Neighbours noise!!

LegacyUser · 18-01-2009 6:57pm #1

Not sure if this belongs in PI, but it certainly is a personal issue for me anyway!

In summary, live in semi-d with OH (just the 2 of us). Family next door (attached) have 3 kids and create a huge amount of noise pretty much constantly. It seems every time one of them go from one room to another, they have to nearly take the door off the hinges and it verberates through our house. I should add at this point we've had issues with noise and insulation of the walls that sort of stuff and I managed to get the builders back to remedy some issues with sound insulation. This has probably improved things by 20% but it certainly hasn't blocked out the constant noise.

From when the kids wake up at 7am from when the adults go to bed 12am, pretty much the noise will be there. OK, I know for some people this mightn't be a life-or-death issue, but when it affects your quality of life on a daily basis, after 4+ years it starts to get you down.

I don't know what to do, I just think to ask them politely to keep the noise down might seem petty, but then again they mightn't be aware of how noisy they are. Also, in the past I've chatted to them about other things to do with the neighbourhood watch etc and I get the impression they just nodded and said "yes, I agree" even though they didn't really get what I was telling them. The family in question are nigerian - which in itself is not an issue in case anybody tries to make a race issue from this. Although when they have lots of their friends around, the noise can tend to go up quite a few decibels, which we've also had to cope with ("oh sh*t, here's more visitors, there goes our plans for an early night").

so my options are - a) approach them politely and explain the issue b)buy some door stoppers and bring them around suggesting we use them and find them great and maybe they'd like to give them a try, c) bang on the wall loudly whenever there's another door banging convention, or d)... any other suggestions?

advice or similar problems faced by borders would be great!
thanks,
D.

Antilles · 18-01-2009 8:09pm

Whatever you do don't be a jerk about it! My neighbour in my last apartment jumped out at me in the hallway and started shouting about me banging doors. I'd never noticed we were loud but if he'd been reasonable I would have taken steps (like door stoppers, as you suggest), but he was a jerk so I ramped up the noise I was making five fold.

I was already due to move out a week or so later so that might have had something to do with my attitude, but its never good policy to be aggressive to your neighbours!

Poutbutton · 18-01-2009 8:19pm

I experinced something similar to this but was in a house share at the time. Now it was a big house share with 6 housemates, 3 bedrooms downstairs 3 upstairs, wooden floors throughout, wooden doors, wooden drawers and cupboards in the kitchen. It was a 4 year old "kit2 house and all the framing was also wooden. Anyway, one of the girls was particularly tiny but boy could she slam doors, drawers cupboards etc. I slept above the kitchen so heard everything plus the door slamming.
I went to the hardware store and found this insulation cushion tape, I had seen my father installing it in our own home when I was a kid. I bought 2 rounds of the stuff, it comes in verying degrees of thickness, it comes in white, cream, brown or beige so you can pick the one that suits your neighbours wood...will get back to this point!
I put it on EVERY door all around the edges of the door frames, I put it inside every cupboard and drawer where the wood slammed off the frames. I was a woman on a mission. The perpertrator came home that evening & I relished in watching her whacking in her usual way only to dicover every whack had been cushioned with my tape! Heaven.
So, how to approach your neighbours, this is the sensitive part. Well you could go round your own house with the husband from next door and being as polite as you can (Lots of smiling and a hand shake is appreciated believe me) and demonstrate a slamming door then apply the tape and show him how quiet it is after the tape is on the frame. Also add to the inside of kitchen presses to let him know it can be used anywhere the kids are banging. Tell him now that your wife is a very light sleeper and sufffers with migraine and offer him your "leftover tape", (have at least 3 rounds of it stuffed into one pack) tell him "you put it on your doors then the kids wont wreck your doors or my wifes headache. Your welcome friend" or something similar and hope for the best! You could do it the boring conventional way but without the tape the door slamming will not stop. Good luck & I hope it works!

LegacyUser · 18-01-2009 10:48pm

Just a suggestion here, but you do realise that if this noise from neighbours is really causing you hassle, you do have the right to contact the Department of the Environment/your local County Council about it....

..as i understand it, you can firstly approach your neighbour and ask them nicely to stop making noise. Also, you do have the right to let them know, that the Department of the Environment/your local county council can get involved if the racket doesn't cease.

cute_cow · 18-01-2009 11:15pm

Unregistered wrote: »

Just a suggestion here, but you do realise that if this noise from neighbours is really causing you hassle, you do have the right to contact the Department of the Environment/your local County Council about it....

..as i understand it, you can firstly approach your neighbour and ask them nicely to stop making noise. Also, you do have the right to let them know, that the Department of the Environment/your local county council can get involved if the racket doesn't cease.

I have to say I know exactly where you are coming from. Lived in an apartment, and the noise of our next door neighbour was madness, every day and every night. As we were renting, we decided to move on and get somewhere else. That was a year ago, and thankfully never had any noise since (fingers crossed).

However, I am sure you don't wanna do this

I do agree with the unreg post above. Contact your local authority and they can direct you to the environment department or here and see what your options are.

Try not to let it get u down though, there are always ways to help us. Good Luck.

Reflector · 19-01-2009 1:04pm

The house I currently live in we had a polish guy, he used to play this terrible dance music with the same bass rhythm thumping through the whole house so much so that although it was bad for us the neighbours had it worse as the vibrations of the bass would go through the whole house. Anyway our neighbour complained again and again but not when he was playing the music. I had a long chat with the neighbour one day as he said that he was going to contact our landlord. I asked him to call in when it was noisy but he was having none of it and said that he wouldn't like to do that. I got really pissed off with his threats of ringing our landlard as they knew eachother but I had to do something so I had a word with the Polish guy who didn't really talk to anyone else in the house which is what made it so difficult to approach him. Anyway he stopped doing it as much and eventually he moved out. But the neighbour started to complain about a twiddly sound coming from the house. It was someone practising (classical) guitar which is not that noisy and no later than 12 midnight.

So in conclusion after that ramble, I think that you have to tolerate some noise, some people just are not aware of how much noise they make especially if the have come from a place where they were living in a detached house possibly with no close neighbours. I would suggest that you bring it up politely and just say that the houses are not very noise proof and that you can hear a lot going on next door. this might prompt them into inquiring are they too noisy??. With 3 kids you are going to have some unavoidable noise but when they are off to bed I'm sure the parents could make some effort to keep it down. You already talk to them about neighbourhood stuff so just drop it in to another one of these conversations.

happyoutscan · 19-01-2009 1:10pm

Poutbutton wrote: »

I experinced something similar to this but was in a house share at the time. Now it was a big house share with 6 housemates, 3 bedrooms downstairs 3 upstairs, wooden floors throughout, wooden doors, wooden drawers and cupboards in the kitchen. It was a 4 year old "kit2 house and all the framing was also wooden. Anyway, one of the girls was particularly tiny but boy could she slam doors, drawers cupboards etc. I slept above the kitchen so heard everything plus the door slamming.
I went to the hardware store and found this insulation cushion tape, I had seen my father installing it in our own home when I was a kid. I bought 2 rounds of the stuff, it comes in verying degrees of thickness, it comes in white, cream, brown or beige so you can pick the one that suits your neighbours wood...will get back to this point!
I put it on EVERY door all around the edges of the door frames, I put it inside every cupboard and drawer where the wood slammed off the frames. I was a woman on a mission. The perpertrator came home that evening & I relished in watching her whacking in her usual way only to dicover every whack had been cushioned with my tape! Heaven.
So, how to approach your neighbours, this is the sensitive part. Well you could go round your own house with the husband from next door and being as polite as you can (Lots of smiling and a hand shake is appreciated believe me) and demonstrate a slamming door then apply the tape and show him how quiet it is after the tape is on the frame. Also add to the inside of kitchen presses to let him know it can be used anywhere the kids are banging. Tell him now that your wife is a very light sleeper and sufffers with migraine and offer him your "leftover tape", (have at least 3 rounds of it stuffed into one pack) tell him "you put it on your doors then the kids wont wreck your doors or my wifes headache. Your welcome friend" or something similar and hope for the best! You could do it the boring conventional way but without the tape the door slamming will not stop. Good luck & I hope it works!

Agreed (very good post)

MagicMarker · 19-01-2009 1:10pm

The issue isn't your neighbour's noise, it's the shíte insulation in your walls.

Either put up with it or move out.

LegacyUser · 20-01-2009 8:50am

MagicMarker wrote: »

The issue isn't your neighbour's noise, it's the shíte insulation in your walls.

Either put up with it or move out.

OP here.
great suggestion, sure it only cost me 300k+.

LegacyUser · 20-01-2009 9:44am

A family with 3 kids are going to make noise, one way or another.

As Wibbs said, it seems to be more an issue with the poor standard of insulation in the house.

Maybe you are also making the same noise as well but do not realise it?

LegacyUser · 26-01-2009 4:28pm

The problem is definitely the poor build quality of housing in the last number of years, paper thin walls seem to be the norm. Families of all sizes are going to make noise, especially with young kids & their toys, so there is no real insulation in these walls & the only answer is to soundproof.
Whatever you do don't start banging on walls as this will get their backs up and only add to the problem. Banging on walls is paramount to declaring war on your neighbours & is the refuge of the lazy minded & dim witted housewives of the 70's.

LegacyUser · 27-01-2009 3:37pm

Just a suggestion here, but you do realise that if this noise from neighbours is really causing you hassle, you do have the right to contact the Department of the Environment/your local County Council about it....

..as i understand it, you can firstly approach your neighbour and ask them nicely to stop making noise. Also, you do have the right to let them know, that the Department of the Environment/your local county council can get involved if the racket doesn't cease.[/QUOTE]

Its not actually something that is dealt with by most Local Authorities. The EPA Act 1992 Section 108, allows for folks to take their own action through the courts in order to get this issue resolved speedily.

Max Power1 · 27-01-2009 10:46pm

Unregistered wrote: »

Its not actually something that is dealt with by most Local Authorities. The EPA Act 1992 Section 108, allows for folks to take their own action through the courts in order to get this issue resolved speedily.

Best to take it up informally with the neighbour first before taking drastic legal action!! They probably dont even know that they are making noise!

LegacyUser · 27-01-2009 11:14pm

I have the utmost sympathy for you. After investing all my savings in a semi-detached house, I was devastated when my neighbours made my life miserable. They were also a Nigerian family, and I approached them about the parties and noise but they were unresponsive. The Guards had to be called at 5 a.m. one morning after a night of noise. Things did not change until I threatened legal action against the landlord. I put my house on the market and was lucky enough to sell it just after they moved out.

The legal route is the best way to go if they do not respond to reasonable requests to quieten down. But there may be a possibility of a backlash. They accused me of being racist to the local integration group (who believed them) and to the Guards. As I said, it was a devastating experience and I emigrated shortly after.

MagicMarker · 27-01-2009 11:42pm

Unregistered wrote: »

OP here.
great suggestion, sure it only cost me 300k+.

More fool you tbh.

If I'm going to part with 300k then I'll make damn sure it's money well spent. People live all around me, side to side and above me. I don't hear a thing.

RuailleBuaille · 28-01-2009 1:33pm

MagicMarker wrote: »

More fool you tbh.

If I'm going to part with 300k then I'll make damn sure it's money well spent. People live all around me, side to side and above me. I don't hear a thing.

Possibly THE most unhelpful and pointless answer I've seen on PI.

OP you can only talk to your neighbours. If that fails, a little taste of their own medicine might help. I had the exact same problem (wasn't standing there watching when builders fitted insulation, more fool me :rolleyes: ) and a little bit of rap music at high volumes seemed to get the point across. Not reccomending it as a first resort though!)

tbh · 28-01-2009 1:46pm

tell them the vibrations from the slamming doors are causing pics to fall off your wall and smash, and ask them if they could try to be a little bit more gentle.

seamus · 28-01-2009 1:59pm

I imagine it's to do with fire doors. Every single time you walk in or out of a fire door, the bloody thing slams shut behind you. Now it's not that hard to simply not let the door slam itself shut, but there's no way in hell you're going to get 3 kids to do that.

When we first moved into our place, every door was slamming shut when we went through it. It takes a while to get used to it. Kids don't give a **** about noise and will let the doors slam.

I would say that you should maybe suggest door stoppers to them so that they can leave all of their doors open during the day.

Neighbours noise!!

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