To hate living in a terraced house

[Terracesarebad]

Woken up at 7 am this morning by next door’s son pounding down their stairs. Could feel the vibration in my bedroom which is the furthest room from them. He then spent the next hour running up and down them, slamming doors & generally being noisy. He is 11.

I appreciate that he’s a child but my god I just want a lie in after working all week.

We live in a 1970s mid terrace or should I say “townhouse” which means 2 lots of stairs on our adjoining wall for people to thunder up and down. Last night we were trying to watch a film and all we could hear was next door moving around. It’s like living next to a herd of buffalo.

As I type this the pounding up and down the stairs has started again 🙄

Can’t ever have a lie in, have to listen to other people constantly, why do we built such shit houses in this country with no sound insulation and expect people to live decent lives?

@Onfire

We live in a 1900’s terrace and can’t hear stair noises or anything from next door

The only sound we can hear is a mild hum if they have their extractor fan on in the kitchen when cooking but we can only hear that if we stand next to that wall and are deadly silent

Why are 1930’s & 1970’s houses so noisy? Ours isn’t a posh townhouse, it’s a former workers cottage and wouldn’t have been built with soundproofing in mind I assume

Our old house was a 1901 Terrace and like you say we couldn't hear a thing. Now we have a 1930s semi and we thought it would be similar. Thick walls etc but we hear next doors every move. Their children are feral running up and down the stairs at all hours of the night. We are moving, incidentally back to a 1900 terrace but in a different area.

Agree. I'd much prefer a tiny detached bungalow-esque 'shack' to living in a crap UK terrace. No peace whatsoever unless you strike lucky (according to how the builders worked on that project and on that day 50-120 years ago). It's a slog - can't wait to move to a detached house!! I grew up in them and feel how stark the difference is. Still... It's mildly better than renting with people above and below.

I really feel the way houses are built in the UK are a real pain. But how did people manage in the past, I think they were less offended by noise rather than less noisy?

There was a thread on Chat once about houses/flats in other countries. Was very interesting to see the layout of other houses, what are deemed as normal and essential, the distance between houses etc

I have been very fortunate to have considerate neighbours but it is one of my fears to have bad neighbours as I’ve read so many neighbours from hell threads on here.

We live in a 30s semi and the only noise we can hear is our neighbours kids thundering up and down their laminate floor.

It was so bad last weekend I had to go round there but to be fair I don't think they realised how the sound carries.

Our victorian semi was far worse. I could hear everything next door.

I live in a 1900 terrace and barely hear my neighbours - eg, you can slightly hear if their child practices her musical instrument in the adjoining bedroom. But normal everyday noise, nothing at all.

I like in a terrace and I hate it because I really worry we are the loud ones. DD just turned 2, and wakes up early, and of course we try our best to keep her quiet but she’s just generally loud eg loud voice, nothing is ever placed down gently, loud walking etc. I hate the idea we disturb people so spend a decent amount of time stressed about her volume.

We're mid terrace in a fairly modern house and the soundproofing is actually really good. We rarely hear anything unless the douchebags on one side decide to play their appalling music in their garden. They're in their late fifties, not kids!

That said, I'd dying to move somewhere more remote as I hate being anywhere loud or busy.

But how did people manage in the past, I think they were less offended by noise rather than less noisy?

They moaned to amtes in private, not on forums 😁

I would say it's a dickheads vs non dickheads rather than a terrace issue. I'm in a 1990s semi detached, walls are like paper, and my neighbours have been screaming at each other and playing loud bass since 11.30pm last night. Non stop. Police came out but it didn't deter them. Don't know how they have the energy to keep going for this long! Finally fell asleep at 3am with earplugs in, headphones over the top playing white music and fan going to drown it out. Before they moved in it was the quietest, most peaceful place I've ever lived!

My gran lives in an old terrace however and never hears anything from either side, it's amazing!

Also in the 'past' tv and electronic noise wasn't a thing. Or just for very short time spans. No thumping bass or extremely high crystal clear volume.

I live in a townhouse too. Currently feeling rather smug/relieved/thank fuck, as the NDNs who partied until 1am several days a week and smoked continuously right outside the back door moved out a while back ... and have this weekend been replaced by a quiet single middle aged man who works nights.

I don't understand why they don't build houses so the halls are beside each other and so rooms are not adjoining as much.

They do, but it’s a terrace and houses don’t have two halls so the house on the other side is going to be adjacent to rooms.

Of course YANBU

The misery brought in this country by the love for terraced and semi-detached is puzzling.

You are very unlucky to be in such a noisy property. It's not a life.

What kind of quiet Victorian terraces are you in because ours was built in 1885 and I’m close to murdering the neighbours complaining to the neighbours’ landlord 😫 (about the noise and the cigarette smoke which is coming through the floorboards from their bedroom into ours)
I’m wondering if the types of house built for the Victorian middle/upper class are more soundproof. Ours is a 2 up 2 down built for factory workers affair, doesn’t have the high ceilings etc.

I don't understand why they don't build houses so the halls are beside each other and so rooms are not adjoining as much.

Oh yes.

You just have to look at the amount of semis where the main bedrooms are at the centre of the actual building, meaning the 2 masters are next to each other... It's horrendous.

I buy my neighbours chocolates and biscuits regularly as my kids are so noisy

I live in a 1900s terraced house, can't hear my neighbours on one side, on the other, I can occasionally hear then if they have friends over and get into animated conversations, otherwise, I can't hear TV, music, or normal convos.

@PattyPan

What kind of quiet Victorian terraces are you in because ours was built in 1885 and I’m close to murdering the neighbours complaining to the neighbours’ landlord 😫 (about the noise and the cigarette smoke which is coming through the floorboards from their bedroom into ours) I’m wondering if the types of house built for the Victorian middle/upper class are more soundproof. Ours is a 2 up 2 down built for factory workers affair, doesn’t have the high ceilings etc.

Ours was originally built for mill workers, it was a 3 bed (plus loft conversion) and downstairs was just living room and big stone floor kitchen. Yard out the back. Did have high ceilings but not particularly grand I wouldn't have said. Bloody loved that house and wish I'd never moved.

The misery brought in this country by the love for terraced and semi-detached is puzzling.

It’s not a love of them, it’s a space issue surely. I live in a row of 7 houses in a terrace. If they were separate, all with a path down the side to access the back garden, they’d probably have only been able to build (and therefore sell) 6.

Sleeping head phones and sound app. I like waves on headspace

@PumpkinKlNG

Try living in a ground floor flat 😭 I moved into my property and it has a one bed flat above I thought great, will be nice and quiet will only ever be a single person or couple, nope a family of 5 including 3 children moved in. Well the noise has been horrific (they ride toys up and down across the laminate flooring)

I lived in a flat like this. Luckily, the people above me only had it as a holiday home but would have their young GC stay with them. Used to play football, ride toys and run up and down wooden floors. We were less than 5 minutes walk from a nice beach.

I did wonder why they bothered to buy a seaside holiday home if the flat was just used as a playground

@Knittingupastorm

The misery brought in this country by the love for terraced and semi-detached is puzzling.

It’s not a love of them, it’s a space issue surely. I live in a row of 7 houses in a terrace. If they were separate, all with a path down the side to access the back garden, they’d probably have only been able to build (and therefore sell) 6.

It's money. It would cost more to do ends than to join them. You don't need paths down each side. You could have a foot on one side, shared path on another.

Many terraced houses were built for workers 1890 ish. There was no consideration for their comfort back then

My DD lives in a mid terrace built about 10 years ago. She has never heard neighbours either side and they both have children. My EOT is seven years old and I'm attached to a family with a lot of small children and I don't hear them either.

When I was between homes we rented a twee cottage, late 19th century. We could hear the neighbours one side having noisy sex every night and the other side had parties going on for hours and builders that started work at 7am six days a week.

I know which I prefer!