How much noise is too much noise and reasonable times.

dekaspace

Was having a discussion with neighbours who moved in a few months ago (and actually moved within same building in last few days)

He was mentioning a leak from his old flat which is why he moved and whilst I was there I was asking him if he heard anything from my flat and he said he heard a lot of bass often normally in evening.

I do have good speakers but I have the volume very low to the point I often can't hear the words very much and the reasron I asked is I can never tell noise levels as its hard to work out how well things are insulated.

The previous tenant upstairs said they could never hear anything, nor did the previous tenant downstairs nor can anyone else in building (but thats understandable as I use pc in living room)

What we were thinking was where I have pc in the living room is against a hollow wall so the noise would pass through it (the old fireplaces I believe)

I don't want to be a bad neighbour but I don't want to have everything set to almost zero just in case that being said as he says he can never hear the actual words the bass seems to be the actual issue rather than anything else.and like in my flat he can't hear it in any room apart from living room.

The one thing I wasn't sure how to react to was the hoovering, I normally do it before bed so before 10pm and never later and he said his kids go to bed around 7pm so could I do it earlier than that.

I felt a little miffed as means lets say I am out at college and don't get back to 6.30pm or even 7 I barely have enough time to rush doing it but didn't want to be a bad neighbour, but I have heard him in the past move furniture at 7am, do diy from 7am so feel its fair I am not forced to do it that late as I also never do it before lunchtime just in case people are sleeping in or relaxing.

So to both things, what would you see as fair as a neighbour and what would you do different?

Mojisola

dekaspace wrote: »

He was mentioning a leak from his old flat which is why he moved and whilst I was there I was asking him if he heard anything from my flat and he said he heard a lot of bass often normally in evening.

I do have good speakers but I have the volume very low to the point I often can't hear the words very much

Have you tried adjusting the bass?

If you have to have the volume so low that you can't hear the words but he can still hear the bass, you could both win - he won't hear your music and you should be able to increase the volume and listen to the lyrics.

Hoovering at that time can't really be complained about. You could be doing noisy DIY and it would still be ruled okay.

dekaspace

Mojisola wrote: »

Have you tried adjusting the bass?

If you have to have the volume so low that you can't hear the words but he can still hear the bass, you could both win - he won't hear your music and you should be able to increase the volume and listen to the lyrics.

Hoovering at that time can't really be complained about. You could be doing noisy DIY and it would still be ruled okay.

Its already set to a very low setting I think its more the sound card amps it up, if it was a clock face Id have it set to around 2 on the dial and settings on pc to cut out the higher frequences and stuff to balance out the sound as I myself hate low voice and loud music and special effects so I have it at a level I can hear everything, I hate the floor rattling or it so loud as it is stressful.

But I don't listen to music very often, I watch Youtube videos or video game clips (which have music of course)

So it seems more a issue with the noise travelling up/down that hollow wall than anything. as my pc is right against where the fireplace used to be.

Short of moving it or putting something to absorb noise against the wall is there anything doable?

Torry_Quine

I think hoovering that time is too late, can't you do it at the weekend.

Mr.Generous

get some headphones, drown out the noise his kids must surely make.

dekaspace

Torry_Quine wrote: »

I think hoovering that time is too late, can't you do it at the weekend.

I get a lot of dust here and the colour of carpet means even overnight you can notice crumbs of food, dirt or whatever.

I was in the past thinking of getting one of those push along ones but not very common these days,

Even if I did it at weekend it would mean lets say I went out for afternoon I would get some dirt dragged in.

And meanwhile I have been tolerant with the diy the neighbour has done for months, at one point woken 4 days in a row with drilling, sawing etc whilst he put floorboards down and started 7am every day, him putting up shelves past 7pm at night, my clothes being covered in sawdust whenever he does diy.

Sure he didn't do DIY all the time but when he does it works out about once or twice a week and spread out over the day, my guest couldn't take a nap yesterday as 2 hours of sawing.

Mr.Generous wrote: »

get some headphones, drown out the noise his kids must surely make.

The only noise I hear from the kids is the baby crying at midnight and around 6am or when the young child has nightmares and thats not every night or it is but I am such a heavy sleeper I rarely hear it

And every few days I hear the young child running back and forth for a hour or so but now they are downstairs don't hear it.

Mojisola

dekaspace wrote: »

I normally do it before bed so before 10pm and never later

Torry_Quine wrote: »

I think hoovering that time is too late, can't you do it at the weekend.

I misread it as you hoovering when you got home - going on for 10pm is really too late.

dekaspace

Mojisola wrote: »

I misread it as you hoovering when you got home - going on for 10pm is really too late.

Ah, but bearing in mind I can hoover my entire flat in 3 minutes.

But even then thats the latest time, its often more like before 9pm most often 8.30-8.50 and I hoover every 2-4 days average.

MrRipley

To be honest I would not have asked him about any noise he might hear, as he clearly creates lots of noise in comparison to you.
Vacuuming before 10pm seems fair enough to me, considering that it's still bright outside until past then.

dekaspace

I am trying to be fair as the noise isn't constant it can go 2 or 3 weeks without DIY then he does it on and off over 2 days, if he did it without breaks id say he could do it in 2-3 hours rather than 20 minutes here and there its more awkward than anything.

That being said I asked about the noise from another neighbours dog as he comes round 2-4 times a day and thats after the childs bedtime and the dog barks loud enough he wakes up me, and the previous tenant used to get woken up to so logic would say it would wake a baby and young child.

And its hard to tell as he has never complained about my noise, nor did previous tenants (in fact previous tenants said they couldnt hear anything)

And same for the kid, at first I thought it was a dog running about as you would hear running and pacing at random for a hour or two a few times a week,

I rarely hear hoovering from them but they do have wooden floors but when I do it does wake me up but saying that it sounds muffled

bouicca21

Someone who hoovered every day would strike me as probably OCD and I'd certainly be !!!!ed off if it was after 7. But then I'm a slob ...