Next doors DIY Kitchen, our noise nightmare

philip_l_2

Hi

We are connected to our neighbours (end terrace) and since their kitchen refit are plagued by noise problems. Our houses are around 17 years old and so fairly modern and up until now we thought pretty well built and sound proofed. During the last 17 years prior to their cheap kitchen re-fit we've never heard a thing through the party wall.

Since their kitchen refit we are woken every morning at 6 am by kitchen cupboards banging and their kitchen tap (water pressure noise), in addition during wet weather, their condenser tumble dryer vibrates a low hum into our house driving us mad for hours at a time.

We've spoken to them and they are friendly enough and it turns out all these problems have started since their new kitchen was fitted. It was done on the cheap and it's a bodged job. The tumble dryer has been wedged tight up against the party wall and boxed in with cheap MDF that screws into the party wall hence the sound transmission through to our side. The kitchen cupboard doors are hard surfaced and clatter shut with no effort made by the fitters to quieten them, i.e. not even rubber buttons around the frames for them to close against. Our neighbours have tried going quietly in the morning since we have spoken to them but we still hear the noise. Basically from our perspective it sounds like they have removed the party wall and replaced it by a stud wall and a bit of plasterboard the difference is that staggering, as we never heard ANY noises before through the party wall despite them having cupboards in the same place in the kitchen.

Our main concern is that the kitchen cupboards are screwed really deep into the party wall or some other structural changes we don't know about have happened to destroy or defeat the sound proofing that was there before, perhaps they have screwed in so deep into the walls to hang the cupboards from they have bridged the air gap so essentially screwed into our side. All the noise we hear is where it has a route through the party wall via their kitchen, we don't hear any airborne noise like phones ringing, the TV, music, raised voices etc. We can have music as loud as we like and they've said they hear absolutely nothing from our side at all.

They had friends of friends do the kitchen while they were away and despite them being very unhappy with it, can't take legal matters as it would cause bad feeling and can't afford to have it done again properly, so are just going to live with it, meaning we have to live with it as well.

We are trying the informal route to resolve the problem at the moment, however what other options might be open to us to resolve this? Are there any planning acts that would help has enforce them to have the shared party wall restored to the same level of sound proofing?

Any advice gratefully received.

Regards

Phil

Stevie1

Can't see how a kitchen re-fit, no matter how cheap, can make it noiser at your end.

Your comments about structural changes or screwing kitchen cupboards "deep into the party wall" don't make sense at all If you are that concerned about structural damage, then pay for a surveyor.

madjay

The only sound proofing in any house it he Air gap between the Bricks

And I agree about the kitchen re-fit, no matter how cheap, can not make it noiser at your end.

I assume when the kitchen was being fitted they a made a hell of a noise and any small noise now you associate with party wall is amplified in your own Head.

All kitchen are made to the same BS no matter how much they cost!!!!

jrob_3

I sympathise with philip_1 as I've had the same noise transmission for the last 7 years from my neighbour's kitchen.

The problem arose from when the neighbours before them joined the dining room and kitchen areas together and installed kitchen cupboards and base units onto the party wall. The new neighbours are elderly (in their 70s) and wake up early in the morning and go to bed late at night. You can hear the doors bang shut, plates and cups moving around the surface of their worktops, and even the kettle working when it approaches boiling point. Also lots of clattering when taking out and putting back pans etc into the cupboards. You can hear this noise not only in my adjoining dining room, but also in my bedroom which is at the opposite end of the house one floor up! Incidentally at the same time as the kitchen refit, the previous neighbours also either had pullcords or wall lights added and you can hear them click on and off louder than if they were in my property.

To avoid upsetting my neighbours, I bought ear plugs which I wear every night. They turned out cheaper than building a bedroom extension on the other side of the house (I thought this might limit the sound I hear coming through the wall and therefore give me a good night's sleep) but I do wonder if wearing ear plugs each night is good for the health of my ears.

I think the fitters the former neighbours used to install the kitchen were cowboys as I heard from the current neighbours that when they moved in the plaster on the ceiling fell onto them while they were watching the TV, and that they found the copper pipe from the old boiler had been bent over instead of capped off when the former neighbours had the boiler replaced.

ic

The transparent bumpers are maybe £2 a pack from B&Q, whilst soft close hinges won't be too expensive either. Can you not convince them to invest in these? (or even buy yourself?) They'd only need one soft close hinge per door - the other can be a standard hinge, and then only on the cupboards that are causing you a problem.

27col

I do not think that party walls between adjoining houses are cavity. There is no requirement because there is no wind driven rain beating on the party wall. In my first house, which was in a terrace, the party wall was 9 inch solid masonry. We had a old couple next door and could even listen to "The Archers" through the wall. I think the problem was that they were hard of hearing and couldn't hear the noise that they were making.

roses

madjay wrote: »

The only sound proofing in any house it he Air gap between the Bricks

And I agree about the kitchen re-fit, no matter how cheap, can not make it noiser at your end.

I assume when the kitchen was being fitted they a made a hell of a noise and any small noise now you associate with party wall is amplified in your own Head.

All kitchen are made to the same BS no matter how much they cost!!!!

I live in a mid terraced and I can hear my neighbour opening and closing their wardorbe which is a built in one on the party wall!!

philip_l_2

Hi

Thank you for all your comments.

Can't see how a kitchen re-fit, no matter how cheap, can make it noiser at your end.

And I agree about the kitchen re-fit, no matter how cheap, can not make it noiser at your end.

There was definitely no noise prior to the kitchen refit.

Ten years or so and we have never been woken up by their normal routine of going to work and have never heard anything through the party wall, and no they haven't changed their routine at all. We hadn't made the connection with the DIY for the new kitchen and the noise starting until talking to them about it, we originally thought it was their child who is now getting older and was perhaps getting dressed for themselves and slamming bedroom cupboards and drawers as kids tend to do, but it wasn't.

The cupboards are cheap and shut with a terrible clatter even if trying to shut them gently, I've seen this first hand. Our own kitchen cupboards while not having any form of special hinge or rubber buffers make a low dull thud if they are let to close on the spring hinges, nowhere near the volume of theirs.

Doing some searches on the net there are recommendations and best practice to avoid such problems such as soft shutting hinges as has been mentioned, as well as special screw fittings to dampen vibrations. Of course best practice doesn't apply when you have your kitchen done on the cheap :mad:

We had a old couple next door and could even listen to "The Archers" through the wall.

Different problem different cause I think. We hear no airborne noise at all. We don't hear their phone ringing, raised voices, TV or music. The sounds waking us up now have one thing in common, they all stem from the kitchen itself or something in direct contact with it, for example the pipe to the kitchen tap or the tumble dryer wedged in and boxed around with kitchen units that are then attached to the party wall. Something is very different about that kitchen than the prior one.

I assume when the kitchen was being fitted they a made a hell of a noise and any small noise now you associate with party wall is amplified in your own Head.

Yes it did make a noise but that never bothered us and not the first time they've had work done and was mostly in the day when we were out at work anyway. It was only the odd occasion we heard work going on and one time joked if a hole was going to appear in our wall during a period of constant drilling in one place!

I sympathise with philip_1 as I've had the same noise transmission for the last 7 years from my neighbour's kitchen.

I don't think we can last seven years. What used to feel like our own home where no one could bother us now feels like we share it with the neighbours. One thing I know for certain after this is no matter how much it costs, our next house will be detached!

All kitchen are made to the same BS no matter how much they cost!!!!

Absolutely agree, but there is a difference in how they are fitted.

You can hear this noise not only in my adjoining dining room, but also in my bedroom which is at the opposite end of the house one floor up!

Yes the same for us. The kitchen is on the ground floor, our bedroom is on the top floor, yet the noise from their kitchen sounds the same regardless.

The transparent bumpers are maybe £2 a pack from B&Q, whilst soft close hinges won't be too expensive either. Can you not convince them to invest in these? (or even buy yourself?) They'd only need one soft close hinge per door - the other can be a standard hinge, and then only on the cupboards that are causing you a problem.

Yes we were thinking this. The hinges are probably the best solution but the least likely one to get implemented mainly because the doors aren't on properly as it is, they haven't been able to correct the level or stop them butting up against other ones let alone replace a hinge. The transparent bumpers are a good idea, I think we will get some and let them have them to try, can't be any worse. Wouldn't surprise me if they came with the units but they hadn't bothered putting them on, we've had them with flat packed cupboards before now.

Your comments about structural changes or screwing kitchen cupboards "deep into the party wall" don't make sense at all

If you are that concerned about structural damage, then pay for a surveyor.

What I meant was the screws. We've used large bolt type screws with wall plugs to attach a side gate and needed a long length due to the thickness of the wooden post. If they used something like that for the cabinets (they were left over from another job for example) then they will have needed to drill deep holes to accommodate them, perhaps bridging the air gap with the screws starting to bite into the wall our side, causing a path for sound and vibration. I'm not a builder so do not know how feasible that is but it is the only thing that really explains why suddenly sound from their kitchen is so audible our side now.

The surveyor is a good idea, although what if they say the kitchen is installed incorrectly or there is damage to the party wall and our neighbours can not afford to pay for the repairs which could easily be very costly? Is the surveyor then just a waste of money?

Regards

Phil