If you are detached..

[CleverDenimJoker]

If you live in a detached house and you close your windows and doors can you hear your neighbours?

Im looking to buy a house soon

We're detached. Neighbour on one side is separated by a path that's about 3 foot wide and the neighbour on the other side is about 6 foot away.

Our windows are dreadful so if someone is outside their house having a conversation, I can hear the whole thing, but noise from inside someone else's house? Never heard anything unless someone the inconsiderate arsehole that lives behind us has a party.

I was in a mid terrace before where one side was very well soundproofed and the other side not at all. DH was in a semi-detached before. We both said we'd never go back to being attached!

I'd definitely take a detached house that needs work over a semi that's pristine, any day!

This is very true actually (though my preference would still be detached). My friend has an ex council house and three rumbunctious boys but the neighbours assure her they can't hear anything.

I used to live in an 1950's ex-council house and our neighbours had three very small kids. We only ever heard them if they were in their conservatory and we had our patio doors open. They popped round once to apologise for all the noise the kids had been making because, in hindsight, it was an unacceptable level of noise. We'd honestly not heard a thing! I'm not sure they believed us, but my goodness those houses were well built!

We have a 1920 Detached house .No sound in the house Thankfully.However garden is not so peaceful ,usually someone doing work or having some done .I would recommend Detached though.It will always have a premium at re sale as well

@ARichtGoodDram yep I think my house is poor build quality

I take it in some detached the outside noise can be just as bad as attached neighbour noise

Wish I could live in every house Id like to buy for one day to see how bad it is soundproofed or have some magical device that tells me how well sound goes through walls

No, but there are two fields between us!

No. Thank God

We're in a slightly run down detached. The windows are double glazed, but they're 30+ years old so not very soundproof. When everything is closed we can still hear outdoor noise - our neighbours have yappy dogs, lawnmower etc. we would never hear the neighbours when they're all inside.

Im guessing detached houses are brilliant for sound during winter and bad weather?

The most sound proof house I ever lived in was a 50s ex-council semi made of concrete. You never heard a thing, but the utilities people nearly cried if they ever had to drill a hole in the wall!

Ours is noisy because the wind resonates through the gaps in the dodgy glazing. That would be a risk for you if you were buying run down, and windows are pretty expensive to replace now.

You need to consider detached but also how close the next house actually is - that can vary a great deal from one street to the next.

Should you look at a smaller detached house with only 2m between you and the next house, and if that house has bifold doors on the side closest to your house, this is very different to a 5,000 sqft mansion with acres of land around it.

Nope I don't hear a thing! My house is separated from the neighbours by a metre each side, never hear a peep.

No and yes.

So, if your house is high on an open valley side, you may well have a fab view, but you need to appreciate the effect acoustics can have. And if you are high up, you'll get birds squaking and singing too as you live, to some extent, in the sky.

I'lI guess its unlikely you'll buy a place like ours but we can hear neighbours on the opposite side of the valley on rare occasions!

Neighbours not if windows are closed unless it's noisy machinery.

Worst noise is heavy rain on the conservatory roof!

If they are playing a trombone in their garden, you'll hear it. If they are sitting watching TV in their front room - you wont hear that from your house with the windows and doors shut

I had a run of bad neighbours so bought a detached house for that reason. The house I bought already had secondary glazing fitted (which I'd never heard of before if I'm honest ) so I have to open a window to then open another window to the outside if that makes sense?

I can't hear anything from outside and it's blissful having peace at last!

If my windows are open I can obviously hear noise, but the neighbours are mainly elderly here so it's just the sound of lawnmowers or strimmers when the weather's nice.

I live in a semi and can't here my neighbours. It will be dependent on the quality of the building and windows as well as how loud the neighbours are and the actual space between properties. Some houses have larger gaps than others.

Only if they’re in their garden. Saying that, if they’ve got their windows open and I’ve got mine open at night…have been known to hear them getting a bit enthusiastic 😬

No we can’t hear anyone.. but we only have one house close to us.

No can’t hear them at all we only have neighbours on one side,

Yes, I'm leaning towards this as I'm the same. I am very sensitive to noise (drive my husband mad with turning things off at the wall because they're buzzing!) and dread having noisy neighbours.
Last semi we lived in was pretty well soundproofed and we rarely heard nextdoor. Current one (older building, wasn't expecting it) is terrible but luckily nextdoor doesn't make much noise and I quite like hearing her play piano. But I do worry that we are quite noisy and like chatting late and I'd love to play music more but I don't because it would be inconsiderate.
Detached would be an absolute dream, I'm actually looking at 'worse' areas we could afford a detached in, which is very un-Mumsnet (worst house in the best street bollocks).

Generally no, occasionally if there are a lot of visitors.

No. We only hear them at all if they're using a lawnmower or chainsaw. But some 'detached' are so close together they may as well be semi detached!

I like in a mid terrace and don’t hear anything unless in my garden, think it all depends on the house and neighbours

I’m on a culdesac with super friendly neighbours who are always standing around chatting so I can hear them sometimes. I can hear delivery drivers and kids kicking a football around (often my kid!) and that sort of thing. But I was in a terrace before and am super noise sensitive and it’s 100x better.

No.