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 love my detached house as it is also in the middle of nowhere! I love that when I go to sleep at night I can guarantee no noise and I love that we can't bother anyone! We have pet sheep who are very needy and will bawl their heads off if we move around outside the house, three dogs, and a small herd of ponies that are quite, erm, chatty. Plus, we all seem to be loud. I also love that I don't need to listen to someone else's shit taste in music or put up with neighbours that love to throw parties in their gardens every weekend the minute the sun comes out as so many people have to put up with on here.

We moved from a terrace to a large 1920 semi 2 years ago, it’s lovely we have a separate dining room which has been great now especially. Can’t hear a thing through the walls. But can still hear people in the garden etc. My sil lives in a detached house, and her neighbours are always moaning about noise. So I think it’s as much to do with neighbours as the house.

I live in a modern terrace, in a very built up area. I almost never hear the neighbours - who aren't especially quiet families, they both have small children in residence some/all of the time. The most it ever is is a low level thump that would never disturb anyone. Modern sound insulation really is amazing!

In fact, despite how urban it all is around here, it's amazingly quiet. We usually get lots of aircraft noise as we're fairly close to a big airport, but even that has stopped now (obviously), which is blissful.

I'd still love a big detached though - I would LOVE a big garden. The main drawback with our house is the postage stamp outside space. It's clearly better than nothing, but it would be great if DD could actually run more than 5 paces without hitting a fence! If I could have that with lovely bifolds leading out from the kitchen, that would be bliss.

I live in a semi detached chalet bungalow. The way we and our neighbours have laid out out houses (we both extended and refurbished) means we never really hear noise from each other when indoors. On the wall that divides our houses is our hall which is next to their spare bedroom and our lounge which is next to their lounge/kitchen/diner. The wall seems pretty thick so we can't hear unless they have their TV up really loud. However we have a kitchen diner with a sofa area and mainly use that for watching TV anyway.

Yes, I grew up in one. We live out here in zone 5 London (outer London) as could not afford inner London even 30 years ago in part because we wanted a garde. Started in terraced, then semi detached, then 1990 detached then 1997 big detached. It is really good.

One of my sons moved to Oxfordshire in part because he wanted to buy a detached house rather than terraced although his terraced is not too bad as it has an alley way on one side of his house rather than being joined all the way down that side.

I lived in central London beneath a flat that had laminate flooring and a tenant who wore heels, and neighbours to the left who ran an informal discotheque. I accepted and got used to the contestant grinding noise of a city.

I now live in a detached bungalow in the countryside, but there are plots around us. There is constant mowing, renovating work, loud bbqs from April to September, and never ending pressure washing!!!. Our newest neighbours have a hot tub, and on warm summer nights we get to listen to the noise of him boiling away in the tub, punctuated by the sound of him cracking open another tin and burping like big fat pig.

I miss London.

Yes it’s quiet but fucking hell it takes a lot of cleaning now we have no cleaner. I’m dreaming of a flat and a Zoomba.

Also the more expensive the house the more rich arseholes around you.

I live in a flat and have neighbours on four sides. Rarely hear anyone. The problem is the shoddy standard of lots of party walls. It costs relatively little to sound insulate buildings when they are being built and yet developers rarely bother because they don't have to live there.

Thank god I've only got people up and downstairs because of the shape of the building. They both have little kids but its the dads who are the really noisy ones!

We have some folks opposite who love to sit next to their wide-open window and skype their mates VERY LOUDLY (I do need to tell them that they don't actually need to scream loud enough for people to hear them in Brazil). They were braying from 7.00 to way after 10.30 last night.

We live in a semi-detached with five children. Our joining wall is paper thin and we can hear every footstep the neighbours make on their stairs. I dread to think how much they hear of my screaming banshee three year old!!

Your post brought a few lumps to my throat, OP. I used to live in a small terraced house with not so great neighbours either side and a small garden that was not private at all. I dreamt of a bigger house with peace and quiet, and now I do live in one and it is bliss, especially the garden being more private as well as no noise through the walls. I feel for you, and hope it won't be long until you get what you need. And I think it is a matter of need. A lot of housing is far too small and cramped and it does not do us good to live with the various stresses that causes. Good luck, remember you are worth it.

We have been quite lucky as we just moved into a detached farm house (beginning of feb). We needed the extra space as I just found out I’m pregnant again!!!! we probably wouldn’t have been able to move after all this is over as I don’t think the housing market will be the same again unfortunately. We are loving the added privacy and space it offers. Hoping we can afford to stay as who knows what lies ahead with this bloomin virus!!!!!!

I’m in a semi detached with halls next to each other. There is still some noise. I can hear the bass thumping through even on the far side of my house and it’s an old solid Edwardian house. However I am very noise intolerant and they do play the music loud on occasion, not a good combination. But normal day to day stuff and tv, etc I don’t hear.

We live in a shitty flat with fucking awful neighbours. After lock down we are moving. Will need to buy a house.

I really depends on the neighbours.
I was in a terrace where noise wasn’t a problem as the neighbours both sides were quiet single people.
However one side moved out and a family moved in. I could hear both sides of telephone conversations!

I now live in a semi. My neighbours are fairly quiet. It’s next door but one on both sides that make all the noise.

Detached after several decades in flats and terraces. It is amazing, and like a pp I was the happiest I've ever been when we first moved in, although we compromised in terms of location to get it.

I find neighbour noise very stressful and always have - especially music, but also TV noise, footsteps, voices and the random thumps and bumps you tend to get from just day to day living. (I'm not great with other people's smells either - cooking/smoking/barbecues/laundry etc. I should probably just go and live on top of a mountain somewhere on my own!)

We do still have some neighbour noise from gardens in the summer (jet washing, trampolines, children playing) but a quick read of the noisy neighbour threads on here always reminds me how lucky we are.

DP wants to downsize to a flat when the dc have all left home but I know I will struggle.

For a while I was in a semi, now I'm back to flats. The semi was delightfully quiet as long as the windows were shut (big road out the front). I thought that was my forever house and was so pleased not to have neighbours any more. But actually, now I'm back in a flat with very thin walls, it's noisy, but I can live with it.

Just so that you feel wonderfully quiet by comparison, though, I will whinge about my noisy neighbours for you :) The front door is poorly insulated, so when neighbours are in the hall I can hear their entire conversation. I can hear the rather creepy young man from upstairs having very noisy wanking sessions. (Fortunately not that often!) He also has no carpet, so when he drops something and it rolls along the ground, I can tell whether it's a pen or a pencil. I can hear when the neighbour's cough is especially bad. And there's one neighbour who must have a chronic pain condition and cries - though they sound exactly like the other neighbour's dog crying, so I'm never sure which it is.

Does that make your noise sound any better?

had a fairly thick walled semi and not too much trouble until the neighbour bought a rowing machine... kids weren't brought up to scream and the trampoline was at a distance.

now in a detached on the edge of the village, no-one nearby has kids or plays music. Get farm noises, tractor stuff etc but that's fine, useful things going on. Currently no traffic noise and the people with the endlessly barking dog have to live with it, so have either worked out how to keep it quiet or shot it. Hopefully the latter as this is bliss.

Yes, live in a lovely, big detached house in the countryside and I’ll never, ever take it for granted. I realise how lucky I am every.single.day. You’ll appreciate living in a semi/ detached even more when you do so OP!

A lot depends on the neighbours - 5 years in detached and it’s great after 9 years in a semi with musical ( obsessed ) neighbours ...previous 12 years in semi/ terraced/ flats - no issues

I’ve gone from flat to a semi - I’ve noticed it more at night as my room is not against the neighbouring wall. Much better.

I don't know if it's so much to do with the type of property as much as it is your neighbours and the construction. I've lived in a number of flats with neighbours all around and never had an issue with noise.....although I've always been on the top floor which probably helps. ok, i'm aware if downstairs do the hoovering and i don't have the radio or tv on but it's not exactly nuisance noise.

We are in a detached now, finally, and it's blissful. Before this we were end of terrace, all was fine until noisy new neighbours moved in, we put the house on the market within weeks, it was awful. Previous to that various flats and terraces over the years.

We're in a new build so the houses are quite close together so we still get garden and outside neighbour noise, but the knowledge that our sleeping or just general chilling in the house won't be affected by noise coming through the walls is really lovely. In a couple of previous properties I've actually been anxious going to bed in because the likelihood of next door / upstairs having a party or music up loud was always there.

Alvertain., I am very lucky my (suburbia) neighbours are very quiet - I am in my 50s the youngest of most of them . I hope they all live to 110. Of course once a week there tends to be someone mowing and 2 doors up a doctor's children play out every day as there is no school but they are only out a fairly short time and are very nice and it's just normal child playing noise.

I grew up in a detached house and absolutely hated it. Though our detached house was in a rural isolated area. I couldn't walk to the shop. You had to drive ten minutes to the nearest shop. It was torture, I hated every minute of living there. I much orefer to live in a flat in a town now