Domestic "noise" pollution

[Stephen]

According to the local council:

"All DIY/Construction noise must be carried out during the hours of

8.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday and 9.00am till 1.00pm on Saturdays and none at all on Sundays."

The rules regarding construction noise would make sense for businesses such as builders, sparkies, plumbers and carpenters/joiners etc.

When pressed on the point of homeowners doing DIY at weekends and early evenings:

According to the council, wallpapering or painting can be done at *any* time, even through the night, but power tools must only be used during the times stated above.

That seems incongruent with DIY hobbyists who work a 9 to 5 Mon to Fri job, How are they supposed to carry out DIY with such restrictions?

Personally I would have thought till 7.00pm weekdays for noisy activities would have been OK and that all day on Saturday and Sundays from 9am to 5pm.

Incidentally, the use of lawnmowers in summer evenings is OK as no one has ever complained about a lawnmower in over 20 years!

[michael newport]

How about those armies of "driveway pavers" that pollute for hundreds of yards with those soddin' angle grinders. Someone local had his entire back garden paved and it took 5 weeks, 08:00 to 17:00 ++ every day! It really ought to be illegal to make that much noise pollution - but hey, noise pollution is not real pollution, right!

[spuorgelgoog]

Does the blender I used to mix up the wallpaper paste last night count as a power tool?

I couldn't see any other way of getting the lumps out.

Owain

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

I was talking to a bloke who said you're not even allowed to work on your car where he lives - not even change the coolant or oil. He reckons one of the neighbours would report you if you tried. And this is in England.

[michael adams]

The whole idea of set hours is rather academic in any case nowadays, with maybe more people having to work shifts.

The same sort of thing applies to "tree surgeons" who park their shredders in residential streets - often in the road backing onto the customers back garden, rather than the customers own road, and grind away for hours on end. Although for health and safety reasons its noticeable that most of them are at least supplied with ear defenders. Rather than taking the stuff away and grinding it down outside their own premises, one of their director's houses maybe, or on an industrial estate somewhere.

michael adams

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[DerbyBorn]

I once heard the story of a new town in Florida - called Celebration. It had firm rules about grass height, no vans on drieways, no washing on lines outside permitted times, etc. There was a rush of people to buy properties because they had previously had their living environment blighted by those who want to create a shanty town.

[Fredxxx]

I am aware of notices being given to Housing Association tenants, where some were working on cars in what was close to a business.

[michael adams]

And no dissing Mickey Mouse

michael adams

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There was a rush of people to buy properties

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You're not allowed to do any work on a car on the street - and in theory, that would include washing it. If you rent a property, the landlord might also reasonably ban it too on the driveway, etc due to the likely mess.

But neighbours can't stop you doing this on your own property. Unless doing so as a business. Or noise etc - same as anything else.

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

I forgot to mention that it's in a fairly posh residential estate. I think you'd have to be brave to work on a car in the actual street :-) He said something about someone's cat drinking anti-freeze, although I don't remember if he said it had actually happened, or if it was precautionary. Must have been an important cat, if it really did happen.

[Tim Watts]

In theory. I've changed brake lines and all sorts out in the road. However it was an ex council estate and people are pretty open minded about rust buckets on jacks in the road.

Mind you the lease on your flat (even if it comes with an allocated space) might.

However, whether anyone cares depends on whether you piss anyone off. Noone is going to care if you change a wheel or even the oil (as long as you don't spill it everywhere).

What they don't want is someone running a trade from their parking spot.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I do. No option in this part of London - very few indeed have off road parking.

Of course if it's a newish estate, it might be a condition in the deeds. But most newish posh estates would have garages, so how would neighbours know what you do? ;-)

Tell whoever owned the cat to keep it on his own property, then. ;-)

[michael newport]

Yes - which is of course, impossible. Our Nebs have two cats that have ruined our small lawn by p'in on it. The nebs themselves have concreted over every blade of grass they had .

Same nebs as above are running an "occasional" car repair business.

[Tricky Dicky]

My cut off time for DIY was 9:00pm whilst I was working, mind you we lived on a main road near traffic lights and it was difficult to compete with th e traffic noise, the late brakers and the wankers with a boot full of speak ers who insisted on letting everyone know the crap music they listened to. However, if I had a particularly noisey job on, warning the neighbours alwa ys met with approval as long as I stuck to my cut off times and did not mak e too much of a habit of it. Although the house was a semi, I was fortunate not to have any party wall issues as he was in Abu Dhabi most of the time.

I do have some friends who work in the building trade who work overnight es pecially on refurbishment projects in commercial properties where business needs to take place during the day. So I wonder how these rules apply in th ose circumstances?

Richard

[whisky-dave]

ed on a main road near traffic lights and it was difficult to compete with the traffic noise, the late brakers and the wankers with a boot full of spe akers who insisted on letting everyone know the crap music they listened to . However, if I had a particularly noisey job on, warning the neighbours al ways met with approval as long as I stuck to my cut off times and did not m ake too much of a habit of it. Although the house was a semi, I was fortuna te not to have any party wall issues as he was in Abu Dhabi most of the tim e.

especially on refurbishment projects in commercial properties where busines s needs to take place during the day. So I wonder how these rules apply in those circumstances? I'm not sure how these rules are applied but here in my university lab we had 100.8 dB levels when they were drilling and knocking out the concrete. Apparently the works shedule didn't mention such this so we had to complain they appologies as said they'd try to get it down outside core working hou rs which for here is somewhere between 8am and 6pm .

cross rail goes on during the day. And a pub in Essex road islington wouldn ;t allow me to have a live band for my birthday, unless it was just vocals and an acustic guitar, no amps, and no drums would be allowed. I wonder how DIY SOS get along...

[spuorgelgoog]

They only use blu-tak to put the shelves up?

Owain

[John Rumm]

IME they can go through a large tree in relatively little time...

Not a very practical solution though is it...

You would be complaining about all the coming and going of lorries loading up branches instead then!

[michael adams]

There we'll have to agree to differ on that one then. IME it can take a whole day to take down a large tree, saw up the branches and the trunk, carry it all through to the road and put the former through the chipper. That's 8 hours of otherwise avoidable noise which can be heard streets away in all directions.

...

Not really. Throwing branches onto the backs of a succession of lorries makes far less noise than feeding them into a shredder which can be heard four or five streets away in all directions.

Although its obviously much cheaper for the operators to use the chipper.

michael adams

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[ARW]

I cannot remember any complaints when I added new sockets and lighting at the morgue on a night shift.

[michael adams]

Of course it didn't. They just chop them off at the bottom and the worst that can happen is the odd crushed kangaroo.

You silly boy !

michael adams

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