Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5

Original poster

Terraced/semi - how thin are your walls?

108 replies

Trulyatraditionalman · 14/03/2021 10:00

I rent a very small 2 Victorian terrace. The walls are so thin, you can hear talking from next door and the occasional clear word (if the voice is raised). I know his is all part and parcel of living in a period terraced house. HOWEVER. New neighbour has just moved in (guy in his mid 30s) and was obviously keen to "christen" the house with his girlfriend this morning, so I just woke up to them having rather loud sex! Off to purchase some earplugs...

Just wondering, is this standard of most Victorian terraced houses? If you live in a terraceded/semi, how much can you hear your neighbours?

YABU - Can't hear much
YANBU - Can hear conversations and more

OP posts:

teenagetantrums · 14/03/2021 14:26

We live in a flat built about 1990. Day to day l can't hear much. But bizzarly at night l can hear downstairs having a wee. Also our bedroom is next to communal hall so l hear people talking out there sometimes. I do wonder if they can hear me snore while they going in and out🤣

VestaTilley · 14/03/2021 14:29

The walls are one brick thick- we can hear next door’s TV and conversations on the pavement outside!

Move your bed to a different bit of the room and put furniture up against adjoining walls.

TwoLeftSocksWithHoles · 14/03/2021 14:29

I lived in a 1930's semi and the main thing I heard was electrical sockets being switched on or off. I suppose because they are mounted within the wall.

To hear anything properly one had to hold a glass to the wall, but after an hour or so one's ear did get very hot and so one had to change sides every so often.

GuckGuckDoose · 14/03/2021 14:33

We used to live in a halls/staircase-adjoining late Victorian semi, only rooms touching were bathrooms and study - could hear absolutely everything in the hall but up until the point at which neighbours got a dog, the rooms themselves were fine. Then puppy arrived, and grew... and my god would that thing bark (and I say that as a dog lover/former owner). It was almost unbearable at times as could hear it throughout the house unless doors were all closed and dog was also in a room and not the hallway. We sold up 😬 - thankfully new owners were also dog owners and I assume therefore a lot more forgiving!

Shandilarr · 14/03/2021 14:34

I live End terrace barn conversion. Walls are 2ft deep solid stone abs we hear nothing unsurprisingly.

Inside was converted really cheaply in the 80s and walls are tissue thin. You can hear everything in our house.

MeadowViews · 14/03/2021 14:56

I'm in a 15 year old semi townhouse, can't hear anything from neighbours at all.

cyclingmad · 14/03/2021 18:34

In a 1985 terrace house, on my left I can hear my neighbour coughing, sneezing, scrapping hsi dinner plates even with my TV on! I can tell where he is in his house because his sub floor is so creaky and I csn tell you his entire itinerary for every day. So every Sunday he gets up at 6am and goes somewhere because his floorboards wake me up and then I hear his garage door opening and closing.

When I'm working in my office upstairs I csn tell if he is upstairs due to his floorboards or downstairs watching TV as I can hear it.

I know his entire life! And not because I'm ocncoiuskg creeping on him but because its impossible not to hear him!

On the other side I can hear my neighbours talking they talk very loud! I know when they go out to their garden because they slam the door so loud. I know they vaccum at 8am on Saturdays because it wakes me up.

Fml I cannot wait to be able to afford to move out and ill only consider a detached house.

thereisonlyoneofme · 15/03/2021 11:46

Im sure that the reason why there is a lot of intolerance/anger in the country is because we are forced to live so close to other people!
All the neighbour issues and the small sizes of most houses and gardens. If we could all live with space around us it would be a more peaceful place!

user1471538283 · 15/03/2021 17:16

I've lived in terraces mostly and I've never heard anything until the last one. It is down to the neighbours.

I now live in a new, very modern apartment that is heavily insulated and its quieter here than in the last end terrace

Trinacham · 15/03/2021 17:43

we live in a 70s built mid-terrace and we never hear anything, other than DIY from one side, which is obviously not very often, and the woman sneezing. Can't hear talking or anything else. The other side we've never heard a single thing. I think when we moved in we were expecting to hear more than we do, for sure. The walls are really good and not in a rush to upgrade to a detached any time soon.

Harveypuss · 15/03/2021 18:05

Used to live in a 1930s lounges adjoining semi. Elderly neighbour next door was quite deaf and had her TV so loud we pretty much had to watch what she was watching or else her TV drowned out ours. Given she was elderly and alone, she had the TV on most of the day. We had a similar situation with our first semi detached house with elderly neighbours on the adjoining wall side.

It really started to get us down. You end up just waiting for the noise to begin and then it starts to do your head in. We now live in a detached house and it's bliss. I can sit here in complete silence whilst I read and it's joyous! .

Tehmina23 · 15/03/2021 18:38

1980s 2 bed semi - I feel I know my neighbour and her 2 little boys very well!
Plus her ex & her current boyfriend...

Cannothandletheheat · 17/08/2021 08:49

Found this thread as I wanted to check there are others in the same boat as us! 1970s semi detached, lived here for nearly 20 years. Our neighbours were old so we hardly ever heard them. Last year they passed away so we’ve now got new neighbours. We are now hearing the tv all the time, music, talking, coughing etc. If I put my ear to the wall I can hear every word being said. Makes me realise how wonderful our old neighbours were.

I’ve welcomed the new neighbours, they are lovely. I did drop into the conversation that if we’re ever too noisy just to bang on the wall. He said we’ve not heard you at all! He then asked if we’d heard them and I said, in a very British way, mainly music but it’s fine. I’m really trying not to let it get to me, hence reading this thread to confirm we aren’t the only ones. I really wish we’d saved a bit more all those years ago and bought a detached. We really do not want to move house so I’ve got to learn to live with it without it affecting my mental health. Any tips??

mumsiedarlingrevolta · 17/08/2021 08:52

I live in a Victorian semi with very solid, thick walls.

The only thing we hear is their rescue dog howling piteously when she is left alone.

Not really any day to day sounds at all-which I am so grateful for!!

RumHoney · 17/08/2021 08:56

1920s semi and I can't hear a thing, although that could be because the guy who lives next door is single, retired and fairly quiet. Thinking back a few years when his kids lived with him there might have been some music noise.

LabiaMinoraPissusFlapus · 17/08/2021 09:10

It's funny how people on here can get so snobby about new builds. I live in a new build and the sound proofing is amazing!

Motnight · 17/08/2021 09:19

Victorian mid terrace. Can hear a murmuring of voices through the walls if everything is quiet in our house and music if played fairly loudly. I do think that our neighbours are quiet though!

When we lived in the top floor of a Victorian house we could hear everything from the flats below. It was awful.

GlaskinsPerpetual · 17/08/2021 09:48

I think victorian terraces vary as it was obviously a very long period of time. Ours has got much thicker walls than the 30s semi i grew up in so we only hear the loudest of noises such as shouting (which happens very rarely anyway)

TheOrigRights · 17/08/2021 10:05

1980's terrace and barely hear a thing.
Cinema style tv on the adjoining wall was an issue with one neighbour but he moved it to other side (he's end terrace).

We're very lucky

MarmaladeToastAndAMarmaladeCat · 17/08/2021 10:44

I’m in a late 1940s ex council terraced house. Can’t hear much. On one side can occasionally hear my neighbours grandchildren running up the stairs. On the other side there’s a baby and can hear him crying in the night if I’m awake but not loud enough to wake me up if I’m sleeping. Can’t hear any noises other than that.

StarfishDish · 17/08/2021 10:45

Terraced house. Downstairs, can't hear anything. Upstairs, I can hear my neighbours coughing, talking and their alarms going off.

Lucillegoldenring · 17/08/2021 10:48

1960s/70s mid terrace ex council house. Can't hear a thing. Next door have a toddler and a dog..never heard a peep. Very very lucky.

Fl0w3ry · 17/08/2021 11:03

We live in a 1930s terraced house - can hear everything from next door - talking, cooking, TV, coughing. When they make phone calls they talk extra loud so hear every word of a one-sided conversation. We don't hear sex noises from inside their house, mainly because they have sex in their garden instead.... Would rather have to put up with hearing it through the walls than going to shut my curtains and actually see it!
I hate living in a terraced house and really wish we could afford to buy a detached house.

Tibtab · 17/08/2021 11:11

I’ve got a 1980s semi and the walls are solid. NDNs said they couldn’t hear our baby crying even though the bedrooms share a wall, they thought we had gone away.
Barely hear anything except bizarrely when they plug something into the wall.

AlfonsoTheMango · 17/08/2021 11:16

I live in an 1890s mid-terraced house and hear the neighbours only when they're in the garden. I am grateful for thick walls and considerate neighbours.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5