Got a neighbor whose friends always need to have their car boom boxes turned way up, enough to make my walls vibrate! Turning up my office stereo doesn’t really help at all.
Does anyone know if those Noise Cancelling earmuffs would give me any relief??
Replies
Wood, How about a neighbor cancelling device?
Speak to all your neighbors and then ,make a class action complaint to the local police. Steinmetz.
Nope, can't mess with these gang banger wannabees. I do anything, and they'll retaliate. I've pushed it as far as I dare by politely asking if they could at least turn the bass down.
I don't get the world we live in now. The young people just don't give a s***, especially these hip hop types. One of them drove past this morning at 6:15 .. boom boom boom, a Sunday morning for christs sake !
Joe, sounds like they've got you right where they want you. If you're content to let them dictate what you do, so be it. But it seems steinmetz has the right direction figured out. Maybe a good conversation with the police, explaining everything, would open up other options.
They, and all like them, need to see they have consequences for their actions. Let us know how it goes.
Joe,
First, where do you live and what are your noise ordinances?
Second, I assume that these are young people. Offer them the whooping that their momma evidently forgot to give them.
If they know you'll take care of your business, they won't retaliate.
- Scott in Memphis
"If they know you'll take care of your business, they won't retaliate."
Amen. Well, at least in my experience. A teenage boy across the street had a couple of friends who insisted on playing their music extremely loud. One so much so that it was rattling the windows on the BACK of my house one day. I went out to see what was causing the commotion. As I walked out of my house, the kid with the loud car looked across at me and said, "You got a problem?". I asked him if he didn't think the music was on the loud side and he said he liked it that way. My response was simply, "Our neighborhood DOESN'T like it, so you can turn it down for me or you can turn it down for the Sheriff." He turned it way down, left the street a few minutes later and made sure to turn it way down every time he came back after that.
Similar issue with another of this kid's friends, but had to call the Sheriff on him. Gave the Sheriff's dispatcher the license number. Don't know what happened, but the kid left his sound equipment off when he came on the street after that.
None of these guys ever made any kind of threat or retaliated in any way.
Bad thing about it, I had to give the neighbor's address to the Sheriff so they'd know where to start. They're really nice folks and their son was trying to get both of his friends to turn the music down, to no avail.
Ah...kids these days...why can't they be just super nice like all of us were at that age? ;-)
Bill Arnold
Food for Thought: The Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
Sound like candidates for the 12 GA with rock salt!! I know, I know; not very sensitive or politically correct. Sorry, doesn't help; just had to vent!
Regards,
Mack"WISH IN ONE HAND, #### IN THE OTHER AND SEE WHICH FILLS UP FIRST"
I don't know if the CB w/ linear solution would work on high powered mobile audio using CD or MP3 sources. Some of these systems cost thousands of dollars and use shielded cable. On the otherhand, back in '77 I had a neighbor blowing that kind of smoke on his CB to the point that the coils in my $500 Grado moving coil turntable cartridge were picking up the Good Buddy this and that BS. I snuck over one night and shorted his coax with a straight pin clipped off nice and close. The next time he keyed-up that radio he got a room full of smoke. I felt no remorse because he was breaking the law as well as invading my space. Those suggesting the authorities will step-in and solve this problem need to change the channel from TV Land and wake up and smell something besides the homemade chocolate chip cookies. It really doesn't matter where this poor guy lives. Any large urban area with gang bangers have much bigger issues to deal with than disturbing the piece. In LA they barely prosecute for GTA anymore and sometimes they let them out early because the jail is too full. Fight or Flight is what it comes down to.
Too bad things have gotten this bad. Urban music is supposed to be loud and obnoxious. It's a form of expression. Too bad these guys didn't have a place to do their thing besides the neighborhood. Too bad they weren't taught any manners either.
Funny we never had a street racing problem in LA when there were 3 drag strips open in the 70's. Then they closed them and we had no place else to race so we ran on the street. I worked with a guy who financed his rear engine top fuel rail street racing. So we took his 9-10 second blown 426 hemi Cuda on the trailer and ran on the deserted freeway through Whittier at 3:00 am for nothing less than bail and impound money. My job was to get the trailer in an alley by the next off-ramp so we could collect the winnings and split ASAP. At least we had the sense not to do it down somebody's street.
Maybe it's all relative? I remember Grandpa pitching a 3 lb ashtray through that 10" B&W console TV when the Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan!
John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking
The more things change ...
We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams, we would be reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.
Petronious Arbiter, 210 BC
Joe,
I hate to say this..but it's best to just wait them out. Living in a neighborhood means every year or two new threats to the tranquility will appear..and sooner or later they go away and are replaced with new threats. In our cull-de-sac we have gone through a bunch of annoyances from good kids as well as brats. My bigest aggravation now is the damn lawn services ...Friday around here is a zoo...lol.
In East Boston (next to the airport) all the homes are getting free triple pane windows to help with the noise...earmuffs make me sweat....
I had a neighbor who thought that he was a musician. The police had a talk with him and he eventually moved away. I really hated to complain,for it was obvious that he needed the practice.¬¬¬¬¬¬¬PAT¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
Well, noise cancelling earmuffs will work on the stuff you hear with your ears. They can't help on the thumping bass which you feel with your stomach.
Noise cancelling ear protection won't likely help.
Call the police and explain the situtation. They can be discrete. Ask them to call you to do their follow up or offer to go to the station.
Go talk to them. While you might have to develop some thick skin, you might be able to get them to be more reasonable.
It may work to talk to them, but I doubt it. This new generation of "street" youth has no respect for you, your property, or your life. The attitude is "It's all about me". And unfortunately, it's getting worse.
I am not sure, but if you get a cb radio with a power booster, you should be able to cut into there radio equipment. I saw a guy that could talk into dart machines at a bar 2 blocks away, he also could disrupt their cd jukebox.
Edited 8/23/2004 8:20 am ET by dem_tortas
A few potatoes up the tailpipe should do it or, limberger cheese oh a hot manifold
Steinmetz
tortas is right. If you don't wanna confront them you could get a cb with an amplifier and talk right into their boombox when they're in the 'hood. that'll get their attention.
Geez ....... I tuned in here to get the latest poop on all those boom boxes from the tool manufactuers that are coming to the market ...................................
We been talking about something like that on a boombox thread on Breaktime.
How do you rig up this CB?
Joe, One of the most aggravating experiences I know of is sitting at a red light and having one of these loud base stereo systems pull up next to or behind me. I've thought several times the military is missing out on a good opportunity to disable the enemy. Can you imagine focusing this sound in a narrow beam and just shaking the devil out of the bad guys? As far as modifying the behavior of the neighborhood kids the CB thing sounds good as a last attempt, although it would definitely up the ante. If there was some way to befriend these guys, start talking about something else, find out what they really like and what they really dislike, two important tools for this job. It would be cool if they were wanting someone to help them build some speaker cabinets, no better way to turn down the volume than to do it because they liked you. Even if this last picture didn't happen, you have found some additional ways to reward and punish them.
Bill Lindau
Look, I appreciate everyones' suggestions, but these aren't neighborhood " Kids ", but 20 to 35 year old mexican and black gang bangers. If I mess with them I get shot. Period.
I'm the only one on the street who has Ever tried to talk to them, and asked them to turn it down. I stopped even doing this last year. If I call the Police, they'll know exactly who did. This has been going on for 2 years !
Pretty soon I'll be ripping my sheetrock off and sound insulating my walls and adding new triple paned windows. I live in a mixed industrial/residential neighborhood, and have a nice setup here with a house and a 1,400 Sq foot shop in the back. I don't want to move. 13 years ago when I moved here it was a fairly quiet area.
Short term I was hoping for suggestions about these head phones .. maybe whatever else might work to lessen this noise pollution.
Thanks for your suggestions anyway.
I have read the various suggestions here with some amusement. Clearly, a personal direct confrontation with these folks, as suggested by some of the posters, would be the height of dangerous lunacy. Most of those making such foolhardy suggestions must either be safely ensconced in the suburbs, or have the martial arts skills of the characters Stephen Seagal plays in his movies.
You have already tried a friendly, personal approach; and since that hasn't worked, I would urge you to start thinking about an alternative -- good, old fashioned community organizing. Chances are, there are others in the vicinity (industrial tenants, as well as residents) who share your concern. You would need to be willing to take the time to go out and knock on doors in search of like minded people.
I don't know where you live, but generally, most communities have various agencies that can be called on to help deal with menacing elements such as you have described -- police and fire departments, zoning people (building and health), even welfare agencies (if there are any children living in the house). If the house is rented, you have an additional means to get at the tenants.
If I were in your situation, I would search out someone in the police department that deals with community relations. More often than not, such individuals can offer sound advice on how best to approach community organizing, and suggest an avenue for dealing with this particular neighborhood menace. The CR officer will probably tell you that one person complaining is ineffective (and sometimes considered a crank), but a neighborhood group (even if it consists only of 3-4 people) is a force to be reckoned with by city agencies.
The problem with this approach, of course, is that it will take a lot of your personal time, and community organizing requires a skill set you will probably have to learn. But then, you might find there are all sorts of collateral benefits in getting to know your neighbors, using this bad situation as an excuse for contact.
Good luck......................................
I'm a recreational shooter. I "double up" when I want to block all noise. I use MAX ear plugs by Howard Leight that stop 33db sound. Correctly installed in your ears, they can block almost all sound. The next step is the Howard Leight ear muffs (31db) on top of the plugs, which are the ones that look like standard ear phones. Between these two I can tolerate any noise. The latest versions block a few db more.
At home, I use the plugs to block barking dogs, loud drunks and car noise when trying to sleep. The plugs are available in any sporting goods store and shouldn't cost more then $1-2. I usually buy a box of 200 for $20 so I can throw them away when they get disgusting (ear wax).
My wife can pop the plugs in with no effort. I have to jiggle them for about 5 minutes before they stay put so if you try them make sure you don't "hear" them coming out. Once you get them seated you will be happy with the results.
This is also a good solution for the workshop in general as they are a lot less intrusive then ear muffs. A lot cheaper too!
Burt
Possibly there is a covenant in the deed restrictions against nuisances like this. Just like if you refused to cut your grass, or put a big ugly close line in the front. If you have a homeowner's association and covenants they are breaching, notices can be sent, and fines levied, and if they do not pay, then liens effected. It is not immediate gratification, but it may strike a nerve with them. Also, that makes the association the bad guy, not you. If they rent, the owner sure will not want the property liened. Feel for you.
Maybe it's time to fire up the Thickness Planer at 6am and be sure to open up the doors to the shop. My neighbors HATE IT when I use the Rigid Planer.
Dark Magneto
Rigid planer is the way to get the noise. dull the blades too.
The cb/linear amp is illegal and stooping to there level. The planer ida is good, I would do it.
I'm working on the concept of running the planer in the back seat of my car, but the concept is difficult. Seriously, how is the one (cb/linear amp) any more or less "to their level" than the other (planer)??
Somewhere, in one of the boombox threads, I posted that these guys inflict their taste upon me. That if it were ugly clothing, for example, I didn't have to look at them. But the noise I have little or no option about. My time is precious. If you steal my money, I can replace it. If you steal, or degrade my time, I can not do that. Arguably, these bozos are degrading the quality of my time. Further, all these discussions about it don't include the offenders and, if they did, a blank stare would likely be the best response we would get.
So, let 'em eat static.
PS- Spell check doesn't know what boombox is
the only way i can justify the planer, is it is legal, and the cb linear amp is not.
It is too bad that cable tv and especially MTV promotes this kind of behavior on todays youth and makes them how they are, irresponsible, disrespectful, etc.
cut their cable tv lines and keep the evil influence out of thier home
This is for you electronics whizzes: If somebody is listening to an A.M. station, you can mess up their reception by turning on your radio and tuning to their station's frequency plus X. Unfortunately, I don't remember what X is, so that's the question for the tech experts.
As for noise-cancelling headphones: I called Bose to see if the headphones would provide protection for when I'm using power tools. They said no, it doesn't provide protection, just noise cancelling, and not at that frequency anyway.
I'll take airplane noise over boom boxes any day!
Janet
"cut their cable tv lines and keep the evil influence out of thier home"
Let's see -- with that statement I'd estimate your IQ at ___!
OK, I'll leave it to others to fill in the blank!
And, then, to others to offer spell-check advice to you!
The ONLY -- repeat ONLY problem with today's children is PARENTS!!!
Parents who insist that their children are "just kids", so leave them alone". Parents who are too busy to be REAL parents!!! Parents who don't have the b____ to dispense appropriate discpline!
When my kids were still young enough to have baby-sitters, the baby-sitter's (a wonderful girl with fantastic parents) only complaint about staying with our children while my wife and I went out for dinner was that our kids told her we didn't allow "MTV" to be viewed in our home. That was all we needed to understand that we were having the proper PARENTAL influence!
Then, there's the guy down the street from me who (since he's now taking a course and doesn't have the time) hires a 'lawn care' company to mow his grass for him. When I asked him why he doesn't use the 'lawn mowers' he feeds and waters every day, his response is, "It's not worth the effort to f___ with them and try to get them to get off their a____ and do anything."
And then we try to blame everything on the President of our great country!
Bill Arnold
Food for Thought: The Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
Parents, yes. But also teachers, and school systems, and friends, and neighbors, and society at large.
Are you old enough to remember when you thought twice about misbehaving out in public because ANY adult might upbraid you?
A long time ago a vocal minority started to propound moral relativism. They told the rest of us to shut up, and we did.
"They told the rest of us to shut up, and we did."
And then PARENTS started saying, "You can't talk to MY kid that way!" I'll SUE!!!
Bill Arnold
Food for Thought: The Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
Exactly so.
Amen.John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking
The more things change ...
We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams, we would be reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.
Petronious Arbiter, 210 BC
This is a good example of when instead of just complaining about something, action needs to be taken. That means we need to call on Jon Arno. The conservatives would know how to handle this. Now me being a liberal (lower case 'l') my suggestion is to get past the whole concept of them (the "black and hispanic gang bangers") and us ( the rational, sane, mature ones). This is a microcosom of the Isralei-Arab, Irish Catholic-Prodestant, etc conflict. Each side pigeon holes the other and doesn't experience the individual. I know it's aggravating as hell to have this happen to your neighborhood, but it's a challenge. Be creative, these people are not all bad , try to get to know them, you have more in common with them than you would guess.
Bill Lindau
It seems you estimate my IQ to be low because i dont think much of cable tv. After reading your post you are correct when you state "The ONLY -- repeat ONLY problem with today's children is PARENTS!!!."
However I do not have any children, but I know this. Little jr goes to school, the school says to jr "does your mom and dad spank you?" little junior says yep, then mom and dad get a call from social services.
When I was brought up without MTV and cable TV, that crap didn't go. Parents spanked and disciplined their kids and the schools stayed out of it. I have told many of social worker that they created this troubled generation. Parents are afraid to spank or slap their kids when they deserve it, because the kid will tell mom or dad, I will call the cops.
I imagine that in the 1970's it was an easy college degree to be a social worker, so we had all of these unemployed social workers fresh out of college so they figured out a way they could all get jobs.
If stating my opinion is offensive to you and makes you think my IQ is low, that makes yoor IQ seem all the lower than what you make mine out to be.
I also would have no problems walking over there and pulling their electric meter out. I have installed removed plent of them in my days.
So keep in mind, you may today have control of your children, there are parents out there who don't and you can bet damn well their kids have told them I will call the cops etc. Did you see kids with attention deficit disorder when you were young? did you see kids withh oppositional defiance disorder when you were young? look how many parents are just medicating their kids. This stuff didnt happen 30 years ago, but it does today. Schools and social services created this behavior, so now they have their job security, and we have to deal with the loud rap music and disrespectful attitudes. No spell check ran here, I never said I could spell.
I didn't fill in the blank.....
I'm now 60 years old, so it's easy to figure out the different decades that I have observed. When I was in high school back around 1960, there were trouble-makers and kids with learning problems, etc. The difference back then was the bullies got a visit from the police -- right on school grounds if necessary -- and the garbage stopped. One great advance over the years has been classes for those with learning problems and, as well, classes for the gifted so they can proceed at their own pace.
One incident that comes to mind about how things could be handled back then is this: A guy in my grade who was an average student, no great personality, but an OK guy most of the time was the son of a cop. His father was a respected member of the force, but the kid -- 16 at the time -- was a bully, but only to kids much smaller than he. One night, he ambushed one of his favorite smaller targets and beat the daylights out of him. The next night, several friends of the smaller kid retaliated. The bigger kid came to school the following day with his face so swelled up and black and blue, he could hardly see. Nobody went to jail, no lawsuits, bully rendered useless. Wonder what would happen today?
I agree with you that a lot of the problems today have been invented by 'social workers'. One has to wonder if some of the 'programs' that have been developed that undermine parental authority are the work of some foreign interest -- call it social terrorism, if you will. No, I'm not an extremist or end-of-the-world freak!
Whatever you or anyone else wants to watch on TV is your business. I spent my entire life first in television broadcasting and then in cable television. When MTV first came on, I thought, "Where are the censors when you need them?" But, then, there is an audience for that type of programming just as there is for Sesame Street. The diversity in programming offered via any service reflects our societal diversity. I watch a reasonable amount of television myself, but when people start talking about any of their favorite 'regular network' programs, I have to plead ignorance. None of that stuff appeals to me but, then, not everyone watches "World Poker Tour" or Norm either.
Whew! Let's shake hands and go make some sawdust!!!
Bill Arnold
Food for Thought: The Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
shake shake and WELL put
I have an idea! Move to Salmon Arm! It's beautiful here. Or, Buy a huge rottweiler (or 2) then go and tell them to shut up! I know a Rottweiller that is so big I can't put my arms around his chest. And I'm 6'0! He's huge, and dumber than a rake.
MTV: Much Trash Viewed
DEVIL'S ADVOCATE: "Is that legal?"
Sorry about your neighbors. I expect you'll have to soundproof the house and shop. Journal of Light Construction had an article a couple or more years ago about a company who specialized in soundproofing residences in flight paths--it would be worth digging that up. Search Breaktime for old threads--the problem comes up rather often there and the fixes discussed. Earplugs and muffs for short term...
Yeh, it's a real drag. I already have plans to soundproof my pad, new windows etc. I think I'll try those new sound reducing headphones by Bose, that have the radio/CD tuner etc.
Again, thanks for most of the suggestions ! Really appreciate em !
"soundproofing residences in flight paths"
Yeah, well...
Reminds me of a situation back in Houston, TX a number of years ago. People (IQ unknown) bought houses at the end of a runway of IAH. Then, they complained about the noise -- had trouble sleeping -- disrupted their lives -- well, whatever! Then, golly-gee-wizz -- the GOVERNMENT needed to do eomthing about it!!!
Not that I've got the greatest intelligence in the universe -- but! When I bought a house in Houston, TX, I checked to see the revelance to airports and the elevation above sea level!!! When we relocated to Florida, we checked with our insurance agent before making an offer on a house to see where it was in the flood plain.
Well, there are them and there are us.
As Pogo said, "The enemy is us."
Bill Arnold
Food for Thought: The Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
Another one of them self-made men, eh?
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled