How much do you hear your neighbours?

[Greeneyestoo]

Just that really, and if you do, how much does it bother you?

For context, we are mid terrace and constantly hear the male half of one side who very much likes the sound of his own voice. It drives me nuts. OH is less bothered usually but raises his eyebrows when he really shouts and hoots. I'd have not voluntarily chosen to live in a mid terrace but I moved in with OH so no choice really. We will move at some point, but curious about whether I'm odd or intolerant. Feels a bit intrusive and just really irritating when I can hear the neighbour over our TV.

Is it unreasonable to think you shouldn't be able to hear someone hollering all day long?? He is also a champion door and cupboard slammer!

We are semi detached and our attached neighbour is a delight; quiet, considerate etc. It's the house adjoining bottom of our garden that's a total pain. Doors and windows wide open no matter the weather, bad language and no volume control on anything. So even if we were detached we'd still have that problem

I have moved many time and always had a semi or a terrace. Last house was a Victorian terrace and whilst I did have really quiet neighbours I had them complain about DS a couple of times, once for being on his computer at midday and shouting to his mates. I hated having to tip toe around the place. House before that 1930s semi and had the loudest neighbours known to man, the woman had a voice like a boom box even having sex she would howl. Moved to a detached in July and by god it is amazing, the silence rings in my ears and I now feel completely relaxed. I would never willingly share a wall with a neighbour again.

I hear the old man next door every. single. day.
I try to ignore him, but for some reason he needs his tv on full volume between 3 and 4 am. It wakes me up, and I am on the other side of the house to the side he is attached!
The other side, never.

We're mid-terraced too and it's a bloody nightmare one one side. Her nickname is Stompy, that tells you all you need to know. She also starts the day at 5:30 am by grinding coffee and has a voice so loud it makes me feel like crying some days.

Detached, which helps a lot, but doesn't make you immune to never ending neighbour building work, dogs/kids in gardens etc.

Third floor flat and we have people above and below. We hardly hear a thing (solid concrete thirties block).

Once a week or so we hear the washing machine from upstairs and a bit of banging if she is doing a big clean or some work.

We hear nothing at all from downstairs. There is a guy on the ground floor who likes to go out in the garden of a morning and have a big cough.

That is pretty much it. The last time we had any really annoying noise was last year when the flat acorss the hall had seemingly endless rennovation works - lots of drilling and banging.

This house - semi but the stairs/hall are the adjoining bit... hear nowt really if people are in the house, and only the odd garden radio if people are outdoors. Apparently next door say they hear the kids in the garden occasionally but nothing like the barrage of Taylor Swift and tweenage tantrums that actually take place in the house. Garden noise is actually minimal as well with the way the houses are laid out there and larger gardens - I quite often have the patio doors in my office open when I'm working from home and I hear playtime at the nearby school and the odd train horn but that's about it.

Previous house - 1925 semi but the stairs/hall were on the outside of the joined house... used to hear coughing (heavy heavy smoker), music, endless endless drilling and the garden noise was fucking hell on earth as they'd take the telly, and a parrot and sit out there till the small hours smoking and drinking. Until he packed in the drink he'd have loud parties and be shitfaced most nights from about March - October in the garden.

Next door screaming kids gaaaah
downstairs can hear occasionally talking
next door other side seem to have builders in long term but are lovely people

Occasionally hear them slamming car doors when they get home/go out, but other than that, nothing. (Detached)

I can hear mine screaming through the wall right now! We’re a 1970s semi and hadn’t realised how bad the sound insulation is until current neighbours moved in. They are LOUD. Constant pounding up and down the stairs and I can hear them talking as they have such loud voices. She’s currently screaming down the phone.

The housing stock in the UK is dire. Unless you are one of the few in a detached house it’s horrendous the day to day noise we have to put up with and is considered acceptable. And house builders thought it was ok to build houses with paper thin walls. Now that we have the new sound regulations I’m hoping things are better in newer built properties.

When we used to live in a Mid Terrace we heard EVERYTHING the neighbours did.

The layout of the houses didn't help. One side had their TV the other side of the wall where our sofa was, so we could always hear that. Both sets of neighbouring stairs were against our walls, so we heard them going up and down at all hours. One side removed all the carpet from their downstairs and made it open plan, so we heard every chair scrape.

I felt like I never had a moments peace!

There wasn't even an excuse of it being an older house. The house itself is still less than 10 years old, it's shocking really.

When we were househunting, I insisted on a detached and it's so much quieter now 😂

I don't hear them much to be honest, when we moved in about 7 years ago the walls were that thin, I could have a conversation in the bathroom at normal voice level lol with next door.

We have since had sound insulation on the party walls, not because the neighbours were noisy, but because we have 2 childen with ASD and didn't wan't to inflict our noise on anyone else.

It certainly helps, it's reduced us hearing anyone by 90%..

We have been very lucky with our neighbours, and barely hear them at all.

On one side, we are attached garage to garage, although we have converted our garage into a bedroom. They are of a similar age to us, with adult children, not living there. The most we hear is when the grandchildren visit and play in the garden.

The other side, we are attached lounge to lounge. It's an elderly widow, living alone. The most we hear is her switching sockets on and off. I dread the day her house is finally sold, for fear of who might end up moving in.

Until this house we've always been mid-terrace and heard quite a bit, as I'd expect living next to families. The only times we had issues was when we lived next to somebody who was either a dealer or was hosting one regularly, even then it wasn't too often but hearing her and her preteen son screaming at each other occasionally wasn't nice (social services were very aware!)

Now we are in a semi-detached and barely hear next door. He's an old retiree and his wife isn't well. He used to bang on the wall when he thought we were being too noisy (not much we can do, two young ND kids) but he's stopped now, I think he's realised that we cannot and will not stop with the normal family noise and we're doing our best with the excessive element that comes with young ND kids. Though he did get very arsey about me hammering a piece of wood with pins at 7pm for a work example 🙄Though, when he tried to tell my husband off he was told to speak to me and hasn't because he will only talk to the Man of the House, which is great as I'm the one who uses all of the tools for work 😏

The family who were here before us were utter twats, so he may have also realised that at least we're better in the year we've been here!

In our previous flat I could hear our downstairs neighbour snore.. and their telly and every word they said. Horrific. Now live in a 50s semi and barely hear our elderly neighbours. occasionally hear their TV or them talking if they have visitors.

Used to live in a concrete prefab where I could hear everything as if they were right next to me in the same room. Could hear every word they said even when they spoken in a low voice, it was hell. They barely slept and neither did I!

Moved to a 1994 build semi detached bungalow and don't really hear anything. If the wind catches a door and it slams next door, I only hear a muffled distant thud when my side is quiet, no tv on. It's bliss. The party wall is thermalite blocks which have high soundproofing levels. My exterior walls have the same inside, a filled cavity then brick. I can't even hear other close neighbours kids in the garden until I open my patio door. Whoever built it did a fantastic job!

Mid terrace, late 1930s. Can't move because it's a council adapted property and DH is disabled. We'd never find anywhere else with the adaptions in place.

I hear one side every day. Yelling, screaming, doors slamming so hard they can wake me up in my bedroom on the other side of the house.

I've called the police a few times as it sounds like they're battering each other.

Homophobic language. Drug talk.

Police apparently can do nothing as "They can do as they like in their own house"

Council won't help as they're private tenants and it's "Living noise"

Currently sitting on other side of house listening to them call each other vile names.

Apparently she wants a bigger house (we're in 2 beds. It's her, her adult son, a teenage son and a primary aged daughter) so we're praying they move soon to get us a bit of peace!

We live in a semi detached and next door are party people who have guests often so we tend to hear them at the weekend, always know when the male half of the couple has his mum over as she has a shrill laugh that could cut through glass. Occasionally hear their bedroom tv through the wall or their teen daughters music in my DD room. We hear their dog bark which is usually an alert that my cat is sitting at the window waiting to be let in as the dog hates him.
They probably hear my DS throwing himself around the place and my DD practicing her drums (she has an electric kit with headphones I'm not a complete arsehole, but it still makes a bit of noise).
It doesn't really bother me and they've never complained to us. We live in close proximity we're going to hear each other at times.

Sex noises through the wall of our terrace. Really embarrassing as ive got kids who ask whats that noise? I bang on the wall as it really fucking gets on my nerves. Im yet to see them face to face to kick off the conversation… that will be fun 🥴

I have finally got a detached home in a very quiet area. I rarely see my neighbors and I never hear them. It is bliss.

My last owned house (I sold it and rented an apartment before buying this) was horrendous. It was a 1930s end terrace and my neighbor was a coke head. She would screech and howl in the early hours waking me up at least twice a week. She slammed doors, banged about. She could be quiet when she wanted to though.

The other side had a hot tub with music so loud I could hear it in my lounge with the doors and windows shut. They did this for 10 hours a day every day.

All this whilst I was the only one working through a global pandemic. It made me so unwell it took me 3 years to recover. Even now loud music sets me off.

They do know what they are doing but they don't care. They also hate others being loud!

I'm very amused that now both sides are trying to sell.

Current flat has no soundproofing so it feels more like living in a house share though my past housemates were actually quieter and more considerate. I feel uncomfortable about level of privacy I have given how much I can hear. The family below do seem to talk at a shouting level though and other neighbour I think gets drunk and likes loud music till late, though at least it's not daily and type I like with no heavy bass, their other neighbour sometimes complains then there's a shouting match and extra banging to piss them off. They're ok people and I feel safe here, the flats further along estate make me realise they actually aren't so bad.

Summer feels worse with everyone's windows open for sound to travel more, plus randy yowling cats. Though I also seem to live near arseholes that have a bonfire anytime it's roasting hot🙄.

Trickle vents are terrible invention, why the fuck put a big hole in double glazing frame ruining it's sound proofing properties! Even with the vents shut there is little respite when neighbours out/quiet as can still hear rest of neighbourhood 😫I wear headphones often for a break.

If I win the lottery I'll be gone like a flash to somewhere quieter without near neighbours to annoy me, just like to hear more birds and nature sounds, even road drone you can learn to filter out more easily.

I hear my neighbour's tv. Mostly Jonathan Creek, Silent Witness and Have I Got News for You! She is in her 80s and I assume takes her hearing aids out at night. It's really not bad though and we have two noisy children so I'd never let her know we can occasionally hear her tv.

We do hear her shutting her does though. It's like she can't work door handles!

Bad day today. I work from home - male neighbour does not so found concentrating hard. He is currently showing off for the benefit of his mate who has been there all day, singing/shouting and it sounds like he's smashing his furniture up, he's so rough with it. I don't know how his partner puts up with it, I never hear her. I have wondered in the past if he's a cokehead. Wouldn't surprise me.
I'm really sorry for everyone else who puts up with similar and who have posted. Thank you. It makes you feel like crap.