Construction Zone

January 25, 2010 - 12:19 PM by

There was nothing I could do about it. I knew that. Still, no one enjoys living upstairs from a construction site. Especially when the two dwellings in question share a common wall and the noise is so loud, you literally have to go into the stairwell to make a phone call.

When the drilling first started, I hoped the family who had bought the apartment was probably doing a little touch up work. Putting in a new light fixture or something. Happens all the time in this nation under perpetual renovation. It would have been nice if they had told us in advance they were going to be fixing up the place, but that wouldn’t affect the noise level.

When it went on for another day, then two, I went to check out the scene.

I saw a man talking on a cell phone. His body language had a bravado that could only be associated with the position of kablan – Hebrew for contractor or foreman.

I mustered up my best construction worker Hebrew. “So, you’re putting in a new kitchen, or…” It was more of a statement than a question.

“Guttin’ the whole thing,” he finished my sentence.

“Upstairs and downstairs?”

He managed a slight smile. This obviously wasn’t the first time someone had asked this question.

There was one more thing I needed to know. “Um, how long do you think it will take?” I asked, waiting in dread for the reply.

“Three months.”

Ouch. Because everyone knows that whatever a contractor in Israel says, multiply by a minimum of two. Or three.

The next morning, the drilling jolted me out of my reverie – and out of bed at 7:00 AM. I turned to wake my wife Jody, but she was already up.

“Do you think there’s a law governing how early they can start?” I said bitterly.

“What?” Jody mumbled, unable to hear me over the ongoing din. Yes, it was that loud.

We called “106”, the Jerusalem municipal hotline. The response was not encouraging.

“They can start as early as 6:00 AM,” explained Shmulik, the friendly but perfunctory clerk on the other end. “And they don’t have to stop until eleven at night.”

Despite the noise, it was hard to argue. After all, hadn’t we just done our own shiputz (renovation) a scant 4 years earlier?

“We could ask them to limit the work to certain hours,” I suggested. “Get a break in the middle of the day, maybe?”

Israeli law actually defines the time between 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM as “Quiet Hours.” Kids playing ball on the street are routinely chastised by napping neighbors. The same law applies to renovations.

“No…that would just extend the whole nightmare by another month.” I sighed.

The family that bought the apartment was, not surprising for Jerusalem these days, a New Jersey couple who weren’t planning to live there. So called “ghost apartments” – those that are left empty all year except for the Jewish holidays – are an increasing problem, particularly in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Netanya. They drive the prices of real estate up while contributing little to the local economy.

Indeed, Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat recently mailed out a letter to some 900 absentee owners to urge them to rent out their apartments.

Our new neighbors hadn’t gotten the letter but, via a polite email, informed me that they were indeed planning to rent the apartment and did we know anyone who might be interested.

We did. Several, in fact. We put out feelers and now several of our friends are in touch with the New Jerseyians.

They say you can’t pick your neighbors. It’s small consolation for all the noise, but maybe in this case, we can.

Tags: , , , , • Category: Israeliness, Life 

Comments

One Comment on Construction Zone

  1. Warren Burstein on Mon, Jan 25th 2010 1:48 PM

    2. They can work until 11PM? I’m doing shiputzim soon and I’d hate to have my neighbors who renovated while they were out at work (and I was trying to work at home) to miss out.

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