Terraced housing and sex

[redfacedandtherest]

Anyone willing to share whether they can hear their neighbours having sex? I have namechanged for this for obvious reasons but I have been on mumsnet for many years!

DH and I have a pretty decent sex life, and I'm not going to lie and say that when we are at home alone I don't hold back. I mean, I start off thinking, 'I hope the neighbours don't hear us', but when the going gets good I have issues not vocalising it .

My main fear is that we live in a terraced house, it's an old one so we hear occasional noise from the kids next door but mainly nothing. Our bedrooms don't back onto each other which was a deliberate choice.

Do I owe them a bottle of wine, and need to wear a paper bag over my head when I go outside?!

We used to live in a cottage flat. My upstairs neighbour was a single guy in his sixties. The layout of the rooms meant his bedroom was directly above our living room. Every Sunday afternoon he would have his woman friend visiting and the noise we got in our living room was frankly embarrassing. Turning the TV on full blast didn't help at all. I was glad when we moved.

It’s the same as laughter though, isn’t it. If I watch a Netflix comedy special on tv alone alone I might let out the odd chuckle at most, go to see a live comedy show or watch some recorded comedy with someone else and I laugh more. You’re expressing to others what you find funny. With sex you’re expressing what you enjoy.

I used to live in a terraced house and could hear my neighbours having sex 😁😁 sorry OP!

@BeckyWithTheGoodHair010101 😂😂 I am slowly coming to the realisation we might be that middled aged couple that everyone apart from our neighbours thinks we just relax at home with a horlicks in the evening

@WingSluts that, and I'm very likely to have some time on my own and then go to sleep. DH and I have a lot more fun together

Yep I live in a terrace and can hear my elderly neighbours having sex very regularly!!!!!

Maybe it depends on your neighbours! I can hear ours coughing through the walls. Our bedrooms back on to one another so would definitely hear any nocturnal activities. I can hear their teen chatting on his playstation and whenever something is plugged in. However they consistently say they don't hear us, and we as a family are much louder than them. Kids up at 6am roughhousing, tantrums, yelling up and down the stairs at eachother. I've given them a hard stare when they said they don't hear us but they've never budged on it. So either they're overwhelmingly polite even though there were apology brownies and beers on offer or they're a lot deafer than we are!

Now I have a semi … snigger

Yes i used to live in a terraced and once got up to a note having been put through the door from neighbours asking us to keep down our ‘night time noises’ - soon moved as couldn’t cope with the embarrassment!

How would you know if you're loud?

thank you for the info, it’s very useful!
I was always sure that loud swearing reduces pain, glad that it’s proved scientifically. Ime swearing is must, especially in case of stubbed toe.
Can’t say the same about sex as both DH and I are silent and repressed as well, not by choice but because DD’s bedroom is next door.
We never heard our neighbors in terraced having sex. There were 3 Asian guys on one side, more like workers than students, and single middle aged woman on the other side. I really hope she had a lot of sex and fun as I liked her

We're in an end terrace and we've definitely heard the neighbours, and they've definitely heard us as they told us (we used to be good friends)

This all reminds me of being a student and hearing other people having sex, I thought it was horrible enough then, but accepted it as part of housesharing. I'm incredibly glad that when I lived for 5 years in an end of terrace we never heard the neighbours having sex although we could sometimes hear them going up and down stairs and other knocking and bumping sounds. After that I've lived in detached houses for decades and would never again live in a semi, terrace or flat simply because I loathe hearing sounds through the walls, let alone people having sex.
People who are loud having sex, do you care if your children can hear you?

silent and repressed 😂how the French describe us brits presumably

Yep heard them many a time. Not for a while as she's about to give birth!

In our semi I could hear their clock strike on the hour sometimes.

Not sure if we could be heard by them as we never heard anything in that department - an old widow lived there with her adult son. Some of the recess of our bedroom was on a neighbouring wall to their house.

I don't think most people would comment on such a matter.

There's no reason to be loud. Self control!

Of all the houses I've lived in.

1960's semi had the thinnest walls. We actually put in soundproofing a) because sound coming from next door was very explicit and b) we had 3 very young DC's who could hear every sound and we needed to do something before they were old enough to understand and c) it was cheaper than moving.

Next worst is current house. Built in 1830's. Single wall between 2 cottages. We know what they are having for tea. Fortunately, both us and neighbours are way past it for nocturnal activities.

Thickest walls and amazingly soundproof was a 1920's semi.

Loud sex is so last year.

Fifties terrace, built with the usual post-war throw ‘em up out of the rubble finesse. We can hear. As long as it isn’t waking me up at 3am the morning before a Board meeting, I’m not that bothered. They can no doubt hear us, too. Who cares. Most adults have sex, I don’t find it any more embarrassing than hearing the neighbours’ TV or music through the wall or overhearing them talking in the garden, or them hearing the same from us. It’s just life.

I thought screamers were ridiculous, until I met a man who actually made things happen down there (do that thing with your tongue, John Snow) which made me make a lot of noise 😱 never screaming, as in 'ahhhhhhh!!!!' but (probably) loud noises and things.

He was a dick and leaving was the right thing for me and my kids but 8ish years on I still miss the oral sex.

When I became a parent for the first time, we realised how hard things must have been for one of the neighbours when one morning we heard giggling and then the sound of one of them falling out of bed.

My very prim and proper grandmother got upset that she could hear her neighbours AND they weren't married 😱

We live in a Victorian terrace and hear pretty much everything from the neighbours including sex. The neighbour on one side had quite a passionate relationship for a while but they broke up and we were treated to her sad heartbreak music playlist instead.

Yes of course they can hear you having sex. It's pretty antisocial to be that loud at home where your neighbours can hear. You don't have to be silent but you also don't need to shriek.

I'd so be sending you a scorecard through the letter box after!

6/10... man could have lasted longer, woman was clearly faking towards the end, man obviously didn't read you as he clearly changed positions just as you were getting there.

They can probably hear us and we certainly hear them. the neighbours on one side of us, moved in about 3 years ago are so loud in everything. with all the windows shut you can hear everything they say and this 80s house never was like that before. the other side you can hear the dog and the girl running up the stairs as they have no carpet. more interesting is about 5 in the morning who comes out of who's house wife swapping is rife here quite an eye opener seeing who has been with whom