How early in the day will you do outside maintenance?

[herbgeek]

I have this internal rule in my head, and I'm not sure where it came from, that its rude and unneighborly to mow my lawn, or use loud equipment outside before 9am on the weekends, and maybe a bit earlier during the week (8/8:30) if I see the neighbors are up (like hearing kids playing outside).

My neighbors do not share this arbitrary rule. ;) My across the street neighbor will start blowing off his driveway sometimes at 7am on a Sunday morning, and it sounds like its right under my bedroom window, which are open in the summer as a rule.

What do you think is a reasonable time to start doing outside work that makes noise? Does time of year matter (ie during the school year the kids are up early anyways)? Does it matter if your neighbors windows are open or closed (do you even notice)?

[IshbelRobertson]

We usually don't start noisy outdoor activities until 9.00 am during the week and 10.00 am at weekends. However, the local church bells start pealing at 8.00am on Sunday, so I'm not sure our politeness is noticed by people in the same vicinity as the bells!

[Mrs-M]

In our neighbourhood no one (including us) starts up a lawn mower or any power equipment until after 9 am (weekdays), later on weekends. There is no rule per se, just common neighbourly respect and courtesy.

[Shari]

My city has a noise ordinance that specifies this. I don't recall when it is because I avoid getting up early, but you might check on this.

[Simpler at Fifty]

Our ordinance is no mowing or similar noise before 7am and after 10p. The exception is the golf courses. They mow at 5am and that is the typical start time and has not changed since we moved here. We do not even hear them anymore.

[Miss Cellane]

My town allows construction or maintenance noise after 7 am on weekdays and 8 am on weekends. It appears that people wait eagerly for the start time, because someone always starts up with the noise right on the dot of 7 or 8. There is a constant background noise of lawn mowers, leaf blowers, weed whackers, and electric saws and hedge trimmers. It gets annoying.

Why there's so much noise is a mystery to me. A large backyard in my area is 40 feet by 40 feet, yet it takes at least an hour to mow, a half hour to use the weed whacker on the edges, and another half hour to use the leaf blower to blow all the clippings on to the neighbor's yard. Then they start in on the hedges, which apparently must be meticulously trimmed at least every other week. It takes me half an hour with a good old-fashioned manual push mower to do the entire back yard, so I have no clue what they are doing.

I would prefer later start times, say 8 on weekdays and 10 on weekends, not because I'm sleeping (I get up between 5:30 and 6 am every day of the week), but because it would be nice to have a tiny bit of quiet before the noise starts blasting. And I've never checked to see if the neighbors' windows were open or closed, because I figure I wait until it's a reasonable time, at which point if the noise bothers the neighbors, they can close their windows. And I'm not using a power mower anyway.

I have lived in warmer places where people start their lawn work at the crack of dawn, because by noon, the temperature will be around 100 degrees and too hot to work outside.

[Mrs-M]

Miss Cellane. I'm laughing over your remark pertaining to "I have no clue what they are doing". Sometimes we'll hear someone cutting their lawn (power mower) and my husband will say, "how many lawns are they cutting"! Seems the buzzing and whirring sound of the mower goes on for what seems like eternity.

[Aqua Blue]

I try to do mine around 8am and done by 9am. Much later at least this summer it is too hot. I don't handle the heat well to begin with and mowing/weed eating in the sun pushes me over the edge. If I get too hot I end up with a migraine and spend a couple of days in a migraine haze. Perhaps that is why some of your neighbors mow etc early.

[freein05]

Being retired I do not get up too early, so my outside work does not start until in the afternoon.

[Miss Cellane]

Miss Cellane. I'm laughing over your remark pertaining to "I have no clue what they are doing". Sometimes we'll hear someone cutting their lawn (power mower) and my husband will say, "how many lawns are they cutting"! Seems the buzzing and whirring sound of the mower goes on for what seems like eternity.

My neighbor started on his lawn at 11 am today. He just finished, at 12:30. His back yard is a bit smaller than average for around here, because he has a much larger than normal driveway that extends well into the back yard. It has been an hour and a half of the noisiest electric lawn mower I have ever heard (as loud as a gas mower), then the weed whacker to trim the edges, then the electric hedge shears. Then the leaf blower to blow it all into a pile. Sure, he started well after most people were up. But the noise! Why are these machines so noisy? And why couldn't he cut the hedges by hand and rake the lawn? At least with the leaf blowers, the town has set a decibel limit and the leaf blower must be certified to be under that limit. They are still loud, though.

And why did he have to wait until the guy down the street stopped mowing his lawn around 11 am today? I swear, I wouldn't mind if everyone in the neighborhood started up the machines at 5 am Saturday morning if they would only just all use them at the same time. But around here, there seems to be a code that you simply do not start up your loud noise-maker until your neighbor has finished with his. Heaven forbid that one machine mask or muffle the noise from another. All day long, and not just on weekends, one lawn is finally done and peace descends. To last for about 15 minutes until someone else fires up the ol' lawn mower.

It looks like such a nice, quiet neighborhood. Appearances are deceiving.

[Mrs-M]

You have me laughing again Miss Cellane! Re: everyone taking turns (at different times) disrupting the peace with their noise). Us too. Sometimes we'll be sitting out back in the shade, having a cool beverage and relaxing, and a lawn mower will start. In the back of your mind you think, "it'll stop soon, and then peace and quite once again", but no, just as soon as the one neighbour finishes, another starts!

Here's hoping for a few more sunburned and dried out lawns in your area! That oughta quiet down a few. :)

[Rogar]

My one neighbor has an electric mower. It is so nice and quiet. He has given me a sales pitch on how much he likes it. I have wrestled with getting rid of my gas mower due to the noise issue and also the betching fumes. It's hard to get rid of something that functions pretty good, but tempting. I do use hand clippers instead of the electric trimmers when possible.

Yeah, summer Saturdays are a virtual symphony of power tools around here. The chain saws are the worst. No one gets going before 8 ish, but on a quiet Sunday that's even too early.

[herbgeek]

I have an electric (rechargeable) mower, and while I still think its loud, its better than its gas predecessor. I think I still have the human powered mower in the shed, but we have fine grass that I let get too long for that mower to work well.

[Gardenarian]

My town has a "no noise" ordinance from 7-10 as well. I like to get up early and water, but the only noisy machine I have is the weed whacker. It only takes about 1/2 an hour of weed whacking every couple of weeks to keep things tidy; in between I just clip and snip with hand tools. My dd has comandeered the weed whacker; she just loves that thing.