Moral Dilemma

[p111dom]

So I'm taking a break as such from the workshop to build some decking in the garden. After day 1 all the joists and laid it rains for most of the day on day 2 so all I manage to do is install noggins. Day 3 All the deck boards go on but on day 4 I'm busy on the morning and go out to start at about 1.30. I hammer 16 150 mm nails in 20mins and pop into the garage to cut something to length when this car pulls up. This heavily pregnant woman gets out and walks up the drive. I was just thinking that the wife must have been ordering from the Avon catalogue or something when this woman goes off on one. Effing and blinding about "4 days of non stop banging" moan moan etc etc and says something about her kid takes a 2 hour nap in the afternoons anytime between 1 and 4pm. Apparently she lives in the house out the back. Not being desperately prepared for this I agree to down tools and start again after 4pm. 4 o'clock comes and it's chucking it down. Speaking to neighbours in the street, they say I'm mad and should have made a careful selection from a limited number of words of the four letter variety and ended the sentence with 'off'! Personally I'm not so sure you see this womoans (not a spelling error!) house is directly behind my garage and I guess of all the houses around me, she would hear noise from the workshop the most. Her complaint wasn't strictly about the workshop or power tool noise but you could visibly see her face getting redder as she looked around the garage. Basically I can see what's coming next. Now I only work in the workshop between 9 and 5 as I work shifts so am able to do this and all the machines have induction motors and within reason are the quietest available/I can afford. So what do I do? Lay low for a week or so and then limit working in the garage from 9 till lunch and then just work the last hour 4 till 5? Or carry on and wait for her to come back round and give her some verbal?

 

[DomValente]

Don't mess with a pregnant lady.

Bring her a bunch of flowers, apologise and explain how you've started this job that your wife has been begging you to do for ages and gently ask when it would be okay to make a noise.
If she's total unreasonable, don't mess with a pregnant woman, she'll never forget.
Trust me

Dom

 

[p111dom]

Damn I was afraid of that response. Pregnancy aside I have kids too, one of them under 1 and she's slept in the day while I'm banging right outside her window. If her kid can't sleep with a bit of banging behind double glazing 100 feet up the road then how is it going to sleep when the new baby arrives and is crying constantly. So lets say she bottles it next time and sends hubby around. Can I shout at him?

 

[DomValente]

Depends on how big he is

Dom

 

[p111dom]

Well my fence is 6 feet tall and I've never seen him so I guess he's shorter than that. :lol:

 

[DomValente]

Good height for a prop in rugby 5'10"

Dom

 

[p111dom]

Good point well made! :wink:

 

[chippy1970]

Carry on as you were and ignore her.

I had someone moan at me when I built my workshop. Nextdoor is a miserable old to**er and he said he would grass me up to the council because I shouldn't work from home but I wasn't building the workshop for work its just for fun.

I never make any noise after 5pm and most of the time i'm at work in the week so I am no bother to anyone.

 

[p111dom]

That seems to be the general consensus with the other neighbours but I don't want it to escalate. While it's only a hobby I probably have 6-7k worth of gear in the shop and if some environmental health person or similar turned up and prevented me from working that would be a nightmare. Basically I need to know what my rights are to make noise and what her rights are to complain about it and to whom. In the day time most people in the street are at work so some of my neighbours say that they've never heard a peep from my place except maybe on a weekend. Fair enough if I'm on till 2 in the morning every night but I'm not. I do try to be considerate to the neighbours but if some of them are in 24/7 it's a problem or is it not? :-k

 

[catface]

p111dom
sounds somewhat familiar. I had a similar earfull from a neighbour a while after I got my workshop built some years ago. The problem here was that she was abusive and therefore there was no possiblilty of negotiating with her ie. trying to do noisier work mostly in times she was out. WHat I did was contact the local council environmental department & explain the situation. I explained what work I did & what machines I had etc. THey were happy for me to continue doing my work. Curiously they wouldnt come and measure my noise levels - they can only do so if they get an official complaint. My solution has been to carry on working but to avoid where possible times when I know it is most likely to cause offence to others (whoever). As long as you are not doing commercial work at home or working very odd hours there is not going to be a supportable basis for any complaint. I advise you deliver the lady a note saying sorry the noise has caused offence, but that it is within your rights to do your work, but that you will try to avoid noise in the part of the day she finds most difficult, out of good will. No one could call this unreasonable. You may wish to chat with your local council too. Hope this helps, regards Catface
ps. its surprising how people moan about diy noise during normal day work hours, when often its the same people out there all summer with mowers and strimmers and leaf hoovers etc. As long as you continue reasonable behaviour you will be ok.

 

[p111dom]

Thanks catface. She did make a big deal about the fact that it was DIY. I pointed out that if I got a company out to do the work there would have been just as much banging and I wouldn't be able to ask them to stop. The bloke next door is a policeman and he said 'tell her to pi** off' :shock: . At the end of the day the loudest thing in the shop is a twin motor extractor which unfortunately is on whenever I'm actually using the machines. That's not to say it's on all the time though. I think we'd all agree that we spend more time setting up to make the cut than actually making it and then there's glue up and finishing which to all intensive purposes it silent. If I knew what the max allowable db was and where they would measure it from then I could check that out and either confidently tell her/then to get stuffed or be more amenable depending on the results. [-o< That is if they even come around. It's a peace of mind issue really.

 

[Alf]

Put the decking together with screws.

Cheers, Alf

 

[p111dom]

Alf, did mainly, all the boards at least 500 of them but I gave them all a quick tap with a hammer just to start them off. The joists however were mainly fixings into endgrain and nails just hold better and it's quicker. Then there's coach screws which go in easier if you hammer then in an inch or so before ratcheting them home for all the fence posts.

 

[Steve Maskery]

It's tricky one. No-one here actively seeks to annoy the neighbours, I guess, but ours is a noisy hobby isn't it. If you were doing it at midnight she would have reason for complaint IMHO but it sounds as if you are being as considerate as possible under the cirumstances.

If it really is a hobby then you have nothing to fear from the council. Let her complain, let them investigate, let her lose. Work goes on every day and it's not like yo are doing this outside stuff 52/12.

I'd say carry on and finish the project, with the same consideration you have already shown. If she complains again point out that you every right to do the work and it can't be done silently. Offer her a pair of earplugs if necessary

It's easy for me to say all this. When I built my workshop I was very aware of the noise factor. My Workshop abuts the neioghtbour's kitchen but she has a cavity wall, I have a cavity wall and there is a cavity between the two walls. My doors are insulated and double-glazed. I have said to her (and my less-close neighbours) many times to let me know if the noise is a problem - it hasn't been in 14 years. I don't make a noise on a Sunday nor late in the evening and I have excellent relationships with all my neighbours.

Finish the job and let her hang, pregnant or not. Tell her you'll not make a sound if she can guarantee that her baby won't either.

Cheers
Nasty Steve

 

[p111dom]

Sound like a plan especially as my baby is the quietest the world has ever seen! :^o

 

[p111dom]

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Anyway it's nearly finished just the handrail and spindles to do. Mind you that will require some hammering!

 

[ByronBlack]

tell her to do one. She has no right to complain if you are working during normal daylight hours. Around here there is always noise during the day as neighbors have builders in to do certain work, it's really not a problem. If she has double glazing and is complaining about a few hours of noise then she is clearly irrational, you are well within your rights. Don't stand any nonsense from these moaners!

The other alternative is to use hand tools

 

[Losos]

Don't think you've anything to worry about. As you say if you had subbed out the job the guys doing it wouldn't stop between 1 snd 4 would they.

Also, like Steve and other say, if DIY is your hobby, and you're not running a business from home and it's all within 9 - 5 there's nowt she can do.

If you can do other stuff during those few afternoon hours all well and good. I'd caution against writing to her, letters can be turned against you if not written in strict legal fomat.

 

[Shadowfax]

I've just had a conversation with Environmental Health - Pollution Team - regarding noise. The interesting thing is there is no set level at which noise is designated as a nuisance. It is the type of noise and the severity of it that makes it something that can be legally prevented.
You have nothing to worry about, believe me.
A bit of hammering does not even get considered as noise pollution.

cheers.

SF

 

[Scrit]

I feel she has a bit of a cheek! If you are making nosie 7 days a week, starting before 9am or finishing after 5pm then she may well (only may) have a point, but as others have said had you employed tradesmen they would have probably told her politely or otherwise where to go and continued working. You also have a right to live your life and whilst there is such a thing as reasonable behaviour towards your neighbours there's also a fair bit of "moral blackmail" or attempted bullying going on here. Believe me, with some people you are automatically in the wrong and they in the right, no matter what.

Scrit