To think a great big semi or detached house must be SO lovely?!

[NeverYouMind123]

Terraced here. It's okay most of the time but I dream of living in a house with no fucking neighbour noise whatsoever. These walls are so thin I can hear the microwave next door. I dream of buying a semi detached in a few years with hallways next to each other separating the living rooms or when I'm really feeling ambitious I dream of a detached house, which must be the mother of all awesomeness. I know there is still 'area noise' but I'm not really a garden person so kids playing outside and lawnmowers etc don't phase me so much. But oh to wake up with no 'house noise' and to know I can sit in the lounge or lie in bed and have PURE SILENCE all day and not hear a dog bark or a door slam or an argument or a television. Is it as great as I think it is?

The mortgage on my (detached) house is about £350/month less than it costs to rent the last flat I lived in.

I feel bad moaning because I really do love my little house and I worked so hard to achieve it, it's decorated lovely and I'm so grateful for it.

I just don't like people 🙈

@NeverYouMind123 Just under £2k, but that was 10 years ago. They used a combination of acoustic dampening foam, and plasterboard. Definitely our best investment, especially as the house next door has been converted into three flats.

Marmunia1975 do you never wee out of the house? At work?

I've lived in everything From a shitty council end terraced to a 4 in a block to a modern flat to an Edwardian main door flat to a 60's semi and then detached after that. I like not being flooded when the neighbours washing machine breaks down or listening to their loo flush and various other things....

We are at the stage now where DC are at Uni and we are looking to downsize but whilst we don't need the room, i don't want t give up my utility room, my quiet, my modern amenities etc. It's a bit of a dilemma, there must be something out there.

I never hear my neighbours (in a semi) but o worry they hear my. (Annoying) child so would like a detached for that

We are in a small 3 bed detached house. I would not trade the extra bedroom/ensuite bathroom we had previously for the reassurance that we are not bothering neighbours and we can't hear them either.

A lot of areas don't have much choice of housing, though, they are all terraces or all semis or all bungalows. I think we just got lucky. Freezing though. Solid walls!

My first house I bought was a terraced house and the first night I slept in it, I was terrified when I heard someone walking up the stairs! Turns out it was next door but I could hear their bathroom light ping on and everything!

We now live in a detached house and the main reason I like that is not other people's noise but that I don't have to worry about the kids being noisy!

I live in a detached 4-bed Swiss chalet on a (Swiss) mountain. Alpine forest on two borders of the garden. Neighbours are scattered around not too far, so don’t feel isolated. Very appreciative of it, particularly of late.

We moved from a beautiful detatched farmhouse (in a fairly busy village) and moved to a 6 bed end of terraced (Edward Ian). I would give ANYTHING to move back to my old house. Our walls are thick but I can't bare being able to hear neighbours. X

1920s semi here. Lovely high 3.2m ceilings. Huge rooms. Massively thick walls, can’t even get WiFi outside of the router room. It’s what most would say is a forever home....

Guess what? I can hear the neighbours just as much as in any terrace or flat I’ve lived in.

A 9inch thick brick wall will block 45db of sound a 18inch thick brick wall will block guess how much? 50db. It isn’t about thick walls it’s about materials and construction. You want a cavity party wall or granite/stone walls.

I soundproofed my party wall in the one room. Big reduction in sound. But you won’t get near silence unless you do the ceiling and any flanking walls. Cost me 1.5k to do the work myself which was pretty easy. Soundproofing companies wanted 3-4K but I think they added on 25% period house surcharge all trades people seem to add on for character houses.

It is good to be fair.
We had the choice last year between terrace and semi and stretched to buy a semi. Terrace would have been about 2/3 the price. But it is worth it.

It's shit when it's full of kidults who don't do housework [and yes quit moaning that it's all because I've been a crap Mum all these years].

A big house makes a BIG mess - don't do it. I will be suggesting to my kidults that when they move out [please God, soon] they buy a small house that doesn't seem to attract mess in every corner and available horizontal surface [floors, shelves, desks, tables - everywhere].

Big houses only work when you have people prepared to spend every living daylight hour and beyond, cleaning, scrubbing and tidying up after the shit that gets generated every day, only to see it regenerate as soon as your back is turned.

And don't get me started about the garden - big houses usually come with big gardens that no one will ever get on top of.

I'm the other extreme, and its not all its cracked up to be atm.

Detached farmhouse in the middle of nowhere here.
I know the postman still exists, and the lady is still delivering from the local village shop (10 miles away) , but i long to hear other people apart from the radio.

We're very fortunate to be in a large semi. Walls must be quite thick as hardly ever hear the neighbours.

Big houses only work when you have people prepared to spend every living daylight hour and beyond, cleaning, scrubbing and tidying up after the shit that gets generated every day, only to see it regenerate as soon as your back is turned

Gosh we don’t have these issues at all. Everyone just tidies up after themselves.

We love our skinny terrace. We have nice neighbours on either side, and a good enough sized garden. I've had a large detached house that just had a small courtyard garden and I prefer this. And yes, JoeBrown makes a good point about cleaning - the smaller the better!

We began in a purpose-built flat, then a Victorian terrace, then an Edwardian semi and now a characterless 1960s detached.
To be able to spend time in the garden is an absolute privilege at the moment.
But, next door are having a fucking great big extension built at the moment. Lucky old them have moved out, leaving us with the banging and drilling and dust and bloody fucking radio on with all the windows open. They start up at 7.15 in the morning, but fortunately piss off home at around 3.

Yes, but if you have neighbouring houses around you can still get the idiots, the barking dogs, the music, unless you stay in the house with all windows closed!

YANBU

I was born and raised in a lovely 1930s semi, but we could hear every word of next door's telly, and the same in friends' houses, I think everyone had their telly next to the party wall because of the room layout. When ours was on, they cancelled each other out, but I dread to think of it now with modern soundbars, music systems etc.

We manage to keep on top of the cleaning just fine. Granted we do have a gardener though.
For context our house is 4 bed, 2 sitting rooms, study, dining room. It’s big but not ridiculous.

At least you only have two neighbours, I've got four. Back, two sides and below.

We live in a semi, old house thick walls adjoining staircases, no noise. However neighbour opposite is a twat and has been using power tools every morning from 7am this week to fashion the hugest, ugliest, lopsided porch I've ever seen. He also projects Christmas disco lights onto his godawful purple (!) painted house from November to January.

I’d love a great big semi
Giggidy