RV Door Slammers!!


rvgirl43

New Member
Hi all,

I have a problem and need advice. I am a full timer who has settled in for a time to pursue a graduate degree. I am in an RV park near the university I attend and there are no others close by. The nearest one is about 20 miles away. I am comfortably settled here, but have a neighbor and his son who are chronic, constant door slammers.

They slam car doors and their RV door about 15 to 20 times a day, sometimes more, and they do it LOUDLY. It has become almost unbearable, so I talked to our rather hostile RV park manager about it.

Bear in mind, I am a very quiet person - almost to the point of deathly quiet! I study, study, study, then sleep. When I approached our manager, she said, "I am going to tell him (my neighbor)that if it doesn't stop (the door slamming), you are both going to leave." I was stunned. Why do I have to leave? She then said, "But I don't want you to leave." ???? I felt very uncomfortable about this. I have only complained about anything this one time and I was very gentle with the complaint. I feel she just doesn't want to deal with any problems. They just bought this park.

After she told him, he stopped for awhile. Now, he has become vindictive and is doing it more than before. I do not want to leave, but I am in a quandry. I am afraid to tell my RV park manager again for fear she will evict me for complaining a second time, yet I cannot bear this constant noise.

Can anyone lend any advice on park rules or any advice on what I can do have besides moving? Has anyone ever had similar problems when settling in for a time at a park? What did you do? Anyone who can help me would be a saint, in my book. I am very, very frustrated.
 

Snipman4

New Member
RV Door Slammers!!

Hey.. I'm rather new to this Campground rules and stuff, but from what Igather, you are at their mercy. You don't even have any type of lease agreement signed. I've heard about some campgrounds that they'll come around and give you 3hrs. to pack up and leave. I would recomend trying to get on the managers GOOD side. My campground has strict rules against motorcycles, but I was able to talk and talk and talk to him, now he's letting me take my cycle in. It's almost like work.. any employee that rocks the boat, get's thrown off too.... :eek:
 

hertig

Senior Member
RV Door Slammers!!

Did you talk to the guy first? I'd be pretty annoyed at someone who complained to the 'authorities' without seeing if we could work it out between us first. And if I managed a campground, I wouldn't be overly happy with a tenant who complains to me as the first resort. Based on your situation at present, I wouldn't risk going back to the manager, although I might check into moving to another slot further away from the slammer.

I don't have problems with slamming doors, but I do with cat's yowling, traffic noise and/or snoring. The solution to all 3? Earplugs, the round foam tube types with a rating of at least 29db. Use them 3 or 4 times and throw them out.

These mask all sounds, so may not be appropriate for long term use. For your particular situation, perhaps the 'valve' type earplugs that shooters use might be of use. These claim to cut down on sharp noises (shots), with no impact on soft noises (talking).

And if you listen to music or other sound source, you can get 'noise cancelling' headphones, which have a microphone which feeds the inverse of any signal it hears into the headphone, cancelling out the ambiant noise. But these can be a bit pricy...

For that matter, have soft music or other sounds going in the background all the time, to mask out the door slams. Put sound deadening foam on the windows and any other non-insulated surfaces between you to reduce the sound level.

Last resorts? Record the slams on an 'endless loop' tape or digital recorder and play it back at a rapid, regular rate. It will be annoying for a while, but you should soon tune it out. Or you could set it up to echo his slams back to him, but this could be risky - slamming indicates violence. Check the city laws against noise to see if he can be prosecuted. Or you could check into suing him.
 

rvgirl43

New Member
RV Door Slammers!!

Yes, I have tried to talk to him - nicely - a couple times. His reaction was "We'll to try to be more quiet", then proceeded to slam the door about 6 times in sucession as loud as he could. At that point, I realized I wasn't dealing with a rational guy. As a woman by myself, I can only push the situation so far. The fact that the RV manager is not willing to help makes me concerned she really doesn't care about the safety of the residents of her park.

I appreciate both of your posts, though. These suggestions do help, however, I have tried the headphone thing, fans, etc. Unfortunately, it often catches me by suprise and I can't do it all the time.

Basically, this guy has defied the manager's rules about changing his oil in the park and other things. I am thinking that eventually he will get himself kicked out. I can only hope.

I just don't get people like this. I don't do the eye for eye thing to well. I just wish he would realize RV parks aren't houses and definitely aren't soundproof.
 

hertig

Senior Member
RV Door Slammers!!

Does sound like you have handled it as well as you could have so far. I'm not sure that the manager sees this as a 'safety' issue. She seems to realize that the only option with this guy is to kick him out or leave him alone, and doesn't want to kick him out and leave the other party to the dispute, who then (in her mind) might participate another feud with the new people in this slot or people in another surrounding slot. We can understand her position even if we don't agree with it.

Is there another slot in the campground you can move to?

Its not that he doesn't know that he is a problem, it is that he either couldn't care less, or even enjoys it. All that you can do is reduce the impact to you as much as practical, and then ignore him totally. If he doesn't get a reaction, he will likely stop going out of his way to be annoying, dropping down to just a 'thoughtless' level.

There are a significant number of people out there who have no cares about anyone except themselves. Some people seem to attract them (I have a friend who seems to have problems no matter where he lives) and others repel them (I almost never have problems with anyone, but then my being male, armed, 6'6" and 300 lbs may have something to do with that :)
 

rvgirl43

New Member
RV Door Slammers!!

I am sure that being 6'6 and armed has a lot to do with it :) I'm 5'5 and 135 pounds, so I am sure a guy like him is doing exactly what you said - enjoying it.

Good news, however. My landlord and I talked today. She told me she was just going to tell him we were both going to have to go if it didn't stop, but she would never have kicked me out. I see this as just a weird lack of communication in what she meant to say. She handed out park rules today which said they can evict you without cause and gave them to him. It has suddenly gotten mysteriously quiet over there...humm. Maybe he's realizing pushing his luck isn't worth the price of being evicted.

Anyway, she is moving me to a new site next weekend since one will be opening up. I am thrilled. Thanks for all your help with the advice to everyone. I was really frustrated, but I think your help her gave me the guts to talk to my landlord again. It turned out to my advantage. Thanks, all.
 

janicenlarry

New Member
RV Door Slammers!!

Good for your girl. Obviously your mgr needs back bone and people skills however your quiet persistence carried the day. Suggest you drop a pie or cake on her as a thank you and to improve communications
 
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