To want to move for this?

[Renovationhell]

I live in a semi detached. Been here 7 years, 2 sets of neighbors previously no issues.

Got new ones a month ago. They are lovely but my god they are noisy. Doors slamming, loud talking (never heard someone talk through the wall before!) DIY late at night. Dogs who bark constantly for no apparent reason and howl constantly when they leave.

I’ve tried to ignore it but as times going on it’s annoying me more and more. I’m on edge waiting for a noise now which is ridiculous. It feels like my privacy has been invaded and all the work I’ve put into this house so far is pointless.

Is this just what it’s like living in close proximity to someone. How do I get used to it?

Ive spoken to DH about moving last night. There’s a huge 1000 house new build estate up the road just begun. The catch is I would be increasing my mortgage by £150k to upgrade to a detached house. There are no older detached houses in the village or surrounding area within budget that don’t need complete renovation and I haven’t got it in me to start again- I literally would need to move in somewhere finished.

The new builds are a worse location and are smaller than current house (old Victorian, not finished renovating yet so can’t sell for full price) but it would be detached and also finished which mine won’t be for years! I have small children who may benefit from living in an estate full of others bs current location in an old village full of older people? I have more building work booked in for this summer to the tune of 20k and I’m now thinking of cancelling as putting more money into a house I may leave seems daft. New neighbours are also renovating and likely to be for years so my building work just goes alongside theirs.

Any input into my scrambled thoughts much appreciated 😄 are new builds generally really noisy places to live? Are new build houses as rubbish as people claim? Any thoughts on living on such a huge estate?

Jesus, if you're considering moving because of neighbour noise, please don't even consider a new build! Paper thin walls where you can hear your neighbour cough!

I’m in a lot of the day. I have toddlers so am home with them a lot. I WFH 2 days and have 3 in the workplace but work shifts (12pm-12am)

Its more when your sat trying to watch telly on an evening and you can hear dogs barking, doors slamming, random knocking. Puts me on edge!

I’ve mentioned the dogs but she’s sort of laughed it off saying oh yes they are rescues they get scared alone. They are a guarding breed so bark at most things which will be hard to train out of them I suppose. Lots of the time they are barking at the window and they are making no attempt to stop them while sitting there. I don’t want to cause bad feelings though so not sure how to go about it! My dogs occasionally bark but it’s more of a someone’s here type thing then shut up, maybe 2mins once or twice a day.

Financially it’s more sensible to stay here because of how much I’ve put in vs what I will get back. I think I’ll make a loss.

This is their forever home sadly, or what’s what they have said 😫

I'm the same situation it's ruining my life

Detached is the way to go. I couldn’t go back. Obvs there is still noise depending on the neighbours but nothing like in a semi. I’d buy a new build, but I say that as someone who has done that twice and had nothing but good experiences. My current house I bought new while the estate was being built. You get to move in to a brand new shiny house, where you have likely picked the kitchen, flooring etc that you want. I’d recommend.

Certainly look into soundproofing/wall insulation. We did 4 rooms and it cost £2000 with a decent contractor. Saved a bit on heating too.

You sound to have a decent house, are building it up to be a lovely forever place. It costs a lot to move to... the unknown.

Don't thrown it away to run. Or you will spend your life running.

How is it done? Do they just cover your existing wall type thing?
My living room diner shares 2 fireplaces/chimneys with next door. I think I would need 4 large rooms doing but it could be a good idea!

@babasaclover sorry to hear that. Is it dogs or just general wandering around like mini elephants? I feel for you too! What are your plans.

If you’re surrounded by smaller terraced houses, there’s a (strong in my opinion) change that some will be housing association or shared ownership.

It depends how you’d feel about that.

I'd look at whether you can soundproof the adjoining walls which should help block out some of the shouting and slamming door noise. A month is still fairly early days and it sounds like the neighbours are receptive to you speaking to them about the issues. It may take a few chats for them to appreciate how noisy they are and how much it's affecting you.

I could but I’m not sure it’s financially viable. I need somewhere around 30k to finish it which I didn’t mind remortgaging for but I don’t think I would get that back if I sold based on price paid and money already spent.

Make sure any soundproofing company doesn't just put up a layer on the wall, they need to be proper experts doing music rooms etc. I doubt 2k will cut it.

It may need to extend under the floor / into the loft and the chimney will be tricky. Proper soundproofing effectively 'decouples' you from next door.

Prob cheaper than £150k tho

I find getting to know the neighbours and dogs can help take the annoyance out of noise, though. Assuming they're nice!

Well yeah I think sometimes you just start feeling like it's time to move on and it's hard to get past that.
You should at least seriously consider moving, do the finances and get your house valued etc

If you move, you should wait at least a year as it will be obvious to buyers that you're moving soon after next door neighbours moved in.

I think you can cross that bridge when you come to it. Your children may want to bring other kids back but you can manage that by how you respond. My son mostly just played out though he only brought his best friend home.

I think whether you move soon, or consider doing more work on your house, don't lose sight of buying detached as the goal.

We've moved several times due to work/ growing family. Have lived in terraced/ semi, various age houses, Victorian, older cottage, modern. Most of the time we had great neighbours, but it takes only one set of noisy ones to make you feel you can never completely relax. I totally get that feeling: even when they're not being noisy, you're waiting for the noise to begin. Your quality of life is at the mercy of people who just happen to live in close proximity to you.

Eventually buying detached was the best thing we ever did. Overnight, it was like a weight lifted off my shoulders

This is the gamble with new builds isn't it. Puts me right off.

Do you think some kind of soundproofing might help ? Be a bit cheaper and you get to stay in the house you love.x

I’m badly affected by noise so I feel your pain. However, you mention that you have a huge garden backing onto woodland. If you buy the new build with the smaller garden, you will get a lot more neighbour noise even if you’re detached. If your garden is close to others, you’ll hear them; and people make a LOT of noise in their gardens - effectively the garden has become another living room. Music, videos, loud phone calls, meals outside, parties, barking dogs…Also everything that takes place indoors can be heard outside if their windows are open.

In your position I’d put the extension on hold; consider building a garden room for wfh ( if that would work); cost up soundproofing on the party wall; try and establish a relationship with your neighbours, if you get on with them their noise will bother you less and they’ll be more amenable to reasonable requests e.g no DIY late at night. This would make you feel a bit more in control, and if things are still bad in a year’s time, look at moving then.

I live on an estate that was just half built (phase 1 of 2) when I moved in 17 years ago.

Then phase 2 was finished and the park was erected in the builders yard (iyswim?).

Mixture of terrace, townhouses, flats, semis and detached.

We had some initial teething problems with antisocial behaviour.

I use to love listening to my neighbours blame it on the fact there is social housing on the estate.

I think it was a few months before I confessed I was social housing and the people they were complaining about privately owned!

I've never seen anyone pedal backwards so quickly whilst saying "but you work and you're so nice" 🙄

Anyway it settled quickly and even though I live right next door to the park I don't experience any problems.

Would it cost anymore to do soundproofing in the adjoined walls than to increase your mortgage?

It maybe being inventive rather than reactive may be where your solution lies.

It's horrible when you have inconsiderate neighbours. I had lovely neighbours for years but now the inconsiderate ones have moved in. Loud music in the house. I can't enjoy my garden if they're home. DIY at random times. It was 10.45pm this week. Shouting, swearing, doors slamming... the list goes on. It's heaven when they go out.

But I'm not in a position to move and actually really like where I live and have done a lot of work on my house so don't want to start again anywhere else.

In your shoes, I'd look into soundproofing your house. There are some lovely estates around but what you've described sounds like you'd be jumping from the frying pan into the fire. If you move onto an estate you have to be very clever about the plot you choose. You need a quiet corner or cul-de-sac that doesn't back onto other gardens. At the moment you have one noisy neighbour, with new build you describe you'd have to be very lucky to get 4-5 neighbours being quiet at the same time!

You haven't described your neighbours. Is it a family with small children? Or teens? Don't forget that children grow up and teens move out to go to uni... (and dare I say it, dogs die!) so whilst the noise is intolerable now it could calm down. There could be an end in sight.

Another thought... have you had any conversations with your neighbours about the noise? As you're both doing work on your houses would it be a good time to work together to put soundproofing in place on both sides? You could sell it to them by saying how mutually beneficial it would be for everyone.

Surely they’d only be banging on doors and running in and out if they’re your children’s friends? Doesn’t he want the kids to have friends because they might disturb his peace?

Suppose it’s because we have 3 children so that’s a lot of potential kids in and out or hanging around! He WFH on weekends so it’s a lot of potential disturbance. I’m also often away on weekends so he would have 3 kids plus dogs and potentially someone else’s to keep an eye on. It’s definatley a consideration. We do play dates here but arranged ones so we can make sure we are around and that’s we haven’t got deadlines etc! I’ve also had some really awful kids for play dates who I was glad to get rid of 😄

NDN have a mix of primary school and older kids. The DIY will settle down I’m sure as they have only been there a month or so…unless they do a massive extension or something equally long and awful. They haven’t mentioned one but it’s a possibility.

They have 3 dogs plus another that visits so often 4. All youngish and large breed. Could potentially be another 10 years!

If I was going to attempt to sell mine I need to decide what to finish and what to forfit.
Landscaping? Important or not? I was planning a large patio area to replace horrible old concrete/rubble that’s currently there. Is this something that increases value?

I will have to replace 1 bathroom as I’ve already ripped it out! What about the other, is a posh bathroom important?

Lots of the rooms still have artex. Is it worth skimming over?

Oh and we were planning on rendering to tidy up old extension that looks tired. Worth it to increase kerb appeal?

You’d just have to have an out and stay out policy - there are normally parks in these kinds of estates. While I understand it might be annoying, the kind of childhood where kids have their friends nearby and call for them is definitely preferable from the kids pov.

@GrouachMacbeth could you share who you used for soundproofing? I’m seriously considering it so would love to know more about what they did.