Depressed about new house

RelievedSheff

Noneforit999 said:

Norman_Castle said:

killerferret666 said:

The worst part is I'm sure the bigger benefit would be of course filling in the gap between their joists, stopping the noise dead that end.

Joists are rarely a tight fit where they go through walls. Filling the gaps between them and the walls might help stop the airborne noise from under their floor traveling to under yours. It should be possible to do this by lifting only one or two lines of floor boards.

Depends on what way your joists run.

Ours has a central wall which goes down to foundations so joists run front/back to centre, nothing goes into the party wall.

If there is genuinely no cavity at all in the party wall, I really don't think adding bookcases etc is going to make a great deal of difference. Its best if the OP gets a professional in to advise but I suspect they will be telling them the best course of action is to batten the wall and have 'soundproofing' insulation installed, plasterboard and skim over the top. It will mean losing room space though. 

We had people in with a view to sound proofing our last house but even they said it was a lost cause!!

It has a single brick party wall with the ground and first floor joist running into the party wall. Ours and next doors joists were sat next to each other so the noise was transmitting down them. No way to stop that without us both ripping out our joists!

matthew91822

I currently live in a 1 bed flat in a 2007 purpose built block. No one below or to the right of me. I've never heard anyone through the wall, only upstairs walking about which isn't too bad at all. HOWEVER on every single nice day a neighbour plays very loud bassy music from another property outside, if you want your windows open you have to hear it. Me along with many other neighbours have been reporting it but nothing happened so far and it still goes on.

I ended up getting noise cancelling headphones - my problems were cured. Definitely not ideal for everyone. Luckily I'm about to move to a detached.

[Deleted User]

Noise cancelling headphones are really good now. Another option is a speaker that produces white noise.

Sarah1Mitty2

[Deleted User] said:

Noise cancelling headphones are really good now. Another option is a speaker that produces white noise.

Bit weird having to wear headphones all the time in your own house, time to move if it is that bad, what does the white noise do?

lookstraightahead

Jacob_Jones said:

My first house was a Victorian mid-terraced. It was down a side-street in a very 'rough' / poor urban area. 
The kind of area where people looked shocked and scared when you told them you lived there. 
But it was really quiet. I can't recall ever being disturbed by any noise. 
In fact, I never experienced any problems there at all. 

Then I moved out to a detached house in a 'posh' area and I found it much more noisy. 
There were always people cutting the hedges or the grass etc. 

(People were also more annoying and poked their noses into my business, but that's for another thread... )

Definitely this. The bigger the space, the more potential for noise. People in general are either considerate/aware, or inconsiderate/unaware, wherever they live.
As someone who struggles with road/car noise, the absolute worst place for me is a property where everyone has room for lots of cars, whereas my experience of living in flats, where most people at least understand that their lifestyle can affect others, had always been positive.
buying detached doesn't mean you don't share garden borders. New estates are by far the worst for being surrounded by other people imo 

GiantTCR

My advice is: life is too short to live in a noisy house. Doesn't matter to focus on the positives, when it's about noise, the negatives will always outweigh the positives. When you're in your bed, at night, and can't go to sleep, you can think about the positive aspects of your home as much as you want...but it just won't cut it.

Also I'm not sure I quite like the approach of getting a white noise machine. Covering noise with more noise? It may work but why should you make this sort of compromise?

I've had good experiences in new build flats and the worst experience so far was in an old Victorian tenement flat where I had to briefly share a wall with a guy who would play video games and speak/shout on his headset all night. I switched rooms, my living room became my bedroom and my bedroom became my living room/home office. It took a while to move all the furniture from one room to the other but a quiet and noiseless night of sleep is priceless.

Now I live in a detached house and there is nothing that would make me go back to anything less.

t1redmonkey

I could hear my neighbours a lot in my last house (family with 3 kids) but I just ended up getting used to it to the point I didn’t really notice it at all by the time I sold.  

It could’ve been worse, basically my rooms that bordered their walls were where their hallway/staircase was (other than one of their bedrooms upstairs which was the other side of my bedroom).  But I could hear them going up and down the stairs a lot and I could hear them talking when they were in their bedroom, but it kind of just faded into the background of my conscience eventually.

The thing I found more unbearable was road traffic noise, I basically lived in a city centre so could hear traffic constantly.  I was thinking of getting triple glazing/acoustic glass for my bedroom windows to see if that would help but the cost was super high and I just couldn’t afford it.  That was one of the reasons I ended up selling, the neighbours noise wasn’t really a factor at all in the end.

eddjimmyjones

OP, I felt compelled to post my experience and hope you find my experience of use, especially around trying to soundproof your house as it might not work as my experience. I moved into my house in April 2021 a 2 bed semi, and happy at the time as I got a good deal and someone selling who inherited the house and wanted a quick sale, however, when I moved in I quickly learned that the walls were paper thin, I could hear the neighbours TV and conversations can be heard clearly.  For me the most annoying thing is that I can hear the neighbour's tv in all rooms in my house, whereas from my upstairs I cant or can barely hear my own tv downstairs if it's switched on. I can hear all the doors, and movement up and down the stairs etc from next door. 

Now the neighbours are very elderly in their 70s and 80s retired whereas I am in my mid 30s, I am also the only black person in the street, I only bring up my race as I believe it plays a factor. I work from home a lot and my job includes speaking to people on the phone and sometimes discussing upsetting issues. One time I was preparing a talk for black history month and practiced my speech without being loud, which from what I head next door resulted in some comments!! I am now overly conscious of the sounds I am making. To be fair the neighbours are not overly loud just normal living, however, it's not great, I am sensitive to it and I am overly conscious of the noise I am making and also how different I am to them and the impact this has on perceptions by neighbours etc and sometimes feel like even in your own home you can't be yourself.   

Be careful about trying to soundproof the house, it can be a waste of money, I have tried to sound proof the house, I bought sound proofing material from a well known and well regarded website and had professionals fit this in on the living room wall and bedroom wall. This didn't make a bit of a difference, cost me about £1000 for the material and £1000 to get fitted. I removed the materials and got the genie clip sound proofing system on the living room wall and bedroom walls. again material cost about £800 and this time I got a mate to help fit this who does trade work and paid my mate about £400. The bedroom has somewhat improved but can still hear neighbours tv downstairs, still not worth the money spent. The living room not made much of a difference and one of the issues is that the living room wall hasn't got enough room for all the sound proofing material due to a door right on the corner. Anyway so far it's £2200 in soundproofing which has not worked, if it worked then it would have been worth spending that much. I have spoke to sound proofing companies who want to charge loads but it's not guaranteed to work and some companies want close to £5000 a room!! without a guarantee it would work. I still have to plaster and decorate the walls where recent soundproofing was put in which I have not done yet, I am considering if I want to try and soundproof the walls again but this will be another cost to plaster and decorate the walls.

lately I have been using my smart speaker to play white noise when I go to bed to block out the noise it does block out some sound from next door which is mainly tv, the benefit for me is that for some reason I have slept much better since I have had the white noise on all night and its more fan noise. I am into headphones and have a number of noise cancelling headphones which help. 

I am now in a dilemma, I am considering moving and have looked at other properties and ideally want to move to a detached property but this will cost a lot more, also factoring in current mortgage climate. Wheares staying in my current house with its annoyances makes more financial sense for now.  

MalMonroe

eddjimmyjones said:

OP, I felt compelled to post my experience and hope you find my experience of use, especially around trying to soundproof your house as it might not work as my experience. I moved into my house in April 2021 a 2 bed semi, and happy at the time as I got a good deal and someone selling who inherited the house and wanted a quick sale, however, when I moved in I quickly learned that the walls were paper thin, I could hear the neighbours TV and conversations can be heard clearly.  For me the most annoying thing is that I can hear the neighbour's tv in all rooms in my house, whereas from my upstairs I cant or can barely hear my own tv downstairs if it's switched on. I can hear all the doors, and movement up and down the stairs etc from next door. 

Now the neighbours are very elderly in their 70s and 80s retired whereas I am in my mid 30s, I am also the only black person in the street, I only bring up my race as I believe it plays a factor. I work from home a lot and my job includes speaking to people on the phone and sometimes discussing upsetting issues. One time I was preparing a talk for black history month and practiced my speech without being loud, which from what I head next door resulted in some comments!! I am now overly conscious of the sounds I am making. To be fair the neighbours are not overly loud just normal living, however, it's not great, I am sensitive to it and I am overly conscious of the noise I am making and also how different I am to them and the impact this has on perceptions by neighbours etc and sometimes feel like even in your own home you can't be yourself.   

Be careful about trying to soundproof the house, it can be a waste of money, I have tried to sound proof the house, I bought sound proofing material from a well known and well regarded website and had professionals fit this in on the living room wall and bedroom wall. This didn't make a bit of a difference, cost me about £1000 for the material and £1000 to get fitted. I removed the materials and got the genie clip sound proofing system on the living room wall and bedroom walls. again material cost about £800 and this time I got a mate to help fit this who does trade work and paid my mate about £400. The bedroom has somewhat improved but can still hear neighbours tv downstairs, still not worth the money spent. The living room not made much of a difference and one of the issues is that the living room wall hasn't got enough room for all the sound proofing material due to a door right on the corner. Anyway so far it's £2200 in soundproofing which has not worked, if it worked then it would have been worth spending that much. I have spoke to sound proofing companies who want to charge loads but it's not guaranteed to work and some companies want close to £5000 a room!! without a guarantee it would work. I still have to plaster and decorate the walls where recent soundproofing was put in which I have not done yet, I am considering if I want to try and soundproof the walls again but this will be another cost to plaster and decorate the walls.

lately I have been using my smart speaker to play white noise when I go to bed to block out the noise it does block out some sound from next door which is mainly tv, the benefit for me is that for some reason I have slept much better since I have had the white noise on all night and its more fan noise. I am into headphones and have a number of noise cancelling headphones which help. 

I am now in a dilemma, I am considering moving and have looked at other properties and ideally want to move to a detached property but this will cost a lot more, also factoring in current mortgage climate. Wheares staying in my current house with its annoyances makes more financial sense for now.  

Please, I beg of you, don't say your neighbours are 'very elderly'. (What relevance?) I'm in my early 70s and still do not feel anything LIKE very elderly. Or even elderly, for that matter. In fact I just launched my own small online business. I am fit and able and I speak to anyone, of any age. 

I don't think a person's colour has any relevance here, or anywhere else for that matter, either. 

To your last paragraph - you seem to have spent quite a bit already on trying to soundproof your property so does that make more financial sense than trying to find a more expensive home that's not quite so noisy? If I could afford it I would move to a detached property in a field because most people are just so darned thoughtless. They don't mean to be annoying but they just are. 

eddjimmyjones

MalMonroe said:

eddjimmyjones said:

OP, I felt compelled to post my experience and hope you find my experience of use, especially around trying to soundproof your house as it might not work as my experience. I moved into my house in April 2021 a 2 bed semi, and happy at the time as I got a good deal and someone selling who inherited the house and wanted a quick sale, however, when I moved in I quickly learned that the walls were paper thin, I could hear the neighbours TV and conversations can be heard clearly.  For me the most annoying thing is that I can hear the neighbour's tv in all rooms in my house, whereas from my upstairs I cant or can barely hear my own tv downstairs if it's switched on. I can hear all the doors, and movement up and down the stairs etc from next door. 

Now the neighbours are very elderly in their 70s and 80s retired whereas I am in my mid 30s, I am also the only black person in the street, I only bring up my race as I believe it plays a factor. I work from home a lot and my job includes speaking to people on the phone and sometimes discussing upsetting issues. One time I was preparing a talk for black history month and practiced my speech without being loud, which from what I head next door resulted in some comments!! I am now overly conscious of the sounds I am making. To be fair the neighbours are not overly loud just normal living, however, it's not great, I am sensitive to it and I am overly conscious of the noise I am making and also how different I am to them and the impact this has on perceptions by neighbours etc and sometimes feel like even in your own home you can't be yourself.   

Be careful about trying to soundproof the house, it can be a waste of money, I have tried to sound proof the house, I bought sound proofing material from a well known and well regarded website and had professionals fit this in on the living room wall and bedroom wall. This didn't make a bit of a difference, cost me about £1000 for the material and £1000 to get fitted. I removed the materials and got the genie clip sound proofing system on the living room wall and bedroom walls. again material cost about £800 and this time I got a mate to help fit this who does trade work and paid my mate about £400. The bedroom has somewhat improved but can still hear neighbours tv downstairs, still not worth the money spent. The living room not made much of a difference and one of the issues is that the living room wall hasn't got enough room for all the sound proofing material due to a door right on the corner. Anyway so far it's £2200 in soundproofing which has not worked, if it worked then it would have been worth spending that much. I have spoke to sound proofing companies who want to charge loads but it's not guaranteed to work and some companies want close to £5000 a room!! without a guarantee it would work. I still have to plaster and decorate the walls where recent soundproofing was put in which I have not done yet, I am considering if I want to try and soundproof the walls again but this will be another cost to plaster and decorate the walls.

lately I have been using my smart speaker to play white noise when I go to bed to block out the noise it does block out some sound from next door which is mainly tv, the benefit for me is that for some reason I have slept much better since I have had the white noise on all night and its more fan noise. I am into headphones and have a number of noise cancelling headphones which help. 

I am now in a dilemma, I am considering moving and have looked at other properties and ideally want to move to a detached property but this will cost a lot more, also factoring in current mortgage climate. Wheares staying in my current house with its annoyances makes more financial sense for now.  

Please, I beg of you, don't say your neighbours are 'very elderly'. (What relevance?) I'm in my early 70s and still do not feel anything LIKE very elderly. Or even elderly, for that matter. In fact I just launched my own small online business. I am fit and able and I speak to anyone, of any age. 

I don't think a person's colour has any relevance here, or anywhere else for that matter, either. 

To your last paragraph - you seem to have spent quite a bit already on trying to soundproof your property so does that make more financial sense than trying to find a more expensive home that's not quite so noisy? If I could afford it I would move to a detached property in a field because most people are just so darned thoughtless. They don't mean to be annoying but they just are. 

My apologies my references to people being elderly were not meant to cause offence, if your follow this thread neighbours have been described in different ways from single women, to single men to families, I felt describing a neighbour as elderly could be appropriate as well. I will be mindful of calling people elderly.

as for bringing up my race, I understand that bringing up race can be very complicated and controversial, for some of us our lived experiences are influenced in a number of ways by our race in ways people of different backgrounds may not understand. There is a lot of research, books and movies written about this. Anyway, I don’t mean or intend race to detract from issues around soundproofing and dealing with poorly soundproofed homes, my only intention was to share my experience so that the original poster may learn what they chose of my experiences especially trying to soundproofing. After all is this not the purpose of this forum to share experiences so that others may benefit in ways they see fit?