Home improvement is popular in the UK with big-box retailers open seven days a week. But can you do noisy DIY on a Sunday? For many of us, evenings and weekends are the only time we have for our projects.
The answer is, yes, you can do noisy DIY on a Sunday if you are considerate and limit the activity. However, your local authority may take a different view if your DIY is extensive and could fall within the description of construction activity.
Most of the time you should try to plan noisy works for other times in the week.
What Activities are Noisy DIY?
The short answer to this question is anything that involves the use of power tools or hammers. Even battery-powered tools can be noisy, especially if used outdoors.
Putting up shelves, or a wall-mounted television bracket can send noise and vibration through a dividing wall. Sometimes the sound is magnified, the noise is actually louder in the room behind the wall you are drilling into.
Most of the time, DIY jobs like this are short-duration and shouldn’t cause too much nuisance.
What Activities are Construction Work?
Any major projects, such as knocking through walls, or replacing floorboards, windows or doors is construction work. If the space in which you carry out the work is uninhabitable, even temporarily, then it has gone beyond general DIY.
What if You Can’t Avoid Noisy DIY on a Sunday?
There are a few things that you can do before Sunday comes around. Here are our top suggestions:
Talk to the neighbours
The first thing to do is assess who you might be disturbing. Visit your immediate neighbours and ask them whether they have plans for Sunday. If they are out for the day, then that’s a possible green light.
Getting on well with your neighbours is something you can’t put a price on even if they object later. If you speak to them about your intention to carry out noisy DIY on a Sunday and they object straightaway, it’s probably a better idea to not go ahead.
Talk to the council
Some local authorities are quite relaxed about DIY on a Sunday but can get quite exercised by construction activity out of regular working hours.
The London Borough of Bromley advises that you can carry out noisy construction activities between 8 am and 6 pm on weekdays and 8 am and 1 pm on Saturdays. The definition of noisy construction activities includes using industrial equipment and work such as demolition or concrete breaking.
Bank holidays also carry the same restrictions. Be careful, as regular complaints could lead to the local authority serving you with a notice!
Final Thoughts
For many of us, the hours from 8 am to 6 pm on weekdays are spent either at our place of work or commuting. Noisy DIY in the evenings may also be a no-go. Consider what it is you need to achieve, and perhaps book a day off to do the work.