Would you move? (baby and construction noise)

Following up on my dilemma here: http://hongkong.asiaxpat.com/forums/practical/threads/65974.asp


I have a baby on the way in a few months. My wife will take at least three months off, and I myself spend a lot of time at home during the day.


The building I live in, located in a very convenient though crowded area, seems to be a constant construction site. My next door neighbor and my downstairs neighbor are doing major renovation to their flats right now. While I can deal with the construction noise, I am concerned that my wife and baby will have much less tolerance once they start spending more time at home. Also, the construction dust is suffocating sometimes. The problem is that I have no idea when this next-door construction is going to end. I would like to think 2-3 months will be enough but there's just no way of knowing. Also, it is 100% certain that someone else in my building will start renovating sometime in the next 6-12 months and noise travels easily in this building (for example, once I thought my next door neighbor was doing construction when it was someone 3 floors above me).


I've spoken to a friend of mine that had a child recently, and she basically told me that she and all of her girlfriends at one point or another have had to deal with construction noise in their buildings. She lives in a very upscale building herself whereas I live in a rather old and rundown building. Her solution was to go to a girlfriend's place during the day when necessary. Unfortunately for us, we hardly know any other friends that can give us daytime refuge if there was a sudden noise explosion.


My plan right now is to start looking for a new flat, on the HK side, in case we need to move ASAP. We only need to give our landlord one month's notice. The issue is that I don't want to stress out my wife and baby with a move right after the delivery, so that leaves a two-month window to make the move (but moving when your wife is about to give birth isn't very appealing either). In addition, I suspect that our rent would increase 50%-100% if we moved, not the greatest feeling since our income would drop after our child is born. That thought doesn't sit well with me but it is something we can handle (I think).


So, if you were in my shoes, would you move now before my wife gives birth or would you wait and see until after the birth? All things being equal, and despite all the current/past problems in this building, I would like to stay where we are for the next six months at least, since (1) the space is already large enough for the new member of the family and a helper, (2) the rent is reasonable for this market, and (3) I like the flexibility of not having to commit to a new lease.


But this will be my first child, and the thought of my wife and child having to deal with this noise really worries me. How many other parents have to suffer through this noise on a daily/semi-regular basis? Is this a fact of life that one just deals with when living along one of the stops on the MTR's Island Line?


Thanks for reading.

Move now.


Our baby is now almost 14 months old. Before he was born, we listened to a lot of music with him. Yes - before he was born. I spoke to him as well. After he was born, he recognised the music we had played, and knew my voice.


Bottom line - babies hear before they are born, adn the sounds they hear influence how they develop. I think it is better s/he hears melodious and calm voices and music for optimal development, not jackhammers and drills. Move out now! ANd speak to your baby and play music to her.

Agree! Better move now than later. I moved when I was 8 months pregnant, and I am telling you now, it would be a nightmare once the baby is born.

Just make sure that you have plenty of help so your wife does not have to do anything during the move.

Also, your wife will have to deal with lack of sleep during the first few months and she will need to rest during your baby's day naps!

Good luck with everything.

My concern is no matter where you move, unless you are lucky otherwise the renovation sound can be everywhere. So if you decided to move, a better choice might be to look for village houses, as there are only 3 floors. It is easier for you to find out or to talk other tenants to check it out first. Good luck.

Hi its sounds like we lived in the same building. While I was pregnant it all I heard was constant drilling, banging and to top it all piling from a new building next door. We moved when our baby was 4 months old as it took that long to find somewhere we liked. My baby is a happy little thing so don't think the noise affected her that much but it didn't help me relax when pregnant and had really bad sickness as I couldn't catch up on sleep in the day. We moved to Discovery Bay to a low rise and its soooooo peaceful and wonderful for our baby (now 6 months) its the first time I feel happy living in HK! Good luck with everything

I also have lived through the nightmare of apartments around me being renovated while I was at home with a young baby. The noise was unbearable, not the usual construction noise, you could hear it from the corner of our street. Luckily I had a good friend I could escape to but this was not ideal when trying to settle a baby into a routine. The renovation above us took about 6 weeks, I think, and once that was done renovations below us began. We moved not long after (for other reasons) and of course when we settled into another apartment they began renovations above us and are now renovating below us. So unfortunately you cannot escape this in HK and if you move you may be faced with the same problem. If you do move I think I would do it before the birth rather than after.

Our building has had construction going on for most of the time that we've been here. One apartment is finished, and another starts---or more likely multiple renovations going on and off all at the same time. We are in a luxury building and it's the same...construction loud and often. And the HK rules are quite liberal...construction allowed M-Sat 8-5pm. We are pregnant here too. Constant noise when 4 months pregnant; awful.


How many apartments are in your building, tsuiwah? Is it the case that once this one is done, that renovations will more or less be completed---or is your building huge and likely to have other tenants renovating? If it's the former, consider staying there...as there seems to be construction in the bigger buildings everywhere. Otherwise, see what works best for you.


We will likely move but more for neighborhood reasons. Looking for more green for the babe. Will do so after the babe is born, but more for lease and search time reasons more than anything else.

I used to have the same problem as you guys. But instead of moving somewhere else, I chose to have my apartment soundproofed.


Maybe, having soundproofing treatment is another option that you can consider.