The issue is at our cabin, which we bought in December 2021 to live in part-time weather-permitting, while we keep our primary home in the city. This is a ~700 square foot finished space above a mostly full-height basement with doors at the back of the house, downhill. So, the back yard is a lot lower than the front.
We own a 1/3 acre lot in a subdivision that is mostly empty. We have one neighbor immediately to our right, but none to our left, or across the street, or even immediately behind us.
But behind us there is a house that I think while not very close on the map, is directly downhill from us and even through the trees are so thick I can’t see the house from my back yard (I can see it from the front while driving past on that street), I think our backyard is in a straight line with whatever awful piece of machinery is making this noise.
I don’t know if it’s an air conditioner, a pool pump (they have an above-ground pool), a generator, or what, but it sounds like a idling truck that sounds about 20 feet away.
It’s deafening, to the point where I can’t use the back yard.
Now, if this were a normal neighborhood with mailboxes I think what I would do would be write a brief note including my phone number and tell them to give me a call, hoping for an invitation to their back yard to see what the issue is and how we can fix it, but we don’t have mail boxes.
This is a rural HOA with mailboxes that you drive up to, but you don’t need to have a mailbox. We don’t have a mailbox. I have no idea if they do or not, nor do I have any idea who they are. There are normally multiple cars parked in the driveway when I drive by though.
I also thought about starting by asking the other neighbors if they hear it or if they know who lives there – we’ve talked to a few, and our immediate neighbor to the right must hear it too, but no one lives there at the moment – it was a rental but the landlord kicked the tenant out for some reason, so the tenant trashed the place in retaliation, and I only know the owner as a guy I see coming by on occasion to load up dumpsters. I haven’t had the chance to meet him yet.
Of course, I could just go knock on the door, but that feels intrusive, especially considering I have no idea who these people are. They live behind me, on a different street, so I don’t see them coming or going. There is only one other house on their street, and no one lives there full-time.
If that is my only option though, to knock on their door (and have a note to leave it no one answers), what is the best way to approach it? What do I say when they answer the door? I feel like I’ll be intruding on their lives and I don’t know how they’ll react to what risks appearing like a complaint, but really is an attempt to coordinate on a solution (I’ll buy them a new air conditioner if that’s what is making the noise and that gets me the peaceful back yard that I bought the cabin to have), and also in a way that says “if this is a bad time, we can talk later – I’m only here in person because I have no other way to reach out to you”
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**tl;dr**: What is the best way to approach a neighbor about equipment noise from their property, if there are no mailboxes and you have absolutely no idea who lives in the house.
2 comments
First, take the time to find out whether or not there is a noise ordinance for the locality where the cabin is located. If there isn’t, your options will be extremely limited. If there is, figure out what the basic details are. This may require taking “measurements” (i.e. downloading a noise level app and measuring how loud it is). You’ll want to record sound levels at your home and at your property line. It might also help to take video from your property line.
Once you have that, then you have two options – direct contact or reporting. For direct contact, go knock on the door:
*I hate to bother you, but there’s something making a lot of mechanical noise on your property and it’s causing a rather significant disturbance. I wanted to stop by and see if there was something that could be done to reduce the noise level.*
If you are lucky and they’re nice people, they’ll work with you to mitigate the problem. If not, tell them you’re sorry to have bothered them and that you’ll find another solution. At that point, go home and call the town for advice.
If it’s a constant noise and kind of a low pitched thrumming sound then it’s the pool pump.
If it’s intermittent, it could be a generator but I’d wonder why they are running a generator regularly.
Noise you don’t like is generally not their problem.
If it’s a pool pump, you could offer to pay for an inspection/repair or see about replacing it for them with a quieter version but you are looking at several hundred dollars minimum.
A fence may help a little but but not much if it’s a low frequency noise.
and you might need to ask yourself if you are more sensitive to noise than normal.
Maybe invite some friends over and ask them how bad they think it is?
because if the noise isn’t really that bad there may be nothing to do except turn off the pump and they won’t want to do that.