Am I being unreasonable? Neighbor complaints about noise - sorry long

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:sliding down the stairs in a box is unreasonable with shared walls.
some noise is fine, but you can't live in a town home and get silence without a pair of bose headphones.

+1

I imagine that makes a lot of noise. To answer your question OP, yes, you were unreasonable with your neighbor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:sliding down the stairs in a box is unreasonable with shared walls.

some noise is fine, but you can't live in a town home and get silence without a pair of bose headphones.

+10000

Plus, OP finding everything humorous is a little off kilter, no? Yikes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My kids are 2 and 5, they're not allowed to play ball in the house but they run and yell. We sing and dance together and they love to slide down the stairs on cardboard boxes.
Anyway, today we were having a play date and the other child is a screamer. Mom is working hard on teaching him inside voice but the guy likes to yell from the top of his lungs.

The kids run and yell, you all sing and dance, they love to slide down the stairs on cardboard boxes, you have a child over who likes to yell at the top of his lungs -- and it's unreasonable of the neighbor to complain about the noise?

Right? Crazy!

[Anonymous]

OP, grow up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My kids are 2 and 5, they're not allowed to play ball in the house but they run and yell. We sing and dance together and they love to slide down the stairs on cardboard boxes.
Anyway, today we were having a play date and the other child is a screamer. Mom is working hard on teaching him inside voice but the guy likes to yell from the top of his lungs.

The kids run and yell, you all sing and dance, they love to slide down the stairs on cardboard boxes, you have a child over who likes to yell at the top of his lungs -- and it's unreasonable of the neighbor to complain about the noise?

Right? Crazy!

I think OP was being reasonable and neighborly when she asked if the lawyer slept during the day, so she knew when to keep it down. Her neighbor WORKS during the day. If she needs quiet, she should rent an office. There are plenty of spaces available.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're in MoCo (not sure where OP is, but I suspect the noise disturbance issues might be similar),and here's the deal.

OP, your children are only allowed 'to be kids' in their own home if the sounds they're making do not exceed the noise levels set up by the county. The levels vary depending on the time of the day and the day of the week. Here's what I'm talking about

http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/DEP/community/noise-ordinance.html

11:54, you're wrong if you believe that "If she needed to sleep during the day because she worked nights, that would be one thing, but it's not reasonable to ask someone not to make noise during the day so you can work at home. They have a right to enjoy their home just as much as you do".
FYI, it doesn't matter if the woman is a lawyer, a stripper or the president of the United States..she is within her rights to demand a certain level of noise protection, night or day. So if the child you're having over for a play date enjoys 'screaming at top of his lungs', repeatedly, over a period of time, your neighbor has the right to call the police... and if you're 'singing and dancing' with the music blasting, your neighbors are also within their rights to complain.

Believe it or not, similar rules apply to dogs barking. 4 barks, and your neighbors can call the cops on you - and the police has to respond to the call.

OP, I suggest you take a hard look at your situation and see if you can find ways to keep the noise down. Once again, no one can request pure silence from their neighbors, but it is perfectly legitimate to expect them to keep the level of noise down to certain levels.

I'm surprised people on this site don't understand this simple issue.

I disagree. The OP said that the woman wants silence so that she can work at home. That is not reasonable. To expect or request. She's totally within normal bounds to ask that OP not have kids yelling and screaming in the house, or music blasting at a high volume, but silence all day? Not reasonable. If the neighbor had said, "I know that kids make noise, but the yelling and screaming is too much," I don't think very many people would be supporting the OP's refusal to cooperate. But from what we're told, the neighbor is asking far more than she is legally entitled to.

Exactly. I'm the OP. I suffer from horrible severe migraines and the kids are kind enough to sit and do puzzles or watch a TV episode quietly while we wait for my medication to take effect. We're in now way breaking such codes. We don't hear music that loud and our play area is not in the room we share walls. The sound system is in the kitchen, the farthest room from the neighbor and we usually push the furniture in the dining room to make room for running and dancing games. Again a room that is not connected to the neighbor.

Perhaps you could have requested to hear for yourself whether the noise level from your kids is unacceptable. There's a chance they are louder than you think. Silence is also unacceptable. I am an attorney and need almost complete silence to read case law, but it's hard to get that even at a library. That's what ear plugs are for.

[Anonymous]

OP, I have a neighbor exactly like you. She does not understand why is it disturbing when her kids are playing/screaming in their own home. There is a limit to everything. I am writing this, because I know how it feels like as I was the Victim earlier. Could not concentrate on anything during day/night as it is always Kids Yelling/Mom shouting/they hitting the walls with balls&toys/Music blaring. We cannot even enjoy a quiet 1-2 minutes after work in our backyard when her Kids are yelling/screaming/laughing loud along with few other kids all evenings in their backyard. Looks like she was a backup sitter for many of her friends. Their landlord came in and observed the noise from our place(without informing them), we got our own peace of mind back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I have a neighbor exactly like you. She does not understand why is it disturbing when her kids are playing/screaming in their own home. There is a limit to everything. I am writing this, because I know how it feels like as I was the Victim earlier. Could not concentrate on anything during day/night as it is always Kids Yelling/Mom shouting/they hitting the walls with balls&toys/Music blaring. We cannot even enjoy a quiet 1-2 minutes after work in our backyard when her Kids are yelling/screaming/laughing loud along with few other kids all evenings in their backyard. Looks like she was a backup sitter for many of her friends. Their landlord came in and observed the noise from our place(without informing them), we got our own peace of mind back.

Why don't you live in an area or building that does not allow kids?

[Anonymous]

I think there are no winners here. It is very difficult for a single work at home lawyer to share a wall with a family with little kids.

There is really no way to resolve this conflict.

I think one of you should move.

Townhomes are terrible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I have a neighbor exactly like you. She does not understand why is it disturbing when her kids are playing/screaming in their own home. There is a limit to everything. I am writing this, because I know how it feels like as I was the Victim earlier. Could not concentrate on anything during day/night as it is always Kids Yelling/Mom shouting/they hitting the walls with balls&toys/Music blaring. We cannot even enjoy a quiet 1-2 minutes after work in our backyard when her Kids are yelling/screaming/laughing loud along with few other kids all evenings in their backyard. Looks like she was a backup sitter for many of her friends. Their landlord came in and observed the noise from our place(without informing them), we got our own peace of mind back.

OP here. I'm so sorry for your experience. Hoe did you communicate with them to let them know they were disturbing you? How did they respond?
I'm glad to know it got resolved.
Like I said we're doing everything possible to keep our levels down. The walls we share are isolated, the kids don't bang toys on walls or furniture and we don't play upstairs so I guess our neighbor should consider herself lucky to have people worried about her comfort living next door.

[Anonymous]

I was with you fully until you said you let the kids slide down the steps on cardboard boxes---that's not typical indoor play.
As the home of a police officer AND RN, both of whom work when its dark, I DO appreciate your thoughtfulness about sleep for those professions, in that manner you're a rare gem--thank you!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I think there are no winners here. It is very difficult for a single work at home lawyer to share a wall with a family with little kids.

There is really no way to resolve this conflict.

I think one of you should move.

Townhomes are terrible.

I contacted our landlord and just hear back. He's saying she. Complained about the family who loved here before us too. I guess that answers my question then. We just renewed our lease and I never ever thought of complaining about her late night laundry habits. We're staying.

[Anonymous]

IMO, if you live in the city, you should not expect quiet during the day. Whether it is children playing, construction, traffic, whatever, cities are loud. If you can't tune noise out, invest in some noise cancelling headphones or move to the country. It's very quiet there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:IMO, if you live in the city, you should not expect quiet during the day. Whether it is children playing, construction, traffic, whatever, cities are loud. If you can't tune noise out, invest in some noise cancelling headphones or move to the country. It's very quiet there.

+1000. OP, I would have just smiled and said I'll try! If her work is so "important" she can spring for office space. My lawyer husband does his "important" work...at work.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Now I'm curious.
Here is the code
http://arlingtonva.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2014/01/County-Code-15-Noise-Control.pdf
What are the db levels we're allowed inside and outside our home during daytime hours?