Noise in Townhouses?

Doozergirl

Oh, Sarah, they don't even compete with each other. The detached house is far better and really, with a bit of imagination, you can make that house far more attractive on the outside. If it ticks the important boxes - location, space and garden then I'd fix the front. There are some fantastic makeovers of properties that age and I would love to give one of those a proper modern facelift.

Frankly if I had the choise I would pick the same floorspace over two levels than three. You get used to the stairs very quickly indeed, fitness wise in the three storey and generally you get better value for money - likewise with a 60s/70s house.

Our barn is surounded by 70s bungalows and we have some younger neighbours who have done fantastic things with theirs - a cedar clad extension; folding sliding doors, gorgeous grey aluminium windows; knocked down walls to creat open plan living area modern gloss kitchen with an island with a beautiful light/extractor.

Over time yours will be great. If the flat roof is sound then you could add more of a 'dummy' tiled roof over the top to even it out. Render it to lose the brick and knock out the current front door and window, make the opening larger and put in a modern door with a much larger window to one side. Different windows = job done. Not something that needs doing straight away but there's loads of stuff you could do with that to make it more palatable and *valuable* It depends on what something of a similar size that is 'pretty' would go for.

VKay

Hi Sarah!

The townhouse's garden means that you would soon outgrow that house. If you want a house to stay in then it's not that one!

If the kitchen is the only thing that bothers you i'm sure you could change the downstairs layout in the detached house. The garden is fabulous! If it has been on the market for 18 months i'm sure you can get a good discount which could mean some money left over to make some changes to the house. Good luck.

hostman

We're buying a new townhouse(ish) atm. Except it has a more traditional layout. Kitchen, diner, lounge, loo downstairs. Three bedrooms and a "family bathrom" on the 1st floor with a big master bedroom with en suite on the 2nd floor. Block of three, end one

We were buying a true townhouse, with the lounge on the 1st floor, but ultimately the layout of the house was all wrong, the bedrooms were all too small also.

sarah_elton

VKay wrote: »

Hi Sarah!

The townhouse's garden means that you would soon outgrow that house. If you want a house to stay in then it's not that one!

If the kitchen is the only thing that bothers you i'm sure you could change the downstairs layout in the detached house. The garden is fabulous! If it has been on the market for 18 months i'm sure you can get a good discount which could mean some money left over to make some changes to the house. Good luck.

Thanks all. You've convinced me I should stop being so shallow about the look of the house lol.

Re the price, it started at £335k and they've dropped to £315k. Only trouble is, they paid £300k in 2004 so I can't see them going below that. One house in the road sold for £329k in Feb 09, it was a four bed detached but more modern, prettier from the outside (complete with picket fence) and had the bigger family kitchen.

Have also just realised this one has been on the market since July only (it was another one I was confusing it with). But they've dropped the price £20k and changed agent in that time so they must be relatively keen to sell.

We originally worked up a buying budget based on spending £270k. We can go higher - we're nowhere near our max mortgage at £270k because we're buying something that will let us go down to one salary in the future if we choose to (just about!). But, the more over we go the less we'll have for any work we want to do, and the tighter that future monthly budget will be.

Tried to book a viewing yesterday but am only free on Sunday this weekend. The owners are on holiday and the EA is closed. So, after all that, it's got to be next weekend. :rolleyes:

gabyjane

Hey good luck with the viewing..if it was me i would have thought and pondered for weeks and got my heart set and then walked in and gone 'oh i don't like it' lol..sure you will get 'that' feel when you view it..keep us updated and hope it's what you want x

Lotus-eater

sarah_elton wrote: »

Thanks all. You've convinced me I should stop being so shallow about the look of the house lol.

There will always be some people that prefer the townhouse, but I promise you that the majority of persons will always prefer the space of the "proper" house.

sarah_elton

Well, after all that....

Viewed the detached house yesterday, and was taken aback at just how much work it needs.

The extension was never really finished properly:
1) I thought they'd extended over the garage but in fact the garage didn't used to be by the side of the house, so it's a full two storey extension. Sadly, they never levelled the driveway that ran past the house before, so the garage floor slopes from right to left. Therefore, the garage door doesn't fit, as there's a gap under one side of it. The drive slopes towards it slightly, so there's going to be puddle issues. The floor in the garage needs sorting.
2) Speaking of that old driveway... There used to be a detached garage set behind the house, at the end of that drive. It's still there. In the garden is a detached garage complete with normal style garage door. Obviously being used for storage. I'd want to demolish it, break up half its footing and put a shed on what remained.
3) The utility room in the extension - one wall used to be an external wall on the side of the house. It was never plastered. You've just got painted brickwork in the room.
4) There's a shower room off the utility room which is accessed by a sliding door which I really don't like.

On top of this, the place needs the walls stripped and repainted top to bottom, and new carpets/flooring top to bottom.

The conservatory is hardwood, and the outside is peeling very badly so it needs sanding and re-finishing.

Some windows have been replaced - the others need doing.

Very old light switches and plug sockets which need replacing. Wiring probably needs a check.



The house was at the top of our £300k budget, being on at £315k. I think with everything I'd want to do, we'd need to get it for £250k which will never happen. (Oh, forgot - I also want the roof completely rebuilt so it's all pitched again, instead of pitched with a flat roof to the side). Renovated, it'd be worth £330k, maybe up to £350k so it'll probably sell for £280k.

The other issue is that we're currently in rented, and with that much work I'd want to stay here for a couple of months after completion and have the place completely blitzed during that time. We're getting married in June and I don't think I can cope with organising that much work on top of the wedding. A house with a little bit of work that can wait till after the wedding is ok, but I don't think we can take something like this on right now.

It's a shame - it's got a lot of potential but it's just too much money for us and the wrong timing with the wedding coming up.

I'm convinced now that while the modern townhouses would do us for a few years, as soon as we had toddlers we'd be moving out, so they're a no.

So, just back to waiting for something new to come to market. I'm so good at being patient. :rolleyes:

Thanks again for all the advice guys. You have at least taught me to look past the kerb appeal.

sunshinetours

sarah_elton wrote: »

Well, after all that....

Viewed the detached house yesterday, and was taken aback at just how much work it needs.

The extension was never really finished properly:
1) I thought they'd extended over the garage but in fact the garage didn't used to be by the side of the house, so it's a full two storey extension. Sadly, they never levelled the driveway that ran past the house before, so the garage floor slopes from right to left. Therefore, the garage door doesn't fit, as there's a gap under one side of it. The drive slopes towards it slightly, so there's going to be puddle issues. The floor in the garage needs sorting.
2) Speaking of that old driveway... There used to be a detached garage set behind the house, at the end of that drive. It's still there. In the garden is a detached garage complete with normal style garage door. Obviously being used for storage. I'd want to demolish it, break up half its footing and put a shed on what remained.
3) The utility room in the extension - one wall used to be an external wall on the side of the house. It was never plastered. You've just got painted brickwork in the room.
4) There's a shower room off the utility room which is accessed by a sliding door which I really don't like.

On top of this, the place needs the walls stripped and repainted top to bottom, and new carpets/flooring top to bottom.

The conservatory is hardwood, and the outside is peeling very badly so it needs sanding and re-finishing.

Some windows have been replaced - the others need doing.

Very old light switches and plug sockets which need replacing. Wiring probably needs a check.



The house was at the top of our £300k budget, being on at £315k. I think with everything I'd want to do, we'd need to get it for £250k which will never happen. (Oh, forgot - I also want the roof completely rebuilt so it's all pitched again, instead of pitched with a flat roof to the side). Renovated, it'd be worth £330k, maybe up to £350k so it'll probably sell for £280k.

The other issue is that we're currently in rented, and with that much work I'd want to stay here for a couple of months after completion and have the place completely blitzed during that time. We're getting married in June and I don't think I can cope with organising that much work on top of the wedding. A house with a little bit of work that can wait till after the wedding is ok, but I don't think we can take something like this on right now.

It's a shame - it's got a lot of potential but it's just too much money for us and the wrong timing with the wedding coming up.

I'm convinced now that while the modern townhouses would do us for a few years, as soon as we had toddlers we'd be moving out, so they're a no.

So, just back to waiting for something new to come to market. I'm so good at being patient. :rolleyes:

Thanks again for all the advice guys. You have at least taught me to look past the kerb appeal.

Very sensible decision I reckon - I would certainly recommend with a future family, looking for a house with enough land to keep the kids happy and also for any future extensions/garden building etc . Also I would suggest its unlikely prices are going anywhere upwards so sit tight and wait for the right place at the right price especially if one of you may drop a salary. No house is worth misssing out on your kids growing up IMO

A bigger garden was our main criteria when we moved house last time and I am so glad we stuck to it (we have a 80ft garden which is about 35 ft wide and gives us a great balance between having to maintain it and being able to have a play area / entertaining are including a cabin etc etc

We also didn't entertain anything apart from detached due to previous neighbour "everyday type" noise ie talking/stairs/nightime activities in a semi. Again something I am very glad we stuck to even though we could have got a slightly bigger floor area semi for same money. We only get usual "neighbourhood" noise rather than "neighbour" noise through the wall now and the related stress of that should not be underestimated

IMO townhouses are just a way of meeting government building targets and maximising profits for developers. Whilst I am sure they suit some people - I cannot believe many families ultimately want to live in an apartment or a townhouse - they want a nice traditional house with a decent sized garden that kids can run around in! Of course some are different as shown above

Best of luck - its a nice part of Essex but just bear in mind the flood risk as well in that area. We looked at Tolleshunt D'arcy area (bit further south than you) a few years ago and loved it but slightly too far a drive for me to work

beccad

sunshinetours wrote: »

We also didn't entertain anything apart from detached due to previous neighbour "everyday type" noise ie talking/stairs/nightime activities in a semi. Again something I am very glad we stuck to even though we could have got a slightly bigger floor area semi for same money. We only get usual "neighbourhood" noise rather than "neighbour" noise through the wall now and the related stress of that should not be underestimated

I can vouch for that. We're not too bad with noise from our neighbours now, nothing that disturbs us (although we can hear them going about their daily lives!) but this time last year I nearly had a nervous breakdown, partly because of a very stressful job and partly because I was seriously sleep-deprived from one set of neighbours not going to bed until after midnight, and making a right bloody racket the whole time, and the other set of neighbours making a racket anytime from 5am onwards. I slept with ear plugs in the whole time, but they were so noisy I could still hear them, and I gave myself some hearing problems to boot from the pressure in my ears all the time (thankfully temporary). It was a particularly extreme case I think but it's strengthened my resolve to save up for a detached house. We did speak to the council about the noise and they were willing to help, but we wanted to sell our flat (just about to go on the market) and if the council had become involved we'd have had to tell any potential purchaser.

p00hsticks

sarah_elton wrote: »

Polar opposites - one has the outside space I want but the house would be a huge compromise. One has the indoor space but is terraced and has terrible outside space. We're tempted to view both to (1) see if we could make them work and (2) try and work out whether the house or garden is our real priority.

This isn't co-incidence of course - as a recent article in the Telegraph stated (unfortunately i can't find a link at present), if you are looking at properties within a particular price range then in general detached properties will have smaller rooms than terraces or semis, as both will typically occupy the same overall footprint of land - you effectively choose whether you want to utilise that space outside the house or inside.

t