Mid terrace dwellers...

[JorisBonson]

How much can you hear your neighbours?

Right hand side -
Hairdryer
Plugs being plugged in
Occasional arguments
Teenage daughter who takes every opportunity to sing very loudly, and not well.

Left hand side -
Heart radio from 8.30am EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. The muffled bass of a DJ talking shit is driving me insane
Children who class screaming as a hobby
Mum who classes loud Facetimes as a hobby. General loud everything. I think she actually wants everyone to hear her inane chat.

(I'm also very aware that they can probably hear us but we're generally quite boring and quiet).

One side wakes me up every morning by shouting and nagging their kids to get up, dressed, etc.

The other side are beside dd's bedroom and we can hear them laughing, chatting, etc in the evenings as dd goes to bed. Our hallway is next to them downstairs so don't hear them much unless we're in dd's bedroom. They do get very loud when they've got friends round (every bloody day during lockdown!). Occasionally we hear their baby through the night, but he's never as loud as their friends are. I don't mind baby noises, he can't help it, he's only little.

I'm in my final mid terrace, for the love of god I had better be.

Ours is converted into flats.

Right hand side- Just the hairdryer (I think she must plug it in at the wall our bed is against.
Left hand side- nothing
Upstairs- Arguments, having sex, hoovering, music, hollering at Alexa to play said music, heaviest footsteps known to man, lots of random banging and crashing.

Ex council. So walls very thick. One neighbour on one side. Hear nothing.

DH just reminded me of when one side watched Grease, loudly and singing along, then put the Grease soundtrack on, loudly, and sang along.

right hand side used to be an old man ,very quite never heard anything apart from phone ringing several times a day to check he was ok ,was then empty for 2yrs its now been sold and the builders have been in nearly everyday from 830 including weekends since august, left hand side piano playing at 1030 at night ,loud music every sunday day time normally Adele, also likes to play loud music when she mows the lawn, and can her her son swearing at whatever video game hes playing

Left hand side, guitar or accordion and occasional bursts of song. This is absolutely fine as NDN is officially the best neighbour in the world so even accordion playing is 100% acceptable.

Right hand side, nothing. Sometimes they sit outside under their covered garden area and the sound of genteel conversation can be heard, otherwise they're largely silent.

OTOH they can probably hear DS playing guitar for hours at a time, radio / music sporadically during the day, and occasionally DDog3 barking to protect her family from passing leaves. Fortunately one of the up sides of living in an old draughty cottage is our enormously thick walls

Not much on one side (2 sisters - late teens/early 20s and a 2 year old) except when they hoover or if they have music on in the kitchen I can hear it but only when I’m by my front door. Occasionally they’ll have blazing rows and I can hear every word. We don’t intervene unless they start throwing things at each other...

The other side I can hear everything - conversations, tv, various animals, doors, the lot! They are the loudest people I have ever known. The house was added onto mine in the 50s (council) and I don’t think soundproofing was taken into consideration at all!

I hate living mid-terrace, it’s not just the noise, I feel so hemmed in! I think it’s only having windows at the front and rear of the house so it will always be darker than a detached/semi-detached.

Left side:

• Argue at least twice a day
• Roars at her child on an hourly basis
• I can hear their awful rave music
• I can hear when they go in their drawers in the front bedroom.

I can hear everything basically. Sometimes in the night their child cries and I wake up worrying it's my DS and have to stare at the baby monitor.

Right side:

• I sometimes hear her house phone ring
• I can hear her plug things in her front bedroom
• I can hear her hoover

I can't wait to sell this house

Right side....occasional dog noise, phone call mumbling...but usually quiet.
Left side....beeping alarm of door when they go out, very quiet. Im so lucky, I think I might be the noisy one .

Lived mid-terrace for six years. On the left, Mad Cat Lady #1; occasionally heard the TV very faintly. On the right, Mad Cat Lady #2; heard the stairs creaking but otherwise nothing.

Moved two doors down to the end of the terrace. Can no longer hear MCL1's TV; however she has locks and bolts running the entire length of the front door which can be heard throughout my house whenever she goes in or out. I can also hear her bathroom light switching on when I'm having a fag out the back. Other than that, not a peep.

Thin walls still a problem though - we've got a constant stream of high-volume Romanian bickering coming from a house opposite and even with all my windows shut it keeps me awake; plus I can always tell if there's a big sporting event on courtesy of the swearing/shouting/cheering from the bloke five doors down.

Middle of terrace built in early years of 20th century, with lovely thick walls. I can hear little bits of my neighbours in certain bits of the house - usually around the fire places, but not much. So, I know my newish neighbours on one side have a liking for plinky-plonky jazz, and can tell if they have their TV on, but that's about it. On the other side, I can hear if the young adult son of the couple has his mates round and they are being a bit loud, but they're never doing so late at night. So, enough to tell that people are there, but not enough to disturb me, and actually I quite like that...

One side, occasional toddler crying, occasional bump against wall with furniture/vacuum cleaner. Other side, old chap's telly on full blast from 6pm to approx. 4 am each night (although the poor old fella is in hospital at the moment and weirdly I miss the sound of it).

Victorian terrace. Fairly quiet these days. However, the last lot of RHS neighbours (male tenants in 20s/early 30s) set up the ground floor as a DJ party room and had parties/raves almost every weekend. The worst one started at 8am one Sunday morning and went on all day. My children were very young at the time and I was very stressed by the noise, people turning up at all hours, doors slamming, rubbish & drugs paraphernalia chucked onto our path etc. After they left/were made to leave, the house was sold and the new owners are much quieter. Their curtains make a lot of noise when they open them (must be on some sort of pull cord system) and we hear the baby/lots of baby talk but not much else. Other side is an elderly man on his own and he's very quiet apart from when we hear him shouting into his phone

LHS: coughing , occasionally carrying voice of visiting grandson (but never adults)
RHS: downstairs flat front door slamming
RHS: upstairs flat - nothing

Downstairs flat: door slamming a million times a day , inane chat if windows open, or speaker phone calls in side return/echo chamber . Arguments loud enough to call police once in a while.

I also hear bathroom light going on/off but strangely not TV/talking

My neighbours hear from me: hoovering (downstairs), aerobics & kitchen doors open/close (the LHS), music (RHS). Seems like noise travels along walls so it can be funny sounds that carry vs just loud ones

Noise from neighbour houses minimal vs flats, I think that’s due to poor conversion (Victorian Terrace but converted in 80s, badly). I think old horsehair plaster blocks the noise, most comes in via windows so front of house noisier as hear front doors of several houses

Being in London, non-terraced houses not v affordable but it’s made me move more to using back of my house (especially since lockdown when I’m home so much)

Left side: TV occasionally. When they lower or raise their blinds in bedroom.
Right side: children practising their instruments, but it’s not too intrusive.

Been living in a mid-terrace for 5 years now and can honestly say it has made me want to stay put! Perhaps we just have quiet neighbors but all we hear...
NOTHING from the old man on our right
Sneezing from the left, and maybe a bit of DIY but this is once in a blue moon. This is an older couple. Possibly would be different if a family with kids move in next door (although we'll be those neighbours in the near future!). Having said that though, they have grandchildren and never heard a peep!

The fact that out house is warmer than a semi or detached is a bonus. The house is big enough for us so no reason for us to move!

@MMM2

Right side....occasional dog noise, phone call mumbling...but usually quiet. Left side....beeping alarm of door when they go out, very quiet. Im so lucky, I think I might be the noisy one .

I think we are the noisy ones too! We are a young couple and our neighbours on either side are 50+. We feel lucky. Don't want them to ever go!

We have lived in 2 mid terrace houses. The first was lovely, heard nothing Eve with a new baby next door and a toddler. That's why we thought another mid terrace would be the same but oh no....hell on earth from a horrible family.

1945 mid terrace ex council house here.

To the left, we get to hear their TV downstairs drowning ours out, their TV upstairs when we're trying to get to sleep, and their regular Friday night sex, down to the flesh slapping together. It's just grim.

Right side we have a tunnel to the garden so don't hear much downstairs, and upstairs we only hear their kids tapping their tooth brushes when I'm doing bedtime stories for mine.

Has anyone ever retrofitted sound proofing?

Left side: occasional footsteps, but of muffled conversation, teenage DC crashing about occasionally (not there full time), tv if we’re in bed early and they’re watching a movie or something. Just general background noise really.

Right side: various alarms, doorbells, the radio, loud conversations... everything! NDN is in her late 90s, very deaf, and lives independently. Her emergency alarm, phone and doorbell are all linked and are incredibly loud. She went away recently and somehow managed to set an alarm clock for every evening. Drove us all mad 😂 Thankfully we’re good friends with the neighbours on the other side so we all just joke about it.

Oh and fucking game of thrones theme tune every new episode whacked up loud.

Right hand-woman with possible mental problems, screams at anyone in her house intermittently (daughter, grandchildren etc) Left hand rented to students-never a sound from them.

I lived in a terrace a few years back before I bought with DH.

On one side we heard the kids running up and down the stairs, the occasional argument and for some reason at 10pm every night, the sound of what I think was a garden spade being dragged through the garage and into the garden (their garage was next to our kitchen).

On the other side we heard nothing at all except for really loud sex about 3 times a year

On the left, usually only if we're in the kitchen or downstairs loo. The have 2 Labradors and a beagle, the Labs get excited if they hear their gate opening so we sometimes hear barking, and occasionally the dad losing his rag with their kid.

On the right? They have a little yappy dog, 2 teenagers who like to stomp up the stairs, mum has a very clear carrying voice( aka a foghorn) and it's a rare week I haven't hear her screaming at the kids or the dog or her husband. We also hear every bit of DIY, kitchen doors being slammed shut, their washing machine if it's overloaded- the floor is uneven so it sounds like an aircraft taking off, music being played and screeched along to while housework is being done and my absolute fave; being woken at some time between 1.30 and 3am by someone having the world's loudest piss. Complete with stop/ start.