Noisy neighbour - advice?

[Miss Pitstop]

Hi,

Just wanted to sound you out to see what the concensus is about a sensitive problem I'm having.

I moved house about 5-6 months ago and all the neighbours have been very friendly and helpful, it seems a lovely street to live in. However, my next door neighbour (semi detached house) has a severely disabled child/young adult who seems to have screaming/banging fits every few evenings, which I can hear through the wall and make for very uncomfortable listening, especially when people come round.

If it was a noisy stereo/TV I'd say something, but I know the parents work very hard to look after the child and I do feel for them having to cope with all that comes with such disabilities. It's not like they can probably do much about it, and I don't want to damage the neighbourly relationship I have with them.

It sounds really selfish of me to say "stop your kid making so much noise" in the circumstances, but it's not nice to be entertaining whilst next door is screaming and shouting. I don't know if there is anything that can be done to soundproof the walls a little better perhaps, but if I put myself in the parents position, I would think a neighbour moaning about the noise is the least of my worries.

Any helpful advice? What would you do in my position?

[bigjimmy]

Move?

[johnfm]

You could ask them to sound insulate the walls a bit and do the same your side.

[lunarscope]

Bang on the wall, then:
"SHUSH YOUR MONG".

[Miss Pitstop]

Not sure why this was moved - I thought it best to keep it out of P&P as you lot are a little less sensitive in here! (no offence!!)

[singlecoil]

Did you buy the house? Did the previous owner warn you about the noise from this source?

If you did buy it and weren't warned then you need to get your solicitor onto it right away.

If you bought it and were warned then you need to look into some soundproofing

If you didn't buy it then move

[briSk]

Miss Pitstop said:

Not sure why this was moved - I thought it best to keep it out of P&P as you lot are a little less sensitive in here! (no offence!!)

lunarscope said:

Bang on the wall, then:
"SHUSH YOUR MONG".

____________

it's tricky isn't it? it's part of the reason i can't decide what to do in terms of house move. bigger semi (guffaw) or detached and less potential for joely deacon ruining your sleep..

[fizz876]

Miss Pitstop said:

Hi,

Just wanted to sound you out to see what the concensus is about a sensitive problem I'm having.

I moved house about 5-6 months ago and all the neighbours have been very friendly and helpful, it seems a lovely street to live in. However, my next door neighbour (semi detached house) has a severely disabled child/young adult who seems to have screaming/banging fits every few evenings, which I can hear through the wall and make for very uncomfortable listening, especially when people come round.

If it was a noisy stereo/TV I'd say something, but I know the parents work very hard to look after the child and I do feel for them having to cope with all that comes with such disabilities. It's not like they can probably do much about it, and I don't want to damage the neighbourly relationship I have with them.

It sounds really selfish of me to say "stop your kid making so much noise" in the circumstances, but it's not nice to be entertaining whilst next door is screaming and shouting. I don't know if there is anything that can be done to soundproof the walls a little better perhaps, but if I put myself in the parents position, I would think a neighbour moaning about the noise is the least of my worries.

Any helpful advice? What would you do in my position?

To be honest your in a very difficult situation. As the child in question is disabled then as soon as you go over to say can you keep your disbaled child quiet you will probably be seen as an inconsiderate/intolerant fool even though your probaly not. Maybe his fits are also due to his disability and am sure even his own parent would like to keep him quiet and have probably already tried. Aslo if you do say somethihg to them it may be likely that these neighburs will also report to the other residents in the area that your complaning about their disbaled child causing your household to end up as the 'evil' people who just moved in and dont like disabled children. Apart from sound insulation on your side I would advise you not to say anything to your neighbours.

[Miss Pitstop]

singlecoil said:

Did you buy the house? Did the previous owner warn you about the noise from this source?

If you did buy it and weren't warned then you need to get your solicitor onto it right away.

If you bought it and were warned then you need to look into some soundproofing

If you didn't buy it then move

Bought it, but not warned. In fairness I didn't ask whether there were noisy neighbours so do they have a right to tell me if I didn't ask?

I saw the special lift on their front steps but assumed it was an elderly person.

[eccles]

johnfm said:

You could ask them to sound insulate the walls a bit and do the same your side.

thats not very nice, asking them to build a padded cell for the kid!

[Vagabond]

You'd be amazed at how good decent sound proofing is, worth every penny getting it done on your party walls. The stuff we had was brilliant, paint it just like a standard plastered wall, and visually you cant even tell the difference.

You then wont hear a thing, unless the kid is running headlong into the wall with one of those German helmets on or something.

The other advantage is you know you can crank your TV/stereo up and know you're not bothering anyone.

[Parrot of Doom]

Get an old copy of Blue Peter with Joey Deacon and play it at full volume?

[Miss Pitstop]

fizz876 said:

To be honest your in a very difficult situation. As the child in question is disabled then as soon as you go over to say can you keep your disbaled child quiet you will probably be seen as an inconsiderate/intolerant fool even though your probaly not. Maybe his fits are also due to his disability and am sure even his own parent would like to keep him quiet and have probably already tried. Aslo if you do say somethihg to them it may be likely that these neighburs will also report to the other residents in the area that your complaning about their disbaled child causing your household to end up as the 'evil' people who just moved in and dont like disabled children. Apart from sound insulation on your side I would advise you not to say anything to your neighbours.

Exactly, I'm almost 100% sure the fits are related to the disability, so feel like a wicked witch for even thinking about mentioning it.

I would hate for anyone to think I am insensitive, whilst i take the mick a bit, I always laugh at myself hardest, and try to be a good honest person.

I guess I'll look into soundproofing, thanks

[Civpilot]

Vagabond said:

You'd be amazed at how good decent sound proofing is, worth every penny getting it done on your party walls. The stuff we had was brilliant, paint it just like a standard plastered wall, and visually you cant even tell the difference.

You then wont hear a thing, unless the kid is running headlong into the wall with one of those German helmets on or something.

The other advantage is you know you can crank your TV/stereo up and know you're not bothering anyone.

to the soundproofing idea...

... then send them a German helmet and ask them to get the child to test your work

[thebluebus]

Parrot of Doom said:

Get an old copy of Blue Peter with Joey Deacon and play it at full volume?

Get a flatmate with Tourettes?

[singlecoil]

Miss Pitstop said:

singlecoil said:

Did you buy the house? Did the previous owner warn you about the noise from this source?

If you did buy it and weren't warned then you need to get your solicitor onto it right away.

If you bought it and were warned then you need to look into some soundproofing

If you didn't buy it then move

Bought it, but not warned. In fairness I didn't ask whether there were noisy neighbours so do they have a right to tell me if I didn't ask?

I saw the special lift on their front steps but assumed it was an elderly person.

You will need to get legal advice on that one.

[roboxm3]

I'm pretty sure you can get acoustic plaster / plasterboard (I probably should be more certain working in the construction industry!?) but I'm not sure whether this would have to be installed on their side of the wall to be effective and if not how effective it would be anyway!?
Failing that you need a bigger/louder TV, stereo / surround sound!

[Wings]

Miss Pitstop said:

fizz876 said:

To be honest your in a very difficult situation. As the child in question is disabled then as soon as you go over to say can you keep your disbaled child quiet you will probably be seen as an inconsiderate/intolerant fool even though your probaly not. Maybe his fits are also due to his disability and am sure even his own parent would like to keep him quiet and have probably already tried. Aslo if you do say somethihg to them it may be likely that these neighburs will also report to the other residents in the area that your complaning about their disbaled child causing your household to end up as the 'evil' people who just moved in and dont like disabled children. Apart from sound insulation on your side I would advise you not to say anything to your neighbours.

Exactly, I'm almost 100% sure the fits are related to the disability, so feel like a wicked witch for even thinking about mentioning it.

I would hate for anyone to think I am insensitive, whilst i take the mick a bit, I always laugh at myself hardest, and try to be a good honest person.

I guess I'll look into soundproofing, thanks

I myself was once in the same situation, and decided it was best to just move house, for one is in a no win situation.

[GTIR]

Just bought some of this stuff, not put it up yet. Not cheap, but for piece of mind.....
http://www.soundstop.co.uk/solutions/wall_solutions/ 


Or this is cheaper;
http://www.soundservice.co.uk/M20.html 

[Miss Pitstop]

roboxm3 said:

I'm pretty sure you can get acoustic plaster / plasterboard (I probably should be more certain working in the construction industry!?) but I'm not sure whether this would have to be installed on their side of the wall to be effective and if not how effective it would be anyway!?
Failing that you need a bigger/louder TV, stereo / surround sound!

They are probably posting something similar along the lines of "my neighbour starts a noisy cerb at 6am sometimes...."

It has only been once or twice, honest!!