Noise complaints from wood working?

[Zachary Hoyt]

I've wondered about this question a lot. At present my workshop is in part of a converted barn where we live, and the nearest neighbors are 1/4 mile away or so. In a year or two I am planning to buy a house in a town in the Adirondacks and switch my business from part time to full time when I move. Home occupations are allowed in most parts of the town, and what I am doing counts as that, but I will have to insulate my shop space well, keep the windows closed while I'm working, and hope that my future neighbors will be understanding of any noise that may still escape.

[Andrew Hughes]

My first neighbor like the sound of my table saw. When I had the unisaw. My second neighbor complained about the dust that floated over to his side. My current neighbor let me know the lights dim in his house when I start my bandsaw or jointer. I guess my point is you never know what bothers someone.
Good Luck sounds like fun.

[Von Bickley]

My nearest neighbor is over 1/4 mile away... No complaints.

[Ron Selzer]

My first neighbor like the sound of my table saw. When I had the unisaw. My second neighbor complained about the dust that floated over to his side. My current neighbor let me know the lights dim in his house when I start my bandsaw or jointer. I guess my point is you never know what bothers someone.
Good Luck sounds like fun.

Need to talk to your Electrical Provider about checking for lose connections and a possible transformer upgrade
Ron

[Doug Dawson]

So I looked at some of the shop pictures and it looks like many just have their shop on a large residential lot. Well I found a 2.1 acre property and it has a steel building on it already, along with many other nearby properties also having steel workshop buildings. I looked up the ordinance for my city and it says all activities allowed inside accessory building according to the zone, which is single family residential I believe. There is no HOA. I purposefully picked a suburban area where everyone has at least an acre or two of land, some people have several acres because I didn't want noise complaints from the neighbors. There is a neighbor maybe 75 feet behind me, but everyone else is pretty far away. I don't really know what all activities allowed means but anyways, I think as long as you aren't running a business then it should be fine.

Anyone get noise complaints or have any issues doing carpentry in their shop?

Please don't tell me to call the city, i'm just curious as to your personal experiences. I think my main concern with noise is the dust collector, since it sounds like a huge vacuum cleaner.

Just buy some Pomeranians. That will drown out the noise from the machines. I hear you can grow them from seed.

[Jack Llewyllson]

I don't really know what all activities allowed means but anyways, I think as long as you aren't running a business then it should be fine.

Anyone get noise complaints or have any issues doing carpentry in their shop?

I think you're smart to notice the difference between "what's legally allowed" and "how to be a good neighbor."

First off, I don't think with your "open plan" neighborhood you'll bother anyone. The more rural people get, the more we tend to live and let live -- I have a friend with 5 acres who set up a rifle range with no neighbor complaints so far.

Personally, I follow the good-neighbor party rule: invitations. If your activity benefits others, others will be less annoyed by it. So if you throw a rager, invite the neighbors, and if you plan to be overtly makin' stuff, maybe lend a hand once in awhile.

In a small & cluttered space, I can't plane stock without opening the garage door, so I only plane between late morning and early-mid afternoon. Once I saw my cross-street neighbor stalking toward me, so I shut it down and waited to find out if I was annoying him. He said, "Is that a planer?"

When I nodded, he asked if I could plane a chunk of wood he had for a cutting board. Five minutes later, he was walking back home with a freshly smoothed plank. These days, whenever he's outside while I plane, he smiles and gives me a thumbs-up.

Not all neighbors are neighborly like that, but you can be. Sometimes it really helps.

[Andrew Hughes]

Need to talk to your Electrical Provider about checking for lose connections and a possible transformer upgrade
Ron

I won’t matter much. If they upgrade my service again I’ll just buy bigger machines.
Thanks for your input Ron your suspicions are correct.
Good Luck

[Bruce King]

Probably the most serious problem with noise is when you have a 3rd shift worker nearby.
That can be a hard fix so ask around before buying a house next to one.

[Travis Conner]

Actually open air transfers sound better than you think. In the place I live in their is a canal between me and the houses across from it. Must be 6 or 700 hundred feet away and sometimes he will cut the yard or trim some trees and I swear it sounds like someone is right outside my door. Luckily this place with the shop has some foliage in between me and the neighbors.

[Mike Wilkins]

I made a conscious effort to not turn on any loud machines after 8 PM out of consideration for my neighbors. No complaints since moving into the home in 1997, and I have asked them if any noise bothered them.
I often work in the shop late at night, but only with hand tools, sander or the band saw.

[Bruce King]

I’m in the habit of turning on the dust collector with a pocket remote before turning on the tool. I always hated how noisey my lunch box planer is but noticed the other day the majority of noise coming out of the planer is the air suction, sounds like a jet engine in need of work. Sounds normal with DC off.

[Travis Conner]

I would get it fixed. The neighbors ac compressor came on a few nights back and I don't know what happened, but it was loud as hell and totally dimmed the lights for a second. Ran downstairs thinking it was my ac and thought the fan motor finally gave out.

[Travis Conner]

I want to say the ordinances for carpentry are referring to it as a for profit business kind of thing. Nothing says you can't have a home hobby shop that you may build something once or twice a week.

[Alan Lightstone]

I spent a significant amount of time, effort, and money to soundproof my workshop so I didn't have any issues from neighbors. It really is possible to significantly soundproof most areas so that the outside world isn't aware of your working. I actually used an app on my iPhone to test the before and after of the soundproofing. I dropped most equipment noises by 20dB, which is huge.

My loudest noise production to the neighbors is the explosion proof fan in my finishing room. Sounds like a low drone from a distance. I don't think anyone even notices.

I also made sure to help my neighbors rebuild a bridge, and do other community repairs. Buys lots of good will. Highly recommended, plus you get to know your neighbors and improve the neighborhood.

Haven't gotten a single complaint, and don't expect to.

[Travis Conner]

I'm going to pass on the property. I think im too close to the neighbor thats behind me. I'm going to go back to my original idea of working outside city limits. There aren't any restrictions on what I can do out there.