DIY noise nuisance
Noise from neighbours can annoy, cause stress and affect the quality of life of residents. This information aims to help you carry out DIY with minimum disruption to others. Disturbance from DIY building and decorating can be minimised by keeping noisy activities such as hammering, drilling and using power tools to reasonable hours.
It is recommended that noisier activities are restricted to 8am-6pm on weekdays, 9am-1pm on Saturday and not at all on Sundays.
It is now possible to hire more professional equipment such as pneumatic hammers, cement mixers, large power saws and planers, compressors, generators. Using this powerful type of equipment needs more consideration, as it is identical to that used by professional builders and can be very noisy.
It is also important that you make sure the machinery you are using is able to cope with the amount and intensity of work you are doing.
Working practices
Party walls and floors
Work on a party wall, which is a wall dividing two
properties, or floor between properties can make surprising
amounts of noise. Work such as wallpaper stripping or wall
preparation can sound very loudly to a neighbour. Similarly, work
on the floor, such as plumbing, rewiring and sanding, can be
very loud downstairs.
If a noise complaint is registered with the council about DIY noise, a noise abatement notice may be served after officers have witnessed the nuisance. Failure to comply with the notice may lead to seizure of noise-making equipment and/or a fine.
For further information, please contact the council's noise and nuisance team.
Leaflets
A leaflet about
DIY noise nuisance is available in pdf
format.