Long rant ahead.
So now most people are either working from home or simply staying at home, and I do understand if people can get more irritable than usual. But I couldn't help getting frustrated when I received a call from HDB telling me that they received a complaint from my neighbours downstairs regarding noise level.
Now, as I gt 3 young boys (aged 2,3 and 5) who have to stay at home due to school closure, I admit that my house is definitely not the quietest. However, most of the time, they are just drawing on the whiteboard, and laughing at each other's drawing. I personally found the noise level to be quite acceptable considering that me and my husband are still able to work in the living room. To manage the kids, I had even invited my parents in law to stay over with me for the entire circuit breaker period so that they can help with the kids.
Back to the complaint from my neighbour, this is not the first time they complained about us. In fact, a few months ago, the guy came to my house personally to complain about drilling sound. When I told him that we are not doing any drilling and that I could also hear the sound from my unit, he was v sarcastic about it and remarked that "wah the sound not from u I also can hear ah? Then I better complain to hdb about the quality of the flat". Invited him to come in and verify for himself but he rejected and walked off. This time round, the hdb officer didnt even share with us what noise did the neighbours complained about, and kind of concluded that the noise must be due to my 3 kids although I explained about my previous encounter and asked him precisely what type of noise the neighbours complained about. Haix.
Can anyone suggest how shld I deal with my neighbours who seem to keep having issues about noise nuisance? As we are neighbours, I also don't want to make things too ugly. What are typically the sounds people can hear from downstairs? For info, besides drawing on the whiteboard. they would usually play with a ball (nt those heavy type. The bouncy ones we can get from toy shops) or build buildings with wooden blocks/legos. Will downstairs be able to hear such sounds? I don't own an electric drill so the drilling sound is definitely not me. 80% of my furniture are built in so I don't think there would be sound from dragging of furniture too. What are some of the precautions we can take to minimise the noise generated (for past few days I had tried to make the kids play on playmat but I think nt much diff. Anyway, as mentioned earlier the noise level was really quite acceptable in my opinion. Maybe I am immune already)
For those without kids/whose kids are grown up, would really appreciate your understanding over this period. We are already v stressed juggling between the kids and our work. Please do not add on to our stress ?