Neighbours play drums and ruin our peace and quiet

[infection]

First of, there are laws put in place for noise in both terms of Disturbing Noise and Noise Nuisance.

Secondly, each municipality has the ability for by-laws and yours may have some by-laws for (dis)allowed noise levels. Best would be to contact them and get a copy to see.

So, you can and should lay a complaint against them (even without it being a by-law). The metro police cannot refuse the complaint as you can lodge it as either a Disturbing Noise (where you can objectively measure the level of noise) or Noise Nuisance (where you can argue subjectively that it does [or may] impair and/or disturb your convenience).

 

[DuckKnuckle]

I play the drums, and I've had to deal with this as well.

Best way around it was to come to a solution with all the neighbours. They were happy with a 1 hour window of playing every day except Sundays, usually from 15h00 - 16h00 (as I would be home from school).

Had one neighbour who would always threaten to call the cops but never did. No other neighbours had issues with this arrangement, so maybe you can get the rest of the neighbours on board and try to work something out.

Otherwise, show him the price of an electric kit (like a Roland TD-4 or something). If he starts getting noise complaint fines, maybe he'll consider buying that. Otherwise advise him of the Pearl Mufflehead skins he can buy for the kit, as well as the cymbal pads to choke the sound. He can also try putting towels over the drums which helps as well.

 

[spiff]

also got a neighbour from hell - barking dogs / kids screaming / cars hooting / cars blocking my driveway / drunks arguing, shouting screaming matches - so I decided that calling the LE that DO NOT ARRIVE or ARRIVE after the fact!! is a waste of time - I'm going to treat them like they treat me so I installed 2 remote controlled sirens - 1 in front yard & 1 in back yard pointing towards my neighbours house - they behave themselves - no problem. when they make any of the above mentioned noises, I just bide my time, but come 1am in the morning I hit the remote for 2s every half hour thereafter just to make sure they don't go back to sleep. :twisted:

I did this a few times and eventually they got the message and now I hardly hear their noises. It's like training a dog - just takes patience's

 

[ArtyLoop]

Solution:
Nerf gun and drawing pins.

Install drawing pins into Nerf bullets
Use Nerf gun to send bullet to the culprit
Problem Solved.

You can also try ball bearings with a catapult but that's not recommended.

 

[ArtyLoop]

also got a neighbour from hell - barking dogs / kids screaming / cars hooting / cars blocking my driveway / drunks arguing, shouting screaming matches - so I decided that calling the LE that DO NOT ARRIVE or ARRIVE after the fact!! is a waste of time - I'm going to treat them like they treat me so I installed 2 remote controlled sirens - 1 in front yard & 1 in back yard pointing towards my neighbours house - they behave themselves - no problem. when they make any of the above mentioned noises, I just bide my time, but come 1am in the morning I hit the remote for 2s every half hour thereafter just to make sure they don't go back to sleep. :twisted:

I did this a few times and eventually they got the message and now I hardly hear their noises. It's like training a dog - just takes patience's

:crylaugh: EPIC

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

also got a neighbour from hell - barking dogs / kids screaming / cars hooting / cars blocking my driveway / drunks arguing, shouting screaming matches - so I decided that calling the LE that DO NOT ARRIVE or ARRIVE after the fact!! is a waste of time - I'm going to treat them like they treat me so I installed 2 remote controlled sirens - 1 in front yard & 1 in back yard pointing towards my neighbours house - they behave themselves - no problem. when they make any of the above mentioned noises, I just bide my time, but come 1am in the morning I hit the remote for 2s every half hour thereafter just to make sure they don't go back to sleep. :twisted:

I did this a few times and eventually they got the message and now I hardly hear their noises. It's like training a dog - just takes patience's

right you are, same thing we had, switch on our white noise machine, at 2AM in the morning,
anoy the hell out of them, eventually they move out or just stop.

being polite only works in 1st world countries, this is africa!

 

[Tman*]

Best way around it was to come to a solution with all the neighbours. They were happy with a 1 hour window of playing every day except Sundays, usually from 15h00 - 16h00 (as I would be home from school).

^^^

Only thing you can do.

Slightly off topic, my neighbour is very friendly with his car hooter. Hoots (I mean long ass hooooooot) every time he gets home for the kids to come open the gate. Irritating AF.

Thinking of installing a fog or train horn at my gate with a sensor to trigger it every time he hoots.

 

[ProfA]

The world needs to end and start again as its getter more and more filled with inconsiderate pricks.

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

The world needs to end and start again as its getter more and more filled with inconsiderate pricks.

very much agree with you, a nice big war will sort everything out quite quickly,

I think we living in the 1920 before the second world war broke out, and leveled the playing field.

 

[saturnz]

theres this new product where you can connect your drum kit to your computer by covering the drum kit with "covers" for the cymbals and drums

then as you hit the drums the sound comes out the speakers and the drums itself are quiet

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

theres this new product where you can connect your drum kit to your computer by covering the drum kit with "covers" for the cymbals and drums

then as you hit the drums the sound comes out the speakers and the drums itself are quiet

but what do you do for those that want to throw cricket balls at the wall at 3AM,
or those that like playing aerosmith at full volume so everybody can enjoy,

or those that like fighting at 2AM?

not so simple really,

 

[spiff]

right you are, same thing we had, switch on our white noise machine, at 2AM in the morning,
anoy the hell out of them, eventually they move out or just stop.

being polite only works in 1st world countries, this is africa!

exactly!

 

[AstroTurf]

[video=youtube_share;EwQGkPu2uCw]https://youtu.be/EwQGkPu2uCw[/video]

 

[alecx5]

I guess elderly wasn't the correct term.

I also spoke to a family friend, who owns a few properties, and his advice was to report it to SAPS, get them to go see the perps, then go the legal route. He's a pretty no nonsense guy. He told me to read about the municipality laws w.r.t. noise (Ethekwini municipality in my case).

I did speak to my neighbours, but they are reluctant to get involved. They are happy to let someone else deal with the issue and reap the rewards.

 

[bassplayer]

Hi,

This is part rant, part cry for help.

I've been living on my property for 30+ years, and have had no issues with any of the neighbours (some of whom have been here longer). We all get along and visit each other every so often.
This new family moves in 5 years ago (2013), and they were not exactly the most neighbourly people, however we respected each other and had no issues.
2 years ago (2016), they purchase a drum-set, supposedly for their son. However, the father used to bang on that thing everyday. Our house are not far apart, and the noise was unbearable and could be heard over the sound of the TV. I was studying at the time, and after 2 weeks, I couldn't take it anymore so I confronted him (politely) and told it was a disturbance and asked that he stop.
He did, however he moved it into the room furthest away from my house, and continued to play. The sound was heavily muted, but could still be heard, but I ignored it since it wasn't a major disturbance.
Fast forward to 2018, and this situation has changed. He has moved it back into the original space (nearest to my house) and continues to practice, oblivious to the noise he is making. Another neighbour confronted him, and asked him to sound-proof his house, but he sent his wife to tell the guy that the noise is not loud and everyone else was noisy as well.
In fact, this whole family plays those drums and do so for hours and at anytime of the day. They close their windows and pretend like their neighbours don't exist.

I have 2 elderly parents, both 50+ years old, whom I take care of, and they enjoy having naps, watching TV, and having lunch outside during the day.
But because of this bastard neighbour, they cannot do that when they want.
I feel really helpless, since this situation is something that I can think of nothing to do to fix it. It really does create anxiety and angst in my family when we hear this noise.

Has anyone had an experience like this, and got their neighbours to stop?
I really need to know what I can do to make this stop. Because they don't have the common sense to know that it is affecting other people.

Your neighbour sounds like an idiot. Tell the Tool to spend 5k and buy some sound reduction panels. Just a few make a big difference.

 

[spiff]

I guess elderly wasn't the correct term.

I also spoke to a family friend, who owns a few properties, and his advice was to report it to SAPS, get them to go see the perps, then go the legal route. He's a pretty no nonsense guy. He told me to read about the municipality laws w.r.t. noise (Ethekwini municipality in my case).

I did speak to my neighbours, but they are reluctant to get involved. They are happy to let someone else deal with the issue and reap the rewards.

I also experienced this - they always came to me to do their dirty work but once there was a new neighbour with a dog (my pet hate). now normally it takes a "new" dog about a month or so to settle down to the new environment etc. so I left it - and left it, many months later I found out that someone else called the cops and got them to shut their dog.

quite amusing sometimes when I bump into some of my close neighbours at the RP meetings and the all complain about the noisy dogs etc. hoping to bait me into do something, but I just ignore them.