I live in a quiet neighborhood and my next door neighbor decides to mow his lawn at 7am sharp every Saturday morning. I’m not a morning person and Saturday is the only day I can sleep in but this guy’s lawnmower wakes me up without fail. I’ve politely asked him if he could wait until at least 9am but he says he likes to get his yard work done early. I get that it’s his property and he can mow whenever he wants but 7am on the weekend seems excessive. It’s not like he has a huge lawn that takes all day like the whole thing is done in 30 minutes. I’ve started wearing earplugs but I can still hear it pretty clearly lol. How do you deal with this?
My neighbor mows his lawn at 7am every Saturday
r/Advice
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Try adding a white noise or sound machine next to your bed. This and earplugs has drowned out a lot of my neighbors shenanigans over the years.
I just googled noise laws are 9am for Saturday. Speak to him and ask again or you will raise it with police.
Check local noise ordinance laws.
Most places are atleast 8am or 9am on saturday & sundays
So you could report to non emerg & eventually he would be fined by police. Likely will need more then 1 call
Best way to deal with this is to either put on noice canceling headphones or to just wake up and call it a day. Can’t make someone change their schedule because you aren’t a fan of it
Suck it up buttercup. You like sleeping in and he likes mowing when it’s not blazing hot out yet. If it was any other season it’d be different. Your preference doesn’t override his preference let alone his safety.
Mow yours on Friday Nights at 9 PM.
It’ll still be before 10 PM quiet hours.
But if he’s out mowing at 7, it’ll be late enough it’ll annoy him.
Lots of places don’t have noise ordinances. You know: “my freedom” (to do whatever -fill in the blank) is way more important than “your freedom” (from whatever nuisance you’ve created)
Now yours at 12:30am. Same excuse, lawn done early. He’ll respect you for it.
Edit: change that, do his lawn at 12:30.
You deal with it like you’re dealing with it. You’ve already asked nicely, and they value doing their lawn at 7am as much as you value your sleep at 7am. Ear plugs, white noise generator, etc. All can help.
Check your local noise ordnance. There might be a provision that grass can’t be mowed before a certain time.
Sleep with a box fan.
I’m on his side, sadly. It takes me over an hour to mow, so I wake up at 7 to get it done by 9. I don’t want to be out in the heat, and if I do it early, I can get my day done with.
Train your mind not to think of it as a disturbance but the sounds of a relaxing Saturday. I hear people mowing on the weekend in the morning and like a thunder storm it makes me snug and sleepy knowing it’s a lazy Saturday morning.
You just deal with it. Not being a morning person is your problem, not his
Depending on where you live, there may be a local ordinance on times when noise from yardwork or construction is not acceptable. That said, I would be surprised if any local ordinance prohibited noise after 8 am at the latest.
Depending on where you live, there may also be legitimate heat concerns during the summer that would make it reasonable to start yardwork at a very early hour.
How old are you? I only ask because I used to feel the same way in my early 30s. As I approach 40 though, I find I’m up everyday by 6-6:30 am even without an alarm. Eventually it may not bother you as much…
Most local ordinances have 7am as the start time for this work. Have you tried background noise like white noise, green noise etc. Alexa let’s you play different noises and you might even be able to create a routine that starts at 6am and gradually increases the volume. I’m sure you can find something on the Internet as well and just loop it.
Check your city noise ordinance. Most people are considerate and will wait until 8 a.m. to mow.
Difficult situation. I’m a creature of habit and understand you neighbor. Especially on hot days when it’s nice to get the chores done before it’s too hot out. And, to open up the full day for other activities. Heck, 7am is sleeping in for most of us.
By moving to the middle of nowhere where my nearest neighbors house is the size of my thumb when I look out to it.
Thats what I did.
This is what being an adult looks like.
As others have said, you both have different preferences- you’re both entitled to have them.
If you want to be petty and mow at 9pm on Friday and start a confrontation with your neighbor over what is really just a minor inconvenience, you can do that.
Or you can just accept that others are entitled to mow at 7am if they want to.
Now yours at 5am. Or earlier the better
Depending on the local law, you may need to suck it up. It could be too hot to work once the sun is up, could be a good idea for him to do it early in this weather and temp too. Besides, maybe it’s a good idea to get up early on the weekends.
Maybe try sleeping in the different room on the Friday night farthest from the front garden if you can? Or you might get used to it and it may not bother you so much soon. It happened with me with bin men. They come way before 7 on my street, my bedroom is right by the road so used to get woken up every week. Now I got so used to it I can sleep through them.
This is a very first-worldy problem. Reflect on the things you’re grateful for (like having a home in a quiet neighborhood where people take care of their properties).