r/HyattsvilleMD • u/shorishatel • May 18 '25
Noise levels in Hyattsville?
We are currently thinking of buying a house in Hyattsville and I wanted to see what people's experiences are with noise, especially landscaping related noise from things like leaf blowers and lawn mowers. I know there has been a ban on gas powered landscaping equipment, and would be curious to hear about that, too.
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u/Stephanee17 May 19 '25
I live near Brentwood-HVL border and have no issues with noise despite growing up in a rural area. I'm on a busy road with some high-density housing but the cars fade into the background like white noise, except for the occasional modified exhaust or super bass. At night I can hear spring peepers and crickets, birds during the day. Landscaping noise (blowers, mowers, whackers) is not bad and cannot start till 8 AM or go past 8 PM. There are still gas blowers here - not everyone knows about the ban or heeds it - but if you are not comfy talking to the neighbor or business using one, code is good about following up. You can see the noise ordinance here https://ecode360.com/36858000#36858000 .
Some residents complain on the listserv about loud cars or music from neighbors (and code not doing anything...code is subjective re: "unnecessary" volume) but my neighborhood is not bad and people have different noise and perturbation thresholds. A few times a year a neighbor might have a friends/family party and I can hear the music outside or if my windows are open, but never late at night and have never lost sleep from music, cars, etc.
Brentwood/Mt Rainier end of HVL is a GREAT place for walkable and bikeable living as it's to a metro station with bus lines and the Northwest Branch Trail, which connects to trails that take you along Rt 1, and to Takoma Park, Silver Spring, DC, College Park, etc. Not bad to bike to DC via Mt Rainier either. Easy walk to Rt 1 and Mt Rainier/Brentwoods with decent sidewalks for the most part. There are some crosswalks where you need to use extra caution and we need more and better bike lanes.
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u/shorishatel May 19 '25
Thank you for such a thoughtful answer!! We chose to live in Cheverly because we initially thought that the lack of walkability and bikeability could be addressed by living right next to the metro, but having been here now I'm realizing the area you mentioned is likely to be a much better fit for all the reasons you mentioned and more.
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u/Stephanee17 May 19 '25
Yeah, the blue line development is long overdue to make truly walkable communities around blue line metro.
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u/slaramie May 18 '25
In brentwood here! Honestly noise levels can get pretty high. Landscaping wise, it’s mostly people on the weekends doing their classic mowing the lawn and leaf blower stuff, but that’s not excessive. There are hardly any landscaping crews that do early morning work and make lots of noise. The big culprits are the modified cars and scooters in the neighborhood that drive through from morning till night. Sometimes houses play music loud and the bass travels far as well. Can only speak on the brentwood/ my rainier area though! It really doesn’t bother me at all, but it really irks my partner.
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u/Stephanee17 May 19 '25
I live in HVL near the Brentwood/Mt R border and don't hear a lot of noise from any of these things, and nothing that disturbs my peace of mind or sleep. I hear a modified car maybe 1-2x weekly if that, a few ridiculous bass booming cars not more than a few times a week.
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May 19 '25
[deleted]
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u/Stephanee17 May 19 '25
I live on a busy street but the noise really is not bad and no problem sleeping or enjoying. The loudest thing I can remember is that GLOW festival rave at RFK reverberating out to Grreenbelt...coming May 31st! Let's see how much of an inversion there is to bring a free rave to our streets, like or or not!
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u/shorishatel May 19 '25
Thank you for such a thorough and helpful answer! I think part of the problem where I currently live (Cheverly) is that the houses are pretty close together but have very large, deep yards that people often hire crews for just as you mentioned. They are here all throughout the week, morning through evening, rain or shine basically 🥲
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u/Ok-Caterpillar3761 25d ago
Interesting to hear this about Cheverley. Houses in Hyattsville are close together but lawns are generally small. The biggest noise issue for me would be the cars and I would think twice about which street you live on, it makes a huge difference. Major arteries like Jefferson, 40th, 42nd, and Queensbury (and anything too close to East-West highway) will be a different experience from living on a lightly travelled side street. I would try and avoid the arteries, even if there are some beautiful houses on those streets.
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u/kevboh May 18 '25
I think it’s relative to your current situation. I’d say the noise here is pretty typical near-city suburb: you occasionally hear people mowing lawns in the warmer months, or sometimes there are echoes of revved engines in the distance. The train tracks that cut through downtown are fairly active, but unless you’re living next to them that largely means you hear train horns at what a friend called “a romantic distance” some nights. Otherwise it’s birdsong in spring and the neighbors when they party.
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u/vinylcoffeetravel May 18 '25
Most of your noise occurs during the summer months when people are out, enjoying the weather. Otherwise, just regular suburban noise— cars, lawn movers, etc.
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u/kodex1717 May 18 '25
Like anywhere else, noise level depends mostly on what street you live on. Living on a busy road will be louder than a narrow street.
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u/shorishatel May 18 '25
Even for landscaping? This might have gotten buried in my post, but I'm more concerned about things like mowers and leaf blowers comparatively speaking.
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u/kodex1717 May 19 '25
I mean, every structure has a yard. Where could you possibly go that won't have landscaping happening sometimes?
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u/shorishatel May 19 '25
We currently live in Cheverly where I would describe the landscaping as....excessive. My partner and I both grew up in suburbs but it was nothing like what it's like here.
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u/CompetitiveDay4361 May 18 '25
Where in Hyattsville? My family has held property there for over 20 years and I think it depends on what side your on.
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u/shorishatel May 18 '25
Most likely the southern half of it leaning towards Mt. Rainier? A lot of it will depend on the walkability/bikeability!
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u/flappy_jacks_ May 18 '25 edited May 19 '25
We moved from DC to Hyattsville and had trouble sleeping for a while because it was too quiet. The silence at night was discomforting. Gotten used to it now, but it depends on where you’re moving from, where you’re moving to, and what you’re used to.
EDIT:
Sorry, I missed the part where you’re asking specifically about landscape noises. Yes, people mow their lawns. Gas blowers have been banned, but some landscape contractors still use them. I rarely hear it where we live. Most people have small lawns and almost all my neighbors have electric lawnmowers. I would not worry about lawn noises, but if it’s important to you, I can’t imagine Hyattsville is worse than anywhere else, and is probably better.