Jackhammers. Is there a worse noise to be woken up by after a very late night (and a few drinks)? Our neighbours have been working on their latest batch of home renovations since Easter and needless to say they’re off my Christmas card list.
In the last year there’s been an inground pool, a carport (complete with what I call the nuclear bunker underneath it), all of the grass in the front yard being torn up and replaced with concrete, a second driveway, the downstairs level being completely gutted to create a new floorplan, and their courtyard area under the back deck is being torn up for new concrete to be laid (I assume as an extension of the downstairs refurb). Oh, and they told us this week they’re ripping out the kitchen and redoing it as soon as everything else is done. I’m not sure they’ll ever really stop.
The best part is that, aside from the pool that was done late last year, none of the long list of renovations has actually been completed. It’s like a bomb site and I just don’t get it.
Now it’s completely reasonable for someone to want to improve their home, but there doesn’t seem to be a square inch of their entire block that hasn’t undergone some sort of transformation since we moved in over eight years ago (often more than once). From returfed yards, retaining walls, complete refit of the inside of the house, fences, decks, it just goes on. I don’t understand it.
The noise is driving me to distraction. Working from home this year has been pretty frustrating as it’s not been a particularly quiet working environment. The bigger notion I’m raising here though is why do they do it?
I like these neighbours, but they’re wearing me down. They’re a nice family who we get along with, mum, dad, four kids, two dogs. I live in an inner city suburb so families and the noises they bring with them are what you should expect and accept. That’s all fine. But I don’t understand the constant need to change/improve/refit everything on their block. For one thing it must cost a fortune, but for me it’s the way it all spills out onto the street and neighbourhood. You get to a point where you realise the respect you’ve been showing your neighbours isn’t reciprocated and that’s a shame.
I’m not going to list their crimes against neighbourly love here, that’s not my point in writing this, and to be honest it would take a while to list. But I want to ask you a question, why do you think people do this? I lived next to renovations in the past and have myself renovated more than a couple of houses. But where does this need to keep redoing things come from? What’s your experience of it?
I ask these questions for a simple reason. I don’t consider myself an unreasonable person, but I’m getting to a point where I’m feeling like the grouchy old guy next door who hates his neighbours and I don’t want to be that way. So please help me. Tell me in the comments or email me that it’s not me it’s them. Share your own experiences of the constant home improvements addicts you’ve lived to so that I know it’s not just me.
