Permissible building work/diy hours?

anything-but

anything-but

anything-but

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Joined
27 Dec 2002
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1,141
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Higham,kent.
Not in reference to me, but my local council website is next to useless at finding the info i need (Dartford bty..and yes,i`ve emailed `em). Neighbour who`s having lots of work done on his house decided we all needed to be woken up this morning with a extra bout of banging (not the 1st time on a sunday he`s done it). Don`t know if it`s a general or council specific thing but could have sworn Sunday was supposed to be a "quiet day",no building work as such? Or is that for commercial properties?

Yes,i knocked (no poo through letterbox) and said politely it was a bit early as it`s Sunday and i "politely" got a door in my face.

It`s in the hands on the council anyway but was just curious till i hear back from `em. :D
 
Depends how much noise you're going to make.

Personally, I don't use hammers, power tools or anything else that will disturb the neighbours before 10am or after 6pm.
 
My council don't allow noisy building works after 1pm on Saturdays and all day Sunday. Think weekdays is none after 7pm.

That didn't stop the cowboy building firm that renovated the house next door at the end of last year. Who were knocking walls downs and chiseling plaster off at 9pm at night and 7am on a Sunday.
 
LeeUK said:
My council don't allow noisy building works after 1pm on Saturdays and all day Sunday. Think weekdays is none after 7pm.

That didn't stop the cowboy building firm that renovated the house next door at the end of last year. Who were knocking walls downs and chiseling plaster off at 9pm at night and 7am on a Sunday.
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This is pretty much what most other councils seem to run with from looking, shame Dartford`s website is kak,still...i`ll be in touch with them tomorrow to see what`s what.
 
For the sake of maintaining a good relationship with your neighbour, just put up with it until he's completed. Complaining to the council is only going to make the situation worse.

What time did work actually start today?
 
Work started before 9am this morning, as for "putting up with it", we`re never informed of what time he plans to start/finish or how long it`s going to go on for. Works been going on for a while as the whole inside of the house it being altered, but as i`m a pretty easy going person i don`t bother saying anything, but this isn`t the 1st time on a sunday he`s just gone ahead and done whatever.
Afaik we were ok, say hi to eachother and such, but when his just shut the door in my face this morning i was like "oh,ok that`s how it is?" Still,email already sent to the council so what`s done is done.
 
When the dodgy builders were in next door, they were starting work at around 8am on weekdays then packing up at 5pm. Then they used to come back around 6.30pm and worked till about 9ish. Sundays they were starting at 7am and working to 3ish then come back at 5 and hammer for an hour then leave again. All very weird.

Owner is one of these dodgy sorts that owns a few bars as "fronts" for other dodgy activities. The house is currently rented out.
 
Just be careful about informing the authorities about issues with neighbours; afterwards, if/when you sell, you have to declare it to potential buyers and you could lose a sale.
 
Sadly its one of those things that is difficult to prove. You can guarantee the day anyone in authority calls to check for any disturbance there wont be any. The idiot who renovated the house next to us employed a plumber who only worked Saturday evenings and Sunday morning. Listening to somebody struggling to drill holes through 2ft of stone on a Sunday morning was no joke, (though the standard of work was laughable)
 
My council are pretty liberal thank God:

"DIY

Home maintenance is essential, and home improvement has grown to be a popular pastime.

DIY and building work can be very noisy so consider your neighbours when you are carrying out work.

Be sensible in your use of power tools. Do not carry out works early in the morning or late at night and try not to use noisy equipment for extended periods.

Let neighbours know if you plan to do anything that involves work on party walls or floors or that will be noisy. It may help if you can agree a time for work when it will least disturb them."

Under "Outdoor Nose" they take a similar view

"Power tools

The use of lawnmowers and power tools should be avoided at sensitive times like early in the morning or late at night and for extended periods."
 
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BadMojo said:
Just be careful about informing the authorities about issues with neighbours; afterwards, if/when you sell, you have to declare it to potential buyers and you could lose a sale.
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Yeah, this, although it seems like you're handling it in a sensible manner, and I assume your email was asking them if they have any rules about this, so I wouldn't say you're at the "declaring" stage yet.

All that said, door in face, completely unnecessary, if he intends on ignoring your then convention dictates he politely apologise and then continue with whatever he was going to do anyway...
 
To be honest I'd agree with Lopez's council position in regards to DIY (rather than commercial building work).

The OP may want to laze in bed all Sunday but frankly 9am is not "early" and, assuming the neighbour is at work during the week, they probably only have limited time to get what they want to do done. Starting at 7am would be unreasonable but neither is expecting people losing a good chunk of the day by not starting things until late morning.
 
Like i mentioned earlier, i`m a easy going person and i wasn`t lazing in bed either, lol

It`s more of the fact that we`re never informed of what time the work starts,either day or time wise, if he said "i`ll be starting some work at "x" day/time then it wouldn`t be so bad but that doesn`t happen. I understand that with all the work they have planned inside their home the`ll be times when it`ll be noisy "out of hours" but with a little bit of notification it wouldn`t be so bad.

Tbh,i was pretty surprised to have the door shut in my face like he did as he didn`t seem that kinda person. Anyway`s, not had a chance to chat with the council today so i`ll give `em a bell tomorrow.
 
I wouldn't classify 9am as early and probably wouldn't have appreciated a neighbour moaning about it either in all fairness.

If they are working hard to improve their property then crack on, all to them.
 
In my area quiet hours are 7pm to 7am, 7 days a week. I believe this is standard and have had the same thing in many cities.

I wouldn't complain at any noise after 7am, even on A Sunday. It may be Early to you but that is later for many. Especially in hotter countries they will often work from sunrise. I try not to make noise before 8:30am on the weekend but it gets so hot here than I prefer to do the lawn at 7:30am.
Plus I prefer to get stuff done out the way and have the rest of the day to enjoy.

If you really don't like noise buy a house in the middle of no where lots of land around.
 
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No idea what the regs are where I am but personally I don't think that weekend DIY is unreasonable. When we moved in there was a fair amount of work that needed doing so we worked on the house most evenings, I tried to keep the noisy stuff to before 9pm. Same with weekends mornings 9am is not an unreasonable time to do work, I'm not going to put stuff off and waste my day off waiting just because my neighbour wants a lie in after a night on the tiles. When you have to work there is only so much time available to do this stuff, I'm sure the neighbours would rather a few loud evenings and weekends while you blitz the work rather than it stretching on for months.

There was one time when I threw the rules out the window when my fence blew down during some bad storms. That Friday my neighbour decided to host an all night party that woke us a few times with music and general rowdiness. What he didn't know was I'd got 4 big fence panels that were being put up in morning, I got up extra early just as he was going to sleep and found my biggest hammer and set about work gleefully, putting in a few extra nails just to be sure that it wouldn't blow down again :D I then considered putting some pictures up on the joining wall but decided he'd leant his lesson.
 
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Weekend DIY is not a problem. When someone is hammering with a pneumatic drill at 7am on a Sunday morning in mid December (so pitch black like night) it isn't very nice. Which I had to put up with.

I get up at 5am for work every morning, not like those 9-5 get up at 8 softies. So I'm entitled to a lie in on a day off.
 
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LeeUK said:
I get up at 5am for work every morning, not like those 9-5 get up at 8 softies. So I'm entitled to a lie in on a day off.
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Surely, getting up at 7am would still be a lie in as you'd have had an extra 2 hours sleep...? As I rise for work at 4am I struggle to sleep past 7am anyway.
 
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