My Neighbors Noise Is Making Me ill: What Should I Do?

You are not alone if you live next to noisy neighbors and feel like the noise is making you ill.

My brother had to sell his house at a loss while he had significantly struggled to pay for a long time.

He did this all to escape noisy neighbors who didn’t improve his health condition.

You see, my brother had for years struggled with a kidney disease, which required him to constant dialysis or a transplant to keep him alive.

For a long time, he hated noise, so he took a mortgage and bought a detached house that was ideal as it was close to his hospital and away from other houses so he could live peacefully as he couldn’t have to deal with other people’s noise.

The serenity lasted for a year when a certain neighbor moved into a house next to his. To say the neighbor was a party animal is an understatement.

Every time I met my brother, he always complained about the neighbor. One day I visited him, and even if the house was detached, the neighbor played music so loud that the floor could vibrate.

I talked to the neighbor about the noise and tried to explain to him the condition my brother was suffering from, but he only lowered the volume for a couple of days then it was back up.

I stayed there for at least a week and even called the police on the neighbor a couple of times.

The police got fed up with the constant calls and said they would penalize us if we called again. Well, I had to stay away to avoid the penalties.

I know you might have advised my brother to move out, but his mortgage was so hard, and the kidney disease wasn’t making the situation any easier.

The situation had gotten so bad that when he heard the music, his heartbeat would beat so fast, and he couldn’t eat or relax—every time he heard the music, he got so agitated that I thought he could lose it.

After living there for 3 years, he cleared his mortgage, and the first thing he did was to sell the house.

He now lives out of town in his compound, so he doesn’t have to deal with another inconsiderate neighbor.

How to deal with stress caused by noisy neighbors

The best way to deal with the stress from noisy neighbors is to talk to them so they can cut it, but this doesn’t always work out.

If you have tried talking to your neighbor and they are still not cutting the noise, the next best alternative is to report them to the authorities, such as the police or the house management.

The house management will most likely listen to your case if you have proof.

If the noise harms your mental health, remember to take good care of yourself and get meditation and counseling services.

If you have tried these routes and none is working, move out of the house.

If you have rented the house, you don’t have a lot of things to worry about as you need to cancel your lease or wait for the least to end.

The issue might arise if you own the house or have a mortgage.

In such a case, you may have to wait to complete the mortgage, but if your health condition doesn’t allow it, move to a rented house or move in with a friend where you will be more at peace.

Some people might argue that they can’t move out of their house, but situations can force you to do it.

For example, my brother had exhausted all his options and could only maintain his sanity and health by moving from the noisy neighbors.

How to stop worrying about noisy neighbors

To ensure you never worry about a noisy neighbor coming in and disturbing your peace, you should be ultra-cautious when hunting for a house.

Some of the things you can do include:

Find a house in a noise-regulated community

If you are like me and hate noise, you should find people who love peace and are there.

When you are scouting for a house, take time to find one with noise regulations.

Such houses will have rules that govern when someone can listen to music on high volume when you can mow, and so on.

Yes, the rules can sometimes be inconvenient, but they will protect you, and you will never have to worry about your neighbor blasting loud music at midnight.

Find a house in a family-oriented community.

In most cases, people with families tend to be quieter compared to single ones with never-ending parties.

Even if you are younger but love your peace, consider finding a house in a family-oriented community.

You should note that while there might not be loud music playing in the middle of the night, there might be children shouting at the top of their lungs or mothers yelling at their little ones.

If you are interested in an apartment, there might be children playing or running around all the time.

If this kind of noise is a distraction, you should consider visiting the house several times at different times of the day and find out whether there is noise.

The quality of the house will determine whether you can hear the noise from the outside, so it’s wise to ensure that the house you are looking to move into is appropriately constructed.

As a rule of thumb, it shouldn’t have thin walls or floors that will allow a lot of outside noise inside.

As you are surveying the house, also consider the soundproofing. For peace of mind, you should go for an adequately soundproofed house, as you are sure that the noise won’t get in.

Consider a separate house.

It goes without saying that when you move into a house separate from the others in the compound, you don’t have to worry too much about the noise from your neighbors.

Even if the house is detached, ensure that it has a proper build and is soundproofed so that the noise from the other houses doesn’t get to you.