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Original poster

Anyone live on an 'A' road or other busy road?? Advice needed on buying house

23 replies

RufusLittle · 19/03/2007 19:47

Hello MN
Not sure if this is the right place to post this question but i need advice before i go crazy and drive my dh up the wall
We are looking for a new house in an area we dont know that well and have found a lovely house that we think could be 'the one' but it is on an 'A' road. The house has a long front garden and the traffic noise inside the house is hardly noticeable but i'm cant decide if we should just go for it as the house has so many other positives or if i'm getting carried away and should keep looking for an alternative. Has anyone any advice or experience of living on a busy/major road??

OP posts:

dinny · 19/03/2007 19:48

lived in rented house on A road (speed limit 30 as in village) but hated it and though the house was big with huge garden, had to move away asap. now live in tiny cottage away from road and am so much happier.

whereabouts are you (ish)?

nickytwotimes · 19/03/2007 19:50

i lived on amain road as a kid and we got used to the noise really quickly - after that we never noticed it. if you have a long front garden, grow some trees - they block the noise and the view. don't be afraid to knock on possible future neighbour's doors to ask what it is like. also, visit at different times of day and evening.

RTKangaMummy · 19/03/2007 19:51

How easy is it to drive out of the drive and turn RIGHT?

If that is ok and also turning right into the driveway?

What is the speed limit outside your house?

wheresthehamster · 19/03/2007 19:53

Imagine trying to get to sleep at night and all you can hear is zoom zoom zoom.......

The potential accidents.

The car fumes.

Would you feel ok letting your children walk anywhere?

These were all the reasons we decided to move to a quiet cul-de-sac.

dinny · 19/03/2007 19:53

agree with that, wmh (any relation to wmf?)

always felt under seige, really

margoandjerry · 19/03/2007 19:56

maybe it's our house you're looking at!

It's for sale right now and is on a main road but we've lived here for decades and it's lovely. Have honestly never been bothered by the road. You just get used to a slight swishing noise from cars.

To be honest, I think it also depends on the road - moving traffic is better than stop start traffic and you don't want loads of sirens blaring at all hours.

I also think every house is a compromise - I would find noise from neighbours impossible to live with but road noise ok. You might be different.

RTKangaMummy · 19/03/2007 19:56

could there be traffic stopped for traffic lights or roundabout

ie lots of cars outside in jam

One of our houses has an A road but we have a very very very long driveway so it isn't a problem

Ellaroo · 19/03/2007 19:57

You could find out from the council as to whether the A road is in a pollution congestion zone - I think they are required by law to let residents know if their area is in one and that the council has to have a plan of action and air quality monitoring equipment installed along the road if it is (this does very little though - it seems to be a bit of a pointless exercise as it they can rarely do anything to reduce the amount of cars using an A road). However, you might be able to tell from this what the air quality was like. I wouldn't be worrying about the noise, I'd be worrying about how much pollution my childrn were breathing in all the time. Having said that, that's probably only the concern of country-bumpkins and suburb dwellers as millions of children live in London and I doubt it's something you end up getting stressed about there if it's just an unnoticed part of every day life.

RustyBear · 19/03/2007 19:58

Our house backs on to a busy A road but we don't notice the noise now, though we were really worried about it when we were looking at it & nearly didn't buy for that reason. But we wouldn't have bought it if the entrance had been on the main road,as the turning right would really have worried me.

Original poster

RufusLittle · 19/03/2007 20:13

Thank you evryone - the house doesn't have a drive at the front and so the turning right etc doesn't come into it - there is a little road at the back that allows access to the garage and off road parking etc. We are going to go back and have a viewing at rush hour to see how bad the traffic is - i dont think there will be queues because of the length of road but it just depends how much traffic there is. We dont have children yet but we are TTC and so pollution is a factor. Especially as my dh had asthma as a child and he lived on a busyish road.... oh god i dont like buying houses...

OP posts:

RTKangaMummy · 19/03/2007 20:17

Good luck with househunting and TTC

Skribble · 19/03/2007 22:18

Even with the little road for acces consider how easy it is to pull out of that.

What would be a concern for me is children (yes I know its a long way off) being able to get out and about with out you having heart failure. We live in a very quite village, but the cars and trucks speed in our road one of the main ones into the village, so its not busy but fast.

In addition to that I don't let them out the front because we picked the worst bit of street being between the late opening shop, the park, the youth club and the bit of wall they teens sit on at night. Soit is the bit where all the worst elements in the village hang out after school, I want to move to a quieter street where they can go out and go to friends houses etc.

LIZS · 21/03/2007 15:14

We've just moved onto an A road, and it was the compromise in the end for the house/garden at the price. The noise is a factor but with the tv or music on you don't really hear it inside and kids sleep at the back. Despite the 30 mile an hour limit the traffic is faster than that past us. We can turn on our frontage so don't have to reverse back off the driveway and there is a slip road bordering our drive exit so we can pull across and then wait for a space. Having said that the kids won't be playing out front unsupervised. Previously we lived in a close near a main railway line and airport and the noise here is probably more persistent if less intense but the air seems fresher !

dinny · 21/03/2007 18:58

am trying to picture where you are, LIZS....

LIZS · 21/03/2007 19:46

lol Dinny , hello ! They've taken our board down so less obvious now. If you go through the village and head towards R we're on the rh side at the end of a slip road !

dinny · 21/03/2007 20:58

is it a period place?

LIZS · 22/03/2007 14:28

Not really, built around 1994 ! , although it is in a traditional style so you might not realise immediately.

bubblerock · 22/03/2007 14:44

I grew up in a house on a main road and it was fine. We didn't notice the noise. There are good points - we were never burgled, we never had kids hanging around outside, we were able to walk out of the house as kids - it was probably safer than a country lane as there were lots of people around and it was well lit. None of our cats over the years were ever run over - they never went near the road, very 'street smart'

It certainly wouldn't put me off buying on a main road, I wouldn't like to live with noise of a motorway or airport though.

beckybrastraps · 22/03/2007 14:51

We live on the main road through our village, a B road. Actually not too far from some traffic lights. It is a bit noisy at rush hour, but there is very little traffic after that, and not too much in the day either. We reverse onto the drive, and although it was a bit nervewracking at first it got much easier very quickly as we got used to it. We went for the big house on the main road rather than the small house ont he cul de sac. Children don't play out the front, but the back garden is well-fortified.

ProfYaffle · 22/03/2007 14:54

I live on a main road and although it's not a major problem I probably wouldn't choose to do the same again. It's a pain not being able to open the windows at night in summer, although the noise of the pig wagons is almost drowned out by the sodding cockerals. Our cats have been fine but next door have lost a few cats to the road.

amidaiwish · 22/03/2007 15:33

we live on a main road
i agree that continuous traffic is easier to put up with than stop-start traffic - i would avoid it if near a speed camera as that can cause a lot of braking/revving.

what is the speed limit?
does it have new double glazing?
inside the house you shouldn't be able to hear the noise
are the bedrooms at the front or the back?
can you hear the traffic in the garden? (with trees etc.. you shouldn't be able to)

tbh i quite like a main road. I have been on quiet roads/cul de sacs before and all it takes is one nightmare family/household with motorbikes etc/blaring music to destroy it. At least on our road we are not bothered by anything like that.

What is parking like?
Is it a safe road to cross? - not a corner / blind etc...

amidaiwish · 22/03/2007 15:34

oh and i love it walking home late at night -
feel very safe

do agree with not being able to open windows in the summer, that is a pain. though with insects etc. (we are right near the Thames) you probably wouldn't anyway. Think about the cost of an air conditioning unit for summer in the upstairs road-facing rooms.

Mum2FunkyDude · 22/03/2007 15:37

We're renting on a busy A road, the noise inside the house you get used to, its when you want to spend time outside in the garden that it is impossible, you have to stop conversation wait for the car to pass and then talk.

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