Are there any standard time of day rules for noisy DIY?

EchoLocation

My neighbour is currently (just gone 7pm) drilling in to the wall between our properties and making a horrific racket and vibration, and it's been going on and off for the last hour or so, and probably throughout the day too (but luckily I've been at work). Before I knock on the door and tell him to stop it, can anyone let me know if there are any country wide standard time of day rules for undertaking loud DIY. I've tried my county council website but I can't really find anything solid other than a bit of contradictory 'advisory' text here and there. I understood that the time for works was between 8am and 8pm, but is that for very noisy works? because I've also seen mention of 6pm and 7pm being the latest time allowed, so I've no idea what's actually permitted. We don't really get on, and this is far from the first time I've had to put up with incredibly loud DIY noise, so I'd like to know the actual rules if I'm going to get into an argument.

grumbler

AFAIK, noisy jobs aren't allowed after 11p.m., not 8.

unforeseen

There are no legal limits for DIY.  
One council considers the following as reasonable but they are not enforceable

• Mon – Fri - 9.00am to 7.30pm.

• Saturdays – 9.00am to 5.00pm

• Sunday and Bank Holiday – 10.00am – 2.00pm
I tend to think up to 9pm is reasonable if I am working during the day as that only gives 3 hours work each evening after getting home. 

Work requiring planning permission could possibly have time limits as a condition of approval. 

I think you're  jumping the gun if this is the first time. 

EchoLocation

Oh this is by no means the first time I have had to put up with horrific DIY noise at silly times of day.

Have you ever heard someone drilling into and hammering an adjoining wall? It's intolerable. To me, and I would have thought most decent people, even 7:30pm is too late to be making that level of noise.

The problem with my neighbour is that he does everything himself, and will spend entire days doing DIY. I think it's probably a new kitchen fitting he's doing, so you can imagine the kind of work that entails. Thankfully it seems to have stopped for the evening now, but it continued at least 40 minutes after my initial post.

A_Lert

As mentioned, the law doesn't give times. Some councils give their opinion, some say nothing.

But I think at 7 pm, very few councils would consider that something to take action about.

tacpot12

Don't get into an argument - just ask him if you can agree some times when he will not make loud noises. Make it clear that it you understand that he has a right to make noise some of the time, but ask if you can discuss some limits as it is affecting you. If he doesn't agree, or stick to the agreement, start keeping a Noise Diary - although he can make noise until 11pm some of the time, he shouldn't do it all the time, and the council should assist you if the amount of noise is unreasonable - you need the Noise Diary to demonstrate the level of disturbance you are having to deal with. Get a Decibel Meter App for your phone and note the peak levels and the nature of the noise - drilling/hammering/sawing/moving furniture and ladders/etc.

Ultimately it will help if you can become friends with him; at present, he has no incentive to agree with any of your requests.

GDB2222

You can surely negotiate a bit with him? Could he kindly avoid drilling the party will, as far as possible, when you are home from work, please? I think one gets a bit carried away doing DIY stuff, and it’s hard to appreciate how much noise is being generated for the neighbours. So, just tell him nicely that it’s a tremendous racket and vibration. The chances are that he can drill some other walls after say 6pm and this won’t disturb you nearly as much. 

TELLIT01

It's far more likely to be thoughtless acts than any intent to upset you.  Assuming you get on OK with the neighbour you need to speak to them and ask them to stop the noisy work earlier in the evening.  I've had occasions where our neighbour used a hammer drill at 9pm and later.  Thankfully it only happened rarely and has ceased since he got older (now over 80). 

If people are working all day they only have the evening to do DIY so it's unreasonable to expect total peace and quiet in the evenings.

Councils will only get involved if it continues over extended periods and will generally start by the council asking you to keep a detailed diary of the time and extent of the problems.

EchoLocation

I've no interest in getting the council involved. I just want to be informed before/if I speak to him about it because I already know he will try to excuse it by saying 'I have to do it now', 'there's no law against it' etc.

We don't really get on, we're still civil if we ever speak, but there is a history of him being inconsiderate and entitled, and not just with me but other neighbours too. I don't think anything he does is intentional to cause annoyance, but as I said he is very entitled and will do what he wants to do without considering any impact on others. I have put up with similar high levels of disturbance many times in the past, very noisy and much later in the evening, weekends and bank holidays as well. Mostly I have ultimately decided it's just best to let him get on with it and the sooner it will be over.

I've sent an enquiry to my council to clarify what exactly their rules are, although I suspect that what will come back will simply be what they 'advise', i.e. no real lawful or enforceable regulations.

203846930

Ice Cream vans are not allowed to sound their music/chimes after 9pm so I would take that as a standard for noisy DIY as well.
It's not as if it goes on every evening though is it?
You could always turn your TV volume up and 'forget' to turn it down again.

Apodemus

in my experience, DIY tasks don't continue for terribly long - or at least not at consistently high levels of activity.  I'll admit that there have been odd occasions where neighbours have been making noise at annoying times of day and I have been tempted to "say something", but the time passes and, with hindsight, saying nothing has always been the right option.

Just as an aside, your use of the term "entitled", rings alarm bells in me.  I don't know you, and I am sure you are a lovely, balanced, mild-mannered person but I've encountered this term too often in situations where I wonder which side of the argument really is showing the "entitled" behaviour.  Live and let live is so often the best way forward.