I want to blow up KFC

Lucid

A few weeks ago I noticed a repetitive noise emanating from outside my apartment window. At first it was somewhat faint if annoying, but I could close my window and the noise would be suppressed. Recently this noise(it's like an endless squeaky mechanical sawing) has gained heightened intensity in its noise levels. Probably within the last week. It's now almost impossible for me to sleep in my bedroom as the window won't block the sound, the windows in my bedroom are terribly constructed or something. The living room windows block it out, so I've been sleeping in there. It's going to be summer soon though, and I'd really like to be able to have my windows open. I'd also like to sleep in my bed regularly.

So, I've discovered this noise is coming from the KFC next to my apartment building, eight floors beneath me. What are my options here? Would speaking to the manager be likely to get me any results other than 'go away crazy person'? Are earplugs my best bet? I think it's pretty clearly coming from some kind of machinery on the outside of their building. It must have become like this recently as I've been at this location for around a year and a half and have never noticed it before. It's extremely annoying and not conducive to me sleeping peacefully.

TheKoolEagle

it wouldn't hurt to talk to the manager, but chances are nothing will happen from it, earplugs will probably help the most. It also may be beneficial talking to your landlord people and complaining to them about the noise, they may have better luck lobbying kfc to fix the issue

GnomeTank

Most cities will have a department to handle noise complaints as well (not residential noise complaints, but ones from construction, industry, etc). While nothing may come of it, it probably doesn't hurt to start a paper trail with the city. Get your neighbors involved, the more people complaining the better, and if you can hear it, everyone on your side of the building should be able to.

Figgy

GnomeTank wrote: »

Most cities will have a department to handle noise complaints as well (not residential noise complaints, but ones from construction, industry, etc). While nothing may come of it, it probably doesn't hurt to start a paper trail with the city. Get your neighbors involved, the more people complaining the better, and if you can hear it, everyone on your side of the building should be able to.

This. Call the city. They can force them to fix what is making that noise. It's probably their ventilation system for the kitchen.

Wezoin

Also, if you call the police (non-emergency number obviously) after whatever the curfew hour is in your city (around 11pm usually) they can come out and verify that the noise isn't within acceptable levels and fine them for it. Repeat nightly until KFC decides its cheaper to fix the problem.

y2jake215

I've learned from watching Seinfeld that annoying stimuli emanating from nearby fried chicken establishments are unfixable. Try switching apartments with a wacky neighbor

Lucid

Interesting suggestions, I'll look into what I can do regarding what's been said.

Also, if only I had a wacky neighbour.

Wezoin

In the meantime if you have blankets or curtains you can somehow hang between your bed and the outside wall it may reduce the noise slightly.

Lucid

Oh, and thanks, almost forgot.

naporeon

I would also suggest checking to see whether your bedroom windows are insulated units (this is to say, two individual panes of glass fixed to a spacer that separates them). It's possible that your bedroom is only single-glazed, whereas your living room may not be.

There is a tremendous difference in sound dampening between these types of glazing. This won't help you when the windows are open, of course.

If your bedroom is single-glazed, check with your landlord about paying to have it fitted with new windows, and possibly having that amount deducted from your rent.

Djeet

A low rent solution might be to put on some white noise (radio on static) and see if that drowns out the noise.

143999

Surely you aren't the only person in what's at least an eight-floor mixed-use building (hedging my bets here, since I don't know anything about your building) that's having trouble with this? Where one complaint to the source/city might not do much, a series of complaints from multiple affected individuals might.

Lucid

I called 311, the city information line and registered a complaint. They said they'd send somebody to check it out within the next two weeks.

SmokeStacks

I'd keep up on the complaint, since if your city is big enough to have nine story tall apartment buildings it's probably big enough to have a fairly busy city hall. You might want to call the police after ten every night in the interim in case the city gave you the two weeks answer just to get you off the phone.

Side note: I knew a couple when I was in high school who were renting their house when a Costco was built on the other side of their fence.

Their landlord had to lower their rent fairly significantly due to the increased noise pollution (which they thought was amusing since their side yard bordered the far side of their parking lot, so it was actually much quieter than when there was a street there).

Something you might want to consider bringing up if the KFC doesn't play ball and you plan on being in the apartment longterm.