Buying a house on a main road

pagetta

We are FTB and have been looking for a couple of months now. We recently found two properties: one we like a lot in a cul de sac, and round the corner one that we LOVE but it is on a main road.

What are your thoughts on living on a main road? Its a 30mph single carriage way and is A main road into Poole but not THE main road into poole. Also, it is on a T-Junction. Am i right in thinking that this would slow the traffic (allbeit creating more of it!) Its only really busy weekends and rush hour, the rest of the time its regular but not constant, and its very quiet in the evenings.

With regards to starting a family, there is a big gate on the garden to keep kids in, and the local park and school are all the same side of the road as us. The only reason to cross it is to get to the co-op opposite!

My other worry is the cats....

The house is a lovely 3 double bedroom semi with a lovely big private garden, and big living area, and a bath big enough to camp in! The other one in the cul de sac is really nice too, but we didn't 'love' it. Our thoughts are that if we can get the one we LOVE for under £200k then we're laughing.

Would love to hear people's opinions on this though - are there other things we need to consider, and what are your experiences of a main road - and how do you keep cats out the back!!

provista_2

We live on a main road which when we bought it was the A6 but have now got a by pass. I love living here, everything is close by and if you have to go anywhere when dark there are no dark side streets to walk down.
We have a cat but he is a house cat, only ventures into the back once in a blue moon.
Our children have both been born white we have been living here and there fore have excellent road sense.
We have now lived here for 20 years. (omg!!)

roxalana

Can you visit at different times of day to monitor the noise? Also are the windows double glazed?

We live on the corner of a cross roads with traffic lights and the only thing that really bothers us is the emergency services as they have to use sirens when they cross the junction on red. This might be a consideration for you if you are on a T junction.

Not sure about the cats - I guess it will be a judgement of how sensible your cats are and what the rest of the area is like for them.

Doozergirl

We've moved house so many times in all sorts of places, two houses on main roads and the one place where cars were an issue was where it was particularly quiet. I cannot tell you the number of times we would hear a screech outside on one road we lived that had a private square across the road. She wanted to go there and because it was quiet she wouldn't pay attention to the cars which would also be moving pretty slowly at our poin in the road, so not a lot of engine noise. On one occassion she actually went under a car, luckily in the middle

I hated having a little one on the main me road where we had to park on the road - DS run in one gate and out of another giving me palpitations. The last house we had our own drive with gates (DD was about the same age as he was in the other house) and it was absolutely fine.

pagetta

its just round the corner from the flat we rent so we will pop there over the next few days to monitor it. They have a through lounge diner with the lounge at the back i assume to minimised noise and traffic disruption, and so you can open windows in summer to the garden instead of the road! Cat is currently a house cat so don't think he'll venture far - if we get a new one we might have to worry though!!

Fully double glased house, and we currently live on THE main road into poole which is the emergency services route - thankfully the place we like is not!

Great tips thank you!

carefullycautious

I have lived in a house on a quiet road and the trouble we had with kids playing outside and vandalising cars and causing mayhem nearly drove us to distraction. We moved to a GF Flat which has a large front garden and a feeder road to an estate and it is the best move we have made. Because there are cars going up/ down in the day time prevents children playing ball and generally being a nuisance out the front and we do not have people hanging around at night. The back leads onto private fields so no problems there either. Personally I would never live anywhere where there is not a road out the front. Now this is mainly an age thing as we do not wish to have all the hassle associated with lots of children, people hanging around at night etc.( I have children so not anti per se ) However, if you have young children you may wish to be around other families where you can let your children out to have bike rides etc. It really is a personal decision on what you want. If the house is perfect for your needs I would be inclined to teach road safety skills and provide adequate fencing gates. It just means that the children will have to have their friends round to play instead of being able to let them out for some free time with other neighbouring children. Good luck with whatever you decide

Edited as forgot the cat issue. I had cats who were road savvy but my neighbours cat got killed on the road so it is not a foregone conclusion as to if the cats will be safe. You could always make a run for them so that they get some sunshine etc. Or cat proof the garden

poppysarah

One of my neighbours has a three legged cat and it's much more adventurous than our cats. Crosses the road and goes much further away than ours. Mind you all of ours have 4 legs still.

WillowCat

Gardens can be cat-proofed - Securacat do some good kits.

The cats needs are #1 on my list when househunting. I'm hoping to get somewhere well off the beaten track though it has to be said that very rural areas can have different risks (traps, farming equipment etc).

If I get desparate and can't find something within my price range and away from main roads then I may rethink, in which case a full catproof system so they can't get out of the garden will be mandatory. I've lost two cats to traffic over the years and I really couldn't bear to have any more hurt or killed.

flissh

I have lived on two main roads. Never really bothered me at the time. The last one I lived on was the main high street through a small town and was very busy at rush hour. Whilst we lived there they built a new road to the side of our house and a roundabout so in the end our house had the road at the front and at the side. (the new road was a relief road for the town, but we were the wrong side of the roundabout to get any relief!!!)
When the roundabout was built it did slow the traffic which was good in one way but it meant that cars and lorries and busses were slowing to a stop then revving to get going again, and at heavy traffic times a lot of slow chugging outside.
In the main we got used to the noise and sat out in the back garden without really noticing it.
We also had two cats. one poor little fella got run over and killed, the other spent many of her nine lives darting past the traffic, but she got very wise in the end.
My children grew up there too and were never a bother with the road, they all became very road aware.
The flat we rent at the moment is right on a busy busy cross roads and there is much honking of horns and traffic noise but once we are in we don't notice it.
Have to say though, the house we are buying is on a very quiet road, set well back and I think it will make a nice change.

emmell

I live on a main road, but it is a village so no lorries over 7.5ton. My house is on a corner so garden can be noisy when it's busy but you just get used to it. I don't get "gangs" hanging round like we did on the very nice estate we used to live on. I have 2 dogs and a cat. The garden is walled and conifers to keep it private, gates to keep the dogs and any little visitors in. Lots of pre-planning for the cat, he is essentially a house cat but we have a large run in the back garden similar to an aviary and in the front garden a small kennel (rabbit hutch size) and a run similar to a rabbit but larger. It's also portable so we can drag it round the garden so he has shade in the summer. He absolutely loves it and he can sit and watch the birds but he can't hurt them and he miaows very loud when he's ready to come in.

tyllwyd

I used to live on a reaonably busy road in a town with only a pavement and a very small front garden area, and my main complaint was the pollution - when you wiped the window frames down at the front of the house, they would be black with soot.