neighbours, noise and the hours you spend

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Mark A

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what do you do about noise? insulating and having understanding neighbours only goes so far as to keeping on good terms with them, but what about the hours spend? I try not to make noise past about 5 to 5.30, but with winter approaching I'll probably have to stop about an hour earlier. I also keep noise to a minimum on Saturday, and none on Sunday.

the neighbours one side of me are good, and the other side the house is unoccupied (for now). insulating the shed is next on my list, as making a larger one is sadly out of the question :(

I'm fascinated to know what other people do because if you all were to stop making noise around the same time as me, and also work, then how do you all get things done? (And don't say hand tools)

thanks,

mark
 
Only buy quiet tools. A good induction motor machine even cutting will be barely heard outside some decent brick walls. However the brush motor P/T I used to have could not be contained!
 
I have a wooden 20x10ft shed at the bottom of my garden. Not insulated yet, but i do plan on doing it before winter.
I have neighbours on both sides and the bottom of my garden backs on to the side of another house.

I work full time so only get chance to go in there on evenings and weekends.
I normally stop no later than about 8-8.30pm. I dont start at weekends any earlier than about 10am.

At the end of the day, people can make noise until about 11 before the police would do anything about it. I try to vary the tools i use too. So if i have some sawing to do, ill do that first in a big batch if possible, then just sand or drill the later it gets on, if thats possible.

My neighbours, including some 2-3 doors down have parties occasionally with music in the garden. My neighbour that joins onto me is decorating and i can hear his electric sander until gone 10pm. We don't have parties. So it's swings and roundabouts really.
 
I have worked till gone 1am before. The neighbours are quite away from my shop so its no problem at all. As my shop touches our house its the kids I have to think of. Although all the machines are induction motors its the noise of the cutting that can be heard in the house. The extraction hum can be heard but only slighty. It don't stop anyone from sleeping. So ill use the machines till 9pm and then only power tools and hand tools after, just so the cutting noise don't bother anyone in the house.

Saying that, the lathe ill use regardless of time as thats fairly quiet when cutting. I just need to remember to cut any blanks before 9pm
 
mark aspin":3kptugjw said:
I try not to make noise past about 5 to 5.30,

thanks,

mark

:shock:
I think that's being ultra reasonable. If I stopped at that time I'd get very little done.
I will use machines, provided it's not continuous, up to nine o'clock but then my Garage is at least 30m from any house and it's quite well insulated - unless I have the door open of course, which I close when doing noisy stuff. I've only ever had one complaint, from a newly arrived neighbour who tried to 'assert' himself; as it was about two in the afternoon he got a luke warm reception.
Tis a fact though that ALL Machine noise is irritating to ALL but those using said Machine, that includes previous neighbours lawnmower, chainsaw, shredder etc.
 
I'm very fortunate in having extremely nice neighbours and I do my best not to spoil things. I don't use machines either early or late and try to limit bursts of noise to short periods. The saw and planer/thicknesser are both induction motored which helps and the Triton router I enclosed in a home made table affair which has cut down the noise considerably. The bandsaws and lathe are by nature reasonably quiet anyway.

Apart from my woodworking shenanigans I'm also a radio amateur so there's wire, masts and aerials up in the sky all over the ¾ acre garden ..... the more I think about it the more I think I might be the neighbour from hell :(
 
I also have a noise awareness issue. My neighbor's back door is only 10 ft from my workshop
so my rule is power tools use only between 9am and 6pm. but Sundays and bank holidays no
noisy tools at all. There is usually plenty of other things to do like gluing up, polishing and hand
sanding and even mucking out the workshop.(that's a rare occasion).
Willy.
 
Chems":2hr3mtsv said:
Only buy quiet tools. A good induction motor machine even cutting will be barely heard outside some decent brick walls.
That's the problem - my shed is metal, so any sound is amplified, and I've no room for big machines, only benchtop and power tools.
Hudson Carpentry":2hr3mtsv said:
I have worked till gone 1am before
I envy those with space and freedom to do whatever they like - I would happily stay in my shed til the early hours if I could, then perhaps I would actually be able to make things!
RogerP":2hr3mtsv said:
I'm very fortunate in having extremely nice neighbours and I do my best not to spoil things.
That's the point. My immediate neighbours are very nice and I would prefer to keep it that way. Their house is about 35ft away from my shed, and the unoccupied house about 15ft.

Cheers,
Mark
 
I guess im fortunate as on one side of the house i can just here my neighbour beavering away on his lathe until all hours. the other side noone is ever in.

When i had my workshop in my garage i made sure i had all machining done before 7.30 as there are small children live near me. Then i used handtools during the rest of the evening.
 
My neighbour said he thought he had snakes in the garden as he heard a whoooosh about 3am....

I told him it was only the sound of my finely tuned infill on some exotic wood.... :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Always try to keep the noise down early in the mornings...I leave the slow tapping of dovetail chisels for afternoons...although I am worried he might think he is being invaded by woodpeckers! :mrgreen:

Jim
 
jimi43":2jipg2h0 said:
My neighbour said he thought he had snakes in the garden as he heard a whoooosh about 3am....

I told him it was only the sound of my finely tuned infill on some exotic wood.... :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

I'm not the only one then? I have in the past gone out to the shed wearing my dressing gown and slippers in the early hours of the morning to get something and couldn't resist having a little plane while I was there!
 
It's a double-edged sword, but the neighbour on the workshop side of our house is almost totally deaf. Which means he has no problems with noise, but it does make conversations very difficult. And he's an extremely interesting old boy when you can get him talking.
("old"..... well, he's about 6 years older than I am :( )
 
I keep my loud power tool usage in the 9 AM-9 PM window, including running my rotary phase converter, even in my well insulated shop. Quieter tools (spindle sander, drill press, lathe) get used outside that window. Some hand tools stay in that window too--hand chopped mortises aren't exactly quiet (even before the swearing that happens if I hit myself in the hand.:))

Kirk
 
kirkpoore1":1bch6zft said:
I keep my loud power tool usage in the 9 AM-9 PM window

Kirk
Same here roughly. I've always made it a point to finish at around 9pm and then go in for a glass or two of vino colapso and a chat to SWIMBO. If I go on past 9 too often then I'm sometimes in trouble....it's a fine balancing act 8-[ - Rob
 
woodbloke":4r6iu388 said:
kirkpoore1":4r6iu388 said:
I keep my loud power tool usage in the 9 AM-9 PM window

Kirk
Same here roughly. I've always made it a point to finish at around 9pm and then go in for a glass or two of vino colapso and a chat to SWIMBO. If I go on past 9 too often then I'm sometimes in trouble....it's a fine balancing act 8-[ - Rob

Same here. Mind you Rob, if i lived next door to you i'd find the "swish" of those micron thin shavings coming off that LA Jack very irritating! :mrgreen:
 
RogerM":igyysb3o said:
woodbloke":igyysb3o said:
kirkpoore1":igyysb3o said:
I keep my loud power tool usage in the 9 AM-9 PM window

Kirk
Same here roughly. I've always made it a point to finish at around 9pm and then go in for a glass or two of vino colapso and a chat to SWIMBO. If I go on past 9 too often then I'm sometimes in trouble....it's a fine balancing act 8-[ - Rob

Same here. Mind you Rob, if i lived next door to you i'd find the "swish" of those micron thin shavings coming off that LA Jack very irritating! :mrgreen:

At least the screams from the Clifton cap iron injuries have stopped! :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Jim
 

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