As anyone who knows me will tell you, I’m not a particularly confrontational person. If the people who live above or next to me want to have a raucous party every once in a while, I’ll probably keep my comments to myself. However, there are times when even I can be moved to seek revenge against my noisy neighbors. So today, I’m going to share some of the ways you can get back at inconsiderately loud people.
Before I tell you all my wildest revenge fantasies, let’s briefly talk about when it would be appropriate to make them into reality.
» QUICK NAVIGATION «
Not All Noisy Neighbors Are Created Equal
At some point or another, all your neighbors will have especially noisy parties or lawn mowing sessions. But that doesn’t mean that you should get revenge on every single one of them. After all, there’s a difference between someone who is only loud when necessary, and very rarely outside of those circumstances, and someone who is behaving badly because they feel like it.
So before you go in on your neighbors for throwing a party or renovating their home, consider the following questions:
- How long will the noise last?
- How often do those neighbors usually make a ruckus?
- Is there a way to block the noise?
If you’re peeved because the neighbors are vacuuming, I’m sorry to say, you’ll have to hold your tongue. Or get them a quiet vacuum cleaner, if you’re feeling charitable. But if they’ve been banging away at your shared wall for days on end, don’t be shy about asking how long they’re going to take.
Of course, if that isn’t a common occurrence, you should just wait it out. It’s certainly better than starting a feud. You could even use it as an opportunity to do some work of your own.
Clearly, you could use thicker walls, complete with soundproof insulation, resilient channels, and several layers of drywall. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be hearing all that construction. Or, if the noise is coming from above, you could create a drop ceiling.
Before You Commit to the Idea of Revenge
Even if these neighbors are being knowingly inconsiderate, you should look into the local noise ordinance laws before you go through with your vengeance plans. It might turn out that their late-night album listening parties are completely legal.
In any case, you won’t know that your neighbors are being rude on purpose unless you ask them to stop. You can call attention to the fact that they’re being noisy by:
- Knocking on the wall or ceiling, if you live in an apartment building
- Calling your neighbors and politely asking them to stop
- Showing up at their doorstep to ask how long the noise will last and even request that they warn you the next time they plan to be loud
If talking to your neighbors doesn’t work, you should feel free to plan and execute your revenge.
12 Harmless Ways to Get Your Revenge
Between the fantasies I’ve had over the years and the Internet’s vast knowledge, I’ve managed to find twelve ideas you can use to start planning your revenge. But before we start strategizing, I ought to remind you that these tips are meant to annoy the kind of loud neighbors that think they own the block. So don’t use them to be the kind of bad neighbor we’re trying to discipline here!
1. Schedule Your Loudest Chores for When Your Neighbors Are Home
As we’ve established, I’m a bit of a passive-aggressive grudge holder, especially when it comes to neighbors. But if you’re like me, you’ll like the first course of action I’m going to recommend. In fact, I’ve decided to present this list going from the plans that are the easiest to implement to riskier alternatives.
So let’s start with the most basic plot you can hatch against your noisy neighbors. If they’re bothering you at the least convenient times — in the evenings or during quiet hours — fight fire with fire. Figure out the times when they are home, but prefer to be quiet. Then, commit to being your loudest self during those times.
If you have to vacuum your home, use the leaf blower, or mow the lawn, schedule it for when the neighbors aren’t in the mood for the racket. That would also be the perfect time to test out that new smoothie recipe you found a few weeks ago! But whatever you do, use the oldest appliances you can. Now’s not the time to use your quiet leaf blowers or blenders!
And you get extra points if you’re doing the same things your neighbors usually do to you. So if they like to renovate their home too frequently, you should make sure you’re up at the crack of dawn a few days in a row to hammer away at your walls. I’m sure your place could use a few more pieces of furniture you can joyously assemble to the annoyance of your neighbors.
2. Practice an Instrument or Put on Some Tunes
I’ve always liked the idea of poetic justice. So if your neighbors love to bother you by listening to horrible music or practicing disagreeable instruments, you should take a page from their book.
I can hear you asking, “What if I don’t play any instruments?” And to that I say: that’s ideal! Pick up a guitar, a flute, or a small drum set and go crazy — especially when the neighbors don’t expect it.
That can be during those quiet times we’ve talked about or when they start fiddling with their instrument. Your participation in the jam session should get the point across that you’re not interested in hearing your neighbor’s rendition of Wonderwall. And hey, if you happen to learn how to play while you’re trying to get sweet revenge, enjoy the added benefit. On the other hand, if you don’t own any instruments, you can at least contribute vocally.
As an alternative, you could use your speakers. If the neighbor wants to make you listen to whatever awful band of the week they’re into, they must be open to hearing your musical taste as well. So turn those speakers toward the wall and blast them.
You can even set them up so they play automatically when the neighbors are loud while you’re away. All it takes is a bit of clever engineering — as you’ll see in this video.
3. Exercise Your Dog
When I was a teenager, we lived next door to a couple that had shouting matches fairly regularly. Our family dog would always react adversely to their arguments, but it would never utter so much as a whine. We had trained it well enough that it would stay calm even during firework displays. Back then, we didn’t think to make a soundproof crate, so training it was the easier option.
At some point, I realized it wasn’t fair that the neighbors should always get the last word in. So I decided to allow our dog to pitch in. As soon as the neighbors got going, I had our dog start barking — another trick we had perfected.
The longer they went on, the longer the dog barked. Eventually, they must have made the connection that their raised voices were spurring the dog on. From then on, they were quiet for the most part.
However, even if your dog can’t bark on command, you can still use it in your revenge scheme. Namely, your dog can be a ready excuse for you to throw a ball around your apartment. You might accidentally hit the wall you share with a loud neighbor next door. Alternatively, if the loud neighbors live below, the frantic clicking of the dog’s claws might be enough to irritate them.
4. Play Hoops in Front of Your House
Playing a good-natured game of hoops can go a long way to annoy any noise-making neighbor. Simply install a hoop on the side of your building (which is bound to be noisy in and of itself) and dribble away with your friends or children.
And don’t forget to laugh uproariously — that’ll definitely contribute to the neighbor’s dissatisfaction. You’ll have fun, get your recommended daily amount of exercise in, and get back at your neighbors.
5. Have a Party
Having a loud party or two is another great way to get back at neighbors who often do the same thing without considering other people. If you live in an apartment building, let everyone know what they can expect, except for the annoying neighbors in question. In fact, you could invite the whole neighborhood — I’m sure everyone would jump on the chance to provoke your loud neighbors too.
As I’ve explained, the best revenge is one that reflects the original crime. If your neighbor often taunts the rest of you with their rowdy parties, give them a taste of their own medicine.
6. Make a Stink
Now here’s a perfect way to drive your point home. Make a stink — and I don’t mean just figuratively.
One trick many dog trainers use is to associate a bad smell with bad behavior. So that’s what you can do here. When you hear your neighbors being their usual noisy selves, hit them with a stink bomb. Eventually, it should sink in that loud noises will be answered with stink bombs.
You can get one online or make one yourself by putting milk, eggs, and vinegar in an airtight container and letting them spoil. After a while, stash the container in your neighbor’s yard (near their window) or the air vent next to their apartment.
Then, let things play out as they will. Once you feel they’ve suffered enough, you can retrieve the bomb without anyone knowing.
7. Doorbell Ditch
The next few ideas I’ve had all involve some of the most classic childhood pranks. And what better way to deal with an obnoxious neighbor than to ring on their doorbell incessantly?
Doorbell ditch, or ring and run, is a well-known game, so your neighbor won’t be unfamiliar with it. Therefore, you’ll need to make your timing as unpredictable as possible. After ringing on the doorbell (or knocking), wait another ten minutes to do it again, then twenty, then thirty. And don’t always do it at the same time of day.
Will this prevent your neighbors from being loud? No. Will it aggravate them further and cause them to be even louder? Possibly. But will it be fun? Certainly.
8. Put Vaseline on Their Doorknob
There’s not much to talk about here, honestly. It is exactly as it sounds like, you’ll apply a liberal coat of petroleum jelly, oil, or another slippery, non-drying substance on your neighbor’s doorknob. Again, it won’t stop the noise, and it may even amplify their anger. But it’ll be as sweet of a revenge plot as any.
9. Sign Them up for Junk Mail
You already know your neighbor’s address — that’s all you need for this prank. With that information, you can sign them up for any number of free subscription newsletters you find.
If you know your neighbor’s email, you can also do the same thing there. The funnier and more embarrassing, the better!
10. Taping or Egging Their House (Or Door)
Here we have two more American classics. If you want to get back at your noisy neighbors in style, you’ll need some toilet paper rolls. Then, hurl that sucker up at the tree in your neighbors’ yard or aim for their porch and roof.
On the other hand, you could pepper the neighbors’ house or apartment door with eggs. I wouldn’t do this unless you loathe the people. I wouldn’t wish that cleanup on my worst enemy! And whatever you do, promise me you won’t save the egg carton to use for soundproofing purposes.
11. Shut off Their Circuit Breaker
If you’re feeling daring, you could also cut off your neighbors’ electricity — if that will also cut the noise. If they live in the house next door, cutting off their electricity will undoubtedly require some trespassing. After all, their circuit breaker box will most likely be on the side of the house. So of course, I can’t recommend it.
However, if they live in your apartment building, you could write it off as a mistake if you’re found out. In that case, you may find the box that contains the switches to all of the apartments in the basement. If they’re not properly labeled, you may have some trouble finding the right one. And depending on the kind of box you’re dealing with, you might end up cutting everyone’s electricity.
As you may be able to tell, I’m not a huge fan of this particular tactic. Still, I’ve known some people who have done it. The only way I would do it is if I had an otherwise friendly relationship with the neighbors in question.
That would ensure that there are no hard feelings afterward and that they’d be able to return the favor with good humor. You see, I’m nothing if not a fair player!
12. Go Through the Official Channels
The last method I wanted to mention is the only way to feel the kind of vindication you’re looking for. If the neighbors are clamorous even after you tried talking to them, you have every right to get the building manager or the authorities involved.
But before you do, you ought to make sure that the neighbors’ actions are indeed illegal in your state. Additionally, you might also want to have some kind of record of the neighbors’ ongoing disruptive activities. Usually, having a history of complaints against them will do the trick. After you get the police involved, you’ll be able to step back and let them take over.
Can Revenge Help You Free Yourself of Noisy Neighbors?
As fun as fantasizing about your neighbors’ comeuppance can be, you’d really be better off resolving the conflict through mediation. If you can’t talk them into seeing your side, you could implement soundproofing measures to block the noise. And, if all else fails, I’m sure police officers would be happy to intervene on your behalf.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:
- What Is A Ceiling Vibrator And How To Use It
- How To Get Bad Neighbors To Move
- How To Deal With Unreasonable Noise Complaints
- How To Deal With Upstairs Neighbors’ Stomping
SHARE ON:
- By Soundproof Living
We live in a basically quiet neighborhood in a wealthy city and neighbors were basically considerate except for next door neighbors who had family pool parties. They moved and rented the house, first to a couple with college-age daughter who were similar. They moved and at the beginning of July, someone else moved in–not sure how many, but LOTS of vehicles and the LOUDEST pool parties, with 4/4 braindead music, screaming adults and kids, I’ve ever heard. The police will do NOTHING. People who want the peace and quiet the municipal code and wider area code have as the standard are the “karens” and “bad guys” for even daring to bring up the subject. Earplugs and turning up my TV/music help somewhat but their noise drowns out mine. I am on the spectrum and my senses are very acute, including hearing. My roomies say they aren’t really bothered by it but both of them have hearing impairment and dementia so they are no help, either.
every state has a noise codes, if the police or sheriffs are too stupid and cowardly to use those codes by writing the correct code number then they should be sued by a lawyer for not trying to do their jobs and incompetence. All any of them have to do is find their state code on the internet, it should also be obvious that they have friends helping them working inside the government at which they live in.
The problem with most of the revenge tactics recommended in the article is that it punishes multiple innocent neighbors as well as the guilty, noisy neighbor. In our case, we have an insolent young scumbag living across the street that has an automobile with an unlawful, modified exhaust system installed. The jagoff routinely starts the car prior to 6:00 a.m. and returns to his den of inequity near or after midnight, waking those asleep and startling everyone else within earshot. The sound pressure of the exhaust pipes is powerful enough to rattle doors and vibrate floors. The ill-mannered punk also finds favor in letting his rolling abortion idle in his driveway for 5 or 10 minutes before hightailing out of the subdivision. Several neighbors have complained to the cops, but nothing has been done. I assume the complainants failed to specify the State code that is being violated.
My neighbor kept letting their animals use the bathroom in my yard. After getting the police, animal control and the D.A. involved it slowed down but didn’t stop. I hope they enjoy the horse manure I have put by the fence. Every time I saw their animal in my yard I got a 5 gallon bucket of it and dumped it there. What the heck, it’s free. About 30 buckets so far and it seems they finally got the message. we’ll see.
I just moved in to a new home where the next door neighbor blasts her boom box on and off all day. She comes and goes all the time and I expect she’s moving illegal drugs around but I don’t know that for sure. I first asked her if she would turn it down but told me it’s her place and she’ll do whatever she wants. I then started calling the sheriffs out which helped a little but not very much. So I invested in an air compressor and train horns and hooked it up to a home made remote controlled system where all I had to do was press the remote button and turn on or off the train horns. Now she’s getting a little of her own medicine and she doesn’t like it and a noise war begins between the both of us. By the way, there is no noise law from 6AM to 10PM which means you can make as much noise as you want. So finally, the sheriffs come out and tell she and I that he’s going to cite us both for disorderly conduct if we both don’t keep the noise down. OK…I stopped the air horns but she was told to turn off her boom box in her driveway which she did at first but she keeps pushing and pushing it and now she’s back in her driveway turning her music on more and more. So now I have a security camera coming where I can video her and audio 24/7. If the camera installation doesn’t stop her then hopefully showing the video to the sheriffs will. In the mean time, I’ll be live streaming her on youtube for all to see. Also, I think the “disorderly conduct” threat by the sheriff was just smoke and he can’t cite me for making noise because I talked to a different sheriff who said it was bologna…
David,
Congratulations on your move to a new home. I bought a home 4 years ago in a semi-rural area where houses have large yards with plenty of space between them. I thought it would be a quiet neighborhood, but the real estate agent lied to me. The next street over has a house with about 12 cars on the property most of the time, and the BLAST their music continuously all day and most of the evening. There is no noise ordinance, so the cops don’t do a darned thing about it. These inconsiderate people know this and take advantage of it all the time. There is nothing I can do, nothing my neighbors can do and it’s frustrating. They have been ‘talked’ to but they have said there is a rock band on my street where the loud music is coming from. There is no such rock band. These people are hispanic, and the music is ‘house’ hispanic. I’ve often wondered how many illegals live over there with all the cars parked on the property. It’s louder than a county fair. Sometimes I just want to park across the street from them and blast some foreign music back at them, but I don’t think my car speakers can match their level of loud. I work nights, so I need to sleep during the day, and I don’t want to use earplugs. I’ll be retiring later this year, and I’m not looking forward to these idiots thinking the whole neighborhood for a half mile in every direction wants to hear their crappy music. So I sympathize. There is no solution for me, but I hope you can find one.
Same situation here Jamie. LOUD Boom Boom hispanic music. I dont understand for the life of me why people are so damn inconsiderate of others. There needs to be new laws across the board for loud music (and im not talking about medium loud, Im talking about vibrating loud!). Law enforcement needs to enforce them too. When I was growing up you respected laws and the police. It needs to go back to that. If anyone says otherwise, they’re the problem!
We’re going through the same thing EVERY SINGLE DAY!!! We lack sleep due to these little kids coming out at 7 a.m. EVERY SINGLE MORNING LITERALLY SCREAMING, CRYING, GOING TO VERY EDGES OF FENCE AND PLAYING I THEIR BIG BACKYARD. Speaking Spanish & you can hear their Mother yelling out to them. It’s like KEEP IT DOWN!!!! I finally got tired of being nice! These ear plugs didn’t even work or the sleeping gummies! I’ve epilepsy & it’s affecting my sleep!!! It’s VERY FRUSTRATING!!!! What can I do?!?! I’ve no idea. We LACK POLICE IN OUR CITY & WE LIVE 2 mins away from the station! They don’t care to answer phone!!!! M6 children can’t even get their sleep and awaken feeling very upset! They start having attitude due to lack of sleep! I don’t know what the heck to do!!!
Oh you maybe my hero, any chance you could share more of how you set up your system?
My upstairs apartment neighbor does hobbiest construction projects. On some days, I hear wood dropping all day long, sawing etc. This has gone on the entire time since he moved in – sometimes inside sometimes outside. My bedroom is not usable primarily because of him and all the time he spents over that room of mine. Now add to that – building changed policies and now allows dogs (I moved in to escape being near so many dogs due to the noise and poop).
So now add to that around 11 am to 7 pm agitage dog noises and running.
So – I took the video tip above and I blast Who Let the Dogs Out when the dog running back and forth becomes to much.
To that guy upstairs — F. U. I f’ing hate your f’ing guts
I live in the county, where there are No laws on excessive noise. I called the sherriff 4 times already and they go talk to they guy but he refuses to turn it down every Sunday. All day and until the very late hours. I can’t stand the BOOM BOOM BOOM anymore. Need help.
Mary, I’m in a similar spot. We have a farm and some people bought the property next door and have made it into an “event center.” This is without county approval. Then after noise complaints, they applied for a permit and were given it. I objected at the county hearing on this, and have written letters, but seems they have connections at the planning commission. We have four rentals on our property as well as orchards, and when they have these events complete with amplified DJ’s and rap music, it gets pretty unpleasant. My husband is against using a lawyer. I’m thinking my next step will be to start attending the county commission meetings and establish a relationship with the commissioners. The whole experience has been frustrating!
I also live in the country. My previous neighbors were respectful, but they sold out to some Asians. I now have new rich Asian farmer neighbors who blast their extremely loud PA system into the late hours on weekends and sunday, causing me to lose sleep due to the constant bass thumping. I am debating on purchasing an extremely loud air raid siren alarm system and just blasting it whenever their bass is too loud. I’m sick of it because I can here them from over a quarter mile away.
You need to play some loud music back at them. I find that to counter the booms use a high pitched trumpet song. I find the cd by Chase an excellent one to use. You only need to do about 10-15 seconds for them to get the message. However make sure your speakers are good enough for the high parts
my neighbors drove up at around 1am and hung out on the street with the music purposely loud as to be annoying. I could hear one asking the other to chill, but was kept up til I was good and woke up.
I lay there plotting my revenge.
At 5 am or so, stickered the car with some choice words – ‘Imma loud —-bleep–”
Sadly, the sticker looked kinda cool on the car. Was not noticed or removed.
I just felt pure guilt the next 24 hours.
Went out the next morning and removed it myself.
Some of us are just door mats kicked around by the evils.
The revenge always backfires on me and I feel worse.
Not worth it.
I live in a 3 family house in NYC and im sandwiched between my upstairs neighbors and my down stairs neighbors. My neighbors down stairs are wonderful, very nice people. The people upstairs have only been living here a month and already they are the neighbors from hell. They bbq under my window so my entire house smells like lighter fluid and hot dogs. They are heavy drinkers who like to fight at the end of the night. I have spoken to the super and the landlord about this but it does not help i guess as long as they are paying the landlord his rent he doesnt care what they do including almost setting his building on fire with their bbq pit. Now they are having daily parties upstairs that go on until 3-4 am and nightly wrestling matches. I am currently a terminal cancer patient as well as my husband being wheelchair bound, which i am his sole care giver, and we have 3 beautiful sons under 7, so i am very tired at the end of the day after putting my husband to bed. Im not getting any help from anybody. I guess unless it affects them it dont matter to them. I wish i still lived in the country where my neighbors were few and far between.
I am sorry about your sitaution. There are noise ordinances and quiet hours; if your landlord won’t enforce, can call the Police. Secondly, for the odors, Zero Odor is very good and Zorbx – rid smells..in fact i spray the two together to rid my neighbors smells.
For noise, ear plugs, some of those noise sleeping machines AND an air cleaning machine.
do the plugs, sound machine, and air cleaning machine and that should help quite a bit.
But i think calling the police is in order bc of the blatant disrespect.
Best of luck!
Kelley, if there are drug dealers involved, maybe just go through some sort of official channels. Either report the drug deals to the landlord or to the police. Either way it should make life unpleasant for your neighbors. And if it’s fairly obvious to everyone around that drug deals are happening, you have plenty of plausible deniability about it being reported.
I live in a 3 decker in worcester, Massachusetts. I live on the first floor. The ppl on the 2nd and 3rd floor are loud at night. Its running, jumping, banging and more from around 5p.m.( that’s when I think they finally get out of bed) until sometimes 2, 3 a.m.
They also run up and down the stairs in and out, stomping and slamming doors. This happens almost every night. They’re drug dealers park they’re cars in the driveway under my bedroom window, blocking any other vehicles trying to get in or out to the designated parking lot in the back , all while blasting music. I have text them and very nicely asked them both to please keep the noise down after 10 pm. The response I received from both 2nd and 3rd floors was to go f myself and the 3rd floor woman proceeded to yell swears at me in front of my child that next morning.
HELP!!! I cannot take it any longer. My family has not been able to get a good night sleep for over a year. What can I do to stop these inconsiderate people.
Thank you,
Kelley
Move, Kelley, move! You do not want your child around these people!
shrimp shells in the air vents……….
Call the landlord and the police and tell them what is going on and that you cannot sleep. You have rights.