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?

I live in a mid terrace house and absolutely love it.
Last year both houses on either side were empty and it felt so eerie and too quiet, I find it comforting to hear vague sounds of other families getting on with their day.
That said, if I could afford a gorgeous 5 bedroom house in the middle of the countryside I’d move there in a heartbeat 😀

Big surburban detached house. Idyllic apart from when Mr Powertool starts up. He's retired so he can spend all day every day mowing, jet washing, leaf blowing and any other outside task that makes noise.

I moved from a terrace to a detached and it's bliss.

Our previous neighbour used to have blazing rows with her boyfriend and would scream at her daughter.

I’ve lived in detached houses most of my life (apart from at Uni) and it’s not until I visit someone who is in a terraced house that I realise how noisy they are.
I was at my Mums other day and heard voices, I thought someone had broken in and was upstairs until I realised it was next door!

I have a little semi with a small garden and love it. I’m not halls joining but my house is identical to my neighbours, rather than a mirror image, so I rarely hear any noise. I wouldn’t really see any advantage in a detached house over what I have.

DS has a 1950s built semi; his living room and 2 main bedrooms join the same as his next door neighbours but the house is so solidly built, there is no noise whatsoever.

Op, I lived in a halls adjoining small edwardian semi with a small garden and they definitely do reduce the amount of neighbour noise, I had big wardrobes fitted along the adjoining bedroom wall and never heard a thing. Both my adjoining neighbours and the next door neighbour were a bit older and very quiet and considerate and so there was little garden or house noise from either side, it was lovely. I now live in a much bigger 3 bed semi with a decent sized garden, but on one side several gardens border mine and and there are maisonettes at the back and there are a couple of dogs that seem to be outside barking at all hours, often late at night, a couple that fling their windows open upstairs and argue and keep telling each other to fuck off, that can happen at any time, and what sounds like a deranged teenager living in one of the upstairs maisonettes that overlooks my garden who likes to scream at the top of his voice and tell someone to fuck off, fuck off etc. Oh and two doors down is the woman who lets her lapdog out and lets it bark endlessly without telling it to be quiet. This is all on top of the endless hedgetrimming, grass cutting, strimming, karchering etc. Sometimes I long for my little halls adjoining semi.

I live in a new build terrace and don't hear the neighbours at all. In fact once, our next door neighbours were having a screaming row and throwing things and we couldn't hear a thing. Our neighbours across the road and two doors down could hear everything however, because they had their window open and so did the noisy neighbours. I had to physically go outside to hear them! We must have really good walls lol. That said, I would love to have a detached house 🙂

We lived in a terraced house the neighbours on one side were absolutely awful. When we were looking to move we only considered detached houses.

If we were still living there now, I honestly think we would have moved back in with family to get away from them.

Yes it is. But our attached neighbours before we're all very quiet (3 x with no DC 🤯)

We are in Aus now where 'detached' is the norm and townhouses are not too well thought of!

I live in a great big semi. My neighbours like drumming, karaoke, arguing all night and having loud zoom calls with their extended family. There isn't a single room in the house where I can concentrate on anything without wearing earplugs.

No, I LOVE my terraced house. Hearing the neighbours is part of the living experience (and is extremely comforting at the moment, when I don't get to see, or hear, much else).

We went from a 2 bed flat with shared crappy garde to a 3 bed semi with 2 massive gardens last year my next move would be a house with land but just now we keep saying to each other thank god we are not locked down in the flat!

Whenever dp and I sit in the garden we say living the dream to each other and mean it we spent years dreaming of our own garden.

Our previous house was terraced but very old - apparently it had been thatched in a former life- but it just looked like a standard brick built terrace 2 up 2 down But the walls were so thick that we couldn't actually hear the neighbour on one side playing her piano - didn't even know she'd got one until she asked if we could hear it - and the only time we heard the neighbours on the other side was when they stamped up the stairs - which as there was only a couple living there wasn't actually that often. My student DS also lives in an old terrace and I've never heard any neighbour noise when I've been there either. So I'm guessing it partly depends on the age and structure of the terrace rather than just the fact it is terraced?

Yes it is lovely, and I'm particularly appreciating my big garden now it's the only outside space I have. In my 20's and early 30's I lived in terraced houses and loved living in a Victorian terrace - the rooms are huge and the walls are thick so not much noise. And the heating was cheap as we were heated up from both sides! But then I lived in a 1980's/90's but one and I thinks walls were made of cardboard - it was awful for noise. I love old Victorian terraced houses though. My house now (1920's semi) is lovely and spacious but the heating bills are horrendous!

I'm in a detached new build, and we're very grateful for it, however we've lived in a lot of houses and the ones I've loved have been Victorian terraces, we were blessed with lovely neighbours in those places. I feel a bit disconnected from my neighbours here, and I guess that's good and bad?
My worst houses were terraced or flats with unpleasant neighbours, very stressful, those were 70s or 80s build and I wonder if the walls were much thinner than in Victorian buildings.

You should move into an eco new build with triple glazed windows. I hated living in one (particularly during the summer) but it was absolutely silent.

I think you need detached, not semi detached. We are in a semi made from cardboard and paper, I think. Pretty much no sound insulation.
I can hear my neighbour snore.....

I feel sorry for my neighbours - we are much noisier than them. Though we go to bed really early. They are trying for a baby though, so they will soon get their own back.

The noisiest place I have ever lived was a tiny mid-Victorian semi with no real hallway and stairs going up between the living and dining rooms. When we first moved i, we thought we had burglars but it was just the neighbours on their stairs. We also heard them shouting at there dogs and kids which they did almost constantly!

Cardboard and paper is not good but a solidly built semi is fine!

It’s pretty cool. Detached house over here, after living with kids in a flat, in a terrace and then in a semi - each one better than the last.

To be honest it’s not so much about not hearing the neighbours in my case. I’m just grateful no one can hear my awful “mum voice” when I’ve reached the end of my tether!!

Interesting the comments about 1970's 80's houses being noisy. Ours is a 1970's - and very thin walls.

I am dreaming of my childhood home right now - a massive house, huge garden - space space space, and views of mountains, greenery, trees and flowers...

Used to be a terrace dewller but went detached from reality many years ago;)

No noise issues, play what you like when you like anytime no one else here to notice

Very nice neighours all very reasonable intellegent peeps no issues all there when you might need one to help etc.

Well worth the mortage!

Might be nice to have a lady join me here to enjoy, nest big idea!

I live in a semi-detached. It’s not that great. A detached house though.. it’s amazing and so peaceful!

Living in a detached house vs terrace/semi to me was like the difference between night and day. In a detached now and it's heaven. I have lived in places where the walls are so thin that you can hear the neighbours coughing and even ironing clothes! And hearing people above you in a flat walking round their place seems to be the norm.

I can understand that older attached houses might have crap sound insulation but think there is absolutely no excuse for newer purpose built attached dwellings to have appalling sound insulation. It seems to be the norm in this country, though in some countries abroad, the norm for new purpose built flats seems to be that the sound insulation is very effective.