Archive for November, 2007

So, some of you hve heard this already, but some have not. I figure it’s high time I wrote down the story for posterity. Here we go…

Ok, so back at the end of August, the house adjoining mine became occupied. This is unfortunate news for me given that I was getting used to having no one living next door. So, my new neighbor came over to introduce himself. The following dreaded words came out of his mouth… “I’m a musician and if it’s ever too loud, please let me know” OH CRAP! Right then and there I told him “It’s going to be too loud, these walls are like paper.”

Flash forward to a few weeks later… maybe a total of a week. The music, imagine this, is too freaking loud. Is it the music? Not really, it’s the GD bass. The sound reverbs right through the wall and shakes shit in my house. No good! So, I call my neighbor and, of course, he doesn’t answer because he can’t hear his damn phone ring. An hour or so later, he calls back and asks “is it too loud?” I just simply answer yes. I tell him it’s not hte music so much as the bass. He says he’ll turn it down… you think that’d be the end of it… if only!

Flash forward another week. It’s a Monday night at 11pm and things are shaking once again in my house. I call him again and once he calls me back, I tell him it’s too loud for 11pm on a weeknight. “oh, sorry man.” You’d think this would be it??

One more week goes by, it’s again a Monday night, but this time about 7pm. Holy hell, WTF! Why oh why would this ever be an acceptable level when there is a shared wall involved?? Jesus! I call, he calls back. I say, “That is just entirely too loud. The bass is shaking items on my walls and vibrating my stairs.” “Oh man, I’m sorry. I think I’m going to move my stuff down to the back bedroom, do you think that would help?” “Well, we can give it a try, but I’m telling you, the bass just comes right through the walls as though we’re living in the same house, because esentially we are.”

Almost 3 weeks go by, not too bad. I know he’s playing music but I can’t hear the bass or anything like that. Good. All done… right? WRONG!!!

October… first Saturday morning of the month… 7am… Hmmm… strange, why did I wake up so early on a Saturday? Very strange indeed. Oh, it’s this loud bass that is shaking things in my house, the walls, the mirror in the bathroom, the glasses in my kitchen, my stairs… OH MY GOD. Well, I go and knock on his door… but NOPE, why would he be able to hear me? I figure, what the heck, I’m leaving in a few mins anyway for errands, I’ll let it be. Bad idea… the music went all day, even after I returned. The bass is so fucking loud. I swear, and he can’t even hear my knocking. It stops at 8pm but I am leaving at that time so I don’t go over there to talk to him. I get home later that evening and it’s quiet so no worries. OH SHIT… Sunday 7am… again! Holy mother of god! So I go over there and ring the door bell, over and over and over again. He finally sends his friend down… “Is it too loud?” Wow… jesus. I just shake my head (given i’m half asleep still) and go back home. The rest of the day, it’s quiet. All good, finally.

NOPE. Just this past weekend… Sunday afternoon. Wow, again with the level that is in NO way accepable in a shared wall situation! Jesus Christ! I go over and knock and ring… no answer, he can’t hear me. I wait about 2 hours and it ends and I go over. Ring the bell, his dog barks, ring the bell again… dog barks more… ring even more.. like a crazy person would ring a bell… NO ONE ANSWERS. That just about sends me over the edge! I’m soooo pissed at this point. No more sound the rest of the day, so it’s all good. This whole week, the bass is just at a level that is too much. Tonight I went over and told him it was too loud. Hopefully he gets the message. We’ll see. I’m starting to keep track and I’m going to report him to the HOA if I have to. This is getting crazy.

Here’s my biggest beef about this whole thing. If you’re trying to be considerate of your neighbors and ask me to tell you when it’s too loud, then respect me when I say it is too loud. Why would you ever have the bass at that level again? Why? Common sense, right? Common courtesy, right? WTF. Maybe I was just brought up better? All I know is that all hell will break loose soon if he doesn’t keep it down. I’m tired of feeling like I live in a concert venue. I should be able to enjoy my time at home bass shaking free.

What are your thoughts? Ever had to deal with a loud neighbor? How’d you do it? What was your tactics? Any advice? Would I be in the wrong to move the whole thing to the next level?? Comments welcome!