Fletty's new shed WIP ....or is it a retrospective??

[fletty]

What is an acceptable noise level at night


Dave TTC
Turning Wood Into Art

When your neighbour doesn't lean over the fence with a shotgun!

If you think dust collecting and sharpening raise passions, wait 'til you hear the ruckus over noise level!
The measuring scale isn't linear and each measurement difference of approximately 3 (3.08?) is a halving or doubling of noise level so that 83 is twice as loud as 80. The 'noisiest' measurement I've made in the shed, DC howling with no enclosure was 84dB whereas the 'quietest' measurement, 9.30pm, 10 metres from the shed, nothing running, was 62dB.
I reckon that 65dB at the neighbours fence at night and 70 during the day would be acceptable to a 'reasonable' neighbour?

fletty

[NCArcher]

I reckon 30 something people on the 13th might push the record Especially with some of the forumites who are coming

[wheelinround]

Hope the ceiling is being covered also other wise it'll sound like a BOOM box when sucking at full throttle with chips and shaving rattling round as the night creeps closer to bewitching hour.

I agree with Tony to a point however Tony Alan lives there they are used to him

[fletty]

Back inside after skulking around in the dark taking noise level measurements near the neighbours windows ........

Current status, enclosure not yet complete, no external exhaust, no muffler, enclosure door closed;

• in shed = 75dB
• 3 metres outside shed = 68dB
• 10 metres outside shed, on boundary = 63dB

Progress inside shed

• DC in final position but completely exposed = 85dB
• DC, incomplete enclosure, no enclosure door, no external exhaust nor muffler = 80dB
• DC, incomplete enclosure, enclosure door closed, no external exhaust nor muffler = 75dB

To put this in context (sourced from Sound Meter);

• 20dB, rustling leaves, ticking watch
• 30dB, quiet whisper at 1 metre, library
• 40dB, quiet residential are, Park
• 50dB, quiet office, quiet street (says something about where I live?)
• 60dB. normal conversation at 1 metre
• 70dB, busy traffic, phone ringtone
• 80dB, busy street, alarm clock
• 90dB. factory machinery at 1 metre
• 100dB, subway train, blow dryer
• 110dB, rock music, screaming child

Of all of this, I guess the surprise is the blow dryer

fletty

[DaveTTC]

So looks like you're headed the right way

Dave TTC
Turning Wood Into Art

[FenceFurniture]

110dB, rock music, screaming child

And the world's loudest burp (unofficial though) from a Darwin gut last week.

[fletty]

So looks like you're headed the right way

Dave TTC
Turning Wood Into Art

yep, straight to the Police Station for peeping tommery!

[fletty]

And the world's loudest burp (unofficial though) from a Darwin gut last week.

go to bed!

[FenceFurniture]

10 metres outside shed, on boundary = 63dB

There's another factor too - constancy of sound. We very quickly stop hearing a sound that doesn't change, such as a DE. That is far less intrusive than something like a conversation at the same volume, with the ups and downs of pitch, accents etc. So much so that at times I've forgotten to turn the DE off for quite some minutes after I'd finished with it.

[DaveTTC]

I'll bail you out Saturday week when I'm up

Dave TTC
Turning Wood Into Art

[ian]

What is an acceptable noise level at night

When your neighbour doesn't lean over the fence with a shotgun!

If you think dust collecting and sharpening raise passions, wait 'til you hear the ruckus over noise level!
The measuring scale isn't linear and each measurement difference of approximately 3 (3.08?) is a halving or doubling of noise level so that 83 is twice as loud as 80. The 'noisiest' measurement I've made in the shed, DC howling with no enclosure was 84dB whereas the 'quietest' measurement, 9.30pm, 10 metres from the shed, nothing running, was 62dB.
I reckon that 65dB at the neighbours fence at night and 70 during the day would be acceptable to a 'reasonable' neighbour?

Hi fletty

If you want to get all technical, there's this reference Page not found - Roads and Waterways – Transport for NSW
from that, one measure of "acceptable" is

Existing road traffic noise exposure
A site is defined as having an “existing road traffic noise exposure” if the prevailing noise level from the existing road alignment(s) under consideration is equal to or greater than 55 dB(A) Leq(15hr) (day) or 50 dB(A) Leq (9hr)(night).

they are averages over long periods so peaks can be much higher.

I think in terms of legalities and keeping the neighbours on side, the time of the noise emmision is equally import

[Sawdust Maker]

where does the all invasive leaf blower fit in the list of offensive noise?

[Chris Parks]

To get serious, the answer varies on location. A very quite area v's say a noisy industrial area will tolerate and expect noise levels that are totally different.

[BobL]

WA EPA noise regs have the following limits.

LAmax - maximum allowable dBA
BUT
LA1 - max allowed integrated across 1% of assessment period (hours or days)
LA10 - max allowed integrated across 10% of assessment period ( hours to days)
Sound is measured 15 m from building where sound is being made.

In our council there is also an 2 hours (cumulative) allowance during the day for use of hand hand power tools.
We are ~300m from a highway so we struggle to meet the LA10 at any time and even LA1 for most of the time.
e.g. this morning at 6am I was measuring 52 dBA averaged over about 10 minutes in our back yard. Most of the noise was birds.
By 7am the average over 10 minutes was 65 dBA this included a plane flowing at low angle for about 20 seconds.
I have measured over 70 dBA in our back yard in the late afternoons from a combination of traffic, aircons and wind.

According to the EPA a noise can be said to be contributing to the overall noise even if it is 5dB less than the ambient noise????
So technically your neighbour can still complain if you're making a noise that is a few dB less than his - of course you can also complain about his

Attachment 372966

[BobL]

where does the all invasive leaf blower fit in the list of offensive noise?

Pretty high. e.g. the Ryobi manual says the 2400W blower is 101 dB

One of our neighbours uses his blower on most Sundays between ~3 and 6 pm for about an hour.
The DB in my back yard is about 85 and according to the hand held power tool rule he is entitled to do this.
He also does sanding and angle grinding on his back veranda but that's quite reasonable in terms of sound.
A couple of times I have fired up my big Stihl with the modified exhaust but he hasn't taken the hint.
I don't want irritate him too much because I make many more hours of noise in my shed than he does and the leaves he is blowing mainly come from trees in our yard.
I use a broom.