neighbours noisy plumbing

[FlatulentFreddie]

Hello, could anybody tell me where i stand on this issue please.

About 3 years ago there was drilling from neighbours property into my adjoining wall. She appears to have had a new plumbing system put in.....from what i can make out noisewise it appears to go from just inside her front door, along the hall where it seems she has plumbed a washing machine (i am attached to her house by this wall) and she undoubtedly had her bathroom replumbed ......

The moment this work was done there was (and still is!!) the most incredible noise pouring into my home whenever she runs her taps. (you know that noise your taps might make initially when turned on before they hit full flow....this sort of noise but muliply the noise tenfold - it is louder than running my own taps). The noise has driven me to absolute despair and all she seems to do is run her taps....up until about 1.30 am...she can do whatever she wants in her own home providing it does not affect me.

i have lived in a flat with shared plumbing and never heard this noise when other people run their taps and i know nobody who hears this sort of noise from a neighbouring property. To be honest, it has driven me to absolute despair and the noise makes me feel ill now.....

As she is very unfriendly and has never spoken to me (or anybody else in the road....except to say thanks for the tons of parcels that get delivered to neighbours) i dropped her a note during covid time enclosing my phone number to discuss it and she was welcome to come in and listen to the noise.....nothing! absolutely no response whatsoever. I told her that it was making me feel ill and i could not stand the noise any longer....nothing...nothing....complete blank and the noise continued. A couple of months later i dropped another note........absolutely nothing whatsoever.....i told her that i would have to consider moving as i could not live like this and it appears she is happy for me to do that and could not care how much distress her noise is causing......still nothing at all and the noise continued......

so 3 years of this noise and i emailed environmental health explaining the situation and asking whether it is within their premise to help with this....they replied askind for the issue address.........i feel that she did indeed recieve a letter from them last week as she has had a few of her relatives etc turn up telling her not to worry as EH cannot do anything about it. (i am blown away by her lack of thought for others....her total disrespect but thats emtions which isnt the issue here.)

I have not heard from EH yet and indeed i dont know what they would have said to her....but she has made no effort to talk to me about it ...i think that by acknowledging it she has to do something about it and i am sure that financially she is not prepared to do that......(not even an apology and let me listen to it....i am sorry its causing you distress.....blows me away).

I am trying to move as i simply cannot live with this situation. (i would have liked EH to come in and listen to the noise...get her to run her taps and come in here and listen to it....)....i only rent my home and she bought her house about 4 years ago

i dont know where i stand.....i.e...should she have been drilling into a party wall adn tracking plumbing into a party wall without informing the owner of this property. Should you even be plumbing washing machines into party walls?/surely they should be plumbed into outside walls. It sounds strange but i am a semi bungalow attached one side to her house...her bathroom is not even attached to me but the noise simply pours down into my bungalow every time she runs her taps.....could it be she has tracked the plumbing into the party wall without insulation.....i truly have never heard when a neighbour is running taps before in my entire life....i heard absolutely nothing from the previous owner and before she had this plumbing done...

If Eh do come in and listen etc...can they do anything if they feel it is indeed a statutory nuisance. i told them i worried they would class it as normal living noise - but although this is a normal living noise activity - the noise is in no way `normal`....i also just feel that in this day and age you should not hear other peoples plumbing like this....

Any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated. All this person seems bothered about is not how `her` noise might be affecting me but what she can get away with..

many thanks

It sounds like you would like to date her but she's not interested. Just leave her alone or the police will get involved

 

[gant]

Yes, water hammer was mentioned in post #4

Some things you pass over and give the benifit of the doubt to. That you bring it into sharp focus shows determination on your part, well done.

 

[RandomGrinch]

Some things you pass over and give the benefit of the doubt to. That you bring it into sharp focus shows determination on your part, well done.

Why, thank you kind sir!

 

[gant]

Why, thank you kind sir!

I'm sure I'm not the first you consider a kind sir in your determination.

 

[gant]

No noise because stop top was throttled back a bit to stop said noise because of high flow rate, plumber does work and turns stopcock on fully and said noise returns. Neighbour can't access problem property as said neighbour isn't interested, therefore no harm done in turning off outside stop tap a bit to see if it helps. If it doesn't, no harm done, if it does then happy days.

Does she get in touch with her landlord before turning it down a bit, or is he surplus to requirements?

 

[Justin Passing]

Blimmin eck. I haven't read all the posts but that sort of noise is common enough for a plumber to be able to find it pretty quickly. Things like a very high water pressure (do you live at the bottom of a hill?) unlucky with a particularly poor valve of some sort, bad pipework installation, trapped air, not much else I can think of.
There are small devices available to T into the pipe, to help if you really can't find it..
+1 for talking to her.
If that's hard does she have a trusted friend/relative you could call on?

 

[denso13]

Does she get in touch with her landlord

No need, neighbour doesn't have one.

 

[Diver Fred]

Is it possible that she running a laundry business in her house with several washing machines running?

 

[notsure123]

I haven't read all the replies but let me throw a curved ball into the mix.

You have written to your neighbour and contacted EH who you 'believe' have contacted your neighbour and have received no return communication. I haven't seen anything about her nationality so, rightly or wrongly, presume she is English. However, as you have never spoken verbally to her, nor she to you, it could be one or two reasons you have not received a reply.
The first one could be because she is not actually English/British so cannot read your letter.
The second is, that she could be English/British but has not been taught or learned, for whatever reason, to read and write and therefore cannot respond.
I think the best course of action to take is to knock on her door and politely attempt to get into friendly conversation with her. You need to try and ascertain the facts of why she is not being cooperative and there could possibly be a perfectly valid reason. She may be deaf or have a hearing impediment that stops her from actually hearing the noise her pipes are making.

Oh come on....she can read, write, speak english and is not deaf...... she simply has no manners.

 

[notsure123]

How about retaliation ?

Bung some thing up against your wall to make a noise ???

I do.....my white noise machine on full pelt within a box pressed right against her wall.....

 

[notsure123]

Is it possible that she running a laundry business in her house with several washing machines running?

i dont think so...i think she does office/admin type work from home...who knows! nobody knows her

 

[notsure123]

No noise because stop top was throttled back a bit to stop said noise because of high flow rate, plumber does work and turns stopcock on fully and said noise returns. Neighbour can't access problem property as said neighbour isn't interested, therefore no harm done in turning off outside stop tap a bit to see if it helps. If it doesn't, no harm done, i

No noise because stop top was throttled back a bit to stop said noise because of high flow rate, plumber does work and turns stopcock on fully and said noise returns. Neighbour can't access problem property as said neighbour isn't interested, therefore no harm done in turning off outside stop tap a bit to see if it helps. If it doesn't, no harm done, if it does then happy days.

 

[notsure123]

genuinely i would have done that whilst she was away for a little while this summer. i dont know where the stopcock is and how to turn it off a bit but would have happily paid a plumber to do this

 

[notsure123]

Yes, water hammer was mentioned in post #4
But the sound was later described as:



Posting a video/recording of the noise was mentioned from post #10 (and partially in post #2), but nothing has been forthcoming yet.

my phone wont send videos for some reason........the noise is literally, literally the noise of running a tap.....when i put my taps on they make a noise until they hit full flow.....a shhhhhh noise.....this is the noise that i hear but its far louder than the noise i have running my own taps - it also sounds a bit harsher

 

[Give up]

I feel for you. I think the better way to approaching her would have been in person, instead of through a note. As you are renting the property couldn’t you involve the owner of the property to approach her?