Neighbour Whinging About Noise from Renovations

I have been renovating a strata apartment here in NSW over the last 2 weeks. I'm doing everything by myself with no help. All I want to do is get it finished so I can head back overseas to be with my fiance and to my beach house. The place has really old and flaky paint so it needs a lot of sanding and preparing. I have done 2 rooms painted & new carpet) and now I'm doing the lounge and hallways, just sanding & painting. I then have to sand and paint the kitchen and bathroom. I have to have it all finished in 1 week so I'm really worried now as I fly out the end of next week.

I have tried to get up earlier and work later. Today I had to use the tiny 220 watt orbital sander most of the day. I was nearly finished for the day around 6.30pm when I heard a knock at the door. I opened it and this guy was there, he asked how it was going and then he said he was annoyed that I was still working after been doing it all day. Then he said that there is a time for that etc. I was a bit surprised really as it does not seem loud to me. He then said it was vibrating through the whole building. I could not hear that or understand why. I asked him which unit he was in and he was hesitant to tell me and said down stairs. I told him I was about to finish in 30 minutes anyway. He starting whinging more about there is a time for this sort of thing and I was thinking to myself yeah now is a good time :), I said well 11pm is the official time to stop making noise. He said really and he looked like he was going to start moaning more. I said look I told you I will finished in 30 minutes. He then said OK 30 minutes and walked off. He was a bit aggressive etc.

The last thing I need now is some weired looking freak telling me to stop working as he wants to play games on his computer or whatever, he looked like a computer geek... well I'm always on my laptop too but I also work sometimes, now I have this deadline and I have to worry about upsetting this wired and stressed out freak. :rolleyes:

Ok I also can get annoyed when neighbours are noisy but heck it's not like I'm doing it to annoy anyone or playing loud music etc, just trying to get a job done.

Is there any regulations I have to abide by here in NSW with renovations?
 
have a chat to your local council. Construction workers are never working till 11pm so there must be a cutoff. i wouldnt be thrilled with a neighbour going at it after dark, especially in a unit. with my renos i try and keep the peace, a narky neighbour would be tge last thing i would want.....
 
not sure man if you are in a owners corporation they have certain regulations that has to be followed. i know mine is like 5:30pm for any renovation noise.

neightbours can be difficult and he could call the cops in on you which would make it difficult but the noise would ave to be pretty loud
 
neightbours can be difficult and he could call the cops in on you which would make it difficult but the noise would ave to be pretty loud

:eek: really, I thought the worst I would get is a knock on the door from noise control from the council. I'm in Newcastle NSW.

I told him 30 minutes but I finished in 10 minutes after he knocked so I hope he has settled down now. At least the main sanding is done but there will be a bit more here and there over the next week but I will try to get it done quickly and not too late.
 
Check with your local council as it will be them that issue you with a warning letter for noise complaints.

Can you organise your sanding/prep during the middle of the day then you will
have the evenings to paint which sound not involve much noise at all.
 
You should've known the answer to that before you started.

I guess so but I don't do reno's often, only once every couple of years and it's only small work, mainly painting, no building, some carpet too, that is it. I just tried to be reasonable, never start making any noise until after 9.am and I had thought that 11pm was when you had to be quiet. Well I will try to make some enquires tomorrow I guess although it's a bit late now with it 2/3rds finished...
 
Check with your local council as it will be them that issue you with a warning letter for noise complaints.

Can you organise your sanding/prep during the middle of the day then you will
have the evenings to paint which sound not involve much noise at all.

yeah I will call then I guess tomorrow. Well I done most of the sanding today anyway and the rest should be able to be done in smaller doses in the coming days. I guess that is what drove my neighbour crazy :D as it was nearly non stop for the whole day as I worked liked a man possessed as I'm on such a tight deadline so I pushed myself to the limit today. I'm sure the neighbour was shocked when I opened the door and I stood their covered in dust and paint with goggles and mask on with dust all over my face. I should have said to him "you want me to finish, well buddy, I want to be finished 100 times more than what you want me to believe me"! ;)
 
Well I done most of the sanding today anyway and the rest should be able to be done in smaller doses in the coming days. I guess that is what drove my neighbour crazy :D as it was nearly non stop for the whole day

Joy....I'd love to live next to that.


I'm sure the neighbour was shocked when I opened the door and I stood their covered in dust and paint with goggles and mask on with dust all over my face. I should have said to him "you want me to finish, well buddy, I want to be finished 100 times more than what you want me to believe me"! ;)

Your neighbour doesn't give a flying toss whether you're finshed or not. He just wants you to respect his right to some peace and quiet.....to which you have no idea at all whether you are unlawfully impinging on that right.

Common decency should dictate your actions. Local council laws are only drafted for the few folk like yourself who trample over other's rights and apply little to no common decency.
 
Do you have a da or is it under exempt development with no changes to internal config etc?

Sounds like flaking paint needs repainting in several rooms plus carpet... (taken from the initial post) - so cannot imagine any DA required.

I would be annoyed at the noise, but it is hardly like you have been making excessive noise for weeks on end. Perhaps it would have been good to slip a note under the adjoining doors saying what you are doing, that it will be a couple of days of noise, that you will not sand past a certain time (whatever is legal) and perhaps even wrap the note around a bottle of wine.

Actually, an apology note with that bottle of wine could go a long way to repairing the raw feelings that are clearly already there. Do whatever you can do to avoid further problems. As you know from reading here :D plenty of people might take this "excessive" noise (one day :rolleyes:) as a declaration of war.
 
{snip}

Sounds like flaking paint needs repainting in several rooms plus carpet... (taken from the initial post) - so cannot imagine any DA required.

I would be annoyed at the noise, but it is hardly like you have been making excessive noise for weeks on end. Perhaps it would have been good to slip a note under the adjoining doors saying what you are doing, that it will be a couple of days of noise, that you will not sand past a certain time (whatever is legal) and perhaps even wrap the note around a bottle of wine.

Actually, an apology note with that bottle of wine could go a long way to repairing the raw feelings that are clearly already there. Do whatever you can do to avoid further problems. As you know from reading here :D plenty of people might take this "excessive" noise (one day :rolleyes:) as a declaration of war.

Yes it's just painting basically and I had already informed Strata of the work and have been in contact with them regularly since.

I think the neighbour had over reacted, he is downstairs and if anyone would be annoyed it would be the next door neighbour but there is no one there as new tenants move in soon.

I also get annoyed with this neighbour downstairs as he is always turning on the taps early in the morning from 6.am and they are a bit noisy. I only noticed it a lot this morning, I would guess he is doing it on purpose. Anyway I tried to be reasonable to him and told him I would be finished soon and I did, I finished 10 minutes later even though he was quite aggressive about it. He could have come to me with a better attitude instead of being angry etc.

he won't begetting a bottle of wine or flowers from me but a nice suggestion anyway :)
 
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Well - as a renovator - but also a home-resider - it gets dark at 4.30pm at the moment and it's the time that people start settling down for the night. Shucks - we even have dinner around 6pm.

To have someone creating an irritating background noise and vibration for 2 hours after my knock off time would drive me insane.
 
he won't begetting a bottle of wine or flowers from me but a nice suggestion anyway :)

I understand that is how you feel now, but if you are going to rent this unit out, you might want to smooth things out for their sakes, and also because if he niggles the new tenants as some sort of "payback" to you, it will impact on you when they complain to you, or don't renew their lease.

I'd swallow my pride, realise you did do something to upset him (whether his annoyance was justified or not) and make amends. Just to keep it sweet for yourself and your new tenants.
 
From Newcastle Council website - took all of 3 seconds:

There are time restrictions about when certain noises are allowed:

Power tools and equipment

A person must not cause or permit a power tool or swimming pool pump to be used on residential premises in such a manner that it emits noise that can be heard within a habitable room in any other residential premises (regardless of whether any door or window to that room is open):

(a) before 8 am or after 8 pm on any Sunday or public holiday, or

(b) before 7 am or after 8 pm on any other day.
 
I'd swallow my pride, realise you did do something to upset him (whether his annoyance was justified or not) and make amends. Just to keep it sweet for yourself and your new tenants.

If I had been using a jack hammer or something It would have been more understandable but this is the tiny sander I used, I got the smallest & lest powerful too in consideration for neigbours: http://www.bunnings.com.au/products_product_220w-125mm-ozito-rog191-random-orbital-sander_1980.aspx

I really don't see a need to apologize to him as I had already obliged to stop working for him even though I was in my rights to keep working (see below), and as it is urgent work even more so that I stopped for him. Now if I had realized I had done something wrong then yes it would be different and I would go out of my way to make amends. I'm sure he will get over it as long as I don't work too late. As suggested I will just use the sander in the earlier hours of the day...
From Newcastle Council website - took all of 3 seconds:

There are time restrictions about when certain noises are allowed:

Power tools and equipment

A person must not cause or permit a power tool or swimming pool pump to be used on residential premises in such a manner that it emits noise that can be heard within a habitable room in any other residential premises (regardless of whether any door or window to that room is open):

(a) before 8 am or after 8 pm on any Sunday or public holiday, or

(b) before 7 am or after 8 pm on any other day.

Yes I made enquiries too, thanks and I was in my rights so there you go Dazz, have a read of that :p;)
 
From Newcastle Council website - took all of 3 seconds:

There are time restrictions about when certain noises are allowed:

Power tools and equipment

A person must not cause or permit a power tool or swimming pool pump to be used on residential premises in such a manner that it emits noise that can be heard within a habitable room in any other residential premises (regardless of whether any door or window to that room is open):

(a) before 8 am or after 8 pm on any Sunday or public holiday, or

(b) before 7 am or after 8 pm on any other day.

Print the above out, stuff it down his throat, and tell him to get a job...
 
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