Would this bother you?

I have similar fears about my neighbor on one side. He moved out a couple of weeks ago, leaving behind an antique farmhouse and four outbuildings on several acres of pasture land. Now, it's being left to run wild, as far as I can see. He moved to California, with two horses, a handful of goats and sheep, and a llama. So far, the grass is about knee-high.

Which is incredibly ironic, because the neighbor on the other side is compulsive about his lawn and has different people making passes with their huge mowers several times a day, several days a week. No leaf blowers, but still... there has to be some kind of mental illness there. Dude has a cast of thousands working on his lawn! Granted, it's 1.5 acres of GRASS, but holy crap. It's precisely two inches of perfect green velvet.

I guess we are the middle ground. There has to be a thesis for some Ph.D. candidate on sociology on the topic of lawn care.

I would consider this a pick-your-battles situation. I'd rather let it go than be known as an a-hole neighbor. Remember, you live next to this person. . . i'd let it slide.

What's the general consensus on a neighbor that fixes lawnmowers for a living? It's never outside the ordinance hours for noise, but it is a constant on/off/on/off and sometimes long bouts of idling which fills the yard with smoke, always in the afternoon/evening when we're outside trying to enjoy the deck. We've gritted our teeth for the past seven years, but our patience is paper thin at this point. Would like to enjoy the few nice days we have sitting outside and talking with the family, but cannot over the noise of the lawnmowers.

sac said:

Steve said:
Bear in mind that Monday, Tuesday, and , possibly yesterday, were washouts for landscapers. I'm sure tied rather be at home and not working today.

Of course, but they still should obey the law.
And, honestly, we have already gotten to the point in the year/drought cycle where weekly mowing is really overkill, so I don't have all that much sympathy.

My point was that this was likely a one-off situation given the recent weather.

We used to live across from DeHart Park and found out the hard way that the town can start whenever they wanted.

Where I am now, when I see the trucks pull up to myneighbors, I retreat into the house. 4 guys mowing and blowing for 45 minutes makes me nuts.

brandalina said:
What's the general consensus on a neighbor that fixes lawnmowers for a living? It's never outside the ordinance hours for noise, but it is a constant on/off/on/off and sometimes long bouts of idling which fills the yard with smoke, always in the afternoon/evening when we're outside trying to enjoy the deck. We've gritted our teeth for the past seven years, but our patience is paper thin at this point. Would like to enjoy the few nice days we have sitting outside and talking with the family, but cannot over the noise of the lawnmowers.

This is a tough one. Have you tried speaking with him about it? If you can't work it out directly, I'm sure that what he's doing is not acceptable by town ordinance and you could file an official complaint.

Yep, it would bother me.

I mentioned the start time to my neighbor's service one morning. They apologized, raked by hand for an hour, then it was the time they were allowed to use the power stuff, and they finished with the mower & the blowers.

skadave said:
I would consider this a pick-your-battles situation. I'd rather let it go than be known as an a-hole neighbor. Remember, you live next to this person. . . i'd let it slide.

That was my feeling, too.

But if it happens again, I would speak up, especially if it shows signs of settling into a regular "thing."

Regarding the lawn mower repair neighbor... ouch. I have no idea how I would handle that. That would set my teeth on permanent edge.

PeggyC said:

skadave said:
I would consider this a pick-your-battles situation. I'd rather let it go than be known as an a-hole neighbor. Remember, you live next to this person. . . i'd let it slide.

That was my feeling, too.
But if it happens again, I would speak up, especially if it shows signs of settling into a regular "thing."

I don't think the issue is with the neighbor, but with the lawn service company. I wouldn't complain to a neighbor either, but I think it's perfectly fine to let the lawn service folks know they need to follow the ordinance.

There is no need for any battle. You call the police dept and report that landscape company started before 9am on a Sunday. They call the lanscape comany with a warning. No one even knows who called

FWIW Sun start time is 11AM. This holds true for homeowners as well as contractors.

Evidently, there are no laws governing lawn care noise in our new town. Which wouldn't matter if our new neighbor on one side wasn't a total maniac about maintaining a perfect swath of green velvet in his front yard. So, this morning, he revved up his lawn monstrosity and started mowing at 7 a.m.

I think I'll be having a word with Town Hall today to find out whether, in fact, there are any restrictions. And, if there are, I will be having a pleasant word with my neighbor.

I don't mind for myself, because I'm nearly always up by that time, but Mr. PeggyC works late on Monday nights, and can't go to sleep until around 1 or 2 a.m. usually. So he was still asleep when the fun started.

Jeez. What is wrong with people???

Can you ask them politely to start later?

Oh, talking nicely to the neighbors is definitely my first line of recourse. I just want to know what the law is before I open the conversation. First I'll ask them very nicely if they could start at least an hour later, because my husband works a lot of late nights and gets to sleep late quite often.