Pissed off my neighbor....

[Big League Chew]

So a few months back I was playing around with my system on a Tuesday night around 9:30, and my neighbor comes knocking on my door asking me to turn it down. I felt kinda bad, he had just moved in a couple of weeks earlier and our first conversation was turning down my system. I ultimately felt he was right, I shouldn't have been playing around with it at that hour on a week night. We went a couple years without anyone living next door and I guess I got a little spoiled by it. But he was right, and I've been very conscious about the volume since.

Fast forward to this past Saturday night. It was about 11:30 at night and right in the middle of the throwdown between Yoda and the Emperor, he's banging on my door again. This time he was crazy pissed, and said if he hears it one more time, he's sending the police over. I apologized to him again for the first encounter, but brought up the fact that it was a Tuesday the first time, and this is a Saturday night. He even made my wife cry. Has anyone else had to deal with this type of thing?

Now I don't know what to do, I feel like now he could show up at my door any time I'm trying to enjoy my system. I didn't have it blasting, and since we live in a culdesac, our houses are pretty far apart. I like to think that my wife and I are pretty courteous people, and it's not as if we were having some wild party, we were watching a movie, on a Saturday night. Hardly a crime. Just wondering if anyone else has had this happen, and what the best thing to do about it is.

[StalkerVette]

That is a "bite me very much situation!"

It is not like you live in a condo or apartment, he needs to get a grip on reality.

[Blu-Benny]

tell him to f**k off.

there are people like that and u can't do anything about it.

i once had a guy come from 2 blocks away to complain about me cutting tile outside when i was putting in my floor downstairs.

i told him my immediate neighbors had no problem w/it (they didn't, i asked them ) and if they don't have a problem, he shouldn't either seeing how he lived so far away.

does this guy live right next door?? how far apart are the houses??

[djkest]

You should seperate the OP into 2 paragraphs for easier reading.

I think the rule is if they can hear your music/movie from the street than you can be given a ticket. That being said any time before 10 PM and especially on weekends he needs to relax. And in fact you could charge him with harassment for the way he treated you over this incident. If he really did "bang on your door", yell at you, and threaten you I'd say he's got a problem himself.

ETA: and yes, he needs to get a life. You are entitled to do your own thing and have your fun. It's not like you are being malicious. Part of being a good neighbor is having some tolerance for the activities of your neighbor wether or not you like them. Does he have a truck with dual exhaust? A motorcycle?

I'm sure he's not perfect so he needs to lighten up.

[ran94]

He can go f himself if he doesn't like it. Whiners like him will call the cops and ***** about everything. Next thing you know, he will cut down your tree if it is over the property line. Probably lives with his mom.

We should come over and have a block party. Would be a great time to test out your system. What would he do then?

[DealsR4theDevil]

Originally Posted by Big League Chew

So a few months back I was playing around with my system on a Tuesday night around 9:30, and my neighbor comes knocking on my door asking me to turn it down. I felt kinda bad, he had just moved in a couple of weeks earlier and our first conversation was turning down my system. I ultimately felt he was right, I shouldn't have been playing around with it at that hour on a week night. We went a couple years without anyone living next door and I guess I got a little spoiled by it. But he was right, and I've been very conscious about the volume since. Fast forward to this past Saturday night. It was about 11:30 at night and right in the middle of the throwdown between Yoda and the Emperor, he's banging on my door again. This time he was crazy pissed, and said if he hears it one more time, he's sending the police over. I apologized to him again for the first encounter, but brought up the fact that it was a Tuesday the first time, and this is a Saturday night. He even made my wife cry. Has anyone else had to deal with this type of thing? Now I don't know what to do, I feel like now he could show up at my door any time I'm trying to enjoy my system. I didn't have it blasting, and since we live in a culdesac, our houses are pretty far apart. I like to think that my wife and I are pretty courteous people, and it's not as if we were having some wild party, we were watching a movie, on a Saturday night. Hardly a crime. Just wondering if anyone else has had this happen, and what the best thing to do about it is.

My friend had a neighbor that would always get angry when we watched anything. She would stomp on the ceiling ... and then a few times she would grab a broom and hit my friend's satellite dish moving it out of position. We tried not be loud and my friend tried talking to her a few times about it but she wasn't having any of it. I think he even called the police on her. Eventually she moved out.

The current neighbors talk to us all the time and once or twice asked us to turn it down but they both say its rarely ever that loud. That lady before, I think she sat in her apartment in complete silence and was just looking for an excuse. I don't think anything we could have done would have made her happy ... other than just not hanging out at his place.

So some people you really can't do anything with ... but it just sounds like you and this guy got off on the wrong foot. It might be a good idea to try talking to him when he isn't angry. When he marched over there at night to complain it sounds like he was fuming .. not the best time to try reasoning with someone =P ... I mean who knows maybe he works on sundays so he needed sleep. Just tell him you tried to be courteous since the first time and try to work something out. I think just having an open dialogue going would help mediate the situation. He might not even remember the first time ... may have just been really mad this time.

And I wouldn't worry about the cops ... all they will do is ask you to turn it down. They aren't dumb, they will know the difference between a real noise issue and your neighbor being unreasonable.

[Big League Chew]

Yeah, he's directly next door. That's my house on the left, and his on the right.


He starts going off about how they moved out of an apartment to get away from people like me. I so badly wanted to say that living in a house now doesn't automatically guarantee absolute silence, but the peacekeeper in me doesn't want to start a war with the new guy.

[ClaytonMG]

Maybe you could play the same scene at the same level during the day, walk out to your street and see how loud it actually is.

Luckily, my theater is halfway under ground. So while you can hear some bass as you get closer to the house, from the street it's so faint the neighbos can't hear it. There's also a solid concerte wall between my immediate neighbor's house and mine.

[djkest]

Would it be possible for you to move the "theater" into the basement? (If you have one).

Also, you might check and see if your receiver has a "night mode" which I think mostly reduces the bass and maybe reduces the level dynamics.

[Beta Man]

Were your windows open????? If not... how loud were you watching at????

Either he could barely hear it, and decided to go crazy because he's a nut-case, or you really are listening at a level that is pretty crazy if it can transverse two sets of wall....

[camaro]

It sounds like he's just being a complete ass and thinks he can get away with it. Honestly though man if someone made my wife cry I would make him cry! There is a point that you have to stop being so nice and ask him just what the crap his problem is. Is he overly sensitive to sound or what's going on? If you don't have it blasting and it's not at one in the morning or anything I don't think the police would do anything other than get annoyed over something so trivial that this guy is causing problems for. You may want to call them though and let them know what is going on and see what they say. It sounds like though he is harrassing you and he would be in more trouble than anything. If he comes over again then you could say you have talked to the police and what you are doing is harrassment, you would have the upper hand then and he might back off. It sounds like you have been the nice guy but it's time to stop being nice if he comes back over. Sorry but I have 0 tolerance for rude people.

[Big League Chew]

It's not really the police I'm worried about, other than the embarrassment of having a squad car in the front of the house, i just don't want to start a bitter rivalry with a neighbor and have it go on for the next 15 years.

Unfortunately no basement, or that's probably where I'd prefer to have it.

[Blu-Benny]

i'd do what someone else said....set it up exactly where u had it during the day, go outside and see if u can hear it.

[Lucy Diamond]

Call the cops first. Sounds more like harrassment to me unless Beta Man is right.

How the heck is he hearing that!?!? Either one or both of you needs to insulate.

He's the new guy...he should be cooler. We have people up the street from us who have parties from friday night at 7 alllllll the way to 6am the next morning and I mean LOUD. We just go with it.

Once people start getting the cops involved though, it ruins it for the whole neighborhood.

At the VERY LEAST though, he should have waited to see if you were habitual about it.

I honestly think that if you told a cop (ANY COP) that you just bought StarWars on blu-ray...he'd just walk away from the complaint.

You should go outside and listen for yourself during the day sometime.

[Another_Dude]

Good luck. If he can hear you from inside his house then the cops shouldn't have any trouble hearing you from the end of the driveway and that isn't going to work out too well for you.

To me, it looks like your options are to either make peace or change the volume/layout of your system because you'll lose on this deal in the long run.

If I had a kid that I was trying to keep asleep at 11:30 on any night and I can hear my neighbor's system we're going to have one friendly warning, one not so friendly warning, then one bad situation on our hands.

Like I said, good luck.

[Big League Chew]

Originally Posted by Beta Man

Were your windows open????? If not... how loud were you watching at????

Either he could barely hear it, and decided to go crazy because he's a nut-case, or you really are listening at a level that is pretty crazy if it can transverse two sets of wall....

That's exactly what i was thinking too. I'm sure he could just barely hear it. Max volume is at 33 and i had it at 28. I think we watch normal tv through it at about 20.

Now I didn't ***** him out, but I didn't just stand there and take either. I was firm with him let him know how unreasonable I thought he was being considering it being the weekend.

[Truewitt]

Originally Posted by Another_Dude

Good luck. If he can hear you from inside his house then the cops shouldn't have any trouble hearing you from the end of the driveway and that isn't going to work out too well for you.

To me, it looks like your options are to either make peace or change the volume/layout of your system because you'll lose on this deal in the long run.

If I had a kid that I was trying to keep asleep at 11:30 on any night and I can hear my neighbor's system we're going to have one friendly warning, one not so friendly warning, then one bad situation on our hands.

Like I said, good luck.

Except being able to hear it means nothing legally. It has to be able to be heard and be over a certain decibel level. Do you run out of your house and yell at cars that pass by on the street if you hear them...nonsense.

[Mr.Poindexter]

Go to Radio Shack and buy a sound pressure meter. Go to the edge of your property between your house and his and measure the sound level. Do the same at the street. Check your local ordinance, but I think if it is below 70 spl you are safe. Each municipality may have their own requirements.

My guess is that your neighbor is underwater on his home and in trying to save money is just keeping the windows open instead of using the A/C and that makes it so much easier to hear outside noise. Plus being broke puts people in poor spirits as well.

[dwane5]

i would back off the volume at 10pm.

If your windows are closed and he can still hear you enough to be that mad. it must sound like a spaceship is lifting off inside your place haha

but i would stop trying to make a good situation out of this, the train already left the station.

once u get off on the wrong foot with some people there is no reasoning with them ever again.

good luck

[MrFattBill]

Originally Posted by Mr.Poindexter

Go to Radio Shack and buy a sound pressure meter. Go to the edge of your property between your house and his and measure the sound level. Do the same at the street. Check your local ordinance, but I think if it is below 70 spl you are safe. Each municipality may have their own requirements.

I was going to suggest this as well. I made sure to do this prior to buying ANYTHING for the garage, just so I would know what king of sound I was going to be making. Lucky for me everyone is so far away that it isn't even an issue.

Good luck with the situation.



Bill