Nuisance Neighbour

[NISAR1]

Hi,

I have an issue with my neighbour who thinks it is fine to us his mobile phone late at night 11:30pm early morning 1am, 3am and even 4am. I have to get up at 5am every morning for work and I have told him to stop it. His answer was you are at your house and I am at mine. When I do wake up for work he is fast asleep snoring having a good sleep and will not be getting out of bed till 12pm. I have spoken with the council and they have said that it is a nuisance but not a noise nuisance so we cannot do anything. I was thing of some sort of mobile phone signal blocker which I can switch on at 9pm and then switch off just before I set off for work. Is there something on the market and where can I get this?

Thanks

[Old_Geezer]

If you are prepared to spend to do your house up it might be worth considering that if you can hear him speaking, anyone in his room can hear you doing whatever.

[hc4361]

It doesn't have to be expensive. Maybe you could move your wardrobe to the party wall, put shelving up, use cheap sheets of soundproofing painted, move your bed to the furthest wall, make sure there are no gaps at the skirting board. Anything that helps you feel in control of the situation.

[NISAR1]

I have had my chimneys taken out so as we had bigger rooms and also converted one of the bedrooms into 2. I tend to use the foam ear plug but ill give the wax ones a try. How is sound proofing installed and .is it a big job. If I do go ahead it would have to be the top of stairs the 2 bedroom and the living room. The worst part is the property on my left I rent out and if that ever goes up for sale and they buy well I am ***.

[hc4361]

There are various types of soundproofing - I suggest you start a new thread specifically about soundproofing.

Have you thought about swapping houses with your tenants?

[EDDIE51]

I seriously can't believe that the sound of a neighbor next door talking on his mobile phone is so loud it wakes you up. If it is true your house must have walls far thinner than the normal standard. We have lived in a terraced house for 40 years and can only hear very loud noise from next door like a drill or hammer being used.
I would say it is you who is the 'Nuisance Neighbour' threatening to block his phone signal so you can't hear him talking. ( that is a criminal act by the way!) Far from being 'an issue' he has a right to use his phone at any time he wants to. I would very strongly object if a neighbour told me not to use my phone when ever I wanted to.

[Old_Geezer]

You'd want at least 100 mm to 150 mm of air gap to do an efficient job, so add some doors to the front of those shelves ;-)

[hc4361]

Eddie, I can believe it. I lived in a terraced house where we could hear everything - it turned out the floorboards were somehow connected. I'm not a builder so can't explain it better than that. We didn't live there long

[NISAR1]

I have a large wardrobe at the party wall but here he sleeps he is at the party all. I cannot put anything there as the door will hit the wardrobe. I guess I will have to put some smaller cupboard.

[EDDIE51]

When you had the chimney taken out you obviously have not put the correct wall between you and next door. It should be a double wall with a cavity and insulation in the cavity between the 2 brick or block walls.
From your description of the noise problem your house does not now meet building regulations so will be unsaleable, possibly even dangerous if you have removed a supporting wall . You need to get a surveyor to look at the walls and see what needs to be done.

[NISAR1]

Eddie, This family caused so many problems that it has effected everyone on the street. The tenants that lived next door to them have moved on they could not get any peace and quiet and they even said to me it was like living next door to a zoo. It does meet building regs as the council was involved I do not have any chimneys in my house.

[jackthehat]

The most simple solution would be to fix 2no. layers of dense plasterboard (and then get it skimmed) on the party-wall.
If you can afford to lose some space in the room, create an air-gap and fill it with acoustic-quality insulation and then the plasterboard.

Eddie is referring to a modern terrace construction whereas I suspect yours is an older one where the party wall is only 1 brick thick....often without cavity.

[NISAR1]

jackthehat, you are correct mine is an old property and thank for your advice.

[Smowball]

Interesting. I live in a mid terrace and I can't even hear my neighbours talking at all

[hc4361]

Different building styles, materials, standards......

[gingejbee]

I'd try a sound relaxation machine next to my bed...choose the sound you want, switch on and away you go. It'll block all outside sounds and you'll soon get used to using it after a few nights use...I use one because of tinnitus and find I can't sleep without it on! Something like this...


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sound-relaxation-machine-by-wellcare-naturcare-white-noise-tinnitus-aids-sleep-/322147733944?hash=item4b018051b8:g:migAAOSwmtJXXTyJ

[bednobs]

if you can hear him, he can hear you. You have a baby. Ever considered he might hate the sound of crying?

[NISAR1]

benobs, We keep our talking to a minimum by the time he gets home which is 22:45 we are fat asleep only to b woken up for hi to talk on the phone about burger and chips. They have a baby which cries every so often and does not bother us as this I normal. Our baby is fine and when he does cry we can still hear him snoring.

[gingejbee]

^^^OK, you've chosen to ignore my suggestion - fine. However, you will find that it's a cheap and surprisingly effective way of coping with unwanted noise, particularly at night. I suggested this solution to two different people suffering with different "outside" noises at night and both found it very effective.
Worth a try because it's inexpensive....

[jambutty]

Never heard of those ginge, sounds good.

[NISAR1]

gingejbee, I will look into this I do from time to time use my phone and put on relaxing music. Many thanks for the link :-)