If you like quiet, do NOT move to the NoVA suburbs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in a townhouse community with an HOA that has a crew come once a week so it's fine.

The irony of the suburbs is that everyone wants their own plot of land with a lawn in front and in the back, surrounded by similar houses with front and back lawns (bc density is bad) but they also want no noise from maintaining the lawns and also to live close to everything and not have their kids be "bussed" to school lol

“I’m 13 and this is deep”

Ooh I struck a nerve

[Anonymous]

I can't wait to get out of here the quality of life on all fronts it horrible including massive noise issues. City of Alexandria and seven corners is the loudest in the area.

[Anonymous]

OP Here. Wow, did not realize that DC outlawed gas leaf blowers... thanks for that video. Will have to work on building support locally for a similar initiative. Much obliged!

DC outlawed gas blowers 2 years ago.

https://www.quietcleandc.com/transition-guide

[Anonymous]

As with most sweeping generalizations, there is some truth and some lies in the OP's broad assertion. It all depends on the definition of "suburbs" for this purpose. Close-in areas like Alexandria and Arlington have high population and traffic densities, older homes which aren't always well-soundproofed, proximity to National Airport and Metro, etc. Some areas in more distant suburbs also share those traits, but it certainly depends on exactly where you're speaking of. Clifton, Great Falls, and other areas with little commercial area, smaller roads, less traffic, etc. are generally very tranquil. Houses backing up to 95 or 395, or adjacent to fire stations, not so much. The specifics matter.

Bottom line, if you want a quiet area, they exist - just buy a house accordingly and don't complain later when you bought something in proximity to obvious sources of frequent noise pollution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your neighbors didn’t do any of this you’d be here complaining that they don’t maintain their properties.

Raking doesn’t make a sound.

Rakes are extremely noisy. Why can't the help just pick up the leaves with white cotton gloves?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yep. I'm with you OP. Literally moving because of the noise.

We are moving from FCC to Vienna. I can no longer handle all of the noise. There is constant noise from cars zooming by and blaring music (our street is a commuter cut through right by the metro), and it is especially bad right in front of our house where there is a stop sign that they roll into in a rolling stop and then they gun it when they see there aren't other cars. Our houses are on top of each other and I am at the point where I desperately hate the neighbors on one side because of the constant noise. People are constantly walking up and down our street to and from the metro and part of the great noise pollution of these times is people walking down the street talking on the phone -- actually holding it right in front of their face, on speaker, and $#@*&ing screaming at it.

The new place in Vienna is at the end of a cul de sac, with old people in the adjacent houses, backing onto Wolf Trap woods. It is no where near as nice of a house. But I don't care. I need some peace.

This describes my situation perfectly. Trying to move also but everything is so expensive. It wasn't always this way at my house; the noisy cars and loud people seem to have multiplied ten-fold in the past few years. Some days, when people walk by blabbing loudly, I'm tempted to turn on my Ring doorbell and play a loud beeping or siren sound.

PP. Yeah, we closed on our FCC house in late 2012 and had been renting a house three blocks away for several years. We loved the area, and the noise never got to me. Until the last several years. I don't know what it is, or why it is I should say, but your impression that loud people have multiplied ten-fold in the past few years seems accurate to me.

And yeah, trying to move because stuff is so expensive has been very hard. I met with a cleaning guy at the new house today so they can do a deep clean before we move in and it really struck me how, if you put houses on a scale of 1-10, one being a shack and 10 being a mansion, I'm probably moving from a 7 to a 5. And it is costing me money. But the NoVA housing market is nuts. I'm actually looking into a serious side hustle to bring in more money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We recently moved out for 6 months while our house was being renovated, and the rental house we were in was about 3 miles away. Every single night, one of our neighbors let out their dogs around 6:30 pm, and those dogs would proceed to bark, nonstop, for 45 minutes. I’m not exaggerating. The only days we got any breaks were when they were on vacation or it was raining. (I often prayed for evening rain)

It was an old house with old windows, so maybe that contributed, but I would rather hear the occasional mowing service or leaf blower than have that experience of the nonstop dog barking every evening again.

I'm the PP who is moving because of neighbor noise. Part of the problem is kids -- running around and screaming and, worse, bouncing a basketball under a basketball hoop that they placed almost right under my office/bedroom window -- and the the guy standing out behind his house (same spot basically, right under my window) screaming at his cell phone while taking calls on speaker ... all of the freaking time. So ... I laughed so hard when you said you prayed for rain, because I actually only relax when it is raining and I know they won't be going out there. I've prayed for rain so many times. Only a couple more weeks and I'll be moved to a quieter (and unfortunately nowhere near as nice) house.

[Anonymous]

Must be your neighborhood. Most of our neighbors do their lawn mowing in the evenings or on weekends.

[Anonymous]

It's perspective. We moved from a block away from a very busy road with a ton of ongoing construction out to a suburban neighborhood outside the beltway and even with the occasional leaf blower/lawn mower/garbage truck/airplane flying over us, it seems so much quieter than living off a busy road.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yep. I'm with you OP. Literally moving because of the noise.

We are moving from FCC to Vienna. I can no longer handle all of the noise. There is constant noise from cars zooming by and blaring music (our street is a commuter cut through right by the metro), and it is especially bad right in front of our house where there is a stop sign that they roll into in a rolling stop and then they gun it when they see there aren't other cars. Our houses are on top of each other and I am at the point where I desperately hate the neighbors on one side because of the constant noise. People are constantly walking up and down our street to and from the metro and part of the great noise pollution of these times is people walking down the street talking on the phone -- actually holding it right in front of their face, on speaker, and $#@*&ing screaming at it.

The new place in Vienna is at the end of a cul de sac, with old people in the adjacent houses, backing onto Wolf Trap woods. It is no where near as nice of a house. But I don't care. I need some peace.

This describes my situation perfectly. Trying to move also but everything is so expensive. It wasn't always this way at my house; the noisy cars and loud people seem to have multiplied ten-fold in the past few years. Some days, when people walk by blabbing loudly, I'm tempted to turn on my Ring doorbell and play a loud beeping or siren sound.

PP. Yeah, we closed on our FCC house in late 2012 and had been renting a house three blocks away for several years. We loved the area, and the noise never got to me. Until the last several years. I don't know what it is, or why it is I should say, but your impression that loud people have multiplied ten-fold in the past few years seems accurate to me.

And yeah, trying to move because stuff is so expensive has been very hard. I met with a cleaning guy at the new house today so they can do a deep clean before we move in and it really struck me how, if you put houses on a scale of 1-10, one being a shack and 10 being a mansion, I'm probably moving from a 7 to a 5. And it is costing me money. But the NoVA housing market is nuts. I'm actually looking into a serious side hustle to bring in more money.

Based on your description of where you live in FCC, I bet it's the construction. There has been so much construction in the past 5 years and that noise carries really far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find this thread hilarious… well of course there will be noise, how else would anything get maintained?
On the moon might be a different matter.

Yea, how did anyone ever have a garden without gas powered mowers and blowers and trimmers and clippers for 2 hours twice a week

I wouldn't know, I'm in my 60s and people have always used gas powered lawn care equipment.

[Anonymous]

The OP is doing the meme...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also the delivery trucks and garbage trucks! We have 2x a week garbage collection, 1x a week recycling and 1x a week yard waste and they all come ridiculously early in the morning (around 6:20am.)

That’s ridiculous. Move to MoCo! Pick-up of trash, yard waste and recycling is on the same day. Gas powered leaf blowers are being outlawed. In 20814, most people have solar mowers or push mowers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've recently been at home consistently during the day for the first time in years. Had an unfortunate medical diagnosis and needed some extra time for treatments and rest.

Holy crap, the level of noise has been terrible. Every day, starting by 8, there are leaf blowers, lawn mowers, weed-eaters, pressure washers, air compressors, heavy trucks, and pretty much anything else that you can think of that is loud. There's no place to escape the noise -- it permeates the whole house with doors and windows buttoned up tight, and goes unceasingly on from dawn 'til dusk.

I'm all for small business, but these contractors and the homeowners who hire them seem out of control. Has there been any discussion of a better regulatory framework to limit use of outdoor tools to certain days or hours? How about outlawing gas-powered leaf blowers altogether?

I was previously planning to stay in place when I retire, but I just don't think the quality of life would be good in the suburbs based off the past couple weeks -- it's truly been soul sucking.

You know you can call the police if the noise in unbearable. I do this often and it works. It sends a message to neighbors.

[Anonymous]

The issue isn't an increase in noise in the last few years, the issue is more people are working from home to hear it.