If you live in a terraced house, how much do you hear your neighbours?

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I am fed up of living in a terraced house but can't afford to move to a detached.

We don't hear from one side at all.
The other side I can hear all day...from about 6am, screaming children (I know kids make noise, I have them too), crashing about, the dog barks all day, weekends can include a lot of banging...I don't know if I am becoming less tolerant of it or what but is this the norm for a terraced house? MIL lives in one and I can never hear her neighbours.

We had a house sitter in a while ago and they were shocked by the level of noise from that side (I did warn them so they could try and mask some of the noise so it does not unsettled our own dog, mainly the barking, as there is only so much the poor lad can take).

I know that with terraces come neighbour noise and they will be able to hear us sometimes as well (hopefully not 6am!) but what is the general experience?

Also not a new build house with thin walls. I will also clarify that the children are not babies crying, which of course I'd understand.

80's mid terrace - lived here 25 years and only for one short period when a neighbour put his boomy telly on the party wall have we been disturbed.
In the summer when people are in their gardens we'll hear chatter but I've always been fortunate. I had a period with a dog either side - never a problem.
I've raised 2 boys here with their music and drum kits and guitar and always been mindful of neighbours (headphones are key!).

1930s build here in mid terrace with thick walls, barely heard anything for 3+ years. One side is generally quiet, I only ever really hear the scrape of the adjoining chimney (obviously it's shared, back to back).

The other side were blissfully quiet until they moved. The new neighbours are a nightmare. Slam doors (hard), DIY from 6.30am - 7am, DIY until 10pm, moving (dragging) furniture at 3am, shouting in the corridor which is our party wall, screaming at their dogs... their dogs bark at EVERYTHING and howl when they go out. Not only do I get to hear the lovely yapping every 10 minutes, I get to hear them scream shut up at the dogs over the din. They're fucking nightmare neighbours and I'm praying for the day their dogs keel over and die. Annoying fuckers.

Some people are just LOUD. Can confirm that playing music at a normal level, music production, and playing guitar cannot be heard between the houses, so the racket they are making is collosal to be heard through NON PARTY WALLS. The rooms don't even fucking back onto each other!

We are an end terrace we hear a few things from our neighbour. We cdd ask head vibrations like vacuuming on stairs (they are on party wall) and muffled voices if they have guests but that’s it. My neighbour says she hears very little from us (she’s mid terrace) but the other side to her are so loud all hours of the day and night! She is looking at party wall insulation to help as she only moved in two years ago and doesn’t want to move.

The terrace is on a hill so our houses are tiered, makes it hard to sound proof as the joists are in different places. Is your house like that, op?

Yes it is, I hasn't thought of that.

I may look at party wall insulation as others have mentioned. I am keen to move anyway as there's a lot of noise on this road - very shouty garden noise (I'm currently listening to a few children have a scrap by the sounds of things, one is now sobbing and an adult is letting the entire road know what happened), constant DIY, dogs barking in gardens all the time. The plus side is the location of the house is amazing and we have a really good mortgage. Despite the noise, all neighbours are also very nice. Realistically we probably won't move for about 10 years.

It's tricky isn't it.

In the UK our houses and flats are small, our housing stock is very variable quality and includes a lot of real estate that just wasn't built with longevity in mind - even as far back as the 1800s, because we had a relatively early first phase industrial revolution, what we now call "period properties" were slapped up together with little thought beyond providing shelter that kept people out of the elements - hence, single brick, no/shallow foundations (a disaster in a country with a high water table), tiny gardens/yards etc. And because of our aggressively profit driven planning system we're all cheek by jowl rammed into limited space so that landowners can shoot deer in the green bits we can't get into.

None of which you can do anything about hahaha except maybe keep in mind that a lot of housing in the UK is not only super expensive but also unsatisfactory and there probably isn't a perfect solution, given how much we all have to bloody pay to get housed even inadequately here, and try to tune out the things that annoy you, because they're just the noises from people like you, going about their day to day, maybe a bit more noisily but ultimately same as everyone else.

Hmm I live in a Victorian terrace and don’t hear a single thing. But I’ve got three noisy kids and we always have music on. Maybe we are the noisy neighbours.

Mind you our terrace is early Victorian and absolutely solid brick, even interior walls. I’ve never heard anything between our rooms inside the house - so hopefully it’s not too bad for the neighbours.

If it's single brick they'll hear you. With three kids and constant music you probably can't hear them over the racket you're making lol.

I can practically hear them breathing, our walls are that paper thin we may as well walk around in our eyelashes.

What you've described is normal household noise unless the banging is at an unreasonable hour or is aggressive and antisocial. The dogs barking is the only bit I'd find annoying. We have dogs on both sides of our terrace (and a dog ourselves). One side are very quiet, the dog will bark every time he gets outside to announce himself but I can hear his owner immediately telling him to be quiet. The other side we hear lots of barking as their dogs are quite reactive to anyone they can see in the street outside so it's constant. We hear their kids playing, their TV, their arguments etc etc but it's the luck of the draw. The only bit I really have an issue with is the arguments because I don't like my child hearing them.

Hardly ever - I suspect they might hear us slightly more, because we have children but we’re mindful of noise impacting their homes too.

12 year old modern mid terrace. Thin walls, can hear arguing and neighbours TV/ music, banging noises dogs barking outside.
On weekends when I lie in or am just very quiet I can hear actual conversations if I listen carefully, esp arguing!
I live alone and I think you often notice more that way.

My current neighbour s often live alone or guests part time. Makes s big difference depending if you think someone has company..

My terrace is old, 1880’s which probably lends itself to not hearing much of the neighbours

Why are modern houses built with thin walls!!

Thin walls and tiny windows - all so they can be thrown up as quickly and cheaply as possible!

I was talking with a friend recently about how the original council houses, were built to have light and space inside and outside, they were the last decently built homes in the UK. Even new builds that go for mega-money now are absolute garbage.

Ely in Cardiff, once the biggest council housing estate in the UK stands restatement to the above. The houses are far more well built and lovely than any new build.

It's complicated.

Poor standards obviously but that's not new. I mean the current standards are, well, current, but historically and now we just have poor benchmarks. We fling up cramped dwellings that aren't built to last and hang onto them for an inordinate amount of time because the complex system of land ownership, property rights and permissions means that it's a massive expensive ballache building anything at all here, and there are plenty of vested interests taking a chunk along the way while doing so.

Once you get past all that and start building you do it as cheap as possible and the people that regulate you don't give much of a toss because it doesn't affect them. Rinse and repeat for 200 years, throw in a deregulated banking system, currency devaluation via quantitative easing and mostly unfettered international access to property based asset acquisition here we are: a decrepit housing stock apparently priced in the thousands of billions.

Must be the luck of the draw - mine was built in the same decade but I hear everything

We are new build Terrance and can't hear either side and they say they can't hear us. In our old terraced house we could hardly hear either side but could hear them a bit sometimes.

my current neighbours are so loud. i hear them all the time, I just think why are you shouting.. i dont think the guy knows how to talk normally without shouting.. glad im moving!

Middle of 3, hardly anything. And one side is a student house. Built 1995.

We didn't hear much until new neighbour moved in who likes to play music. She's lovely but it really carries. She turns it down if I text to ask but I can still hear it even then, but don't want to make her feel uncomfortable in her own home either.

I used to live in a Victorian terrace and never heard a peep from neighbours through the very thick brick walls.

Now I live in a modern terrace and still don’t hear anything!! Actually I did once when they were using a karaoke machine! 😂

I think furniture placement is key, especially upstairs, so try to put wardrobes across the wall that connects you with the noisy neighbours.

Old next door neighbour never heard - new couple in early 30s are the most noisy selfish pair ever.

I hear them every day - they think nothing of comeing home at 1800 and starting DIY all weekend, bank holidays, late at night.
I hear their arguments - yes he does need to connect with his feelings. To be hinest on what I hear she is an emotionally abusive histrionic woman - theya re not yet married - he needs to run a mile. She sings loudly ( good singer to be fair), plays music loudly, has friends round - even more noise, bangs the front door so hard the plaster on my side of the part wall is now cracked.

Having had 15 yrs of peace, I now need to move - i simply can not live like this. MY house was my haven and it is now not - I dread coming home. I am looking to move which I resent because I love my little house, love the area but I can not live like this anymore,