Depressed about new house

Woolsery

HRH_MUngo said:

I had a terraced house for forty years and never once had a noise problem. It helped that we had the same neighbours on either side for most of that time.  In the beginning we  all had small children.

We now live in a bungalow (in the UK), which is only joined to next door  at the bedrooms and we are both couples in our 70s.  Neither of us hear any noise.

All I can say is, if the noise bothers you, all you can do is move to a detached house.  People have to live their lives, after all.

It seems you've argued against your own experience, and mine. Between us, we've had 80 years of attached living with few noise problems, so 'move to a detached house' is not the only solution, though any move will involve an element of luck. As you say, how properties are joined, and matters like the age group they attract, the density of occupation etc will have a bearing on day-to-day living experiences.

It's very likely the majority of Brits still live without undue stresses caused by excessive neighbour noise. Our adult children have lived in a dozen different houses/flats at the cheaper end of the scale, and never detached. To my knowledge, there's never been a noise issue of any huge significance for them either.

andy444

With all respect, it's all very well to say go and buy a detached house if you don't like it, but depending where you are in the country, it could cost you an extra £100-200k for a detached property which is not an insignificant sum. Plus if you live in a big city like London it's virtually impossible to suddenly upgrade to a detached place.

lookstraightahead

andy444 said:

With all respect, it's all very well to say go and buy a detached house if you don't like it, but depending where you are in the country, it could cost you an extra £100-200k for a detached property which is not an insignificant sum. Plus if you live in a big city like London it's virtually impossible to suddenly upgrade to a detached place.

I think there's a mix of responses on here stating detached houses aren't always best, which is my experience as well. I'm at my mums at the moment and her house is detached. I always sleep with the windows open in my semi and there is no noise. At hers now with the window open I can hear cars and dogs already. Her neighbour is also building a pond which I presume will continue any minute.

Most expensive is not always best. It might sound better (like lots of things). New detached houses are often built in a very poor way as well, but it's to spread the net wide to those who "will only buy detached" irrespective of quality. 

mattb001

A detached house is the only guaranteed way to fix OP’s problem of hearing next door’s living noise (and thus being concerned about neighbours hearing OP’s noise). 

HRH_MUngo

Woolsery said:

HRH_MUngo said:

I had a terraced house for forty years and never once had a noise problem. It helped that we had the same neighbours on either side for most of that time.  In the beginning we  all had small children.

We now live in a bungalow (in the UK), which is only joined to next door  at the bedrooms and we are both couples in our 70s.  Neither of us hear any noise.

All I can say is, if the noise bothers you, all you can do is move to a detached house.  People have to live their lives, after all.

It seems you've argued against your own experience, and mine. Between us, we've had 80 years of attached living with few noise problems, so 'move to a detached house' is not the only solution, though any move will involve an element of luck. As you say, how properties are joined, and matters like the age group they attract, the density of occupation etc will have a bearing on day-to-day living experiences.

It's very likely the majority of Brits still live without undue stresses caused by excessive neighbour noise. Our adult children have lived in a dozen different houses/flats at the cheaper end of the scale, and never detached. To my knowledge, there's never been a noise issue of any huge significance for them either.

Yes there are many factors which cause noise but the only SURE way to not have neighbour noise is to have a detached house in the middle of a field.  Seeing as how most people can't afford this, then other detached houses will suffice.  That is just for ordinary living noise, there is not guarantee there will not be other noise - even in a field there might be noise from the farmer ploughing the next field. 

RelievedSheff

lookstraightahead said:

andy444 said:

With all respect, it's all very well to say go and buy a detached house if you don't like it, but depending where you are in the country, it could cost you an extra £100-200k for a detached property which is not an insignificant sum. Plus if you live in a big city like London it's virtually impossible to suddenly upgrade to a detached place.

I think there's a mix of responses on here stating detached houses aren't always best, which is my experience as well. I'm at my mums at the moment and her house is detached. I always sleep with the windows open in my semi and there is no noise. At hers now with the window open I can hear cars and dogs already. Her neighbour is also building a pond which I presume will continue any minute.

Most expensive is not always best. It might sound better (like lots of things). New detached houses are often built in a very poor way as well, but it's to spread the net wide to those who "will only buy detached" irrespective of quality. 

Our 3 year old detached "new build" is built far better than the previous 1930s semi that we lived in. That was atrocious quality.

Sitting in our house now we can hear absolutely no neighbour noise, or outside noise, which is sheer bliss compared to the last house where you could hear absolutely everything going on next door from any room in the house.

The two houses are a world apart, polar opposites. 

We love the house we are in now and it would have to be something very special, and detached, that made us move from here.

Skiddaw1

It really does vary so doesn't it?

We lived in a Victorian mid-terraced house on the edge of a town for 20 years and you could certainly hear some noise from both sets of neighbours (one side was a fairly large family, the other side was a student let) but it very rarely bothered us. We also fronted onto a park that generally hosted events at the weekends especially in summer (including fairs, day festivals, sporting events, etc). Noise certainly wasn't the prime reason for us moving but we've both really relished the peace of living in a detached house in a village. We wouldn't relish going back to party walls I must say.

OP, I hope things settle down but if not I'd be looking to relocate as soon as it becomes a viable option./

Sarah1Mitty2

Yes moving looks like the best option here.

mi-key

This is something I am very concious of as am thinking of moving soon. I currently have a detatched bungalow and it is very quiet. I am looking at semis, but ones where I can have the master bedroom not on the party wall just in case.

It may help if you can move rooms around. i,e. if the dining room is quiet, then use that as your bedroom. There are no rules saying you cant have a living room upstairs etc...

GiantTCR

Right so now after 9 pages we're arriving to say that detached houses are not good either and the chance of hearing noise is just as bad as in any semi/terraced property.

OP, have you thought about living on a boat? If there's a party yatch one night, you just sail 100yards away. Also, free white noise forever and potentially free fish.