Noise in Townhouses?

Mum_of_3_3

There is no way I would buy the town-house. I have absolutely nothing against town-houses, but I do have everything against 'family' houses with tiny gardens!

There's not enough room to put a swing/playhouse/trampoline in the town-house garden and there is no way I would want to live anywhere where the children can't entertain themselves in their own space.

Also the layout of the town-house seems really odd to me, what if you're in the kitchen cooking whilst a toddler is out playing in the garden? How can you keep an eye on them? I'd much rather the kitchen & dining rooms were on the ground floor, at least then you're on the same level as the garden.
Although there are a lot of bathrooms on the bottom & top floor what about the middle floor where you would supposedly spend most of your time? There are no toilets there at all, so with a potty-training toddler you would have to climb up/down a flight of stairs and hope they get there on time! ( I've got a potty-training daughter at the moment & they have about 5 seconds between realising they need a wee & doing one!)

It would have to be the detached for me, with plans of knocking through the kitchen and using on of the smaller bedrooms as a en-suite & dressing room for the master bedroom (assuming the layout allows this).

Please note the above is only my opinion & feel free to disregard all of it if you want

M_o_3

jamief

I haven't lived in a newbuild townhouse, but have lived in a newbuild semi (Wimpey). The noise insulation was very poor (this house was built in 2003, I've since sold the property).

We could hear:

People talking
TV
Doors closing
"nighttime" noises (rather unsavoury!)

I'd avoid anything other than a newbuild detached. Even then, I think newbuilds are generally poor quality and would avoid them altogether personally.

gabyjane

mum of 3 has a good point! the garden as i said is very small ours is in 2 parts but much much bigger than that, also the issue of the kitchen i hadn't thought of, although ours does not lead onto the garden the lounge does and the kitchen you only need to poke your head round the door to see into it so i like that.
I personally wouldn't go for either but just my opinion!

sooz

You don't seem to like either house. Keep looking til you find one you do like
the garden of the townhouse is a joke, & that pic has been taken with a wide angled lens.
If you are thinking about a house to bring up children in, have you looked at school catchment areas?

sarah_elton

Thanks for all the input guys.

Mum of 3 - exactly what my mum said! She said if you're in the kitchen and toddlers are in the garden and you have to run outside you've got to get down the stairs first.

We've had a nose at the detached house from the outside (I was so unsure about the kerb appeal I wanted to have a look before viewing) but I think we'll view, at least so I can put it to rest in my mind if the inside space really doesn't work for us.

What appealed about the townhouse were the rooms, their dimensions/shapes and the decorative order. I can see us spending a lot of money on the detached house over time. But the comments that you can't change the location and plot are very valid.

If the detached house won't work for us we just keep playing the waiting game! There are nicer houses that have sold in the last few years, something else has to come up at some point. Just frustrating - we're in rented so are chain free and have our deposit and mortgage sorted. We're good buyers for someone at that sort of price level with no chain behind us, but there's nothing to buy!!

sooz - re schools, the village has two primaries, both of which have very good results (and very similar results). Fortunately that means I have no preference as to which we're in the catchment area for. It's a small place so no house is very far from a school.

Catblue

sarah_elton wrote: »

I can't help but notice that every townhouse I've seen for sale was bought around five years ago (not surprising since they've only been so popular with builders in recent times). But there is baby or toddler stuff in all of them. Which suggests that in many cases its couples who have bought them and are selling them pretty early into family life.

That seems to be the case round here too.

Couples in their late 20s and early 30s bought them four or five years ago, and seem to want to sell as soon as kids start to be able to walk - maybe because the layout/lack of storage/lack of a decent sized garden is impractical with kids.

The newish townhouses seem to hang on the market a long time - much longer than traditional semis or detacheds round here. Presumably this is because their target market is primarily couples with no kids yet, whereas the other types of property appeal to a much wider market.

To get back to your initial question, I have a friend in a townhouse, and you can hear the neighbours walking up and down the stairs, hear their TV etc.

Mini_Bear

Im from Colchester and know the area pretty well. Are you aware a lot of Wivenhoes larger houses are split up into student accomodation? its worth bearing in mind re the new build townhouse (have they been snapped up by BTL landlords who have stuffed them with students?)

sarah_elton

Mini_Bear wrote: »

Im from Colchester and know the area pretty well. Are you aware a lot of Wivenhoes larger houses are split up into student accomodation? its worth bearing in mind re the new build townhouse (have they been snapped up by BTL landlords who have stuffed them with students?)

Yeah, the north end of the village, near the university, is student central.

Lower Wivenhoe is generally fine, and having walked around it a lot and knowing someone who lives there, the estate with that particular townhouse is right down by the water. It's predominantly families as it's next to the station so they were snapped up by commuters.

We wanted to buy in Colchester itself, but had to be a short walk from north station which pretty much only gives you Turner Rise (by Asda) and the few roads around there. We've been registered with the Colchester agencies for four months but nothing right came up so we're also now looking at Wivenhoe. I'd actually prefer Wivenhoe; I think village life is great while kids are young. There's a real community feel in the village while it still has the rail link for London that we need. Unfortunately there's no houses there either. *sigh*

Mini_Bear

You're right Wivenhoe is so pretty and very villagey it will be great for kids.

Bear in mind the students have been away for the last 3 months on summer hols, and are only just returning. if you can i would try to wander around the estate on fri and sat evening just to check (if you can catch freshers week this is likely to be the busiest time)

I only hav a student obsession because my twin lived very close to this estate whilst at uni and she described some horror stories!

I kno wat u mean about properties in the vicinitee of north station (not a lot of choice) - i had to move to chelmsford for that very reason!

Good luck with your move!

lincroft1710

Detached house - not the prettiest but far, far more potential and you have all that outdoor space.

Town house - I'm getting claustrophobia just looking at external photo. The words "sardines" and "shoehorn" spring to mind.

The fad for large open plan kit/diners, is just that, great if you like all the cooking smells and mess of kit on view to everyone.

If you haven't already guessed, I'm voting for the DETACHED party.