Buying a house next to a dual carriageway

MariaTc

Hi all,
I would really appreciate your advice if you happen to live right next to a motorway or dual carriageway.
My husband and I have found the ideal home, picture-perfect inside and out. Built in the 1930's, detached, fully restored to it's original Art Deco glory, 4 double bedrooms, double garage, substantial garden, walking distance to train station. The only problem being our next door neighbour would be a dual carriageway. The house is facing the road, which is only 40ft away from the house, including a lay-by. To make things worse, not only is it a dual carriageway with 2 lanes in each direction, but right next to it, behind what looks like a sound proof barrier, there is a single carriageway with 2 lanes, making a grand total of 6 lanes of traffic! All the rooms at the front of the house are double-glazed, but you can still hear the traffic. The astonishing thing is that in the master bedroom, facing the carriageway, having double-glazing and secondary glazing as well and you can't hear a thing, the hum of the traffic is only barely audible if you put your ear right next to the window. Hence if we were to put secondary glazing on top of all the existing double-glazing we should be sorted. The next obvious question is what do we do in the summer? Inside the house air-conditioning should do the job, but what about the garden? Yeah sure, you can hear the traffic even right at the bottom of the garden. But we should get used to it, right?! From what I have read everyone else who lives next to motorways, railways and airports eventually becomes immune to the noise. And really is it any noisier than urban living? I have done a little bit of research, and it turns out that the noise from a motorway at 50ft is approximately 76 DB, whilst high urban ambient sound is around 80DB. One more thing that makes me think it can't be as bad as it seems, zooming in on googlemaps three or four houses along, there is a house, exactly the same distance away from the road, they have an ordinary 3ft high wooden fence, on top of which they've created a tall tree screen, parallel to the house they have an enormous swimming pool, it would appear that the road isn't bothering them that much. One more thing to consider is that a similar house, same period, same size, same area, but set well back of the road is on the market for £850000, the asking price for this house just £320000!
Bargain of a lifetime or disaster waiting to happen?
Maria

tanith

I would never buy a house so close to a main road but thats me , I wouldn't want to live with either the noise inside or outside the house or the fumes ... but thats me if you think you could live with it then go for it , certainly sounds like a bargain.

BitterAndTwisted

Depends on whether you see yourselves living there forever or needing to sell at some point. I used to live under one of the flight-paths at Heathrow at it's amazing how used to the racket you can become, even with jumbos taking off and landing at 5am.

halfone

Have you tried your sound tests in wet weather?

I live near a motorway, and the only time I ever notice the motorway's even there it is when the road is wet = noisier, or occasionally if someone goes along with a faulty silencer/emergency vehicle with sirens.
Most of the time, I just automatically tune it out; never hear it all.

You do get used to it, yes. In fact, I find it harder to sleep at friends' houses if they live on a quiet road with the occasional car going past, rather than my continual background 'hum'.

brian_723

Give me the traffic sound any day of the week ,every time I go in my back garden I constantly hear my stupid chav next door neighbors talking sh..t ,give me a dual carriageway any time .

ognum

I had an interesting conversation with a friend who lived very close to a train track, otherwise their ideal home. I asked how it was with the train track, he replied that every day he thanks god for the train track as if it wasn't there he could not have afforded his perfect house.
Just a thought!

MariaTc

Thanks, halfone, good point. Will try to arrange a second viewing on a rainy day! Do you have a garden? If so is it more difficult to get used to it there, than in the house?

halfone

MariaTc wrote: »

Do you have a garden? If so is it more difficult to get used to it there, than in the house?

We don't have very good glazing here - what I can hear now if I listen is a gentle "woosh" and it's similar in the garden; a bit louder out front where it faces the motorway perhaps. I wouldn't say it's harder to get used to it outside; it's about the same - I'd be aware of it, but just peripherally.

But I'm in the countryside; I don't know if it would be different if there are more buildings/houses where your house is. Maybe the fields here move the sound around differently? Absorb/dissapate it perhaps? I'm not an expert..

If it helps, I've never heard anyone round here mention noise as a major concern; a couple of relatives staying over have said they've heard the motorway on a wet night. A few people have raised concerns about fumes, as tanith mentioned.

I know they did do some noise monitoring about 10 years ago, but decided it was within acceptable levels, or something like that. I don't know if there's any way you could find out if any surveys have been done for the dual carriageway?

Good luck with arranging the second viewing...hope the weather forecast is accurate for that day

KateLiana27

All houses involve compromise. You've already established that a similar house without the dual carriageway issue will be more than double the price. You're getting what you're paying for, so I wouldn't say it was either an amazing bargain or a bad idea.

Personally noise would not bother me. If there were noticeable fumes, that would put me off. It sounds like you need to spend a bit of time in the area to see how much it bothers you personally. Is there anywhere a similar distance from the road that you could have a picnic lunch and spend an afternoon reading, chatting, that sort of thing?

I would expect to find it more difficult to sell, as there are some people (particularly those with young children or pets) who may not buy it at any price.

carefullycautious

For a detached house away from nightmare neighbours I wouldnt care if I was on the Motorway.

Lived by train station before no problems getting used to noise.

The only problem is finding like minded people if you were to sell.

paulsad

Agree with above - I have mostly lived in busy places and you do become used to them - our house would be a lot more expensive 3-400 yds down this road as we are right near the main drag - but look at it this way - if some chav wants to dispose of his half eaten kebab or curry or indeed feels the need to vent his full bladder - he won't do it on our frontage right after buying/drinking ... he'll do it further on his journey on the more expensive property!!
See always a silver lining!