Originally posted by Enid: May I ask which earplugs you use? I use earfit, from the Boots. In the past, I slept through the noises such as my ex-neighbours' extremely loud music, flights going above, car alarms going off in the front road, etc. My husband is always amazed. You really have to squeeze them into your ears, but they don't hurt, and normally last very well. I just hope these will make a difference.
Those are the ones I use, the foam ones from Boots.
Originally posted by MELBOY: I have come across Fanned CH/HW Boilers positioned on a party wall will give off the noise you have descibed. Mel.
The noise coming from a boiler is what I've dreaded as there would be nothing that could be done about that. Mind you, I've not heard the same noise last winter and I don't think they have a new boiler.
Are there no regulations about placing boilers on party-walls rather than on an outside wall?
Originally posted by velvet: When we had a noisy neighbour my partner bought me a tape of 'sea sounds' - basically the sound of waves on a beach, very soothing.
Or how about a white noise machine? just put the term into google if you want to find out about this.
Thanks for the tip velvet, I didn't know about white noise cd's to help block our other sounds. I think I'll buy one and try it out.
I am so sorry, you seemed to be experiencing some terrible noise all night. Now I know. Is it not a de-humidifier? Some people do leave these on all night or all day. And they could be very noisy indeed. Also, how does your neighbour not hear any of this? It must be a huge house to get away from a noise as bad as this.
Merille, re your earplugs, I find the foam ones are next to useless. I use Quies wax earplugs which I have always found very effective - I don't think Boots stock them, I get them from independent chemists. Worth giving them a go if you haven't already done so.
I think Melboy may have a point. My wife and I spent two sleep deprived nights at son`s new house before we tracked down the low drumming noise only we seemed able to hear.It was the ventilation fan fitted to the boiler which appears to run all the time. During normal activety it wasn`t audible but when everything had gone quiet it felt as if it was in your head. Funnily it couldn`t be heard in their bedroom. OH has just pointed out that if you put your head on our leather three piece, which is against the wall, you can hear the drone of our heating pump,I`d never been aware of this till now.
I bumped into them outside the other day asked if they'd heard the noise at night and they said no, can't hear anything at all. They were very evasive. I descibed the noise and where it seemed to be coming from (the partywall between my kitchen and their utility room/toilet which works its way up to all of the upper floor) and they didn't know. They don't think it is their boiler as it's only 3 years old and can't see how I can hear it. I asked if they've been feeling cold and had the heating on at night and they said no - they don't need to heat the house at night but their son likes to sleep to the sound of the boiler.
So in other words - if it is the boiler - I think they may have it firing all night for the noise but not to provide any heat. I hoped the conversation may have given some cause for thought, but the noise has continued at night since (they even left it on when they went away for the weekend).
I'm still guessing it's the boiler but I'm still not completely convinced I've been told the truth as they were so evasive and just kept saying they didn't know. I took a casual approach with the conversation but I really felt like saying that the noise is so loud and is obviously emanating from their house and goes on for so many hours that they are lying and are deliberately ignoring the effect the noise is having. They're either choosing to disbelieve me or just don't give a damn. That's what I can't understand, I couldn't do that so somebody, I'd feel awful if I was doing something that had kept someone awake for weeks.
If it's going to continue even during the summer I don't know what I can do to get a normal nights sleep. I feel really despondent now. I've been up since 2am tonight and also have a splitting headache. I'm starting to think they're doing it on purpose and trying to drive me out.
Thank god we just managed to afford buying our detached home 2 years ago. If I ever wanted to go for a bigger property I couldn't revert to living in a semi detached. Take having no ajoining neighbours for granted. Does work the other way as I use to feel guilty when my baby could be up most of the night crying. Nothing worse than sleep deprivation. I do recall seeing an advert promoting headphones which must omit a noise to aid restful sleep.
Merille, I have a lot of sympathy for your situation, having had various noise issues over the years with neighbours. I feel that you really need to go and speak to them at home, tell then that there definitely is a noise coming from the house that you can hear and you'd really welcome their help in tracking it down.
Say that it's coming through all night, you can't sleep and obviously as things are this bad you really need to get to the bottom of it.
Now this may work or it may not. If so, great. If not, ring your local council and speak to the environmental health people. They're really hot on noise stuff now, and when I enquired about my neighbours, they told me they will write to them. If that doesn't work, they will put a monitor in your house to record the noise levels and if appropriate, take action against the neighbours.
The thing is, if you do this, they only have themselves to blame. If they did come round having received a letter, obviously you can front them up and say quite rightly that you did try and resolve the issue direct, they were unhelpful and you simply cannot live without sleep and therefore the problem needs to be resolved.
Of course, you may well get it resolved way before that anyway. Good luck
Merille I don't quite understand what you mean ... surely the only reason the boiler would fire up and create a noise would be if it was trying to provide heat or hot water. At least that is how every boiler I have had worked. So if they are saying the house isn't heated at night how can the boiler be on? Even if they were lying, boilers tend to go on and off in response to a thermostat so boiler noise wouldn't be incessant through the night would it? And they'd have to have more money than sense to leave it running all night if they were away.
Originally posted by Laura NB: Merille, I have a lot of sympathy for your situation, having had various noise issues over the years with neighbours. I feel that you really need to go and speak to them at home, tell then that there definitely is a noise coming from the house that you can hear and you'd really welcome their help in tracking it down.
Say that it's coming through all night, you can't sleep and obviously as things are this bad you really need to get to the bottom of it.
Now this may work or it may not. If so, great. If not, ring your local council and speak to the environmental health people. They're really hot on noise stuff now, and when I enquired about my neighbours, they told me they will write to them. If that doesn't work, they will put a monitor in your house to record the noise levels and if appropriate, take action against the neighbours.
The thing is, if you do this, they only have themselves to blame. If they did come round having received a letter, obviously you can front them up and say quite rightly that you did try and resolve the issue direct, they were unhelpful and you simply cannot live without sleep and therefore the problem needs to be resolved.
Of course, you may well get it resolved way before that anyway. Good luck
Thanks for the advice Laura, I've been considering contacting my local council as a last resort. But I'll give it one last go to have a chat with my neighbours and explain things. If there's no compromise I'll mention I have no choice but to contact the environmental health.
Originally posted by velvet: Merille I don't quite understand what you mean ... surely the only reason the boiler would fire up and create a noise would be if it was trying to provide heat or hot water. At least that is how every boiler I have had worked. So if they are saying the house isn't heated at night how can the boiler be on? Even if they were lying, boilers tend to go on and off in response to a thermostat so boiler noise wouldn't be incessant through the night would it? And they'd have to have more money than sense to leave it running all night if they were away.
I know, I'm not sure exactly the ins and outs of boilers, but I was trying to figure out the same thing too.
How can it be on for hours firing on all cylinders if they don't need any heat? If it was on to provide heat they would be baked alive by dawn. Hot water alone wouldn't need that sort of force of power to fuel it, and as you said, it would be intermittant. How could they afford it anyway and leave it on while on holiday? I really feel the cold badly, but I don't need my heating on during the night, and I still get hot under my duvet.
Also, I don't recognise the noise as that of their combi-boiler which I am sure is attached to their outside wall and I couldn't hear it at all last winter. The thing making the noise sounds like it is attached right again our party-wall and is so loud.
That's why I felt they were evasive and not honest with me when I last spoke to them.
I would definitely try to get some plastic earplugs as they make an amazing difference. I used them before I got doubleglazing to sleep through the noise of the nightclub across the road. Now if I hear my neighbours (one giggles really loudly all bloody night long - god knows what they're doing ) I put them in straight away rather than lie listening for the noise which is what I used to do.
Merille I think you're right the evasiveness was because it isn't the boiler - it's something else which they don't want to tell you about for some reason. God knows what.
Since the neighbours are so unhelpful, the earplugs are your best bet. I did the same as beecher when we had noisy neighbours - at the first sign of noise I would put them in, rather than lie there waiting to see how much it was going to bother me.
Originally posted by velvet: Merille I think you're right the evasiveness was because it isn't the boiler - it's something else which they don't want to tell you about for some reason. God knows what.
Since the neighbours are so unhelpful, the earplugs are your best bet. I did the same as beecher when we had noisy neighbours - at the first sign of noise I would put them in, rather than lie there waiting to see how much it was going to bother me.
I've been using earplugs right back from when the noise started. I've tried foam, silicon and wax ones but they block it out enough. Even wearing earplugs and with music on low I can still hear it. I'd have to turn it up much louder with the bass boom on to be able to mask the sound, which would then effect my other neighbours as I live in a terrace.
It's because the noise that filters upstairs is a low bass vibrating type sound. Only the same thing can mask it out. I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place.
If you can't block it out (and really, if it's getting through earplugs it must be pretty bad) then your only option is to get it stopped altogether isn't it?
Also, why should you have to sleep with earplugs in and play music and all the rest? Fair enough if it's a one off party or something, but to have to do that just to get to sleep at night doesn't seem to be right to me.
I agree it isn't right, but it isn't that uncommon Laura, I have had to do this myself for periods of time when I have had various types of noisy neighbours. Merille's neighbours won't acknowledge the problem let alone negotiate about it, if they are determined to be obstructive I'm not sure what she can do. But I do hope you can make some headway with them merille
I know what you mean velvet, ours are a royal pain as well but I do feel that if it's a consistent problem (and it really is that noisy and/or disruptive)then it needs to be dealt with. Obviously there's a distinction between what's generally considered disruptive and what one person would consider to be, but even so.
The thing is, if they are that obstructive and the noise is that bad, then the council will deal with it eevn if the neighbours won't. I can't remember what they told me, but they will serve notice on them to stop and if they don't, then they can get Asbo's out and allsorts. They really do seem to take it seriously, or that was the impression I got anyway.
I know not everyone would want to get into this with the neighbours, but whenever we've had problems I've gone round and dealt with it, I wasn't prepared to lose sleep because of their selfishness. And to be fair, wouldn't expect them to if the roles were reversed.
I wonder if the council could deal with this kind of insistent low level noise though. It isn't as if the neighbours are having wild parties every night, and the mysterious thing is that they actually sleep through this noise themselves. And I know what you mean, it wouldn't exactly improve neighbourly relations. But I do hope merille can sort it out.
Well the funny thing is, I think they probably will. I rang them last year just to generally enquire about our neighbours, and they said that whatever the noise was, if it could be heard and it was unreasonable times and/or volumes, and consistent (be it daily, weekly or whatever) then they could do something.
It never went that far with us, but I do remember being surprised that they could do more than I thought they could.
Mind you, now that I am off to Railway Cottage, I have lost interest in our neighbours - each time I hear them I just pray for the noise of trains instead!
Hi Merille, Your local EH may be sympathetic to your situation and will probably write a letter to your neighbours-this may be enough to stop them, provided they realise it's you complaining and not someone else as EH will not be specific about the noise and your neighbours may interpret the letter as being about 'other noise' music, kids, banging, diy etc. But from my experience ( and our local EH officers have often seen me in my nightie) they can only act if the noise is above a certain level after 11pm, forget what you may read about noise levels, the noise will need to be VERY loud. I've seen what appears to be loud noise to me record as way below their 'action' level on their Db meter. Don't forget that some people don't cope well with authority and an official letter can aggrivate people and escalate the situation (maybe only temporarily). Please try further with your neighbour, I know this sounds easier than it is but do try and get them into your house on a quiet evening so they can hear the noise, approach them as many times as you need to and keep that 'conversational' tone, if all fails write them a letter explaining just how this noise affects you. It the noise continues then contact EH but don't pin your hopes on them being able to do anything more than write a letter. If you own your property you also need to think about the fact that any disputes with a neighbour need to be disclosed upon selling these days and you can be sued if you withhold. You may not worry about this though, some people do, some don't, I don't my OH does, (though EH told me that all their dealings are confidential). Good luck, I know how you feel.
I used to have a nightmare neighbour whose noise used to drive me insane. All through the day, it never stopped. From rave music to loud radio, I heard them all. I genuinely was going mad. They were taking drugs. There was no way I was going to complain. In the end, I just have to move out. I could not report them, knowing if I did that, I could never sell the house because of the record. I would recomend your friends to move in with you even just for a night or two. The kind of friends who will not hesitate to complain. It might be better if you are not there when they are complaining. Maybe your friends can say they are borrowing the house for a day and can not sleep because of the TERRIBLE noise. If they can do it rudely enough, and persistently enough, your neighbour might ask to let them into your house and hear it for themselves to prove your friends wrong. And hopefully realise what they have been putting you through. Either way, dear Merille, you really have to get yourself out of this situation, now. The normal life will return once you remove yourself from this, trust me. I wish you good luck.
Merille, If the noise is constant, all the time, it can't be their boiler. I had a noisy fan on a condensing boiler which was under the guest room - not many people came twice . But that was intermittent, only when the boiler fired up.
I agree that even relatively low volume noise can be irritating in the extreme if it just happens to hit the wrong buttons.
Other potentially noisy things: Fish-tank (been mentioned), Dehumidifier, Air filter / ioniser. Washer drier - condensing WD/s are useless and need to be on all night. Feng Shui water feature - if they have it on a shelf on the party wall???, extractor fan in the odour control unit in their skunk factory (not that I would know about such things, of course .
It would really help if you could record a sample of this noise and somehow post it where we could get to hear it.
) I put them in straight away rather than lie listening for the noise which is what I used to do.
. But that was intermittent, only when the boiler fired up. 
.