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?

We live in the Emirates in a massive 5 bed detached villa. I love big houses, the bigger the better. Our bedroom has a vaulted ceiling its a bit too high and makes the room echo because as well as that the bedroom is bigger than our whole downstairs in the 3 bed house we had in the UK. We only rent here so sadly i will have to leave it one day

I moved from a back to back with neighbours on three sides to a semi. It's so much better. Yes I can still hear my neighbour but in the back to back whenever a neighbour used their stairs it sounded like it was in my house and I'd get really freaked out.

It's amazing. My dh wanted detached, I would have gone for a semi. We've been in four terraced houses previously, moved a lot! We didn't move that long ago and since lockdown started I'm so pleased we have a detached house.

If we were in our house before last, I think I would have actually had a breakdown our neighbours were so noisy. Our last house would have been ok but I love the fact we can spread out more in our current house and we're not overlooked in our garden. That said, it all just depends on your neighbours I think. But like dh said it's nice not to even have the worry of decent neighbours moving on and who you might end up with!

Terrace here. Our neighbours are loud but so are we I suspect we’re the sort of family that mumsnetters who like to live in detached houses are actively avoiding to be honest

Comparison is the thief of joy

In a big detached you have more shit. More rooms to clean. I’d rather have a small semi, fill it with lovely things, no crap, easy to clean, no rubbish, nothing you don’t need, bliss. I’m a small house, beautiful things, small car high spec person.

I live in a detached and my neighbour's dog wakes me up every morning at 6am when she lets it out and doesn't let it back in again until it's barked at the door for a good 15 minutes.

The other side have bbqs all the time in the summer. They also have their bifold doors wide open and their TV on so loud (or Xbox shooting game) that I can hear it from inside my house if the windows are open.

A detached isn't everything!

It's great - but we were the noisy neighbours! Our old neighbours complained about our barking dogs through our semi walls (don't know why most have halls and stairs on the outside and living spaces and bedrooms on the party wall - your headboard is inches away from your neighbour!) .

So we moved to a detached and ironically the dogs we have now are quiet, but at least we can have the surround sound on as loud as we like.

I can hear absolutely everything from my neighbours on both sides. I heard (before corona obviously) him come in from the pub and be sick ALL night long, as his bathroom is next to our bedroom I constantly tell dp and dd to be quiet “because of the neighbours” and we have zero privacy in our garden.
My grandma is detached and it is pure heaven! We own this house and can’t afford to move but I’m dreaming of the day!!

Afraid to dissapoint but it is not quiet in our semi. Can hear the neighbours quite easily every day. It is not that bad, they are quiet in the evenings although we can hear when their bathroom tap is on in our bedroom at night.

It really depends on the house and way it was built. The terraced we lived in previously we didn't hear a thing unless the window was open.

I do dream about the next house which will hopefully be detached with a decent size garden!

i am incredibly grateful for my house and garden. now more than ever.

although i should add i moved from a mid terrace to a detached house with a huge garden and about three weeks after we moved in our neighbours (who i had obviously scoped out, immaculate garden, chicken coop, Labrador, naice) installed a FUCKING HOT TUB on the other side of our garage wall and actually when their son is home playing his (as his dad calls it) "black music" (it's like, kisstory, chill Wayne) it's louder than anything ever was in our mid terrace 😭

Grew up in a terraced council house. First house I bought in the UK was a semi but now here in the USA have a large detached bungalow with pool with no neighbors that we can see. For less than I paid for my semi in the UK.

I live in a detached house. Twenty ish years ago I lived in a 1930’s semi and we were attached to a house that had six young children.
We barely heard a sound, even the children playing in their garden was quite muted.

Now, I hear the world and it’s mother. Endless barbecues, garden parties, dogs left out all day long , loud music, screaming children and endless drilling, digging, power sawing, construction noises fill the day. Maybe I’m not so lucky.

Drivingdownthe101

Reluctantly! I've never sat on a seat though. I just hover.

I could have bought my council maisonette. Absolutely not. Hearing my neighbours everyday gave me noise anxiety. Awful.

Now renting in a very small detached farm cottage for £500 a month with no neighbours for miles. I bloody love it.

If it came to buying a semi or terraced or flat again I'd choose to rent detached every single time.

Once you've gone detached there is no going back!

Live in an area with few children, and older middle aged people- very little noise- and as you say if a semi always go for "Halls adjoining".

We're in an end terrace and it's absolute shite, so I sympathise. Upgrading to a detached is my dream which will only be achieved if a nonexistent wealthy relative dies.

Sick of hearing next doors horrible kids screaming at each other and the parents having sex. Rancid.

Georgian semi. It is lovely with large rooms and high ceilings. It's a money pit though!

We do get noise from next door though due to the way the houses were built. Sometimes if someone's running down the stairs next door it sounds like they're in our house on the other side (the detached side) and are running towards me; really spooky the first time it happened.

Our sitting rooms abut though, as does the kitchen, and every room on every floor (two rooms per floor, front and back), same with them. So all our rooms share a wall with next door. The staircase winds round the middle.

@BritWifeinUSA

That’s a great advantage of being stateside! It works the other way here in Switzerland - what we paid for this house would buy us a bleeding masion in the UK

I still hold out hope that I will befriend an elderly neighbour and do their shopping, innocently of course. Then it will turn out that said neighbour had no children, left their assets to me..... and it turns out they were a major shareholder of Cadburys 🍫

@NeverYouMind123 😂
After this outbreak the housing market will go cray cray so there's no hope for a detached house! I liked your idea....

Isn't it amazing! We're lucky to have bought last summer, detached ex school house, and right after we found out I'm pregnant with twins! My partner was saying we were lucky with the timing as after this bloody virus the housing market may never recover!!

Do you mean houses will be so expensive nobody will be able to afford them? Or so cheap nobody will sell?

Our house isn't huge, normal 3 bed house, but it's detached, so we don't have to worry about noise the other side of the wall, or us making too much noise for that matter.

As it was built in the 70s, it's got a good sized gardens, which is a bonus.