Mental Health

Does your house vibrate when the bells ring?

• if true, you might sue for potential property damage. That should make them think twice. In this case, soundproofing has little effect.
• if not, you might want to invest in better windows and/or window blinds. Neither should be extremly expensive and you can start by soundproofing the room you sleep in.

Fyi, we lived near a noisy main street. After changing the windows we were surprised how little of the traffic we heard.

You probably tried this already but what about ear plugs?

I wonder if the previous occupant of the property you're on was the reason the bell was out of service when you got there... 🤔

I used to live next to an interstate.

These white noise machines are GOLD:

There are several brands, so don't feel like you need this particular one.

Create any water features you can indoors and/or outside. These create background sound to drown it out.

Thick fabrics on the walls facing the sound can help if you can't afford to do new windows right now. I believe they also sell window inserts that deafen sound, as I was looking into them at one time.

To your particular issue, since it's a specific song (maybe?), a repeating catalog of songs, or at least specific frequencies/tones every time, and it's at specific times, I wonder if you could rig up some sort of noise cancelling device or sound to play at those exact times in your bedroom?

And of course it's a church

Just do as I say, buy don't do as I do.

Does the church have a sprinkler system installed?

Sue for nuisance.

Sign up to be a part of the Church of Satan. Get a massive 1000W + speaker and PA system. Blast death metal at them every time they do a service.

Cops come, it’s part of your religious freedom like a minaret or something

… profit

Isn't this how fight clubs start? Maybe rent the basement of the church, invite some "friends" not to talk about it?

Seriously though, meditation/mindfulness can help a bit. Practicing incorporating and accepting the constant overstimulation.

Good luck 🍀🤞

If the church is unwilling to help locally, you could try appealing to their regional leadership (though this is unlikely to work). From there, your next steps fall into 2 boxes:

Management Double-glazing, earplugs, white noise, etc.

Fighting back Rallying sympathetic neighbours sounds as though it's not an option, so to start with, you should familiarise yourself with any relevant ordinances - if you need professional legal advice, consider bringing your sympathetic neighbour in on it and split costs. Trolling - the Satanic Temple (not the church of Satan as others have recommended) or the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster are your best bet on getting pseudo-legitimacy, and may have intervened in similar situations. Sabotage - cutting cables is cheap and fun - audio, data, power - who knows what cable does what, but trial and error is an option - bonus points for attracting rodents and and outsourcing the job to them. If you want to get creative, a HERF gun may be a viable option. Pamphlet drops to the congregation with something along the lines of "love thy neighbour - with 120db bells at x, y, z times" - don't do this if you're making less ethical moves - you'll paint an obvious target on your back. If you can get access to the audio console, your effective options open right up - but this probably involves breaking and entering, so that's probably more inadvisable than the rest of my advice.

I know this isn't fiscally realistic but... before you leave this world, donate the house to the church of satan.

or a mosque that's really into the prayer call.

If the church doesn't care, send a letter to the mayor, show up to the town hall meetings or public town hall sessions, make videos about it on social media, sue them for being a noise nuisance, send the newspaper a message and describe your situation to ask for help in exposing the problem so that more people get wind of it, ... Basically, air your dirty laundry since the church doesn't give a fuck about you.

Personal opinion about loud, religious venues: fuck them. I wish more people would sue them for being a noise nuisance. If they want to remind people to show up, send an electronic message or hell, even a carrier pigeon for all I care, just stop making everybody aware of your beliefs. Many people don't care or believe in the same things as you. These aren't the 1800s anymore.

Get a sound meter. Check the laws to se if they are exceeding the sound decibels, then complain to the police and keep asking for higher supervisors and be persistent.

Complain to city council or mayors office if police refuse to enforce the law

Jesus: "love thy neighbor"

The church: I'm just gonna pretend I didn't see that

Just talked with the church priest just now. He can't do anything...

But now I have an idea, I might just play loud music outside while I am inside, stuff like Heaven Shall Burn or Breakdown of Sanity (legal volume on my ground).

In the hope church goers will be annoyed and talk with him out me making noise all day. Then we can make a deal and if he can't do anything I sadly can't either because I love listening to music during the day

The fact that a lot of the neighbours like it means it could sell. You might get lucky with some old people. My grandparents had a clock that chimed every hour. They absolutely loved it even though it went all night.

Short term solution is to invest in the best ear plugs you can.

Selling is also now no more option, who would buy a place where you can't fall asleep or if you fall asleep you wake up by massive bell noise.

I'm sorry for what you're going through. I lived just near a cathedral which rang their bells every 15 minutes, in a badly isolated apartment but that never bothered me. I'm not saying this to minimize the seriousness of what you're experiencing, but to show a possible way out: we each have very different levels of tolerance. What is (legitimately) unbearable for you may be (legitimately) bearable or even pleasant for someone else. If the inconvenience is so great, try to sell anyway: at worst no one will buy and you will have lost nothing, at best you will find a buyer who is not bothered by bells and you will be able to rebuild your life far from this nuisance.

Is it legal to ring church bells at 5:30 am? WTF?

Anyways, get some ear plugs.

You need to install double or triple paned windows and insulation. Windows are not easy to shortcut, but insulation generally is. Carpet is an outstanding sound deadener. I know other parts of the world have different construction and higher quality than American toothpick and plaster board crap houses. If you can access the spaces in the walls and ceiling, you can use old carpet instead of premade insulation. Even if you cannot access and install properly, you can line a room with carpet on all sides. You really need 2+ layers for some serious sound deadening.

I used to play in a band with a drummer that lived in a condo with neighbors all the way around him, above and below. He had a bedroom with a layer of carpet in the attic, another layer on the ceiling, and three layers of carpet on the walls and door. The space felt tiny, but he could practice as hard as he played normally and you could not hear a thing from outside the house. Inside it was no louder than people having a quiet conversation in the room next door.

I lived in Georgia at the end of a military base where they make the F22. When they do the first test flights of each plane, they took off and went vertical straight up above my house. It was so loud, you could not have any kind of conversation when it happened. Inside my house, it was nearly completely silent. The houses in the area all have triple paned glass and the wall insulation needed to make the sound irrelevant.

It is possible to hack a solution (carpet), and to quiet even the most high and low frequencies too. There are proper ways to do this that are more aesthetically pleasing. If you're having mental health issues, hack something together with carpet. People throw away tons of the stuff all the time. The vast majority of carpet that gets thrown away is nearly brand new. It was under furniture or in closets and other areas of low to no traffic. Call up local construction small businesses or just find work sites with dumpsters. You'll find some for free with a little persistence.

I work nights and sometimes have to use disposable foam earplugs if there is lawn maintenance waking me up.

Sabotage.