Neighborhood Etiquette

[Carrie12345]

Let me start by saying this isn’t directly bothering ME much. We slept with windows closed and air on last night, and I’m an early riser.

So I went outside to do my quiet morning things (pool, gardens, etc.), and the neighbors were out mowing their lawn… at 6:45. I’m not sure when they started, but they’re still going at 7:30.

They’re friendly, retired people. The “if you need help with anything” type. So it kind of shocked me that they would be running gas powered lawn equipment before 7am!

Am I nuts, or is it general knowledge to hold off until at least 8, if not later?  
Honestly, I’m worried that this will encourage dh to do whatever he wants whenever he wants. He’s the “if it’s good for the goose” type. 😛 

[TheReader]

Some say 7 vs 8, but yes, generally considered polite to wait until people are awake. 

Now, with our humidity/heat issues where we live, and perhaps with the heat dome if that's affecting you, getting things done earlier than later is vital (or wait until the last hour of daylight, when the humidity is back down). So, perhaps it was a one-off due to that. 

[Bambam]

It's really hot here, so I would prefer to get started mowing early. But that is after 8 on weekdays and after 9 on weekends. That just seems considerate of our neighbors to me.  
Also sometimes dew is an issue really early. 

Now if it were like it were a month ago with almost continuous rain for 2-3 weeks, if it isn't raining, I'll be out there earlier (assuming fairly dry, little dew), but most of my neighbors would be out mowing too so we can all take advantage of the brief respite from rain. 

[Katy]

I think my town has a noise ordinance that makes it illegal before 8. I got woken up at 5:30 am by a neighbor mowing today. I’m giving them a pass because the heat index is going to be well over 100F this afternoon, but I was grumpy about it. 

[Carrie12345]

10 minutes ago, TheReader said:

Some say 7 vs 8, but yes, generally considered polite to wait until people are awake. 

Now, with our humidity/heat issues where we live, and perhaps with the heat dome if that's affecting you, getting things done earlier than later is vital (or wait until the last hour of daylight, when the humidity is back down). So, perhaps it was a one-off due to that. 

We have been hot (for this area) for sure, but today’s high is set to barely reach mid-70s!

[teachermom2834]

I don’t know but we have a neighbor that starts before 8:00 every Saturday and I found that shocking because it is so early to be so loud. My dh waits until 9:00.

Honestly, through, I think when temps are so high we should normalize 6:00 am. I don’t want to be woken up but people have big yards and it is so dang hot out there I’d rather people be safe. It’s a tough situation. 

[SKL]

I agree with both sides.  It's too early.  And it's too hot.

I'd give them a pass.

[wintermom]

I'm on the "it's hot and getting the outdoor tasks done early is essential" side here. I was up walking the dogs at 5:30am even though it was actually raining at the time. The humidity has been insane here (Canada for freakin' sake - the Great White North), and particularly elderly people need to be very cautious about the heat. Totally give them a pass. 😉 

[regentrude]

Normally it's too early, and I personally wouldn't do it, but with the heat it makes sense. Roofing companies start working well before 8am in the summer.

[Pawz4me]

Here in the summer it's not abnormal to hear all sorts of noise starting around 7:00--roofing or other construction work as well as mowing and other yard work. It's maybe not ideal for those who can sleep in, or those who need to because they work second or third shifts. But things do have to be done, and heat and humidity later in the day are dangerous.

Edited June 24 by Pawz4me

[gardenmom5]

There are noise ordinances.

and Pawz4me makes a good point regarding weather.  If you're in an area where the temps have been very high, it's better to do those heavy outside chores while the temps are lower. (especially for seniors.) I assume this isn't a normal thing for them.

[kbutton]

Work crews around here often start at 7 for all kinds of things, and I agree it’s probably the heat. Even if today is not supposed to be so bad, they might be doing it early just in case or were prevented from doing it yesterday and have something to do later today.

If it’s not a habit, I would be frustrated but not make a big deal of it.

I can’t mow my entire lawn in the time between it getting dry and getting “hot” (for me) because I am so very heat intolerant, but I have an electric mower.

[catz]

On a weekday with AC weather, this wouldn’t bother me at all.  Our city ordinance says those noises are fine between 7 am and 10 pm, so 6:45 would not raise any alarms for me.   When work crews start at 7 it can be really loud.  

Edited June 24 by catz

[Annie G]

Our city’s lawn ordinance is ‘daylight hours’.   That’s partly so lawn services can get more done, and also to beat the heat for homeowners. 
Our trash service starts at 5:45 and we’re early on their route- they make a lot of noise!  In the summer, local roofers start as soon as the sun is up and they work til it’s too hot then come back late afternoon/early evening. Maybe other outside trades do too, but we only experienced that with roofers. 
 

 

[mommyoffive]

1 hour ago, Carrie12345 said:

We have been hot (for this area) for sure, but today’s high is set to barely reach mid-70s!

Yeah that would piss me off.  Sorry.  We have noise ordinances that you are not supposed to start before 8 am.  Sorry but not everyone wants to get up at 6 something in the morning.   But hey I have neighbors that have pumping music and let dogs out at 3 in the morning to bark the whole time.  So my neighbors are not all the ones that would care anyhow. 

But for me I am really aware that of not ever passing the times that are set for things like that even though we have an electric lawn mower that is not as loud as gas ones as all.  

[Lady Florida.]

Summer is very hot and humid where I live but even commercial mowers don't start until 7 am. I don't know if there's an ordinance but I've lived here (in various neighborhoods) nearly all my life and 7 is the norm. I would expect someone to wait until at least then to start mowing.

[Spryte]

That’s too early for me, but with the recent weather I would chalk it up to avoiding heat stroke, this once.

 

[TexasProud]

I know that you said the temps are not an issue.  We don't live in a neighborhood, so that doesn't apply.  But right now with the heat, my husband is going out at 5:45/6 as soon as light breaks to bushhog, trim trees, mow, etc.   That is our summer schedule.  To be honest, we would probably do it if we lived in a neighborhood as well, just because of how hot it is.  But we would do it during the week when most people are up for work anyway.  I wouldn't do it  that early on a Saturday or Sunday. 

It was 78 when we got up this morning and should be in the 90's by mid morning, so waiting until 8 or 9 just isn't practical in this heat. 

Edited June 24 by TexasProud

[wintermom]

When we visited Costa Rica, the construction crews and roosters were all up really early to getting cracking with work before it was stinking hot. Afternoon naps were also part of the culture. 😉 

[Arcadia]

3 hours ago, teachermom2834 said:

Honestly, through, I think when temps are so high we should normalize 6:00 am. I don’t want to be woken up but people have big yards and it is so dang hot out there I’d rather people be safe. It’s a tough situation. 

It is wildfire season here so most would tolerate (as in be understanding about) 6am mowing at 57 deg F than later in the morning at 90 deg F. Our sunrise is before 6am. 

Edited June 24 by Arcadia
clarification

[Shelydon]

Since it is 95 by 9:00 am, mowing has to be completed by then, so no, 6:45 is not too early. 

[wendyroo]

Our town noise ordinance says you may not make noise that unnecessarily disturbs people without reasonable cause between the hours of 11pm and 7am.

I have always interpreted that pretty liberally, and hope others would do the same for me. For instance, my husband got very annoyed the summer after the neighbor teen graduated high school when he was outside playing basketball in his driveway almost every Friday and Saturday night until midnight or 1am with his friends - playing music, talking and laughing loudly, etc. But his sister had just been diagnosed with cancer, his friends were leaving for college in the fall and he hadn't been accepted anywhere he wanted to go, and his mental health was not in a great place. As a parent, I could imagine my own child being in that situation, and seeing those parties as very reasonable and necessary...and frankly being too tired from tending to the sister with cancer to break up the parties at 11pm. I encouraged my husband to turn on white noise and wait until the problem resolved itself in the fall.

[Frances]

We have a noise ordinance here that allows such activity starting at 7 am, so it’s very common to hear construction crews and landscape companies start work at exactly 7 am. Garbage trucks must have a special dispensation because they are definitely out and about way before 7 am.

Edited June 24 by Frances

[Frances]

1 hour ago, TexasProud said:

I know that you said the temps are not an issue.  We don't live in a neighborhood, so that doesn't apply.  But right now with the heat, my husband is going out at 5:45/6 as soon as light breaks to bushhog, trim trees, mow, etc.   That is our summer schedule.  To be honest, we would probably do it if we lived in a neighborhood as well, just because of how hot it is.  But we would do it during the week when most people are up for work anyway.  I wouldn't do it  that early on a Saturday or Sunday. 

I’m curious if most people are up for work on weekdays by 5:45/6, but sleeping in on the weekends? Our sleeping schedule doesn’t really change from weekdays to weekends (better sleep that way), but we also aren’t up super early because we don’t have a commute. So we don’t adjust our outside work depending on whether it’s a weekday or weekend, we just follow the noise ordinance and make sure it’s after 7 am.

[marbel]

6 minutes ago, Frances said:

I’m curious if most people are up for work on weekdays by 5:45/6, but sleeping in on the weekends? Our sleeping schedule doesn’t really change from weekdays to weekends (better sleep that way), but we also aren’t up super early because we don’t have a commute. So we don’t adjust our outside work depending on whether it’s a weekday or weekend, we just follow the noise ordinance and make sure it’s after 7 am.

I don't know about most people, but my husband's alarm goes off at 7am on work days, and on days with no alarm (weekends, holidays) he can easily sleep till 9 if undisturbed. He sleeps great almost all the time anyway, but does like to sleep in when he can. 

[Amethyst]

6 minutes ago, Frances said:

I’m curious if most people are up for work on weekdays by 5:45/6, but sleeping in on the weekends? 

We are normally up for work around 5:45/6 and tend not to change it during weekends just cuz we can’t seem to sleep later than rhat the older we get. 
 
We’re both up-and-at-em types, so we tend to mow early if we feel like it. I feel bad for neighbors if it’s before 7:00, dh couldn’t care less what the neighbors think. 

[regentrude]

15 minutes ago, Frances said:

I’m curious if most people are up for work on weekdays by 5:45/6, but sleeping in on the weekends?

We're up between 5:30 and 6, weekdays and weekends. Consistent waking time works better for us. 

We used to get up at 6:30 before we had cats, but would often get up *earlier* on weekends, especially in summer, because there are things we want to do.

[marbel]

I see time-sensitive projects like construction, paving, roofing starting as early as possible. Those are generally pretty infrequent in a typical neighborhood.

Mowing and other yardwork isn't all that time-sensitive to me. We have a neighbor who is out blowing leaves and mowing at 8am every Saturday. I'd be mad if he was starting any earlier (though I wouldn't say or do anything about it, because there is no ordinance against such noise, except that it be conducted in "usual and customary hours" which can be interpreted pretty broadly).  

I mean I get that it's dangerous to work in the heat. We had several days of 95+ temps. 

Maybe I'm just a slob about yard work but it seems that most things can wait a week, in particular when it's very hot and grass is not growing very quickly. 

[Pawz4me]

6 minutes ago, marbel said:

 

I mean I get that it's dangerous to work in the heat. We had several days of 95+ temps. 

Maybe I'm just a slob about yard work but it seems that most things can wait a week, in particular when it's very hot and grass is not growing very quickly. 

But 95+ temperatures, and with high humidity, is the summer normal in lots of places. Things can't wait for the weather next week to be better, because in all likelihood it's going to be more of the same.

[marbel]

8 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

But 95+ temperatures, and with high humidity, is the summer normal in lots of places. Things can't wait for the weather next week to be better, because in all likelihood it's going to be more of the same.

Ture, and I did not mean to be thinking so narrowly. In such cases, maybe people could keep it to what's necessary, and maybe reduce the frequency. (Not that that has anything to do with the OP, since this was, AFAIK, the first time they've started so early.)

I'm thinking more of my neighbor who could go 2-3 weeks between sessions without harm to his lawn. Maybe even a month! But he can't stand to see a leaf on his lawn and has said he'd like to cut down all trees and shrubs on his property. I assume his wife disagrees! 

ETA: I do sometimes wish that all the lawn services that come to my street - most people have them, I think just our direct next-door neighbor and I do not - would coordinate and come on the same day! It would be crazy noisy and the street would be packed with trucks but it would just be one day out of seven! 

Edited June 24 by marbel

[Frances]

Nm

Edited June 24 by Frances

[Ivey]

Where I live, it would be totally okay to start mowing any time after 7am. Starting a little before that probably wouldn't bother anyone, especially if it was an older guy trying to avoid mowing in the heat. Heat is a big factor here - lawn care and other work crews usually start at 7am and take a long lunch break during the heat of the day.  

1 hour ago, marbel said:

ETA: I do sometimes wish that all the lawn services that come to my street - most people have them, I think just our direct next-door neighbor and I do not - would coordinate and come on the same day! It would be crazy noisy and the street would be packed with trucks but it would just be one day out of seven! 

This year, several of our neighbors switched to the same lawn service and negotiated a discount! It's been so nice to have one company come on Fridays and make their way down our street. 

[Annie G]

1 hour ago, marbel said:

Ture, and I did not mean to be thinking so narrowly. In such cases, maybe people could keep it to what's necessary, and maybe reduce the frequency. (Not that that has anything to do with the OP, since this was, AFAIK, the first time they've started so early.)

I'm thinking more of my neighbor who could go 2-3 weeks between sessions without harm to his lawn. Maybe even a month! 

Might depend on the type of grass. We keep ours quite short, as the variety we have grows thicker that way. Mowing more often promotes this lateral growth, making it more dense. In addition, you’re only supposed to cut about a third of the height when you mow so you don’t stress it.  If we let ours grow too high, when we cut it it’s brown underneath. 
We’re older folks and prefer to cut grass before it’s tall because it’s a lot easier- fewer times to dump the bag, easier to push the mower, etc. 

I only mention it because while we hate lawn work, to the outside eye it looks as though we LOVE it. 

[Terabith]

In an ideal world, I vote for noisy things like lawn mowing to wait till 8 or 9 am, but heat absolutely changes the calculus.  Everyone needs to do what they need to to stay safe, and lawn mowing very early definitely counts. 

[SKL]

A lot of people sleep odd hours.  To me, there is no difference between 5am and 7am.  I am likely to sleep until 10am, nap at 2pm, and then be up until 4am working.  I may be weird, but there are also lots of people who work 2nd/3rd shift or have other reasons to want/need a different sleep cycle.

I don't really hear too much of what happens when I sleep, thankfully.

Elderly people need to be safe.  I can miss a little sleep/quiet for someone's safety.  I'm sure there have been times when they put up with something annoying at my house.

OP said this doesn't really bother her, but I guess if it did cause real problems for anyone, they could go talk to the neighbor and find out what his expected mowing schedule will be in general.  Then either plan to get up early, get ear plugs, or whatever else works.

[Kanin]

My neighbor is breaching etiquette by parking along the road with two tires on my lawn. Meanwhile, they have a truck hauling a boat parked on their own lawn, and their driveway is full of construction trailers and other vehicles. Ugh!

[Kanin]

These are the same neighbors that cut down all the trees separating our yards, and trashed the beautiful garden that the previous owner had been tending for decades... and they did that to add a second driveway. And now they can't even fit all of their vehicles on that driveway! 🙄

[Rosie_0801]

We had the opposite complaint here last summer, complaints about someone mowing at 9pm. 

[frogger]

I love my electric mower! So quiet. I can't wait for the majority of people to move to electric for most yard work tools.  I doubt people can hear it but we do try to be aware of the time anyway.

That being said, it is not uncommon to hear mowers, kids playing, etc  past midnight in the summer here (Alaska). People tend to struggle to keep track of time when it is light out all night. We will be exhausted by fall and sleep extra over the winter. 🤣 At least some of us.

[popmom]

5 hours ago, Rosie_0801 said:

We had the opposite complaint here last summer, complaints about someone mowing at 9pm. 

Thats interesting. I prefer to do my gardening at sunset or sometimes after dark. I don’t make much noise though. I use a flashlight/floodlights and have to be careful to watch for snakes… but otherwise it’s ideal. 🙂 Using the floodlights on our house, I have actually “cut grass” (mowing) as late as 9pm. (Mornings are miserable here due to the humidity.) I can’t imagine anyone complaining about mowing at 9pm here. Especially on a weekend. 
Normally, my Dh does it during the day. 
 

We have all electric (EGO brand) mower and blower and edger/ weed eater, so our equipment is quieter than gas powered.

Edited June 25 by popmom

[Rosie_0801]

1 minute ago, popmom said:

Thats interesting. I prefer to do my gardening at sunset or sometimes after dark. I don’t make much noise though. I use a flashlight and have to be careful to watch for snakes… but otherwise it’s ideal. 🙂 We have floodlights on our house, so I have actually “cut grass” (mowing) after dark, too. Mornings are miserable here due to the humidity. 

It was the parcel delivery people complaining, since they have to be up before dawn.

I think the community consensus was that the 9pm mower had the right to mow that late and to mouth off at the parcel delivery person on the local FB group as much as they liked, but aggravating the postie is kind of stupid.

[popmom]

18 minutes ago, Rosie_0801 said:

It was the parcel delivery people complaining, since they have to be up before dawn.

I think the community consensus was that the 9pm mower had the right to mow that late and to mouth off at the parcel delivery person on the local FB group as much as they liked, but aggravating the postie is kind of stupid.

Yeah, generally not good to p#SS the postal workers off. 
 

idk…maybe a little. They aren’t likely to quit over it. 😉 

eta: so many other workers that work odd shifts. I know some. You sort of have to adjust and learn to sleep through that stuff. My SIL worked and my aunt worked night shifts in nursing for many years.—decades. They didn’t complain about people mowing during the day when they had to sleep. So as long as it’s not something crazy…people need to chill out. I mean…I am NOT a morning person but my neighbors all have lawn care services that come on various days of the week. They are mowing and using extremely loud gas powered blowers multiple days a week in the mornings. It is what it is. It’s definitely noise pollution, but I just have my white noise fan turned on, so I can sleep through it if necessary. 
 

It’s sort of like living near train tracks. You get used to it. 
 

Eta: I’m much more concerned about my dogs barking when they go out because my next door neighbors have a toddler who surely naps in the afternoon. I’m WAY more concerned about waking up a baby than anyone else lol.

Edited June 25 by popmom

[Frances]

16 minutes ago, popmom said:

Yeah, generally not good to p#SS the postal workers off. 
 

idk…maybe a little. They aren’t likely to quit over it. 😉 

eta: so many other workers that work odd shifts. I know some. You sort of have to adjust and learn to sleep through that stuff. My SIL worked and my aunt worked night shifts in nursing for many years.—decades. They didn’t complain about people mowing during the day when they had to sleep. So as long as it’s not something crazy…people need to chill out. I mean…I am NOT a morning person but my neighbors all have lawn care services that come on various days of the week. They are mowing and using extremely loud gas powered blowers multiple days a week in the mornings. It is what it is. It’s definitely noise pollution, but I just have my white noise fan turned on, so I can sleep through it if necessary. 
 

It’s sort of like living near train tracks. You get used to it. 

This is how I feel. Unless someone is breaking the law or an ordinance, when you live close to others, you have to do what you can to mitigate bothersome activities of your neighbors and just accept it as part of having others living close to you. Over the years, we’ve upgraded our windows, installed central AC, built a fence, acquired high quality noise cancelling headphones, moved our master bedroom, etc., all to deal with various noises, smells, etc. For us, the trade-offs of living in a close in neighborhood with everything in walking distance are more than worth it.

[Frances]

17 hours ago, TheReader said:

5 hours ago, Rosie_0801 said:

We had the opposite complaint here last summer, complaints about someone mowing at 9pm. 

The only time I’ve ever complained about yard work is when the landscape company hired by the large non profit across from our neighborhood sent one worker to do the yard work after midnight every week. Besides violating the noise ordinance, I was very concerned about the safety of one person working in the dark by themselves on a very large campus. It turns out the person in charge of maintenance had no idea they were coming at that time (they had just requested after normal business hours) and was very grateful to know it so he could remedy it.

[Catwoman]

Our town's noise ordinance is from 8:00PM to 8:00AM, so you can't make excessive noise super early in the morning or after 8 in the evening.  Most people have landscapers, anyway, and they seem to stop working by around 5:00 at the latest. 

I'm not an early riser, so 8:00 is early for me. Most of the landscapers in our area start at around 9:00, because they know a lot of people don't appreciate mowing and other landscaping noises as early as 8AM. 

[Laura Corin]

14 hours ago, Frances said:

I’m curious if most people are up for work on weekdays by 5:45/6, but sleeping in on the weekends? Our sleeping schedule doesn’t really change from weekdays to weekends (better sleep that way), but we also aren’t up super early because we don’t have a commute. So we don’t adjust our outside work depending on whether it’s a weekday or weekend, we just follow the noise ordinance and make sure it’s after 7 am.

Work days the alarm is set for 6.30 or 7, depending on whether I am heading to the pool before work. I don't set an alarm at weekends,  but I usually wake at around that time anyway.  My bedtime schedule doesn't change much.

Eta these are the times for construction working. There are no designated hours for domestic noise.

Edited June 25 by Laura Corin

[wintermom]

8 hours ago, Kanin said:

My neighbor is breaching etiquette by parking along the road with two tires on my lawn. Meanwhile, they have a truck hauling a boat parked on their own lawn, and their driveway is full of construction trailers and other vehicles. Ugh!

We can call by-law for parking on lawn, parking for more than 3 hours on the road during the day, and for too many business vehicles/trailers in a residential area. There are limits, but we also have a limit of 3 dogs (not sure how many cats) you can have in the city. 

[Kanin]

8 hours ago, wintermom said:

We can call by-law for parking on lawn, parking for more than 3 hours on the road during the day, and for too many business vehicles/trailers in a residential area. There are limits, but we also have a limit of 3 dogs (not sure how many cats) you can have in the city. 

Oh, it's been about a week now.

It's not actually impacting my life, but I find it slightly annoying that they haven't thought... gee, maybe Kanin doesn't want my SUV parked on the edge of her lawn. These are great neighbors apart from that and their complete lack of appreciation for vegetation!

[wintermom]

1 hour ago, Kanin said:

Oh, it's been about a week now.

It's not actually impacting my life, but I find it slightly annoying that they haven't thought... gee, maybe Kanin doesn't want my SUV parked on the edge of her lawn. These are great neighbors apart from that and their complete lack of appreciation for vegetation!

If they are great neighbours, you could probably mention that you'd like your lawn to have a chance to live. 😉 

[KungFuPanda]

I didn’t read the replies so forgive me if I’m parroting someone else. My town has noise laws so you can’t really be noisy that early in the morning. HOWEVER, we are in the midst of a horrendous heat wave right now so I’d be inclined to give anyone a pass until the heat eases up. I went out to water my gardens just before sunrise on Sunday and it was already in the mid seventies. It could be truly dangerous for old people to wait until 8:30-9 when it was in the 90s to do any outdoor work. Now, I would’ve just skipped the mowing in a heat wave, but maybe your neighbors are more conscientious.  Or maybe you’re not having a heat wave?