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We frequently get requests to have exterior lights on at night for security. I have motion lights (very bright) and they may be a nuisance when it's windy (tree limbs set them off. Front, back, and side (end unit TH). You don't have to be in a high crime area to run into the occasional crime.
I do like the idea of offering to purchase a replacement unit with motion sensors.
Do you not have any window coverings? If you can see the light, can they see you?
I had a neighbor install a street light on a utility pole. Yes, the huge one that sometimes is on the front of a barn. I talked to him and they put black tape on the outside casing on the side facing my property. It blocked out the direct light but obviously you can still see it but way better.
If your neighbor won't change it and the hoa cannot help, buy some big mirrors and place them on your property. Those mirrors may block out some of the light and he'll get the message by getting tan in his house.
I would plant a "Lombardy Poplar" tree up against your fence where the light would shine in your window. These trees grow in a column like manner to about 90 feet, they will do the trick and you dont have to talk to your neighbor, this is what I would do.
Do you not have any window coverings? If you can see the light, can they see you?
See my original post:
Quote:
There is a shade covering the window, but the light filters through the cracks.
We live in an older 1950s development in the Northeast, so we do not have an HOA. I'll definitely check with the township and see if there's any ordinance against light pollution.
Good call on the Lombardy Poplar... hahaha. I'll have to look into it.
I would really consider just buying nice drapes to cover the gaps at the side of the shade (problem solved!) because good will among neighbors is priceless. Very often when someone has an emergency at home, it is neighbors who are first on the scene, and I've seen some extraordinary acts of generosity at such times, even when the neighbors were not highly social in the past, but did just always get along.
There's simply no way you can approach these neighbors without making them feel at least a little bit criticized for something that is very normal. (They are not in the category of neighborhood nuisance because, from what you said, they are not using high-intensity lighting, even though I can understand that it may feel that way to you when contrasted with the total darkness you've gotten used to.) People are sensitive to criticism (and appreciate friendliness) whether they show it or not, so why not let your first communications with them be entirely positive instead of about this?
Also everyone has (and is entitled to, when it comes to their own property) their own sense of what is necessary from a security point of view--it's a very subjective thing, and so I doubt you'd get the response you hope for by suggesting to your neighbors that their perceptions are wrong.
Just my two cents (I can see from the other responses there's a range of views on this). Whatever you decide, congratulations on your new home, and best wishes for much happiness there!
Just go over there and ask if they could adjust their light (as in physically turn it in another direction -- up/down) so that it doesn't shine into your bedroom. If you aren't antagonistic about it, I don't think it will be a problem. That's what we did and the homeowner tilted it down and to the side. It still provided the light but it wasn't in our bedroom.
I have the same problem. I bought some aluminum blinds to replace the cheap vinyl one. They reach past the window frame. Then I hung lined drapes. I get NO light in that room.
And NO, I would not mention the problem. My neighbor is a widow and the lights went up the week after he died. She worries about people breaking in.
I would really consider just buying nice drapes to cover the gaps at the side of the shade (problem solved!) because good will among neighbors is priceless. Very often when someone has an emergency at home, it is neighbors who are first on the scene, and I've seen some extraordinary acts of generosity at such times, even when the neighbors were not highly social in the past, but did just always get along.
There's simply no way you can approach these neighbors without making them feel at least a little bit criticized for something that is very normal. (They are not in the category of neighborhood nuisance because, from what you said, they are not using high-intensity lighting, even though I can understand that it may feel that way to you when contrasted with the total darkness you've gotten used to.) People are sensitive to criticism (and appreciate friendliness) whether they show it or not, so why not let your first communications with them be entirely positive instead of about this?
Also everyone has (and is entitled to, when it comes to their own property) their own sense of what is necessary from a security point of view--it's a very subjective thing, and so I doubt you'd get the response you hope for by suggesting to your neighbors that their perceptions are wrong.
Just my two cents (I can see from the other responses there's a range of views on this). Whatever you decide, congratulations on your new home, and best wishes for much happiness there!
This is why I was thinking of just taking the path of least resistance as you mentioned in your first paragraph. I am the type of person who does not like confrontation and will go to great lengths to avoid it. I don't want to get off on a bad foot in the neighborhood.
The shade on our window is a pull-down shade that rolls up at the top (looks like Home Depot calls them roller shades) left here by the previous owners. They're pretty good at blocking light, but not perfect as we've come to find! This light issue may also affect our downstairs guest bedroom, which is directly below our room. However, they have a shed in their yard that somewhat blocks the beam of light flowing into that room. Since we're on the second story, our room gets the brunt of it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Padgett2
I have the same problem. I bought some aluminum blinds to replace the cheap vinyl one. They reach past the window frame. Then I hung lined drapes. I get NO light in that room.
And NO, I would not mention the problem. My neighbor is a widow and the lights went up the week after he died. She worries about people breaking in.
I know someone who lives on a lake. Around him it's all quiet and peaceful. Woods in front, lake in back, a handful of homes and grass and woods across the lake from him as he looks straight out from his deck.
But he discovered a little while after moving in that if he were to turn all the way left from that same deck, that's where a big powerful light is shining from that he can see in his side window which happens to be his bedroom.
The owners are a couple from a large city that were always naturally concerned with security. They won't lessen that concern on the lake. He thinks the quiet of the natural setting scares them more. They were told about their light, they moved it a little but he can still see the light in his room shining brightly from the edge of the lake.
Yes, it's light pollution. And it doesn't increase safety any.
There were some towns in England that decided to turn off the street lights for financial reasons. Much worry, even by the equivalent of the chief of police, that crime would skyrocket.
Instead, it went down. Seems that bad guys need light to see in the dark, too, and if they have to provide their own, they become much more obvious than they would be with a light on all the time.
There are ways to have "security" lighting if you're absolutely convinced that you have to have it, that will not cause as much light pollution and will help keep the light where you want it without polluting your neighbor's vision. The International Dark Sky Association has information on what to use and how to use it for various applications here.
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