Do your neighbors complain about noise from your woodshop?

[Greg Magone]

For those who live in a city subdivision, do you find your woodworking irritates your neighbors? How loud is it from, say, 50 feet outside your shop?

Is there anything that you do to try to minimize the noise?

Mine haven't complained - yet. We'll see if they complain eventually.

(For those of you who do not have neighbors or close neighbors - lucky you!)

[scott vroom]

For those who live in a city subdivision, do you find your woodworking irritates your neighbors? How loud is it from, say, 50 feet outside your shop?

Is there anything that you do to try to minimize the noise?

Mine haven't complained - yet. We'll see if they complain eventually.

(For those of you who do not have neighbors or close neighbors - lucky you!)

My shop is a 2 car attached garage on a 50' x 102' residential subdivision lot. When we set up the shop 5 years ago we fully sound insulated and drywalled the walls and ceiling. We also constructed an interior 2x4 framed wall, floor to roof and fully insulated/plywood sheathed, just inside the barn style garage doors, effectively sealing off the entire shop. When standing outside the shop I can hear the power tools, but as i walk toward the neighboring houses the sound diminishes to the point of being barely noticeable. I've had no complaints and have asked my neighbors to let me know of any problems. I generally limit my power tool usage to daytime hours, mostly during the weekdays, and rarely after 5:00 PM on any day.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

My shop is a stand alone 24'x30' and it's well insulated. Before I awoke deaf the only noise you would hear outside was subtle noise when my 3 HP Oneida dust collector was running. My shop is offset to one side of my lot and closer to that neighbor. I asked her if my woodworking tools made an objectionable noise. She said she rarely hears anything and when she does it doesn't bother her as it's barely noticeable.

[John Spitters]

I have a separate dedicated shop 22' x 23' on a city lot and am constantly concerned that one day the neighbours will complain. When I built the shop I was concerned of this potential problem so did my best to properly insulate and soundproof. When I have my 3hp cyclone running there is only a low humm that can be heard, but when I fire up the loudest of my tools my 15" grizzly planer it's a real screamer and can be heard blocks away so I've been carefull to only fire it up during the daytime hours and never in the evenings. So far all has been good and I'm going on 5 yrs now, possibly this is because across the street from me is a kid that plays the drums often with the windows open and he plays into all hours of the evening which can be very annoying.

[Paul Hinds]

My detached garage/shop is pretty close to a couple of neighboring houses but the only thing I run that makes much noise is a RAS and even in the summer when I have the bay door open the neighbors tell me that hardly hear anything and don't even think a thing about the little that they do hear. It's about like having someone running a lawnmower in the neighborhood, probably less. I don't do it for a living though so it's nowhere near constant.

[Viking Mountain Tool Works]

I sure hope not, my nearest neighbor is 1/4 mile away with a hill between!

[Mark Patoka]

I have a 2-car garage in a cul-de-sac and no one has ever complained. In the summer I'll work with the door open but I try to minimize any loud tools after 9pm and then will also close the door. I try to save staining, finishing or gluing for the late night tasks. I have a couple of neighbors that believe in using their leaf blowers (my wife calls them noise polluters) at least once a day to blow off the couple blades of grass or leaves from their pristine driveway and I'll bet they are at least as loud as any of my tools so I'm not too concerned if I spend a day running tools inside my garage but I do try to be respectful.

[Dennis Ford]

Most of the time, not much noise outside my shop and I am not real close to neighbors. If the planer (and cyclone collector) is running for any length of time, they heat up my shop. I use those with the door open but only during middle of day, no complaints yet.
The neighbors close enough to notice have benefited from a handmade gift or two; I am not expecting any issues.

[Rod Sheridan]

I have a small shop in the basement of a townhouse.

You can't hear anything outside the house, and inside my neighbours house if you listen very carefully you can hear something, nothing that bothers them at all.....Rod.

[Jim Andrew]

For John Spitters, Grizzly has their Christmas sale on, and they have included their helical heads for the G0453 planers. They now have the Byrd cutterhead for less than the Asian counterparts. The H7768 Byrd is 559.95. If I didn't already have a helical cutter on my planer, would order one. You commented that your planer is a screamer, so assume it has straight blades.

[Mike Henderson]

No complaints from my neighbors so far.

Mike

[Peter Quinn]

My shop is in a basement with 12" thick walls, the only complaints come from the inhabitants, I've asked neighbors, they didn't know I did wood working!

[Mark Bolton]

If you want to head it off just make them some stuff. Give away a few cutting boards, or little odds and ends to try and keep the peace. Im sure noise in the evening/late night/Sunday's may be more of an issue but... If your going to get a pain in the butt neighbor there is nothing you'll be able to do about it anyway.

My shop is zoned commercial but there are houses around. I just try and be courteous. I dont plane with the bay doors open even in the hot summer days. The shop acts like a megaphone and projects the sound out the doors. The neighbors have made far more noise than I ever will allow to come out of my place. But for the same reasons I try to keep the peace. Finishing and spraying finish would be a major issue but noise is a bit easier to address.

[Kevin Bourque]

I dunno. It's impossible to hear the doorbell with all the noise.

[scott vroom]

I dunno. It's impossible to hear the doorbell with all the noise.

Now THATZ funny.