A Man Found a Way to Retaliate Against His Neighbors, Who Didn’t Let Him Sleep

As studies have shown, the main problems that arise from exposure to loud noise include cardiovascular diseases, high levels of stress, hearing loss, and sleep disorders. Having noisy neighbors can become a serious headache, and when negotiations fail, it may be time to take action. One Reddit user shared their story and received dozens of comments. It should be noted that some people found their methods to be quite radical and offered their own solutions to the problem.

“My neighbors had a house reconstruction, but they always chose the most nightmarish time to do it, aka in the middle of the night. I couldn’t understand why at every 11pm, they would drill and hammer the hell out of their walls. This went on for weeks and I often came to class dog-tired due to being sleep deprived. That’s why all of my finals that semester were terrible.”

“I tried to speak to them and negotiate the time when they could do their renovation without messing up their neighbor’s sleep. However, they didn’t comply even though I had had the police work with them. On the contrary, they drilled even louder, disturbing all surrounding neighborhoods. The worst part is that despite that I had literally begged those folks to have at least considered and had a civil conversation with me and all other neighbors, they shut us all out, refusing to compromise in the slightest.”

“So during the summer, I decided to move all of my drum kits to the balcony, and at exactly 11 pm every day I would make sure to play my loudest beats on the same floor of their bedroom. It was only a matter of time when they decided to report me to the police; however, they couldn’t expect that those were the same officers that I called during the construction shenanigans and that they even secretly gave me a thumbs up and asked me ’not disturb the other neighbors and only annoyed these 2 people’.”

“Just to clarify, the drum session happens more than a month after the construction. This was the time when the other neighbor’s house went on holiday so I kinda want to take advantage of this time. Real estate related but our neighborhood is kinda weird where every 3 houses would share the same patch of land, and there will be a driveway road between every group of 3 house patches. So I am pretty sure I only annoy the ones next to my house because none of my neighbors ever made a complaint, unlike with the construction, and my drums weren’t loud as their drills for sure. I just made it loud enough to disturb their night as they, the people who have turned my entire circadian hour to 3 am now, have done with mine.

Moreover, my balcony kinda faces their bedroom windows and they had tried to speak to me directly through it many times, so I wore sunglasses and headphones to show them that I didn’t want to talk to them when I was playing the drums.”

Although most users approved of the “avenger’s” action and shared how they had acted similarly, there were also those who sided with the noisy neighbors or criticized the methods used by the topic starter.

• My downstairs neighbor would get home at 5:30 every night and blast his music. I realize this isn’t when people sleep but it was so loud that a couple of knickknacks fell off my shelf because the vibrations were so bad. I also couldn’t talk on the phone because the people on the other end of the phone had a hard time hearing me. I tried blasting Black Sabbath at the same volume, but he just turned his up louder. I finally figured that I’d just “enjoy” his music. We lived in an old building with hardwood floors. I put on my wooden clogs and danced to the beat of his music. When he came up to complain, I told him if he was going to play his music so loud that I couldn’t hear anything else, I was going to dance to it. © dr-pebbles / Reddit

• My upstairs neighbor played loud music from 7am till 1-2am. I could feel the vibration on my stomach. Things fell off the shelf because of vibration. We tried to talk to him to no avail. Owner of the building refused to step in. So we put up the subwoofer against the ceiling, blasted it to max when he started playing music at 7am, went out for a long walk. When we came back around noon, his music was off for the first time in months. © Anxious_Review3634 / Reddit

• Our neighbors would play the TV program theme tune or Ghostbusters theme tune at 6 am. My mom one day turned our speakers to the wall put Black Sabbath on repeat, full blast, and we went out for the day. Problem solved, ha-ha. © 30ninjazinmybag / Reddit

• Wagner was the cultural lesson for my neighbors who have very loud music every day. Grant you, it is in the middle of the day, but I work a lot of night shifts and I sleep during the day. I get it, one can make noise during the day, and if it is renovation and some such thing, of course, it will be noisy. But showcasing very bad taste in music, every day and when you have most neighbors, elderly people... I mean, a bit of respect for the surroundings and neighbors is called basic human decency. So now, when I cook, I have classical music, full blast, and I know it annoys them. They asked me to stop. I told them it is middle of the day, and I will stop when they do with their music. © SPQR_Invictus_79 / Reddit

Music tastes are different for everyone — some people love opera, others prefer pop singers, and others enjoy other genres like jazz. Everyone has the right to listen to what they like, and it’s not good manners to judge other people’s preferences. But the same etiquette dictates that you shouldn’t impose on others what you like.

• Had a guy on my route do this with opera music. Neighbors were always playing their crap loud enough to hear with closed windows across a busy street, so I can’t imagine what it sounded like in his apartment, and he was sick. Sweet guy, very non-confrontational, but he couldn’t get any rest. His last day there before he moved back home with his parents, He blasted Madame Butterfly from his balcony all day. Most people who want to share their taste in music don’t like it when you reciprocate, and they were no exception. They actually called the cops but they told them that since it was daytime, there was nothing they could do. © bran6442 / Reddit

Not only repairs or loud music can disturb neighbors from living peacefully, but also pets that haven’t been trained to behave properly.

• My neighbors would leave their dogs out all night and ignored them barking, some nights until 1 am, then they’d start again at 6:30. My husband started blasting “Who Let the Dogs Out” on a loop while we were at work. He would only do this on the day following the barking. It took a little while, but now we can sleep through the night. © MsFloofNoofle / Reddit

• Old Dutch neighborhood here — houses stacked against each other — downstairs neighbors are awesome, downstairs, upstairs neighbors are old enough to not really hear much, upstairs neighbors on the other side — thumping around and slamming doors randomly at 2-3am. I’m a pastry chef so I get up at 4am and make sure the washing machine really needs to do its 2 hour magic that’s right against their bedroom wall. © Tank-Pilot74 / Reddit

Although the proximity of neighbors and the sound transmission in old houses can be a problem, sometimes you still want to live in them as they look so good in the urban landscape.

• Maybe some people, like myself, work at odd hours,10-12pm until 5-9am depending on the day, and are awake those same hours on off-days. I’m not going to do renovations in my home during my regularly scheduled sleep hours. Should I be allowed to grumble at my neighbors for mowing the lawn at 10am because I’m sleeping? Of course not! Neither should you complain. Life doesn’t take breaks for sleep schedules, neither should anyone else because of theirs. © PD_Legend / Reddit

Sometimes it may seem like knocking on the wall or blasting your own music at full volume is teaching noisy neighbors a lesson, giving them a taste of their own medicine. But this can create mutual tension between both parties over a long period of time. Sometimes it’s easier to solve problems with a small renovation using noise-reducing materials.

• You really think your other neighbors appreciated the drums? Don’t edit saying all your other neighbors were on vacation because we all know that is ridiculous. © rudbek-of-rudbek / Reddit

• Imagine working all day, and getting home to work on your home renovations during the only spare time you have. Then you talk to the police that are called on you and decide to try your best to speed up the project so that it doesn’t disturb your neighborhood for much longer, albeit may be a bit louder but you’re trying to be less of an inconvenience in the long run. Then your neighbor pulls this thinking they’re clever. © TheRealSymonne / Reddit