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?

Yes. It's awesome. Good news for you is you'll really appreciate it when you get there.

We're in a semi and can hear every noise the neighbours make. I assume that means they hear us too of course! I'd love to live in a detached house.

I live in an Edwardian maisonette. I love it. Its full of character. I have a phobia of rows and rows of suburban semis and detached houses.

But I have no kids which makes a difference.

I am in a terrace and cannot hear any noise from the two adjoining properties.

Disclaimer: My adult DC keep telling me I am going deaf

It’s bliss to be able to go to bed when I want rather than have to wait until the twatish neighbours turn their TV off.

The downside to this lovely peaceful building is the yapping little dog in next doors garden that yaps when a leaf blows. They never call it in or tell it to shut up- apart from the one time they obviously heard DH mutter FFS that bloody dog Oh and of course the massive mortgage we now have so can’t afford to do anything to the wreck of a house we now live in

Yes. It’s much much better than being attached to other houses and all the problems that go with that.

We moved from semi to detached about 6 years ago and the first morning I woke up on the floor in a bare room with boxes around me and was the happiest I’d ever been, not to have been woken by Mrs next door Hoovering and doing operatic singing (at the same time), while Mr next door stayed in bed on the other side of the wall having a short wank and then a long shower. Every morning.

Now, of course, we don’t have their noise and husband can go back to playing the sax, which is fab. But there’s always noise - today we have the joys of a tree being chainsawed and a chipper going on one side, two with small kids in the garden behind, and three big dogs on the other side of our fence. So we’ve had to shut the windows while we both try to work. But that’s all relative, and I remember well all my years of flat living, and have every sympathy for all of you guys.

We are in a semi but the noise from our attached neighbours is fine. The main problem is the barking from the dog on the other side!

This is me exactly. Can't hear our attached neighbour at all, but the dog in the garden on the other side is such a pain. It's been a bit better during lockdown, presumably because they're leaving the dog alone less?! Are people who have dogs that bark a lot unaware of it do you think, as it happens when they go out and leave the dog in the garden alone?

Yes I like to be able to do my laundry late at night :-)

Yep it's great. I live in a new build detached and it's basically silent. I like being able to have the washing machine on at night without bothering the neighbours, which I used to worry about. Our next door neighbours are a family of six, both parents are musicians who also teach from home - I've never heard any noise at all (which is a blessing as we work night shifts)

Energy bills are half of when we lived in a 30s terrace - I was expecting them to go up and it blew my mind! I also like that the garden is accessible from all round the house and there aren't any lanes like when we were in a terrace.

I live in a detached house in the middle of the countryside and it is definitely not all peace and quiet.
Birds singing at 5am, crows cawing all day, owls hooting all night, tractors, chainsaws and at the moment bloody sheep and lambs bleating all day. But I guess it's preferable to people noise.

Yes! We live in ancient terraces that have been converted to flats and our upstairs neighbours have shit music and what sounds like an at-home ten pin bowling league. We have a tiny galley kitchen and the bathroom in an extension off it which is permanently freezing.

Would sell my soul for a nice 60s semi with a garden!

We lived in a semi in a posh part of the city. It was a lovely house but I hated hearing people through the wall

New house is half the price and a modern detached. We love it

Sounds like a dream.

I'd be grateful for any outside space. City centre living (not in the UK) has not been great at this time.

We went from old terrace to new build detached and heating bills went down as the old terrace was so draughty.

Other big plus is we get a drive away!!! In my old terrace each neighbour had multiple cars and we were lucky to ever park outside!

I do miss hearing next door's rows though :)

I started off in a terrace and now I'm in a fairly big extended 1930s semi. It's great. 2 living rooms and a nice big kitchen diner.

We live in a big terrace. I love it. But I'm not bothered by the noise and we get on with our neighbours.

I'll caveat that by saying it is a 2,000 sqft house. Lots of space.

We lived in splendid isolation for 20 years, until OH health took a dive. I knew he would go nuts not being able to manage it any more. So now we have neighbours, which have been a godsend in this lock down. We each sit on our drives and chew the cud.

I grew up in a 30s semi and now live in an end of terrace Victorian. There's much less noise in the terrace as the walls are thicker. We could hear the next door TV in the semi.

I've only got neighbours on one side of my house. There's nothing but countryside for a mile on the other side. Right now, the isolation is fantastic, as are the views. But it comes at a cost. No mains gas or drainage and the utility bills and council tax are eye-watering. It's my experience that views and space can usually be deceptively tempting.

Just to say, NeverYouMind123, that while I feel VERY lucky to live in a detached house we do still get noise. Mostly from our neighbour who has been doing VERY LOUD DIY jobs for six years now -- often into the evening. You'd think he'd have run out of tasks to tackle by now but no, he seems to have an endless source of inspiration (and drills).

Also, though we do have more privacy, our detached house is tiny -- we actually had more space when we lived in a terrace! You win some, you lose some?

Hope that makes you feel a tiny bit better...

I'm end of terrace and the way our house is desigend opposite to the neighbours (my lounge and bedroom faces their hall & stairs rather than their lounge and bedroom) means we get very little noise luckily.

I'm super happy we no longer live in a small city flat!

We live in a terraced house and for the first 1.5 years it was amazing, we had a couple either side, on side had a happy dog but I love dogs anyway. One of our neighbours moved and a family with a boy about 10 ish moved in, no problems say a friendly hello when we pass etc. Neighbour with dog then moved when our daughter was 1 month and new neighbours moved in, its a very small 2 bed semi detached house (smaller than our terraced house) they have mum, dad and three teenage boys. As soon as they moved in dad started DIY until gone 11pm and started most mornings, it was horrible whilst on maternity leave, baby is now 10 months and with lockdown he's decided to do even more DIY. I don't know what he did in the house but it was against our joining wall and now we can hear them walking (more like stomping) up and the stairs and stomping around upstairs and slamming doors. I can't wait for lockdown to be over so we can resume looking at buying a house.