Can you hear your neighbours

[AlwaysSomethingThere]

Those of you in semi or terraced. How much activity can you hear through your walls? Screaming kids, barking dogs, slamming doors, music etc. I'm looking for a house (unfortunately my budget doesn't stretch to a detached house on an island with a moat, a 12 foot fence and a drawbridge) and the first thing I do on viewings is pin my ear to the party wall as I'm so terrified I'll end up with a shit neighbour.

I suffer with anxiety and EXTREME misophonia so I find it very hard to judge when it's me being irrational or them being inconsiderate.

Interested to hear the measure of what other people think \ have to cope with?

We used to live in a Victorisn semi. We could hear their phone ringing, answerphone messages, light switches, washing machine plus properly loud sounds like the tv, music, sex. I hated it!

New build semi. I can hear their dogs barking, the Dad playing guitar, the dad shouting/swearing at the kids , people running upstairs and doors slamming.

I like in a flat .,one flat below. Bizzarly I never hear anything apart from them going to the tolet in moring. Maybe thier bathroom is under my bedroom . I have two flats on other side of hall and never hear them which is amazing seeing these are worst built flats.

I have a semi and I can hear my neighbour sneezing daily! Can often hear their TV, the kids running about, mum shouting at them... not sure if they're just very loud though. Previous neighbours used to sing Row Row Row Your Boat to their baby and we would sing along on our side

We have an older couple on one side and a single guy on the other, hear him sometimes, rarely hear anything from the older couple but I bet they can hear us. I try to be quite but 2 boys and a very loud dp that doesn't seem to realise how loud he can be, even when he's told. Or maybe he just doesn't care.

We're on an end. Occasionally we hear our neighbour but it's a single bloke. The most noise we get from his house is when his teens visit. His son once took it upon himself to stay over while his dad was away. We thought he'd been broken into. Said teen went out and came in at 1am and set the burglar alarm off. Needless to say his dad went mad when he got home and we told him.
In general, we live on a quiet cul-de-sac and all of our neighbours are great. One has a dog that barks whenever it is out but it is day time only and not for long. One decided to have a party over Christmas, that spilled into the garden. I shouted out of our bedroom window for him to go inside and shut up (nicely).
It's only unreasonable when it's late at night imo. Day time is fair game. If you can get an end house that would be better for you OP, and visit the street at night before you choose a property.

Edwardian end of terrace. Can hear very little except their dogs if their door goes, and the teenager son gaming. The latter is deeply deeply problematic at 4am. Sometimes I hear raised voices / music. It’s all tolerable apart from the gaming.

20 year old semi. Can't hear a thing. They are very lovely neighbours.

Semi detached 30's house. Don't hear day-to-day noises apart from their alarm. He must rest it on his headboard right next to the wall. Every morning at 4:30.
But it does mean I don't feel bad is DS is loud in the morning because I know he's already out for the day.
When DS was a new born, they popped round to collect a parcel and were genuinely shocked when they saw me holding a baby as they hadn't heard a peep.
They're out most weekends and work long days which probably affects the amount we hear from them.

New build here and we can hear nothing from either side. A few times neighbour on one side have asked DH to turn his music down but other than that have said they can't hear us. I'm very loud as are my DC's so this is reassuring 😂

Edwardian semi and we hear a lot in some rooms, less in others as they aren’t symmetrical now. I’m sure they hear us too. The bedroom noise is particularly annoying.

Another Edwardian semi. We don't actually share a wall for the living areas, and there's quite thick walls between our kitchens so generally we don't hear next door during the day. Upstairs we have our respective bedrooms next to each others bathrooms, so we hear every 6am shower (and they get the pleasure of his lordship's awful bathroom habits). Apart from the very occasional argument and irritating friend hammering on their front door, their noise is minimal. Their weed smoking though, is fucking horrendous - stinks out our whole house. So swings and roundabouts.

Lived in a variety of houses. Worst was a childhood home where we could hear everything as if they were in our livingroom. They didn't like us (or anyone) and often got to hear their latest complaints at length through the wall, whilst completly ignoring the fact that the noise problem was a two way thing. Last house (terrace) we lived in wasn't too bad until an extremely loud and agressive woman, with her equally so teen son moved in. They actually left me with some serious sleep deprivation, and I say this with two very young children!

10 year old semi, bizarrely never hear them upstairs, or in the kitchen I don't think, just if they have guests in the living room and talking loud. Also hear them shouting at their Alexa 😂 thankfully they don't have kids, they swear they never hear us but I find that hard to believe. I hate hearing them tbh even though it's innocent noises, can't wait to upsize to a detached one day! To be fair though we've lived in 5 semi houses over the years in various ages and never had a bad time, maybe we've been lucky. None have had young kids thinking about it 😂

I'm quite surprised how well the new builds are faring in this thread, I assumed they'd be the worst culprits. I know I've been surprised how insulated ours feels from next door (not so much between our own rooms mind, where a drawing pin can't be put in the wall for fear of coming out the other side!)

We lived in a semi, was a nightmare - when we moved cities for work we bought a detached! (Thankfully new city was cheaper than old city)

I live in a 1950s block with a flat above and a flat below. There is absolutely zero soundproofing. Upstairs neighbours are generally really considerate about noise and mainly only get floorboards creaking, talking and tv noise. Fine. Downstairs neighbours are horrible, aggressive arseholes who shout, swear, slam doors at 6am, blast out music and shag really loudly. They must be particularly thick as they bang on the ceiling at ordinary household noise from my flat, yet don't realise sound travels both ways 🙄

Live in a 1950's semi, neighbours have 4 children under 10, youngest must be around two and cries constantly all day and night, it's not even a whinge it's full on crying.

They also have just had puppies, when they are out the pups Yelp continuously too, never hear the adult dog though.

It's hell some days, last week I was off work Ill and I literally listened to a crying toddler and yelping dogs all day long. I don't know how they put up with it in the house.

1930s semi, just like a pp said, I can’t hear much through the downstairs walls,except the ping of their microwave and occasionally the smoke alarm on a Sunday morning( bacon sarnies maybe)
But Jesus the bathroom wall is so thin, I’m not mad keen on listening to someone, I’m assuming dad, hawk his guts up at 7 every morning. If he gave up the fags it would do us both the world of good.

@notanothernam I thought the same! We can't hear anything in our new build but you hear such horror stories! I've just been to a friends new house tonight mind and it was if her neighbours were in the same room as us so I suppose it's just pot luck as to the builders!

Old Victorian terraced house. I can hear them putting plugs in sockets in one room occasionally and I can hear her tell her kids off now and again if my house is silent. When her kids were babies I could hear them crying ever so slightly as the room was next to mine. It didn't wake me and it was not anywhere near loud enough to disturb me. I can hear them shut the front door if I am in my front room at the same time. If either us play music it's heard but so faint it doesn't bother anyone. They can hear my dog barking but with tv on they can't hear it and they do hear me shouting at various things now and again. If I shouted like a mad woman at 3am they would be able to hear me but not distinguish my words.

I live in a 3 story with another 3story on one side and a 2 story on the other. Don't really hear much, the occasional moving round of furniture but never heard a TV, dog, child, argument etc.

We hear bloody everything. (Late 80s terraced here). I can report that the neighbours are now in bed, and have plugged their phones in to charge, but not turned the light out yet. I’m not keeping track or anything, it’s just their plug socket and switches are REALLY loud right by my head.

I lived in a block of 4 flats and couldn't hear a thing to the side or from below. It was magic! Think it must have been some thick concrete seperating us.
Now I live in a semi detached house next to an older couple. I can hear the hoover, dog barking when the door bell goes and creaking floorboards. When the grandkids are there it's so loud.. slamming doors, shouting and running down stairs. So glad they visit sparingly

I live in a 1950s terrace. I very rarely hear my neighbours. We have some new ones on one side, and I can sometimes hear their child banging on the walls - bouncing on the bed maybe - at bedtime. As they're young it's not late at night so doesn't bother me (once I figured out it's not my own kids banging!) We also heard their fire alarm going off when they had a fire a few weeks ago, thankfully not a serious one.

The other side I have only ever heard when I'm in the bathroom in the morning. Probably the same sort of shouting I do at my lot to get ready for school!

We're probably the noisy ones, though nothing's ever been said.

I'm in a new build end terrace and only hear very occasional noises I'm very noise sensitive . It helps that our living room attaches to their kitchen/dining room.
I can sometimes hear the washing machine spin and their dog barking but its not immediately clear and I have to mute the tv to work out of its a noise in my house or theirs.