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livelaughlove21's avatar

Is there anything I can do about construction noise in our subdivision?

Asked by livelaughlove21 (15724points) November 8th, 2012 from iPhone

Three homes are being built close to ours currently and the noise is getting ridiculous. At 7:30 this morning they had a cement truck out there and even with earplugs and a pillow over my head, it’s still so loud that going back to sleep would be impossible. They’re even out there on Saturday mornings.

I know they’re doing their job, but 7:30 seems a bit early for a residential area. There’s no room in the house where it’s not loud, so I don’t know what I can do, if anything.

I suppose this is what I get for moving into an unfinished subdivision. I looked up noise ordinances for my county, but it’s all sound measurements. Do places not place time restrictions on residential noise? I’m just trying to determine if it’s worth my time to complain.

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7 Answers

Adirondackwannabe's avatar

You could try. I’m guessing you get to a clerk or other flunky and that’s it.

marinelife's avatar

Most locations do have noise restrictions for construction.

Our county, for example, limits construction noise to within the hours of 7AM and 5 PM weekdays.

livelaughlove21's avatar

@marinelife Well I guess 7:30 isn’t as early as I think. Good thing I don’t work 3rd shift, because I’d never sleep.

elbanditoroso's avatar

You need to check with your city/county. There are definitely rules (like sunrise-sundown) in a lot of places, but the specifics are really local.

If the regulations are on your side, get the zoning and/or code enforcement people out. (In my county, Code Enforcement is part of the police department, so they have a lot of clout)

JLeslie's avatar

Are the houses all being built by one builder? If so you could ask for very noisy work to be done later, maybe not before 9:00. 7:30 is not extremely early, it is fairly typical for construction. Most people with 9–5 jobs are up by 7:30. Or, you can go to the governing body of your subdivision if there is one and ask about putting in some restrictions. It might be something you can add to the covenants in the future, something that could be voted on as a restriction. That construction work is only allowed between 9:00–5:00.

Cement trucks won’t likely be there more than a few days, depending on the type of construction, so that should not go on very long. I have built a lot of homes and lived in areas where a lot of homes are being built, and it isn’t that every day during the construction process it is very noisy. Hopefully it will be less of a problem soon.

SpatzieLover's avatar

Our area has a noise restriction posted at each construction site, and noise may begin at 7AM.

Are their building permits posted on a board at the job site @livelaughlove21? You should be able to read the posted rules (from your local gov’t) there.

rojo's avatar

7:30 is going to be a tough one to get someone to take you serious on. You can try contacting the building department and they will make sympathetic noises but that will be about all. If you are lucky they may contact the contractor but they will not have much clout in this matter because of the timeframe. You might contact the contractor directly, not his superintendent on the site if he has one but again, you don’t have much of a case.
Most residential construction will go from 7:30 to 3:30 although it is not unusual for particular trades to go later into the evening. Fortunately large truck noise such as the concrete truck are not going to be a daily occurence. Get ready for a week of saws and nailguns then it should get quiet again until the roofing goes on. After that you will have the occasional delivery truck that will be there during the day and another conc. truck when they pour the drive. This will, once again, occur early in the morning unless the weather turns cold. After that is should not be too annoying.

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