mrso'brien
Registered User
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- 35
Myself and my husband are in a severe dilemma...
We bought a house (a semi-d) in November of last year (4 months ago). We renovated the house, i.e. painted and carpeted it, and throughout the renovations there was ferrocious drumming noise coming from the house attached on to us. We thought, 'ah not to worry, it will stop when we move in and they are only doing it while there is nobody in the house'.
How wrong we were....
we tried to be neighbourly to them when we moved in and WE called to them with a bottle of wine for Xmas and a box of chocolates. We were not invited in to their house, nor did we so much as get an Xmas card back in return.
There has been ongoing drumming since we moved in. We have been in to them pleading with them (in the nicest possible way) to stop drumming when we are there or at least get dampners for their kits (it turns out there are 2 drum kits in the house).
They own their house and there is 3 of them living there -father, 20 year old son and mother. It's the son and the father who are the drummers.
The drumming can start at any time of the day. It is never at night after the first time we called in to them. It was at night when we first moved in.
The thing is, we have a baby, and it's at the point now that I cannot put her into her cot in her bedroom for a nap during the day. Because if the drumming starts it will wake her, or if it's going on at naptime she cannot sleep. So now, she sleeps in her buggy or in a travel cot in the sitting room for her daytime naps. It's terrible coz we cannot kick back and watch a bit of telly or anything then.
We work Mon-Fri 9am to 5pm and have told them to drum all they like when we are not there. The father's answer to that was 'I will drum as loud as I like, as long as I want and as late as I like'. It's a disaster.
The first 9 times we called in to them we stood at their door and spent at least 1/2 hour each time explaining to them how we need the baby to sleep, how our light fittings vibrate, how our house alarm is being set off during the day by the drumming, how it's affecting our lives. Still they don't care.
The father has stood on the driveway and screamed and roared at us. We would never stoop to that level in return and have always remained polite and calm.
However, the last time we were in to them..my baby was sick and I was off work to mind her (creche wouldn't take her and she was too sick to go to the creche anyway). Next thing...bang, bang, bang. So I went next door and rang their bell for 20 mins..no answer. So I dropped a note in the door. Still...bang, bang, bang for a further hour. The poor baby was so distressed, exhausted and sick...I was so upset. She needed to nap and couldn't with the noise.
I have bought noise level meters and record the noise, which can be 1.5 - 2 times the ambient level downstairs and 3-4 times the ambient dBA level upstairs. Doesn't help that they often drum with the windows open so it vibrates all over the place. Bad enough that they do it with the windows closed.
They are not polite at all, have slammed doors in our faces and roared and screamed all sorts at us.
The last time we went to them was the night time of the day I put the note in the door asking them to please be quiet as the baby was sick. For a finish, after 45 minutes of pleading with them, I said 'this is pointless talking to you, it's like talking to a brick wall' and I asked the mother 'As a mother, can you not understand that the bady can't sleep with the noise'.
We have invited them in 4 times to hear the noise (i.e., the son could play and them sit in our sitting room and hear the racket). No joy, they won't come in.
Anyway, since the last time, they have started throwing rubbish into our back garden. It started pretty much immediately after the last conversation with them 4 weeks ago. It's all compost rubbish and will attract rats. There are cats constantly in our garden now...tonnes of them all the time with the rubbish. It could be leftovers from their breakfast that's just tipped over the wall, ashes from their fireplace, old fungus covered bread, carrots, potato peels, carrots, gone off veg etc.
The garden and the roof of our shed would literally be littered with the rubbish. Sometimes we clean it up in the morning, go away and come home to find they've done it again.
we are at our wits end. The mother has started parking her car up on the kerb between the 2 houses to try make us not have enough room to open our car doors fully.
We've been to the Gardai and logged a complaint with them. They've said they will call to them. We've said don't. We are afraid that they will come back on us twice as bad. My husband's friend is a Garda and he said to us that if we call the Gardai out to them next time they are drumming, that 9 out of 10 times, people like that only come back worse.
They are very rough people. Anyone I have asked who knows them or knows of them say 'Oh God help you living next door to them'.
We don't know what to do. If we go down a legal route and get legal proceedings, it'll be attached to the house for good and if we went to sell, we'd have to declare.
We're thinking of just pulling out, cutting our losses and selling up.
We asked the auctioneer before we bought the house but he didn't know anything about drumming and the previous owners lived way up the country and had the house rented out. Their tenants, co-incidentally for the last 4 years also had a drum kit so it was nice and handy for the neighbours!
What would you do in our situation? I don't want to bring my baby up in an environment like that.
We bought a house (a semi-d) in November of last year (4 months ago). We renovated the house, i.e. painted and carpeted it, and throughout the renovations there was ferrocious drumming noise coming from the house attached on to us. We thought, 'ah not to worry, it will stop when we move in and they are only doing it while there is nobody in the house'.
How wrong we were....
we tried to be neighbourly to them when we moved in and WE called to them with a bottle of wine for Xmas and a box of chocolates. We were not invited in to their house, nor did we so much as get an Xmas card back in return.
There has been ongoing drumming since we moved in. We have been in to them pleading with them (in the nicest possible way) to stop drumming when we are there or at least get dampners for their kits (it turns out there are 2 drum kits in the house).
They own their house and there is 3 of them living there -father, 20 year old son and mother. It's the son and the father who are the drummers.
The drumming can start at any time of the day. It is never at night after the first time we called in to them. It was at night when we first moved in.
The thing is, we have a baby, and it's at the point now that I cannot put her into her cot in her bedroom for a nap during the day. Because if the drumming starts it will wake her, or if it's going on at naptime she cannot sleep. So now, she sleeps in her buggy or in a travel cot in the sitting room for her daytime naps. It's terrible coz we cannot kick back and watch a bit of telly or anything then.
We work Mon-Fri 9am to 5pm and have told them to drum all they like when we are not there. The father's answer to that was 'I will drum as loud as I like, as long as I want and as late as I like'. It's a disaster.
The first 9 times we called in to them we stood at their door and spent at least 1/2 hour each time explaining to them how we need the baby to sleep, how our light fittings vibrate, how our house alarm is being set off during the day by the drumming, how it's affecting our lives. Still they don't care.
The father has stood on the driveway and screamed and roared at us. We would never stoop to that level in return and have always remained polite and calm.
However, the last time we were in to them..my baby was sick and I was off work to mind her (creche wouldn't take her and she was too sick to go to the creche anyway). Next thing...bang, bang, bang. So I went next door and rang their bell for 20 mins..no answer. So I dropped a note in the door. Still...bang, bang, bang for a further hour. The poor baby was so distressed, exhausted and sick...I was so upset. She needed to nap and couldn't with the noise.
I have bought noise level meters and record the noise, which can be 1.5 - 2 times the ambient level downstairs and 3-4 times the ambient dBA level upstairs. Doesn't help that they often drum with the windows open so it vibrates all over the place. Bad enough that they do it with the windows closed.
They are not polite at all, have slammed doors in our faces and roared and screamed all sorts at us.
The last time we went to them was the night time of the day I put the note in the door asking them to please be quiet as the baby was sick. For a finish, after 45 minutes of pleading with them, I said 'this is pointless talking to you, it's like talking to a brick wall' and I asked the mother 'As a mother, can you not understand that the bady can't sleep with the noise'.
We have invited them in 4 times to hear the noise (i.e., the son could play and them sit in our sitting room and hear the racket). No joy, they won't come in.
Anyway, since the last time, they have started throwing rubbish into our back garden. It started pretty much immediately after the last conversation with them 4 weeks ago. It's all compost rubbish and will attract rats. There are cats constantly in our garden now...tonnes of them all the time with the rubbish. It could be leftovers from their breakfast that's just tipped over the wall, ashes from their fireplace, old fungus covered bread, carrots, potato peels, carrots, gone off veg etc.
The garden and the roof of our shed would literally be littered with the rubbish. Sometimes we clean it up in the morning, go away and come home to find they've done it again.
we are at our wits end. The mother has started parking her car up on the kerb between the 2 houses to try make us not have enough room to open our car doors fully.
We've been to the Gardai and logged a complaint with them. They've said they will call to them. We've said don't. We are afraid that they will come back on us twice as bad. My husband's friend is a Garda and he said to us that if we call the Gardai out to them next time they are drumming, that 9 out of 10 times, people like that only come back worse.
They are very rough people. Anyone I have asked who knows them or knows of them say 'Oh God help you living next door to them'.
We don't know what to do. If we go down a legal route and get legal proceedings, it'll be attached to the house for good and if we went to sell, we'd have to declare.
We're thinking of just pulling out, cutting our losses and selling up.
We asked the auctioneer before we bought the house but he didn't know anything about drumming and the previous owners lived way up the country and had the house rented out. Their tenants, co-incidentally for the last 4 years also had a drum kit so it was nice and handy for the neighbours!
What would you do in our situation? I don't want to bring my baby up in an environment like that.
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