the cot into the kitchen/sitting room area as to avoid hearing the beeping every 40 secs:( I shouldn't be doing that as it's not really safe doing carrying and dragging furniture on my own. I have to do this every time I want to use the sitting/room and kitchen area even though the bedroom is only 10ft away.....

Two weeks ago I called in and explained to them it was keeping me awake and was very polite etc and. They are very nice and apologetic and also have young children so I thought they would be understanding. I ''happened to have a spare'' battery to give them but unfortunately the cover wouldn't come off so an electrician will need to look at it. The maintenance company won't change the alarm as they are only contracted to look after the communal area. The neighbours need to get an electrician in but have still not sorted it.

I genuinely don't mind house parties, loud music, people talking, kids banging, screaming, crying etc. In fact I love hearing people having parties as people are having fun:D that is just part of life and I can sleep through that sort of thing no bother and things like that don't irritate me in the slightest


But this chirping noise in unnecessary and extremely irritating and is now relentless. How do I deal with this situation in the nicest way possible. its driving me crazy and aggravating me.

They seem quite nice so I would rather not have awkwardness. Ugh I can actually now hear it through the doors when hey are closed. I think its progressively getting louder

Thanks in advance

moonshadow

Just do this..
https://youtu.be/7AQvjqhnHTE

Sheepdish1

moonshadow wrote: »

Just do this..
https://youtu.be/7AQvjqhnHTE

Thanks moonshadow but the clip inside seems to be broken so it can't be taken off. Its the same as mine but there clip is broken so it can't be opened, I tried myself. They need to get someone up to remove it but I don't think they will organise that

Rackstar

Shouldn't the management company be sorting that out?

Sheepdish1

No its inside an apartment so it is not up to the management company

miezekatze

How does this not bother them?! Do they own the place or do they rent? If they own it, why won't they just rip the cover off and take the battery out? If they rent and can't get the thing open without damaging it, they should probably get on to their landlord.

geecee

most newer smoke alarms that I have seen twist off, so it might be a question of just twisting the unit to disconnect it from its base

ted1

Shouldn’t apartments have wired smoke alarms?

Caranica

ted1 wrote: »

Shouldn’t apartments have wired smoke alarms?

They have backup batteries

Sheepdish1

miezekatze wrote: »

How does this not bother them?! Do they own the place or do they rent? If they own it, why won't they just rip the cover off and take the battery out? If they rent and can't get the thing open without damaging it, they should probably get on to their landlord.

I know I just don't understand how it doesn't bother them It is beeping every 40 seconds day and night. Someone said to me its been like that for over a year now. It's even louder when they open their front door. It is so loud it sounds like its one of the alarms in my apartment. So it must be twice as loud to them.

The smoke alarms are wired to the mains, You can't really just rip them off, you need an electrician to do it imo or you could risk exposed wires or getting shocked.

Sheepdish1

geecee wrote: »

most newer smoke alarms that I have seen twist off, so it might be a question of just twisting the unit to disconnect it from its base

These ones are the older ones. It looks like the clip to allow the twisting action has been broken.

Gumbo

ted1 wrote: »

Shouldn’t apartments have wired smoke alarms?

Back up battery for power failure. Same for houses.

yosser hughes

Thus is absolutely bizarre! What us wrong with people?

Sheepdish1

yosser hughes wrote: »

Thus is absolutely bizarre! What us wrong with people?

I know of people who have neighbours tvs etc to be turned down which I always thought was weird so I was nervous I was being annoying asking them to fix it incase they thought I was being unreasonable. But its relentless.

It's just so bizarre that it doesn't irritate them

Then again I know someone who ignores a seat belt beep designed and sits in a car with loud beeping noise for entire duration of their journey and refuses to wear seatbelt :rolleyes:

listermint

The alarm is now not fire compliant I suggest the contact their landlord. This could also impact insurance

Sheepdish1

listermint wrote: »

The alarm is now not fire compliant I suggest the contact their landlord. This could also impact insurance

I think they own the house. I really don't want to have to complain to the management company but this is getting ridiculous. I can hear it through the closed doors now and think I will have to go to someone elses house to sleep tomorrow as I'm not going to be able to sleep. I have two children, one is a newborn so that alone is major hassle

James 007

Get someone you know to just put in a new battery for them. I dont know how they put up with that beep noise. I have heard one several times before in a house, 3 floor levels and you could hear it as if it was in the room beside you. They are designed this way. Temporarily get yourself some ear plugs.

Sarn

Edit: I see that it’s wired to the mains. The management company should get the contractors who maintain the block’s fire system out to repair it.

Is there anything in the house rules about noises being heard outside an apartment after certain hours?

Sheepdish1

James 007 wrote: »

Get someone you know to just put in a new battery for them. I dont know how they put up with that beep noise. I have heard one several times before in a house, 3 floor levels and you could hear it as if it was in the room beside you. They are designed this way. Temporarily get yourself some ear plugs.

That's great suggestions and thank you

I had someone I know attempt to fit it two weeks ago as ''I had a spare battery'' and he said that because the clip is broken they need to get an actual electrician in to replace the battery but if they haven't organised this over the last two weeks I can assume I am going to be waiting longer.

I would usually just stick in ear plugs , in fact I have ear plugs, but I can't do this as a have a very young baby and need to be able to hear the baby The smoke alarm is only 10ft from my from my front door and I live in a small apartment so there is no room I can escape the noise. My bedroom door is 16ft from it.

I don't want to cause hassle but this is getting ridiculous.

Sheepdish1

Sarn wrote: »

If it’s one of the ones that you buy yourself why don’t they just remove it completely? That is the bizarrarest thing. What’s the point of having a non-functional smoke alarm that only functions as an annoyance?

If it was my own home it would be fixed or removed within a few minutes of the first beep.

Is there anything in the house rules about noises being heard outside an apartment after certain hours?

Its wired to the mains as most builds after 2000 AFAIK so it can't just be removed.I know, why bother having a smoke alarm if it is beeping non stop.
I think the annoying beep is designed so you actually change it straight away:eek:

I'm not sure about house rules. I'm sure there are rules but I really didn't want to have to go down that road as it seems so petty but this will continue into xmas and beyond as electricians will finish up soon:(

JayRoc

Sheepdish1 wrote: »

Its wired to the mains as most builds after 2000 AFAIK so it can't just be removed.I know, why bother having a smoke alarm if it is beeping non stop.
I think the annoying beep is designed so you actually change it straight away:eek:

I'm not sure about house rules. I'm sure there are rules but I really didn't want to have to go down that road as it seems so petty but this will continue into xmas and beyond as electricians will finish up soon:(

You are having to make a choice of whether to wear ear plugs in your own home or clear out for the night in the hope of getting a proper kip. That isn't petty, honestly.

You seem like a really nice person, and fair play to you for wanting to maintain good relations with your neighbour. But you have to ask yourself why they aren't doing the same for you.

This is a noise that is DESIGNED to be irritating and you have brought it, politely, to their attention. They have done nothing.

You need to decide which is more important: maybe being on awkward terms with a neighbour you hardly see because you had to get thick with them for being inconsiderate bastards, or getting a good night's kip in your own gaff.

Sheepdish1

JayRoc wrote: »

You are having to make a choice of whether to wear ear plugs in your own home or clear out for the night in the hope of getting a proper kip. That isn't petty, honestly.

You seem like a really nice person, and fair play to you for wanting to maintain good relations with your neighbour. But you have to ask yourself why they aren't doing the same for you.

This is a noise that is DESIGNED to be irritating and you have brought it, politely, to their attention. They have done nothing.

You need to decide which is more important: maybe being on awkward terms with a neighbour you hardly see because you had to get thick with them for being inconsiderate bastards, or getting a good night's kip in your own gaff.

Yes, this is all true. If it was people having a party every Friday or Saturday night it honestly wouldn't bother me at all as things like that reasonable and people should be allowed have fun imo....in fact I'm fairly tolerant of noise as I don't like silence.

But an irritating beeping noise is just unnecessary

They seem really nice but if its going on this long and not fixed over the weekend I will have no choice but to blunt about it as its only going to get louder and more frequent than the 40 second interval.

It's comforting to know I am not being over the top so thank you all for your feedback