How early is "too early"?

[Lorelei Lee]

Neighbor mowed his lawn at 8:00 this morning. He has a very powerful mower -- he's a professional landscaper.



Runs his company from his house. In violation of the local zoning ordinances. The town doesn't really care, it's just some equipment stored here.

But it was LOUD this morning.

 

[Art 1]

Neighbor mowed his lawn at 8:00 this morning. He has a very powerful mower -- he's a professional landscaper.



Runs his company from his house. In violation of the local zoning ordinances. The town doesn't really care, it's just some equipment stored here.

But it was LOUD this morning.

That is too early IMO. Back when people had better manners and knew better the usual time was no earlier than 10 am.

 

[Colleen27]

In my town it would fall under the general noise ordinance, which imposes "quiet hours" between 10pm (11 on Fri/Sat) and 7am. That seems reasonable to me, even though I personally might not appreciate the noise at 8am or 9pm some days.

As far as running the company from his house, to me that's another non-issue unless it is a company that involves customer traffic. Storing equipment when it isn't in use, assuming it is properly stored and not laying out all over the place, doesn't seem like it would create any nuisance for neighbors.

 

[dakcp2001]

I think what it comes down to is being "neighborly". 8am is not too early per se, but it is quite un neighborly, most people are still asleep at 8am on the weekends. As someone who works nights, I am used to being woken up by noise and mowers etc. But I still made an effort not to vacuum at off hours (even though that is when I am awake and works for me) when I lived in an apartment so I would not wake anyone. I did my best to be neighborly even though I am and was constantly getting woken up. If my sign says DO NOT KNOCK I WORK NIGHTS, it is decidedly UN NEIGHBORLY to knock during the day. But people still do it regularly.

 

[SLP958]

I live in the south and it gets super hot during the day. It is common for people to mow early.

I would have no problem with 8 am. It would in fact, make me feel like I needed to get up and get busy

 

[Janepod]

Our town has no noise ordinances and 8:00 a.m. is common here on weekdays, but I don't think I've ever heard it that early on a weekend.

You are on LI, right? Friends of my husband live in Merrick and there is a guy who does this on their street. Same deal, he runs a business (fencing? concrete?) from his home and the town doesn't care. Grr.

 

[Disney Doll]

8am wouldn't bother me because I am an early riser. However, in the spirit of neighborliness, we don't usually start doing noisy outdoor stuff until about 10am.

Running a business out of the house wouldn't bother me wither provided it didn't include tools and machinery all over the yard making things an eyesore.

My neighbor across the street was a marriage and family therapist and had her clients come to her house. Never bothered me.

 

[Disney Springs]

8:00am is fine for noisy stuff IMO. Do what I do - wear ear plugs to bed, then nothing will wake you up.

 

[Minerva Mouse]

However, in the spirit of neighborliness, we don't usually start doing noisy outdoor stuff until about 10am.

Ditto,

 

[Aliceacc]

Personallly, I think 8 am is rude.

It's one thing if contractors show up at 8 am to do your roof. It's a short term thing, and not something you can control.

But my son doesn't touch the lawn mower until at least 10 am. I'm a morning person, up at 5 am most days. But I realze that much of the world is on a slightly different schedule, and it's rude to interrupt their sleep.

 

[clm10308]

In Houston it is much too hot to wait until 10am to mow this time of year unless. 8am was accepted by people in our neighborhood even on weekends.
On school days in August and September when it is still 95+ temps, I would be out mowing at 7:00 when the middle school kids are waiting for the bus.

 

[sk!mom]

I live in the south and it gets super hot during the day. It is common for people to mow early.

I would have no problem with 8 am. It would in fact, make me feel like I needed to get up and get busy

Exactly what I was thinking. Around here mowers usually start around 7:00 am- Never thought of it as rude. DH and I like to sleep in on weekends so we normally mow on a week day evening, after 7:00 pm.

 

[branv]

8 am is rude. Yes, it gets really hot here, but so what. At the earliest we might do 9 am, but that is rare. And if it's too darn hot, we wait until 7 pm at night -- and honestly find it's much cooler and breezier that time of night than in the morning anyway. If we can't finish before the sun goes down, we'll finish the next day. Sure, it can be more inconvenient for us, but I'm not a person who believes my convenience automatically supersedes that of everyone else.

Even the 2 years we had a lawn service, we told the guy never before 9 am even on a weekday. He said he didn't do that anyway in residential neighborhoods -- too much potential trouble.

 

[Bob NC]

It seems you can't read a single post on the Dis anymore without seeing the word "rude."

I wouldn't mind my neighbor mowing at 8 am.

Where I live it's sometimes hotter than the surface of the sun by 10 am.

Does his storing some work equipment at his house have something to do with the noise he made at 8 am? Or, was that just extra added info that has nothing to do with noise at 8 am?

I can see how folks might mind if someone was starting up noisy equipment every morning at 8. It wouldn't bother me a bit, but some it would.

Was this a one time thing or does it happen all the time?

 

[handinpocket]

Wouldn't bother me at all. As others have said, by 10:00 it would be much too hot to cut grass around here, so most people do their yard work EARLY.

 

[Meriweather]

Gets hot here too..............mowing and yard work is quite common at 6 am

 

[Buckalew11]

Wouldn't bother me. 7am seems early to me. 8 seems fine.

 

[Jennasis]

8am is a proper morning start time for work like that. Not even a little rude IMO.

 

[skatalite]

Barring any city noise ordinances, I don't think 8 a.m. is a bad time to begin mowing. I don't find it rude.

Here in central Oklahoma, it gets stifling hot really early outside during the summer months. It sucks when it's barely 9 a.m. and already 93 degrees outside.

 

[allison443]

I think it's fine. As for waiting till the evening when its cool and breezy, that could disturb your neighbors that are sitting outside enjoying the breeze. Or if someone mows in the afternoon, it could disturb a baby's nap.