When is it time to move?

[Darwin333]

Let me say that your neighbor does sound like an inconsiderate dick but I wouldn't move over that. As others have pointed out you could end up spending a good bit of money and finding yourself in an even worse situation.

I'd definitely talk to your neighbor about the fan but if you are that concerned about sounding like a dick try to catch him while he is outside and bring it up nonchalantly. For the record, you wouldn't even be slightly a dick to go knock on his door and demand that he fix that shit ASAP. Sounds like right now you have been being really nice by not calling the authorities and building inspectors.

 

[Humpy]

Last year we got tired of our house and bought a nicer one with lots of windows that is closer to our usual outdoor recreation spots.

We are also now across the street from an old lady who likes to play with gravel and often spends a couple hours in the front yard screaming "YOU DIRTY WHORE!" at her husband. Though, she hasn't been around for a while now and we're wondering if she's okay.

Point is, people suck.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I would not move, sounds like you're in a great area except for the crappy neighbour. Changing all of that might just add more stress and is not guarantee you get better neighbours. I can't imagine having a 40 minute commute. That is stress inducing on it's own. You can't even go home for lunch.

I would try to somehow deal with the neighbour. You could put an anonymous letter in his mailbox if you don't want to confront him. Tell him to sound proof his basement if he's going to be doing that, or to find another place to do it. Tell him if it does not stop you will consider calling the cops.

I guess the grass clippings is going to be harder to take care of, but maybe get a leaf blower, and the minute he's done mowing his lawn go outside and use it to blow it all back on his property.

It really is sucky when you have a crap neighbour though. It can make an otherwise great area a nightmare to live in.

Also why the hell is his radon fan that high CFM? i'm not familiar with those, do they really need to move that much air? He could look at just an inline centrifugal fan (the unit itself would be in the house), those tend to be super quiet. Even offer to buy him one, a few hundred bucks may be worth your sanity.

 

[madoka]

Reminds me of this guy with a masters in computer science, who recently snapped and killed his neighbor for making too much noise.

https://nypost.com/2018/03/20/man-who-admitted-executing-neighbor-wants-death-penalty/

A Florida man who admits killing his “evil” neighbor claims years of “adult bullying” drove him to commit murder – and he has no regrets.

Qiu Feng Ke, 60, has “acknowledged his participation” in the cold-blooded execution of his neighbor, Edward Tudor, 37, on Tuesday and planned the killing in advance — even having his will notarized with the intention hanging himself afterward, according to a complaint affidavit obtained by The Post.

Ke, also known as Joe Ke, told a reporter during a jailhouse interview on Wednesday that he lost sleep for the past two years from incessant noise emanating from Tudor’s home. Tudor would regularly pound on the walls, yell profanities and blast his television at high volume, as well as mock him, Ke told WFTX.

“I think he’s evil,” Ke said. “That’s what I think.”

Ke claims he was victimized by Tudor’s “adult bullying,” which he says he simply couldn’t endure any longer.

“I couldn’t let this thing go away because I don’t want him to get his way,” Ke told the local Fox affiliate. “The bullying, the bullying thing. I don’t want him to win, to get his way.”

A self-admitted “loner,” Ke said all he wanted was to live a quiet life in peace. But Ke also acknowledged he never called police to report any noise complaints.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Lol wow. At one point my back neighbour was playing the radio so loudly non stop every hour of the day it started to drive me mad. My bedroom is on the back of the house and all I could hear is the mumble of the radio, and the vibration of the window pane. I was starting to consider building a radio transmitter with directional antenna so I can aim it at his radio and try to play some tones until I hit the resonant frequency of his speakers. Either that or a microwave magnetron gun with directional wave guide to just aim it at his speakers.

The only thing that stopped me is that I kinda do want to get into ham radio at some point and it's probably hard to get a license if you have some radio related crime on your record.

I ended up just building my shed right in line of sight of his speakers so it will at least help block out the sound.

 

[squirrel dog]

RS that made me lol . When you attend a few funerals , and realize how short life is , see the richest person you know die , could not buy one more hour in this life , I learned to let it go .

 

[William Gaatjes]

Well, if i may give some advice OP, your neighbour does not seem like being totally inconsiderate because he does seem willing to do effort to keep the noise down.
That your windows are shaking and that you cannot hear your own tv is a bit to much and he should be more considerate.
It seems you got that almost worked out.

Best is what you already were planning is to talk to him about the exhaust. Maybe even throw in some noise reducing ideas to help if he is interested.
That would greatly reduce any friction if you create a bond that makes him automatically aware of you but not with the unwanted effect of finding you a difficult neighbour.
With respect to the leaves, i would not worry about that. Nature is always a bit messy and you seem to live in a good neighbour hood with everything nearby.

I can honesltly say, i used to live before in a another flat with a drug addict below me for 3 years with a night live and always blasting his music set . When that guy was forced to move out just in time before i would start to get really aggressive ( I gave the housing corporation and the police an ultimatum that i was fed up after 3 years and they took me seriously and the police already had the come once because of me starting a fight) the neighbour above me who was a bit of a loony got his wife and children from overseas living with him in a tiny apartment. Of course, he did not adjust to the crowdedness and as such constant fights and troubles, police visits and i tried to reason with them. They just did not care. Because the guy was one big volatile and agressive stress bomb and mentally slow and the wife was stressed out because of the guy and the poor kids would
suffer in this situation leading to their annoying behavior.
I moved out and later on heard that because of the excessive agression the family was split up.


Where i live now, which is also in a flat is bliss. Of course there will be always some neighbour noise but now i hear once in a while children playing and laughing, another neighbour calling (bad connection, loud voice) his girlfriend from overseas during the evening , beginning of the night because of timezones. Sometimes some cars drive by. Once every few months someone has to drill a hole in the wall or bought some new furniture. It is bliss.
Normal sounds and at night it is in principle totally quiet when there is no emergency vehicle passing by.
I have a neighbour with a garden shed across the street who occasionally does some furniture making. So during the weekend sometimes i can hear the electrical saw and other tools. But i do not mind. It is not fighting. It is no drug related issues. No cars booming there music all the time.
Moral of the story is that there will always be some noise.

 

[soulcougher73]

Sometimes you just have to beat some sense into some people.

 

[snoopy7548]

Haha, some good responses. I definitely will not direct any violence towards my neighbor, but I can see how someone could be driven to that if they have no real outlet for their stress. Constant unwanted noise can really screw you up badly especially if you might be prone to certain mental disorders, which that guy probably was.

They do make mufflers for radon fans. They go inline between the fan and final run of exhaust piping, and supposedly make a big difference in noise. I'll suggest that. The fans we have are suitable for the original installation (~50' run of vertical 4" PVC with a couple of bends), but he has reduced that 50' run down to ~10' by moving it outside. Less pipe = way more noise. The thing is probably pushing twice the CFM as the original installation.

Darwin, good idea about how to bring it up. I'm always hesitant to walk over and ring the doorbell, because then I sort of feel like a jerk... but just being able to casually bring it up if we're both outside working seems to ease a lot of the tension.

 

[bfun_x1]

I feel your pain. I lived next to a house with a drummer. The day I moved in the guy introduced himself, mentioned that he played the drums in his garage, and said I'd probably never notice. Uh Huh. If I wasn't going to notice why'd you need to come over to make peace about it? Well of course we could hear the drums every time he was practicing. Fortunately I was only renting the place and moved after a year.

 

[Mr Clinton]

Seems like you can complain to the city/police over and over or move.

 

[snoopy7548]

Well, I'll give an update. I had a mental breakdown this week and I'm in the middle of another one or the same one, I don't know. So enough is enough.

I went over and talked to them. Started nice but quickly went south. I asked if they could do something about the fan because I can hear it inside my house with my windows closed (it has somehow gotten worse - more of a higher pitched whine that I can hear in my living room over the TV, kitchen, and two upstairs bedroooms).

They got defensive and said it's "required by code" to have a radon fan and what do I expect them to do about it. They said they will extend it to the roof "once the weather gets nicer" (I won't even go into that) so I asked when that will be, and they didn't know. I told them all I want is peace and quiet in my own house and they said, "well, we do too". Whatever the hell that means.

Then he told me the complaints have gone from legitimate to illegitimate. Yeah, it's just a fan, but 24/7 noise is unacceptable especially if I can hear it in half my house. He said he had to "break up his band" because of my complaint over the loud music. Then at the end he slammed the door. I guess they clearly hate me for not wanting to hear their band practice and 24/7 radon fan.

I try to be nice and considerate... I never bother anybody. The #1 reason I bought a house was for peace and quiet.

 

[Chaotic42]

Well, I'll give an update. I had a mental breakdown this week and I'm in the middle of another one or the same one, I don't know. So enough is enough.

I went over and talked to them. Started nice but quickly went south. I asked if they could do something about the fan because I can hear it inside my house with my windows closed (it has somehow gotten worse - more of a higher pitched whine that I can hear in my living room over the TV, kitchen, and two upstairs bedroooms).

They got defensive and said it's "required by code" to have a radon fan and what do I expect them to do about it. They said they will extend it to the roof "once the weather gets nicer" (I won't even go into that) so I asked when that will be, and they didn't know. I told them all I want is peace and quiet in my own house and they said, "well, we do too". Whatever the hell that means.

Then he told me the complaints have gone from legitimate to illegitimate. Yeah, it's just a fan, but 24/7 noise is unacceptable especially if I can hear it in half my house. He said he had to "break up his band" because of my complaint over the loud music. Then at the end he slammed the door. I guess they clearly hate me for not wanting to hear their band practice and 24/7 radon fan.

I try to be nice and considerate... I never bother anybody. The #1 reason I bought a house was for peace and quiet.

Other people are both the best and the worst things about life. Stories like yours make me seriously pause when I think about buying another house.

 

[snoopy7548]

Other people are both the best and the worst things about life. Stories like yours make me seriously pause when I think about buying another house.

Yeah, it also sucks being incredibly sensitive to noise. I'm seeing my doctor this week as I may have a thyroid problem (family history of an overactive thyroid) that's causing my anxiety, and I think I'm gonna take a couple of weeks off of work.

I guess I either got through to my neighbor or they just said screw it, but yesterday he extended the pipe to the roofline. The exhaust is still angled somewhat towards my house and I can hear it outside, but at least in my living room it's much quieter. I think this is as good as it's going to get so I'm certainly not going to talk to them about it again.