Talking about noisy neighbours

My sympathies too. We had very noisy builders next door for 7 months. One radio blasting out radio 1/2 and another in the annex at the end of the garden with radio 4. Plus one of the builders had a very limited vocabulary - every other word was f***. We would occasionally ask them to turn it down, which they did and then 10 minutes later turn it up even louder. Then there was the uncovered skip withrubbish blowing over the street. We should have complained to the owners but never did. Rant over!

Moggycuddler you are totally right: constant noise is hugely detrimental to mental health. Perhaps we need a new definition of what constitutes noise as it certainly doesn't have to be very loud to be intrusive. Maybe it's the inability to escape from it, even in the sanctuary of one's own home and garden, that is so damaging. Nobody should be subjected to noise, even at a fairly low level, for 10 hours a day. If I were in your place, Cava, I would definitely say to the builders that you are not comfortable with it and ask for a solution.
For those people who play music in the garden, I would point out that one person's music is another person's noise. Headphones are the answer if you want to enjoy music in the garden.

Oh you have my sympathies Cava - we had this for a year and it almost drove me crazy. Loud talking and shouting, bonfires, (until neighbour other side ranted as she had got home and thought her kitchen was on fire thanks to smoke!) Rumbling cement mixers, shrieking of cutters, rubbish left our side of the fence, fence smashed down and ruined one day when we were out, a portaloo (I won't elaborate but that was by far the very worst of the annoyances!!) and at least one radio churning out the 'boom ba boom boom boom' rythm without which it seems no builder can function. Then suddenly, magically, they went. The Portaloo ended up outside the sitting room windows of the new owner for about three weeks (what a shame) and peace returned. There is a large area of land between us and next door - had we been in a semi I might have needed a straight jacket. Keep calm as it will end eventually.

Our neighbour has Capitol radio on very loudly whenever he is in the garden, the drum beat is incessant and started to drive us both crazy, he did turn it down for a time buts it’s crept back up.

We’ve resorted to noise cancelling earphones., I must say they’re very comfortable to wear and you can listen to your own thing.

As soon as the sun comes out so does next doors loud music, and i mean LOUD it is deafening,i have had to ask them more than once to turn it down
I get on well with them in general, but they have very young children so i can't understand it
Neighbours across the back tend to have very loud music on some nights ,whether winter or summer if having a party
I could hear it when i went to bed with windows closed, had a word and they apologised, didn't realise it carried so far

We have builders over the road at the moment , so I feel your pain! They play the radio all day ( and it’s never Classic FM!) Park so close to our drive that it’s difficult to get our big car out, and on occasion park across it. It makes my dogs bark too. I find myself praying for rain as they don’t come then! I know they have a job to do, but do they have to be so ignorant

I sympathise with you but be thankful they are not living above you. I moved to a flat last year and I get woken up at 6am every morning. My. neighbour just walking across the floor is so loud it wakens me out of a deep sleep. When he isnt there I sleep till at least 8am.

Both my next door and back neighbours are retired do it yourself addicts. Banging, sawing and drilling all hours of the day all day. Their wives don’t sit in the garden.
One warm sunny Sunday afternoon a lot of pink dust was coming over my garden. Phoned his wife. He was cutting up bricks!

I don't think Cava is complaining about the building works, it's the radio which can be excessive. These days there is no need to have a radio blaring, blue tooth ear phones are very good when they can ruin their own hearing and not everyone elses. Why not take them round a cold drink and some biscuits and ask if they can do reduce the volume, it worked for me.

I love music ... just dont want it rammed down my throat every day. This lot turn up at 7 most mornings but They have the ‘courtesy’ to leave music at 8am.
My earphones have been ordered ?

You’re right it’s not the building work it’s the radio noise.
I will try your suggestion Trigger. Thanks.

Sounds awful for you

That sounds dreadful. I suppose this is modern living.

Oh yes, had similar. Drove me bonkers, building noise and radio blaring away. House at the back of us had extensive work done - the whole back was taken out and they had double extensions done at the back and side. Then they had their garden redone. Took months, over a year I think. Then when they finished the house next door to them started! Kitchen renovations and garden work by the look of it. There’s still banging being heard. I sat inside last year mostly to get away from it.

It would seriously get on my nerves too, but I believe tolerance is called for in these circumstances. This is after all people who are working and the jobs rarely last more than a few weeks. I find it more annoying when neighbours themselves are consistently noisy. That problem doesn’t usually go away after a few weeks.

You think building work is bad, at least its time limited! We live beside a pub with a beer garden, Lockdown has been bliss but now we are told pubs will open up again. All summer long we have shouting (the F word is very popular), fighting, kids screaming as of course no-one stops them. Police are often called. Then there is the constant taxis beeping or the drug deliveries. Last year we thought at least when the cold weather comes that will all stop but no. Some bright spark thought it would be great to have patio heaters and a roofed seating area, so it went on.
Dont say report it because we have but nothing gets done.

The thing is, if you don't mention it to them then they don't know it's bothering you. Perhaps a word in their ear might help.

I'm guilty of having my radio on in the garden but I have the volume low and walk a few yards away to see if I can hear it.
I've also trimmed a shrub today, I waited until neighbours at work.
I used to have a young family next door who would kick their footballs into my garden every few minutes. Throwing them back was a chore so sometimes I'd "forget" then they'd be ringing my doorbell to ask for their balls. I often asked them to try and keep their balls in their own garden and I'm sure they tried but their garden was small so not really big enough for a game of football. Dad was the worst and would boot the ball so hard it cleared three gardens.
They've moved now and a few months later while trimming a bush I found two deflated footballs and a bedraggled teddy bear in the middle. He went into the washing machine and now sits on my bed.
I've seen them since and we've had a lovely chat but I didn't mention the teddy!

Gosh, eleven years of peace and quiet. How lucky were you?! I fully remember the people backing on to me being seriously unhappy at the noise my children made at three in the afternoon. Fact is, their children were up and away and they had enjoyed silence in a very unbalanced community ever since. I've been here 45 years now and never baulk at neighbourghly noise. Inconvenient sometimes, agreed, but how about a bit of live and let live? Being grumpy only adds to personal aggro methinks and we certainly don't need any help with that at the moment.

Noise is annoying when you like peace and quiet - I think we just have to accept that it can’t be quiet all the time . Builders are the worst, I used to turn our builder radio down frequently when they werent looking!

It seems builders and noisy radios go hand in hand, amazed they aren't covering you in cigarette smoke too as this also seems the normal. Had builders next door last summer and the most annoying thing I had to endure from them was the lack of dust extraction equipment when they were cutting concrete. Couldn't even see next door when that was happening. Wore no masks either. Dread to think about their health, dust and nicotine, not a good combination. Silicone ear plugs do work.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

When we employed men in our building firm(when it was a much bigger business) we always had as part of our advertising that our men would never play radios, never ask for cups of tea, never swear and a few other things that I forget now.
This was based on what might annoy me if people were working in or around my house. Many clients said how reassuring they found this and how polite our men were.

you could ask them to lower the volume .or maybe its just while they build....if its really a bother .or you could contact enviromental services .they have a person to deal with loud music.

The only advantage of being hard of hearing and having to wear hearing hearing aids is that you can switch them off if there is a lot of noise, shouting, shrieking, music etc! When I shopped in supermarkets or any shops with loud music, etc, I used to turn my hearing aids off and shop in peace being able to concentrate more on what I was doing. I would think that ear plugs could work in a similar way to cut out noisy neighbours.