Is a mid terraced house noisier than a flat?

[Invisiblewoman1]

I am looking to move from a one bed flat. For 3 reasons - parking, more space and noise.
My neighbours are not loud people so I am very lucky but I am on ground floor and I hear every footstep, every sneeze, every phone call from upstairs. When they wake up for a wee overnight... so do I. When they get up for work at 5am I’m awake too.
I don’t get disturbed by the people next door nearly as much, I hear them but they don’t wake me up. All I can afford is a mid terraced house but will it be just as noisy as my flat?

I live in a flat that is a converted old Council house and can't hear much from below. There is one point in the flat where I can hear a little below if they are directly underneath me but nothing for the rest of the flat.

We live in a mid terraced town house. We do hear noise from our neighbours but it is very minimal. I used to live in a flat and the noise was significant. If you have the chance select a terrace vs flat.

I personally think noise is worse when the people live above you, so I had 5 yes 5 people move into the one bed flat above, the children ran around all day at one point they even had toys possibly scooters? that they would ride up and down on all day across the laminate floor, it was horrendous , so all you could hear was wheels riding back and forth, can’t imagine the noise being as bad if it had been in the house next door, surely noise is worse when they are walking around above you?

I've lived in 2 flats and never heard neighbours. Lived in a terrace and heard the neighbour sneezing.

Depends on the build.

Try and get end terrace

InFiveMins agreed about flat being better. I can hear nothing major from my neighbours as they never do anything. But I can hear a light switch, brushing teeth, sneezing, word for word talking on the phone if my house is silent. So they can hear my whole life. I hate it and actually find it very degrading. I always whisper if I want anything to be private when in conversation in my own house as one side sits in under my wall. I've had my walls banged for my children laughing in their own home. Hate it here always have. Can't get anythingelse as not working. Op I would be careful in thinking a terrace is better.

We live in a 1901 mid terrace. Occasionally hear the neighbours if they are singing or have people over. I quite like it.

Oh and I'm not paranoid I know one side hears word for word what I say as I do her. And she brings up conversations I've had. Such as oh is that better now when I never told her anything about it.

Understand exactly where you are coming from.
Personally I'd be aiming for an end of terrace if you want a bit more peace and quiet

those who say it varies/depends on the build are spot on.

i suppose my instinct, based on places i've visited and stayed in, is that the average quietness ranking is:

top floor flat [assuming no neighbours on either side, which there often are] > end terrace > mid terrace > lower floor flat.

This is so interesting. I am moving from a 1930/ purpose built maisonette and potentially to a 1930s mid terraced house. I cannot afford end of terrace or semi - London and since person.

I guess the properties are of similar build. Currently I hear day to day noise from next door but the only people who disturb me are upstairs. However I only have people above and on one side.
I really want to move for more space, parking and less noise. But I will be so disappointed if the noise is worse!

*single person

Lived in both. Flat very occasionally could hear noise. Mid terrace could hear noise every day most of the day from both sides. However the space / garden etc more than compensated for the noise

I agree it depends on the building and neighbours. I’ve lived in new build flats and a new build mid terrace and heard barely a peep, currently in a 1930s end terrace and we hear every plug switch on and off, rummaging in the kitchen cupboards, washing machine running when we’re sitting watching tv in the evening, every conversation on the joining wall, running up and down the stairs and I’ve even heard my neighbour vomiting in the bathroom from my bedroom at the far side of the house. They’re also quite loud with their music but that isn’t very often, the day to day stuff is irritating enough though.

100% depends on the neighbours. I lived in a terraced house once and on one side the neighbours were so quiet, never heard a peep from them and there were four adults plus a newborn baby! The other side was a single mum and a toddler and they were so invasively noisy that we moved house.

Before you move in anywhere, definitely try to investigate the kind of people that live there!

I used to live in a ground floor flat with one flat above and one flat to the side - it was a house converted into 3 flats, all with private entrances. It wasn't reeeeaaally loud and barely heard anything from the elderly lady next to us, but from upstairs I could hear footsteps, knocks on their door, microwave spinning/beeping, and sometimes their kids singing (terribly, lol). If I had the Tele or music on I couldn't hear it but if sat in the quiet reading or whatever it was quite distracting.

Moved to a newbuild mid-terrace last year. Only thing we ever hear is the neighbours dog when their door goes (we don't hear the door being knocked).

So yes, for us, the mid terrace is much quieter (and was £6k cheaper than the end terrace house next door, which has an identical layout and identical square meter space). But I would imagine it depends on the person / the neighbours. Hope this helps a bit.

Definitely depends on build, layout and neighbours.
My terrace was built around 1820 and the walls are quite thick in places. Neighbours on one side I've never really had much problems with (on 4th set), although I can hear more day to day noise since they knocked the fireplace out to put in a multi fuel stove.
Neighbours on the other side I've had far more problems with, due to layout and the fact there have been a lot of twunts living there. On 6th set of neighbours there and 4 of them have been twunts (loud music, inconsiderate parking, domestics, 1 x suicide etc). Thankfully person living there now is lovely and I can generally only hear her making the fire and her dog barking.

Live in a London Victorian mid terrace. Occasionally hear my neighbours’ cleaners vacuuming and the TV. That’s about it. You only get noise from each side whereas in a flat you get it from all sides. Your probability of noise in a flat is therefore much greater.

I'd agree it's about the quality of the build. I'm currently living in a Victorian mid-terrace. There's an alleyway between me and NDN on left, and I don't hear any noises from inside the house. I only hear stuff when she's outside with the little dog (who barely barks).

I share walls with right hand NDN and also hear very little (sometimes when I'm in the kitchen, I hear the bloke cooing at the baby ). Mainly I just hear what must be a squeaky door for an understairs cupboard (based on usual layout of these houses), and that's pretty infrequently.

It is so difficult as my upstairs neighbours are not loud people but they are really interfering with my sleep. Their floor creeks with every movement overnight and right now i would love to still be sleeping but they are awake and chatting in the bedroom so I’m awake. But I’m worried if I move to a mid terraced I might have worse

The mid terraced houses I am looking at all have chimneys so sounds like that’s a positive

Although my flat does too...

We're end terrace, and the only thing we hear from next door is if they switch a specific plug in the living room and use the blender in the kitchen.

I live mid terraced in a 20 yr old house. I never hear neighbours on either side. One side has two very young children too, never hear them.

Mine is quiet but then it's quite new with modern noise insulation. The advantage is no issues with footsteps above but you still need to be considerate. Also likely to be freehold