A man was left not knowing what to do when his neighbours' kids were screaming every day for 12 hours straight while he was trying to work from home and enjoy his new townhouse.
He explained his wife also sometimes works night shifts, so she was attempting to sleep during the day, which was becoming tricky with the noise coming from the basement of the townhouse next door.
Balancing Remote Work and Unbearable Neighbour Drama
He said it wasn't 'too bad' when they were in school, because during the day, there would be minimal noise from next door. 'I would only have to listen to it for about the last hour of work and chalked it up to being excited to be home from school,' he explained, so he didn't mind. But now, they were noisy from '7am until bedtime'.
He fumed: 'I get kids will be kids, but at some point it gets to be too much. This is an everyday occurrence,' and he must have been struggling to work as a result. 'I've never spoken to the parents, so I feel a little uncomfortable just knocking on the door and explaining the situation, but I don’t know what else to do.'
'I’ve been told to report it to my rental company, but I don’t wanna be the "tattletale" and have issues with the neighbours after that, but would go that way if needed.'
Internet Users Offer Soundproofing and Workaround Advice
In the comments, some said he might need to move where he works. One wrote: 'Move your office to an upper floor. She puts them in the basement for a reason. One of the upstairs bedrooms. Buy some good earphones to conduct your meetings. I live in a townhouse with two pieces of drywall between the neighbours and me, with three kids.'
'There are workarounds. I avoid those kids as much as possible - but if using a good pair of earphones with a speaker, even if they are screaming, they cannot be heard by the people I am working with. My work space is the master bedroom. I sleep in one of the secondary bedrooms. I plan to move soon.'
A second wrote: 'What is it with the screaming? New neighbours moved across the street last summer, and their kiddos play outside in front of our homes and are screamers. I don't remember playing and screaming when I was a child, and I don't remember my kids playing and screaming screaming screaming.'
Another asked: 'You must say something to the mother about the noise. Why would she do anything about it when she doesn't know it is bothering anyone?'
The original poster responded: 'That’s a great point about her not knowing/realising. I didn’t consider that. I didn’t come on here to condemn the mother or children. I was truly looking for an outside perspective on how to approach the situation, as I’m not a super confrontational person and didn’t want my approach to her to come off that way. You’ve brought up a very great point, and I really appreciate it. Thank you.'
