Having second thoughts - do you get used to road noise?

[BonyM]

We have sold our house and agreed to purchase one that has a garden backing directly on to a golf course. The house itself has good space although the layout is not ideal and we would eventually want to knock some walls down and extend. It is at the top of a cul-de-sac, so no through traffic and when we went to view it was very quiet (quiet being at the top of our wish list). The road is generally thought of as one of the best in the area and properties don't often come up for sale there - the vendors have lived in the house for 10 years and prior to that lived in two other houses on the same street.

We made an offer after just one viewing, for all of the above reasons, plus we were going on holiday the next day and because the viewing was an "open house" we knew that there was lots of interest and didn't want to lose it.

The problem is, we went back again last week and, on walking out into the garden were struck by how much noise we could hear (in complete contrast to the first viewing). Behind the golf course to the west, is a busy dual carriageway (about 0.3 of a mile away), and just over half a mile away is the M4 motorway to the north. We're guessing that the wind was in a different direction when we first viewed, but we have been back and stood in the street a couple more times this week and have been able to hear a rumble of traffic.

Now, it's not VERY noisy, but it is noisier than where we currently are. I think we will probably tune it out after a while (as it's a constant rumble rather than intermittent noise) but dh is very concerned and thinks we should pull out. I hate to mess people around and the survey is booked for tomorrow, but on the other hand, this will be a big purchase for us (probably our final house) so we don't want to get it wrong...

Does anyone have any experience of living with similar noise, and do you get used to it?

Sorry for long post!

I've lived in a house that has a garden backing onto a main road, and currently live right on an A road, and yes, generally you do get used to it. Occasionally you get a load of sirens rushing past or a car which is blasting music so load that it makes the building shake, but generally you do zone out.

I'm moving soon to somewhere which backs into a tramline. The payoff for being close to transport links is that you're, well, close to transport links.

We live in London so there is constant background traffic hum of some sort. We also bought on a slightly noisier road and with more planes overhead than we would have liked ideally. We've got used to it, much more quickly and easily than we expected to. And it hasn't stopped us relaxing in the garden at all. (In all honesty the neighbours' children and lawnmowers are much more of an issue on that score!)

It sounds like you and your DH are very fussy buyers (not being rude, we were the same!). Realistically every house is going to have some sort of compromise as others have said. In the end you have to work out whether the plus points are good enough, and rare enough, to make the background noise worth living with. You wouldn't want to miss this house and then find that nothing else comes up which ticks your boxes (as you have found for the past year).

Well, we are going ahead with it. Dh is still not sure but, as you say minipie, he is a fussy buyer! The hope is that this will be our forever home and we are spending far more on it than I ever imagined I would ever spend on a house, so I guess we are understandably concerned that we're making the right decision...

I really do believe we will get used to it and it's reassuring to hear that many of you have said that this is likely to be the case.

Minipie - your comment about children and lawnmowers is spot on. I took a rare break yesterday to go and sit in the garden with a cup of tea (as the sun was shining for once...) and a couple of minutes after I'd sat down, our next door neighbour started up with his VERY noisy lawnmower so my peace was shattered and I had to come inside.

BonyM - well done for making a decision and good luck with the purchase. I hope it goes smoothly. (We exchanged on Friday on a house.)

Glad you are going ahead! It is not as if it is ON a busy road. We live on acreage in the country, set back from the road, very quiet most of the timeexcept for firetrucks (station 1/3 mile away), and medical helicopter (base is at fire station), and sometimes a trainwhich must be when wind changes as I do not hear it much. I like those sounds. They are reassuring to me. I remember being so offended when a realtor showed us a house down below a freeway (30 years ago).

It sounds similar to the house we have just moved into. In fact, having read your postings, I bought an app for my i-pad which measures noise and the hum of traffic is around 55 decibels here too.

Before we bought this place, noise levels was one of my major concerns as I HATE traffic noise, aircraft noise ect ect. I used to live in Derbyshire where there was hardly any noise. However, I have come to the conclusion that it would be very hard to find somewhere in the south east where there isn't a constant hum of noise.

We didn't really notice it before we moved in, although we knew the house was just two (long) gardens away from a busy single lane road and a bit further away from other similar roads. When we moved in, I noticed the hum straight away and I was concerned that it would bother me. You can hear it only in the garden, not in the house, and it is worse at certain times of the day. It isn't noticeable at night.

In addition, we thought we had heard the last of aircraft noise, as we moved away from the flight path of a major airport. What we didn't appreciate was that we would have to deal with some noise from light aircraft from a small airport nearby.

Anyway, we have been here just a couple of weeks and I can honestly say that it is fine. I would sooner it not be there, but I love the house so much I am happy to live with it. As someone else mentioned, its all about compromise.

I hope you feel the same about your place.

Arty - you made it to Surrey? (we pm'd about it when I was called Hippipotami)

Are you near the W area? What school did your ds (was it ds?) to to, I remember you looked at WC?

Thanks FootballFriend and HansieMom .

Arty - that's very reassuring to hear, and glad that you love your house so much! Hopefully we will feel the same way once we move in.
Bran - there are lots of different apps available - just search for decibel meter and you will get a selection to choose from.

Install a water feature. You can do it quite cheaply. Put it near where you would sit out. Ge a switch so you only need turn on when you are outside. Ensure lots of water dropping. You'll be amazed at what it blocks out.

Just to update - we moved in at the beginning of November and although it is very tranquil some days, on others the road is quite loud and it's driving dh slightly bonkers. He has tinnitus which makes him ultra noise-sensitive so in retrospect we shouldn't have gone ahead with the purchase.

The upshot is that we are not going to stay and are looking for something else!

I guess the moral of the story is that if you have doubts, don't do it!

I agree that there's worse things than traffic noise. I knew somebody who lived next door to two dogs barking non stop most of the day. For me that would be a lot worse than the noise of traffic. It depends on how loud the traffic noise is and how much would it bother you. And if you decided not to have this house are there other houses you like. No house is going to tick every box.

Oh dear! It is going to be very very hard to find somewhere that never has any road noise audible. But I wish you the best of luck.

My wee granny moved to a house with the m8 practically at the bottom of her garden and she is now very used to it. Before she moved she couldn't stand visiting my aunty in London as the noise was too much but now after living in this newer house she can visit no problem

I agree there are much worse noises to live near than traffic noise

Sorry to hear your news
Hope sale and new purchase are more successful.