In 1993, my parents built the house where we now live. Our first home had steps to every floor and laundry in the basement. When they planned our new house, it would have all level entrances with the laundry room next to mine for easy access. That means, the washer and dryer are just an insulated wall away from me.
After over 25 years of hearing laundry almost six-days a week, I've become very familiar with the sounds and cycles of the machines. Sometime around the late '90's, mom got a new matching pair washer and dryer. Unfortunately, the machines made by Maytag were very problematic and quietly were replaced by the company. We must have missed that notification, because ours are still running. A very large part of that is due to dad working on them and replacing parts.
For about a year, the washing machine has been getting much noisier than usual. After ordering some gears, dad determined to work on the washer and try to get it to last longer and be a nice neighbor. Yesterday, he was able to start on his project and see what was going on inside. Before starting though, mom did a couple quick laundry loads just in case.
In the room next door, I could easily hear a lot of loud banging and clanging as dad worked to get old, rusty gears off and new ones on. The pounding echoed off the laundry room's tile floor and started making my ears hurt. I imagined the sound would be worse for dad and wondered if some ear protection might be good for working in a confined space. I guess I was too late as the suggestion went in one ear and out the other and he said it was fine. Unfortunately, the laundry revitalization project didn't always go quite as planned and required frequent consultation from YouTube.
I'm thankful God has blessed me with parents that have the skills for helping me live the quad life. Dad's mechanical abilities have prolonged my equipment much longer than expected and enabled me to be active and serving God in various roles. I'm not sure if the hammer noise will result in less laundry sounds, but that will be determined in the week ahead! Have a great start to February and getting closer to spring.
I can't stand loud noise - whereas it comes from music, machines, or ppl talking - that's one of the reasons I feel really uncomfortable in big groups or social gatherings. But my sensitivity to noise is different when I'm working. I often help my dad around the house and have to use tools, don't ask me why but as long as I am the one manipulating the tool, I am not bothered by the sound... The only sounds that I've found to be too much while working (even being the one using the tool) have been a tap with compressed air to dry lab equipment and dog hair dryers; my peers didn't care at all, but I had to wear sound protection earmuffs as some ear plugs can be really uncomfortable if used every day.
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