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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To hate living in a terraced house

101 replies

Terracesarebad · 15/08/2021 11:17

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?

OP posts:

Lemonsyellow · 15/08/2021 12:49

@isthisareverse

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.

Terraced housing is surely normal. Detached housing is wasteful. I only know one person who has a detached house.

BarbaraofSeville · 15/08/2021 12:49

@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 definitely a millworkers cottage not the owners house. Something like this, only ours was a back to back, so attached neighbours behind as well as at each side.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/110075414#/?channel=RES_BUY

Never heard a sound out of anyone.

Babyroobs · 15/08/2021 12:50

I feel your pain although I don't live in a terrace house. It's just noise levels generally, no one seems to give a shit. I have been feeling ill all weekend ( covid symptoms ) and at 3am this morning was woken by a dog in the street barking extremely loudly and then again at 4am. Sounded like someone had left the dog overnight in a van or something, then there was shouting and doing at 3am as well. This morning woken up early by a woman letting a very young kid ride up and down the middle of the road on a very noisy toy car thing, up and down again and again. It even woke my young adult son up and that is really saying something as he sleeps through anything. There is no peace day or night in our neighbourhood. Noisy screechy kids that never let up with the screeching, motorbikes down the main road all night long. Sorry to moan, I just need some peace.

SchrodingersImmigrant · 15/08/2021 12:50

Terraced housing is surely normal. Detached housing is wasteful. I only know one person who has a detached house.

Why would it be wasteful? The extra materials? Totally worth it.

YouMeandtheSpew · 15/08/2021 12:52

To be honest, noisy inconsiderate neighbours can be absolute hell regardless of whether your property is terraced, semi-detached or detached!

Handsoffstrikesagain · 15/08/2021 12:53

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.

isthisareverse · 15/08/2021 12:53

Terraced housing is surely normal. Detached housing is wasteful. I only know one person who has a detached house.

wasteful?

I suppose if you consider private ownership wasteful and miss the good old days of shared housing in the communist states?

For any normal individual who needs privacy, it should be the only option. It's not great for people who can't afford a detached house but many people do in this country.

notanothertakeaway · 15/08/2021 12:53

@Pumpkinstace

While we are at it 8am is too early for workmen.

I really didn't appreciate my kids being woken at 8am during the holidays by next doors kitchen fitters (terraced cottage here)

I think most tradesmen start work at 8am

isthisareverse · 15/08/2021 12:53

@YouMeandtheSpew

To be honest, noisy inconsiderate neighbours can be absolute hell regardless of whether your property is terraced, semi-detached or detached!

true, but it's still more bearable when the only thing you share is a fence.

vodkaredbullgirl · 15/08/2021 12:56

It's no better in a semi either, can hear next door everyday.

Handsoffstrikesagain · 15/08/2021 12:57

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.

Lemonsyellow · 15/08/2021 12:59

I suppose if you consider private ownership wasteful and miss the good old days of shared housing in the communist states?

For any normal individual who needs privacy, it should be the only option. It's not great for people who can't afford a detached house but many people do in this country.

Detached housing wastes space, and, anyway, there aren’t any where I live. Terraced housing where I am is very expensive (well over a million) and desirable. Terraced housing is not shared housing.

2020newmum · 15/08/2021 13:00

I live in an Edwardian terrace and have never heard my neighbours.

ssd · 15/08/2021 13:05

I can hear my next door neighbours answer phone message!

PandorasMailbox · 15/08/2021 13:05

@isthisareverse

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.

It's more to do with lack of space rather than loving to live cheek by jowl.

isthisareverse · 15/08/2021 13:08

Detached housing wastes space, and, anyway, there aren’t any where I live. Terraced housing where I am is very expensive (well over a million) and desirable. Terraced housing is not shared housing

even in Belgravia detached properties are more desirable than terraced...

hayley037 · 15/08/2021 13:10

I have a similar problem but feel completely stuck here due to not being able to afford stamp duty if I were to try and sell and buy elsewhere.

Akleom · 15/08/2021 13:11

I used to live in a flat and moved to a terrace house. I'd rather hear children in the terraced house than the neighbours upstairs in a flat going at it like rabbits at ungodly hours. Being woken up in the middle of the night to that, whilst being in the sleep/awake delirious zone, you lose touch of what's real and start imagining the roof is about to come crashing down on you.

bluebeck · 15/08/2021 13:12

I lived in a Victorian terrace and never heard my neighbours at all, not even new born babies.

I think 70s built houses are quite noisy. I lived in a 70s flat and could hear what my neighbours were saying sometimes at night when it was quiet.

Someone going up and down the stairs is normal noise tbh. If it's bothering you that much I would move - I can't stand not getting enough sleep, although 7am is past my getting up time, even on a Sunday

Plumtree391 · 15/08/2021 13:12

You have my sympathy. When first married I lived in a mid terraced house and could hear more than I wanted, they could also hear me. When I had a baby one neighbour commented on the baby crying in the night. There was no privacy. I couldn't wait to get out of it which we did eventually but it was a long time coming. I don't look back on our first home with any affection.

There are terraced houses with solid walls, a friend lived in one and you heard nothing from either side. I wish we had had one, you too!

SamVimes6 · 15/08/2021 13:17

If you can’t afford or don’t want to move, a cheaper but efficient alternative is to have bookshelving built along the noisy walls, fill with books and you will notice a difference.

Glwysen · 15/08/2021 13:20

I grew up in a victorian terrace and i live in one now. It’s just noise, I don’t mind it. I also grew up on a main road next to a takeway - I don’t mind traffic noise or the noise of drunks going home.

My kids and our life aren’t silent and neither are next doors, but no one’s unreasonable

ChikiTIKI · 15/08/2021 13:23

I have lived in a 60s end terrace for 6 years and about 3 times I have very faintly heard that my neighbour is vacuuming upstairs. Apart from that, never heard a thing. I think the houses are just really solidly built. I have read enough noisy neighbour threads on here to know if I ever move it's safest to get a detached home, if I could afford it.

JudgeJ · 15/08/2021 13:26

@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)

Laminate flooring should be banned in flats, incredibly anti-social.

BritishSummertime · 15/08/2021 13:27

We moved from a 1900 mid terrace due to an extremely noisy neighbour, we wouldn't even consider a semi, had to be detached. We are so so lucky with our street & neighbouring roads that noise is minimal but it's just pot luck!

I'd never move back to being attached unless it was completely unavoidable.

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