Drum kit for 13-year-old: practical in a semi-detached house?

[Kittkats]

DS (13) has been learning drums in school and loves it. It’s his birthday soon and he’d like a drum kit.
I’d love to encourage his hobby but DH has ptsd and I’m not sure how he’d cope with drumming in the house, also we’re semi detached. We do have a summerhouse/ gym at the end of the garden though, so I could put a kit there. I don’t imagine he’d practice more than 30 minutes to an hour a day. Does that sound reasonable? Also, there seem to be quiet kits/ drum mutes/ electronic kits available. Does anyone know if they’d feel the same to DS playing them? Are they worth getting or do I bite the bullet with a kit like the one he’s learning on?
Any kit recommendations on a budget also appreciated!
The only other things he’d like are climbing shoes for when he goes climbing occasionally with his older brother (too young to be allowed in unsupervised) or a gaming pc and I’m trying to hold off on the latter.

I was lucky enough to live in a detached house in the middle of nowhere when I was a teen drummer, but I think you still just need to have limits.

E.g. two unmuffled sessions a week, and 3-4 muffled sessions a week (depending on how well the muffled ones sound).

You need an electric drum kit with headphones in this scenario

I would go for an electronic drum kit, he can learn on that and get used to acoustic kit at school.

Our neighbour has an electric drum kit.
He occasionally plays unplugged in the middle of the day.

That’s your only option imo

As far as I’m aware, with an electronic drum kit, when plugged in, only the headphone wearer can hear the drums, and anyone else in the room can just hear a slight tapping sound!

Agree, electric drum kit is the only solution. And being strict about volume control to protect his ears.

Does this mean two different kits?

We've got an electronic kit I think they're a good place to start. DD has a speaker so she can play out loud with the backing track if she wants or she can use headphones.

Another vote for an electric drum kit we are detached but I didn’t fancy listening to a learner on drums 🤣. It’s great he can plug in his headphones when he wants to practice and he and his dad have an amp for when they want to play music together.

I would have thought a drumming teen would be the worst possible noise nuisance

Followed by a tone death violinist

Does she think it feels the same as an acoustic kit? I don’t want to buy and him not like/ use it.

I think an electronic kit in the summerhouse is an ideal Compromise. You can’t really have an hour plus of drumming next to other people’s homes.

Please don’t buy an acoustic drum kit, unless you want all your neighbours to hate you. It’s not like there’s not options. And putting it down the shed/ garden room is a worse option that inside the house.

Some people have PTSD - an acoustic drum kit would hurt them

It needs to be a digital one with headphones. I've known loads of drummers and not one of them was allowed to practice normal kit in the house, whether parents or flat share or living alone in a building with others.

I think my mate who was loaded had a massive garden and they installed a shed for her brother to practice in. But otherwise it's just massively antisocial.

All your neighbours will hate you and you will more than likely get noise complaints, and that’s after angry neighbours on your doorstep.

One of my old neighbours got a drum kit for their son. Most of the street came out and applauded when the council came to remove it. In case you are wondering, it’s a reasonably low tolerance on drumming - not really much more than 30 minutes a day even in daytime hours. It’s classed as a statutory nuisance very quickly. You could hear it several streets away. Very selfish to inflict that on a semi detached neighbour.

Get an electric drum kit. All the drummers I know go and rehearse in hired rooms, not their back gardens.

Tone death?! A bit extreme!

My son has an electric kit which he uses with headphones and it's still audible all through the house - there still hitting going on, just not the resonance. Acoustic kit in a semi-detached? Absolutely not.
Make sure you get a good kit with a quick response time. Alesis is a good brand.

My DC has an acoustic kit in a semi detached. The neighbours in the attached side can hear it but are not that bothered, the ones on the otherside don't hear it at all (they are elderly and a bit deaf). She started playing when I was pregnant, her baby brother sleeps through it with no problems.

My DC practices most days for about 15-20 minutes, never after 8pm and never in the morning. The key is to have regular conversations with your neighbour and to not be a dick basically.

The bass drum is muffled with pillows, but I will be getting some additional sound dempening for it. The kit is in a room furthest away from neighbours.

You can switch between electric and acoustic easily. Yes they're a bit different but it's fine. Good experience as lots of places won't have an acoustic set. Drum kits in schools are often electric so you can have more than one in a music room. Are you certain they're learning on an acoustic set?

I have an acoustic drum kit and we're detached and even then I can attest that everyone hates you for practicing. That includes members of your household who love you, let alone the neighbours so I'd definitely go for electric to encourage them to practice without you feeling like breaking their sticks.

No.

I recommend an acoustic kit for practice. To reduce noise, you can build a padded sound booth with electric vent for around £100-300, depending on your materials and whether you DIY or hire a handyman. You can find examples on YouTube.
If that’s not feasible, the Tama True Touch Training Kit is an option for a sound closer to acoustic drums, and you might find a used one at a much lower price.

The third option is an electric kit, as others have suggested.

Maybe approach the person who teaches him drums in school and ask if they know of anywhere where he could try out an electronic drum kit?

Electric kit definitely. My adult DS is a drummer, has electric kit at home, plays acoustic kit at recording studio. Has an acoustic kit at home but it’s in the garage and only used for gigs.