Nearby Restaurant extractor fan audible from garden

porto_casa_23

Hi,

My partner and I are in the process of purchasing a house (a couple months into the process) and have noticed a constant humming from a nearby restaurant extractor fan during the late afternoon. The restaurant is on the next street along but backs onto the row of gardens, ours being 4 doors down (roughly 20 meters) from the source. 

It seems to start from 4.30pm until 10.30pm, 6 days a week. It’s a constant humming sound, between 40-50dB in our garden. We’ve spoken to the restaurant about it who said the extractor fan was working fine and didn’t suggest anything wrong with it. Although, when we recorded the sound from our phones from a meter away the app recorded - 70-80dB. We have also spoken to some of the neighbours, next door either side seem to acknowledge it but unfortunately haven’t provided any suggestions and some others from a further 3/4 doors along don’t seem to hear it. 

We love making use of our garden so it’s an important decision for us as we intend to use it a lot, we like to entertain and eat out in the evenings. We’ve been searching for our new house purchase for a long time and have found it difficult to find a house which ticks all the boxes, which this one does apart from now discovering this sound.

I’ve noticed similar forums discuss this topic and have seen suggestions that the council can enforce measures to resolve this but I’m interested in knowing what that actually entails. We’ve also considered whether water features in the garden might help to mask the noise but ideally we want to know if the source of the noise can be resolved in the first place. 

If anyone has experienced anything similar it would be great to hear about how this can be resolved. Would really appreciate any insight or advice!

Thanks

35har1old

porto_casa_23 said:

Hi,

My partner and I are in the process of purchasing a house (a couple months into the process) and have noticed a constant humming from a nearby restaurant extractor fan during the late afternoon. The restaurant is on the next street along but backs onto the row of gardens, ours being 4 doors down (roughly 20 meters) from the source. 

It seems to start from 4.30pm until 10.30pm, 6 days a week. It’s a constant humming sound, between 40-50dB in our garden. We’ve spoken to the restaurant about it who said the extractor fan was working fine and didn’t suggest anything wrong with it. Although, when we recorded the sound from our phones from a meter away the app recorded - 70-80dB. We have also spoken to some of the neighbours, next door either side seem to acknowledge it but unfortunately haven’t provided any suggestions and some others from a further 3/4 doors along don’t seem to hear it. 

We love making use of our garden so it’s an important decision for us as we intend to use it a lot, we like to entertain and eat out in the evenings. We’ve been searching for our new house purchase for a long time and have found it difficult to find a house which ticks all the boxes, which this one does apart from now discovering this sound.

I’ve noticed similar forums discuss this topic and have seen suggestions that the council can enforce measures to resolve this but I’m interested in knowing what that actually entails. We’ve also considered whether water features in the garden might help to mask the noise but ideally we want to know if the source of the noise can be resolved in the first place. 

If anyone has experienced anything similar it would be great to hear about how this can be resolved. Would really appreciate any insight or advice!

Thanks

Council could investigate but  think it requires no action 
If it was after 11pm that level would not be acceptable.
Asfar as I'm  aware there is no set noise level 
Above 85db requires ear protection 
A constant noise is easier to put up with but someone playing music that is not to your taste is more difficult 

Bigphil1474

Best bet is speak to your council. There'll be a couple of avenues.

Environmental Health/Anti Social Behaviour Team/ Noise nuisance service etc. - Noise nuisance can be any time, 11pm is largely a guide and is more for controllable noise like live music etc. This is mechanical noise. The fan may be working perfectly and if it's under 50dBA at your property, that doesn't sound excessive, but could be. Your local EHO can assess it though using calibrated equipment. Sometimes the fans just need a bit of maintenance or a nut tightening here and there as something slightly loose can increase noise levels massively.

It could also be a Licensing issue as the conditions available to be imposed by councils for Premises Licences gives them more leeway around preventing nuisance than the actual nuisance legislation (which isn't really fit for purpose). There will often be a 'no noise affecting the nearest noise sensitive premises' condition for example.

IF the fan is working perfectly then it's unlikely that the council would do anything about it, the restaurant will need to have it on, although they might discuss when it can be turned off. It might be that you just get used to it, or as you say, have something to combat the noise from your end like a water feature or some background music. Personally, I'd start with your local EHO service and take it from there.

Re Above - the 85dB limit is for people at work, not members of the public, and is a weighted average, not really relevant. There is no actual limit for the public, it's essentially a noise level that a reasonable person would deem unreasonable.

ReadingTim

Suggest you find another property - your query rather sounds like someone buying a house next door to a well established pub, then complaining about drunk people.  

user1977

ReadingTim said:

Suggest you find another property - your query rather sounds like someone buying a house next door to a well established pub, then complaining about drunk people.  

To an extent, though I think noise from a fan is the sort of regular white noise you will filter out very quickly, unlike disturbance from random drunkards.

Myci85

Whilst there may be things that can be done to reduce the noise, it is always going to be there to an extent, and possibly at the level it currently is. I think you really need to decide if it is something you could learn to put up with, or if it will drive you insane, in which case probably worth looking for a new house. It would be a lot cheaper to pull out now, than buy the house and decide to move in a few months as you can't stand the noise. 
We live quite near to an army training camp, and there are days where we seem to constantly have helicopters circling the area. We used to notice them much more, but 8 months in it doesn't even usually register as we're so used to it. 

RHemmings

Bigphil1474 said:

Environmental Health/Anti Social Behaviour Team/ Noise nuisance service etc. - Noise nuisance can be any time, 11pm is largely a guide and is more for controllable noise like live music etc. This is mechanical noise. The fan may be working perfectly and if it's under 50dBA at your property, that doesn't sound excessive, but could be. Your local EHO can assess it though using calibrated equipment. Sometimes the fans just need a bit of maintenance or a nut tightening here and there as something slightly loose can increase noise levels massively.

Thank you for knowing to use dBA. Nowadays the 'A' seems assumed, but technically '50dB' or '80dB' is meaningless as decibels are a comparative measure. dBA uses a particular formula to obtain volume levels, dBC uses a different one and will produce different readings. dBFS is used in the digital doman and compare to the level where clipping will occur and the numbers mean something entirely different. And on it goes. I guess that nobody will bother, but this short page with pictures summarises A, C, and Z decibel weightings. https://www.noisemeters.co.uk/help/faq/frequency-weighting/?srsltid=AfmBOopqb-tdCh3GQ4y3V5eQlzyQArW-vEq7XlHxQkQpmhleTH1wCPA_

Returning to the topic - OP, unless the app on your phone has been properly calibrated, the (presumably) 50dBA and 80dBA readings will not be reliable. The actual sound could be louder or quieter. Your phone app will presumably tell you what units it is using, not just 'dB'. But, you need to calibrate it. I'm aware the OP is just deciding whether to buy or not, but if anyone was thinking of complaining to a council, perhaps using a calibrated proper noise meter would be a good idea. 

theartfullodger

In my experience you become used to some noises.  e.g. in the 1970s I moved into a flat on the hill uphill (so more engine noise) southbound out of brixton, above a pub.  Sleep disturbed when I moved in, couple of weeks later no problem.  

Good luck. 

jimbog

We had this issue when we first moved in. To some extent you got used to it and then one day it virtually disappeared. We feel they replaced the extractor with a new (quieter) ones as the bearings were probably wearing out 

Slinky

The pub behind us have an extractor which we can hear. Bear in mind that it may not just be the garden you can hear it in. On warm nights in the summer we can hear it with our windows open. Which way do the bedrooms face? I have tinnitus so have enough noise already in my head without having the addition of extractor noise when trying to sleep. I sometimes go to bed at 10pm when the pub is still open, and some nights they forget to turn the fan off.....

Fortunately we had an ensuite added to our bedroom so we tend to leave that window open when we want some ventilation and the noise doesn't come in through this window.