What is a reasonable amount of noise to put up from neighbours?

Pythagorous

I live in a semi and the family in the attached house don't seem to work a lot of the time. Unfortunately they also like to keep their music up which I can clearly hear from my work office ((I work from home a lot). The music is loud enough that I can very clearly hear the words although I don't think I could describe it as overly excessive.

I have asked them to turn it down a couple of times and they have grudgingly done so, but a couple of days later the same problem starts again. Although I've never had any serious issues with them we have very little dealings and I would probably describe them as being slightly on the disrespectful side.

Where do you think I should go from here, given they aren't the sort that have a lot of respect? Do you think I should just put up with it (which would mean moving my home office) and accept that its just a price you pay for living in a semi?

dander

"slightly on the disrespectful side" - what does that even mean?!!

I would say the answer will depend on your house. You say the sound level isn't "overly excessive" but you can hear the words...that smacks to me not so much of music being too loud but of the walls of the house and sound insulation being a bit feeble. Is this a modern house?

Pythagorous

dander wrote: »

"slightly on the disrespectful side" - what does that even mean?!!

Well to give you an example, I just went round and explained politely and respectfully that the noise was disturbing my peace and if he could please turn it down a tad. He basically just said "fine" and closed the door in my face. Does that seem like a normal respectful person to you? Although to his credit he did turn the music off 10 mins later. We rented the house out a few years ago and the tenants asked them to turn their music down and apparently they were met with a barrage of abuse and wors to the effect of how dare you tell us what to do. That to me is what a disrespectful person would do!

dander wrote: »

I would say the answer will depend on your house. You say the sound level isn't "overly excessive" but you can hear the words...that smacks to me not so much of music being too loud but of the walls of the house and sound insulation being a bit feeble. Is this a modern house?

Its a relatively modern house - about 10 years old. I think you may be right that the insulation isn't great.

The problem is how do you define overly excessive!? Obviously what is loud and excessive to me may actually be what someone else would classify as acceptable. I mean you can't realistically expect to live in a semi and hear nothing! I guess I'm trying to gauge if I'm being unreasonable. I don't think that I am given I can clearly hear the music from both my work area, but maybe others disagree?

aa4466

How about sound-proofing the wall? Could you build a second, well-insulated stud wall on the inside of the partition wall? If you can, there there is loads of advice on the web about how to do it.

lucylucky

Pythagorous wrote: »

Well to give you an example, I just went round and explained politely and respectfully that the noise was disturbing my peace and if he could please turn it down a tad. He basically just said "fine" and closed the door in my face. Does that seem like a normal respectful person to you? Although to his credit he did turn the music off 10 mins later. What would you like him to do? Have a chat about the world cup, politics, religion? He took note of what you said and acted upon it.



Its a relatively modern house - about 10 years old. I think you may be right that the insulation isn't great.

The problem is how do you define overly excessive!? Obviously what is loud and excessive to me may actually be what someone else would classify as acceptable. I mean you can't realistically expect to live in a semi and hear nothing! I guess I'm trying to gauge if I'm being unreasonable. I don't think that I am given I can clearly hear the music from both my work area, but maybe others disagree?

If my neighbours boys play music during the day I can often hear it and know exactly what they are listening to. I wouldn't ask them to turn it down as it doesn't seem excessive. If it was happening late at night I would be having a word however.

Can you try wearing headphones?

SarahLou

If you can make out the words that are said on the music then I'd say that is too loud - we rarely hear our neighbours and when you can hear music (two teenage girls living there.... need I say more?!) , you can't ever make out the words being said in the music. So yes, I'd say that is excessively loud.

Its difficult knowing what to do about it though as, like you say, your neighbours don't sound very pleasant. It might be an idea to get a decibel level detector (can get them cheap on ebay - often called "environmental meters" and suchlikes) - I can't remember what the legal level is for sound to be classed as disruptive (can probably find it out by a quick look on google or your councils website) but hover the sound detector around near the wall adjacent to next door next time they have their music on and make a note of the dB level. (Also try going outside in the garden (particularly on hot days when next doors window might be open). Don't make it obvious you're checking them out though, just casually wave the meter in the air and see what the noise level is. If it is over what is deemed acceptable then most councils send out a form for you to record times/dates/duration of when sound is a problem over a period of say 2-4 weeks. When you send it back, they review it and deal with it from there.

Pythagorous

lucylucky wrote: »

What would you like him to do? Have a chat about the world cup, politics, religion? He took note of what you said and acted upon it.

lol, I see your point, but he could have said sorry about that or something to that effect. Something to lighten the tension. A 1 word answer and door in the face is what I would expect from my teenage daughter sulking because she didn't get her way, not from a mature man who should know it makes sense to keep good relations with neighbours. But as I said I do see where you are coming from.

Pythagorous

lucylucky wrote: »

Can you try wearing headphones?

Unfortunately my work requires disciplined concentration, plus I don't feel that I should have to rush for a set of headphones, in my own home, every time the music comes on.

Pythagorous

SarahLou wrote: »

If it is over what is deemed acceptable then most councils send out a form for you to record times/dates/duration of when sound is a problem over a period of say 2-4 weeks. When you send it back, they review it and deal with it from there.

Thanks for the advice. I would prefer not to go down this route as it is my understanding that this sort of information must be disclosed when you are selling your house.

lucylucky

Pythagorous wrote: »

Unfortunately my work requires disciplined concentration, plus I don't feel that I should have to rush for a set of headphones, in my own home, every time the music comes on.

I used to work in a busy open plan office and one of my colleagues wrote a lot of very technical papers, for most of the day he wore noise cancelling headphones and was able to work away happily, and produce some excellent work.

SarahLou

Pythagorous wrote: »

Thanks for the advice. I would prefer not to go down this route as it is my understanding that this sort of information must be disclosed when you are selling your house.

Not sure on that one - we did this with our ex-neighbours (with excessively noisy dogs and lots of shouting/banging/doors slamming - they were an unpleasant family!) When we sold that house we didn't say peep about it (and we were lucky that the viewers came on a day when the neighbours were being quiet and their dogs were quiet too :rotfl:) Might be worth checking about that though just in case its true.