Noisy neighbours

[Oaks]

Hi, i have my own holistic therapy business. My treatment room is in the garden. We have got new neighbours with two young children who are constantly in the garden until late. My neighbour has admitted they are very loud. They also keep shouting through the fence to my clients. My main concern though is my neighbours argue very loudly. Even when they are in the house you can hear every word (sometimes swearing). This is causing me so much anxiety as my treatments mainky include Reiki, meditations and relaxtion massages. Im always really on edge incase they start. Does anyone experience noise and how do you deal with it?

 

[TheDuchess]

There is a science to noise. I’m in a building where noise carries through the floors to a quite extraordinary degree.

I suggest you take a multifaceted approach. There is no fix, if it wasn’t noisy neighbours it could be a barking dog, drum or trumpet practise, overhead aeroplanes or raucous music and revving engines. You can of course mention to the neighbours that they have no privacy and that you and your clients can overhear their personal life. That would be courteous and then I’d put stressing about the neighbours out of your mind and focus on things under your control.

It sounds like your clients have no privacy for arriving and leaving your cabin. How can you screen them? Can you plant some shrubs or ornamental grasses or put up decorative outdoor screens with climbing annuals to scramble through the screen? How about a sail or parasol! If your clients aren’t noticed by your neighbours this may help reduce your stress and anxiety.

I spend a few hours every quarter adding to my music playlist. I use license free music and I’ve created playlists for different treatments to create additional ambiance and experience. I also have a vortex fan which creates white noise that’s non intrusive. By using the fan I can muffle the individual words of a conversation and then play music over the top. You can also get sound apps with the sound of waves and rain and music which combines both. Different types of sound confuse the brain so that it cannot focus on one particular type of sound.

You could consider noise cancelling headphones for your clients and invite them to select a piece of music, perhaps incorporate this ritual into your treatment.

You can call in soundproofing experts and ask for their advice about installing sound insulation. It’s a specialist task and not something to diy without advice, although fitting is something that a competent diyer can handle. Sound insulation usually improves heat loss and reduces thermal gain so you may find the cost is partially offset by an improvement in comfort and reduction in heating and cooling costs.

You should also investigate your windows and see if these can be replaced or improved with secondary glazing. Some buildings are basically echo boxes and amplify noises. My building is like this. Everything vibrates in resonance with the noise so that it’s louder on my floor!

I totally sympathise because no-one needs this hassle and expense, but it will have to be done. Think about the school holidays! In the meantime, when my upstairs neighbour starts her hoover just as I’m in the middle on an Indian Head massage for a bereaved client. I simply ground myself and vocalise a meditation incorporating “the sounds of life, and the living around us”. I’ve been in meditations on zoom with children accidentally included in the live audio and I found the combination of the restful voice of the facilitator and the “joyful sounds of children” strangely calming. The experience of being led through this vocal intrusion, taught me how to better manage my irritation and frustration with things outside my control. So it’s not all a disaster. Your clients come to you for a respite. Give them the gift of learning how to relax even if it isn’t as quiet as a library.

 

[Oaks]

Thank you so much for this. Update. After explaining about the noise she went crazy and got very aggressive towards us. We are in the process of getting a fence so hopefully that will help with the privacy side of things but can still hear them. Dreading the school holidays.

 

[CFBS]

Excellent ideas and solutions from The Duchess

 

[gc2233]

sounds like you’ve got neighbours from hell moved in
We have had many many disturbed nights from Anti social behaviour where we live so can tell you it is a long haul to get it stopped.
You should get in touch with your council first and speak to them. Record any disturbances - there are fairly cheap indoor cameras on Amazon available and there is a sound recording app to can put on your phone that will record noise levels. Our disturbances were late at night so slightly different but generally any noise directed at you like abusive language should also be reported to police as Anti-social Behaviour. You can record incidents on 101 online or call them. Keep a diary. You might have to be careful when getting in touch with the council and mentioning you run a business from home. Check out the rules on that first. It used to affect your council tax but that was years ago not sure on rules now.
It’s awful though and unbelievably stressful situation so feel your pain.
the procedure by the council is frustrating but ultimately if they will send letters to warn them that further steps will be taken if noise continues and take steps with fines and orders to eventually get them to court if they persist. If they are renting their landlord should be held responsible by the council aswell. If it’s is a rental may be worth getting in touch with the landlord or letting agent yourself too.
Best of luck