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Original poster

Perfect house and location but with busy-ish road in front.

28 replies

Kinia · 07/04/2013 21:56

We are thinking of buying a house in a lovely village but it's on a road separated from the main by a strip of grass and patchy trees. Not a madly busy road but the traffic is fairly constant. Does anybody live on a similar road. If yes, is the noise driving you mad?? The location is perfect though :-(
Any pointers and tips would be much appreciated.

OP posts:

suebfg · 07/04/2013 22:25

I don't live on such a road but have discounted many properties in the past because they front or back onto a busy road. If you have children or pets, I would never live fronting onto a busy road and the noise from a busy road would rule out houses backing onto a busy road for me.

ILikeBirds · 07/04/2013 22:35

It was the compromise when we bought our house. It's a B road with a 40mph limit but there is a large verge and we have a reasonable size front garden. Traffic fairly regular in the daytime, noise not a problem inside at all and doesn't bother me sitting in the garden either. Easy to tune out.

ThePoorMansBeckySharp · 07/04/2013 22:40

I did a year ago. Still not 100 percent used to it to e honest. I don't regret buying the house though as we would not hve been able to afford this neighbourhood otherwise. I am aware though that being on a busy road will make it harder to sell when the time comes.

camtt · 07/04/2013 22:40

I have lived on the edge of a dual carriage way separated by a service road, and now on the edge of a busy B road, with wide verge (but no trees). The noise is not driving us mad, and we are noise sensitive if anything. In our previous house we installed secondary glazing and plan to do the same in new house, although it is fairly expensive it cuts the noise a lot and is good insulation. We've got a much nicer house because of the road than we would have had without it, and for us that is a worthwhile compromise.

Loshad · 07/04/2013 22:41

Have you tried having a conversation in the garden? if you can't then discount it.

Devora · 07/04/2013 22:44

I live on a pretty busy B road: it's the cheap street in this area for that very reason.

I think it's fine. We have double glazing. But then I've lived in London all my life, in flats over roads far busier than this one. My last flat overlooked 2 junctions with a combined 16 lanes of traffic!

I think it's amazing what you can get used to. But these things are very individual: I can cope with it, but can you?

Turnipinatutu · 08/04/2013 00:53

I live on a road exactly as you describe. I only really notice the traffic if I'm at home during rush hour and even then only if I'm in the front of the house.
I've lived here for 15 years and never even felt the need to get double glazing fitted.

Barbabeau · 08/04/2013 06:44

I rented a flat on a B road and couldn't get used to the noise. As a result ,when we were looking for a place to buy, one of our key criteria was a very quiet road.

Branleuse · 08/04/2013 07:35

It wouldnt bother me. Ive lived on a couple of busy roads and tbh after the first couple of days you dont even hear it

Netguru · 08/04/2013 07:38

Yes. Almost exactly as you describe. We were slightly worried about it before we moved in but it hasn't been an issue at all. I'd do it again in similar circumstances.

noisytoys · 08/04/2013 08:55

I live on a very busy road, next to the fire station with emergency sirens going off day and night. Don't notice it or pay attention to it at all

Bananasinfadedpjs · 08/04/2013 09:02

We used to live on a very busy road, 5 lanes of traffic in all.

We were in a flat and on the first floor, so slightly away from the road. The noise wasn't really an issue tbh - we had double glazing and with the windows closed you couldn't hear it. In fact, even with the windows open we soon got used to it and stopped noticing it.

The children enjoyed watching the buses and emergency vehicles and deliver lorries etc etc go past on the main road, particularly at rush hour .

One thing I did notice though, was how dirty it made things - the windows and curtains needed cleaning often, and it was more dusty in the house because of the road, I think.

MinimalistMommi · 08/04/2013 13:48

We've come from a very quiet residential street to a tiny little back street in a town where traffic passes (one way). There's a pavement between us and the road. When I viewed the cottage I didn't notice the traffic but of course when we actually moved in I did as we only have single glazed sash windows. I have very quickly got used to it and only notice it if I listen out for it. Having said that, we're having secondary glazing (which is meant to beat double glazing in noise reduction stakes hands down, I did A LOT of research!) and have specifically chosen it for this very reason. We have also chosen to have 6 mm Stadip Silence acoustic glass which reduces sound even more. It's a very worth while investment for us as the sound of the occasional cars passing/leaving for work in the morning as its a residential street is disturbing me first thing in the morning. It's not as expensive as you might think either and is great for heat retention in house.

icravecheese · 08/04/2013 16:40

We live on an A road going out of a large town. Luckily its an A road that leads off into the wilds of Dorset so traffic isn't actually that bad, but there is a steady flow at rush her, with a 30mph speed limit.

Its worth visiting at diff times of day, our road is dead on a Sunday morning, busy at rush hours, quietish during day. Our Victorian house has secondary glazing as we still have original sash windows, plus we have a 15ft driveway then a pavement.

We have 3 children under 6, & actually living near a road has made them super road aware, the older 2 never step off the drive without us....its really not dangerous like people make it out to be, so long as you drum road safety into your kids.

It was our compromise....we have a gorgeous (in my opinion!) Detached Victorian property with driveway parking & a good garden (in which traffic noise is heard but totally bearable). Same house one street back would be out of our price range.....all depends on what your compromise is. we've lived here for 8 yes now & have never considered traffic noise an issue (& both me & husband grew up in rural villages).

Jabiru · 08/04/2013 16:41

We lived on a road exactly as you describe. It was fine. I actually never gave it a second thought when we bought it, but the person who bought it from us was slightly worried (though it didn't put them off).

You do get used to the noise and filter it out.

I still miss my house!

littlecrystal · 08/04/2013 22:24

Bumping your thread as considering buying a house on a busy-ish road myself (because that is the only available house in the area). The house has been on the market for 8 months and I don't know any other reason, than road, why it has not been snapped yet. Having said that, I am leaning towards buying it - for the right price. I would make sure that I am paying less than other similar houses in a quiet location. So that when it comes to selling, you can at least attract with the price.

myron · 08/04/2013 23:47

Always view during a weekday morning in addition to the weekend if the property fronts or backs a main road. We pulled out of a purchase after paying for a full building survey i.e incurred costs after a midweek morning viewing. The noise from the A road backing the 1.5 acre garden was horrendous even standing from the furthest bit of the land from the road despite the tasteful water feature - it was OK during our initial weekend viewings due to far less traffic. We decided that we couldn't live with the noise and that it would always ruin the otherwise fabulous grounds.

echt · 09/04/2013 06:45

Where is the main living room? When I lived in the UK in a box-ticking area but on a main road, the living room was at the back, with secondary glazing in the front bedroom windows. Never felt a sense of noise. Front garden was tiny, but back garden about 80 feet long, so a real sense of separation. It helped that we backed on to a railway, so weren't overlooked.

This sounds like hell, I know, but we loved it. Cat and child fine with this.

I've just had a memory of being woken up by the quiet, and going to the window to see two foxes playing in the main road, biting each others' arses and having a larf.

Good advice about a weekday viewing.

SoYo · 09/04/2013 06:54

Have you visited it at different times of day? Try visiting at times you're most likely to be in the garden, then most likely front of house etc.

soonbesailing · 09/04/2013 11:10

Minimalistmommi- can I ask who supplied your secondary glazing please.

We recently moved to a village house on a corner of the main village road, I didn't really realise that all of the bedrooms face the road until too late! (duh)
It's not too bad as village is quiet, but very different from what we had before. I think we will soon get used to it but hope secondary glazing is the answer as we have lovely old sash windows.

MinimalistMommi · 09/04/2013 11:26

soon I also was pretty silly about it, I actually didn't think about the fact I was moving onto a street in town rather than a residential street out of town (duh) until the night I sat down on our first evening there
I don't know how long it's been since you moved, but you will get accustomed to it. Our street isn't particular busy and in fact when I mentioned it to people they asked what I was talking about as they didn't feel it was busy at all. To me, there were still cars passing by my house though

So, onto the secondary glazing, I did a load of research (and hassled Piglet John on here loads too) to make sure I chose the right company and got several quotes through. We ended up going with this quote and their quote was very reasonable even with specialist glass!!! I can pm you what we paid if you want, don't feel comfortable putting it on here for some reason that is probably silly We're also paying for the ones that tilt right back so you can clean them easily. They're being fitted in about a weeks time.

MinimalistMommi · 09/04/2013 11:28

soon I was told to also DEFINITELY choose secondary glazing for noise reduction over double or even triple glazing, and that was just coming from people that only sell secondary glazing IYKWIM so it was genuine.

MinimalistMommi · 09/04/2013 11:29

A link would be good wouldn't it? www.gsecg.com/about-granada-secondary-glazing-commercial

soonbesailing · 09/04/2013 11:50

Thank you for the link.

We are going to have the old windows refurbished (so they actually open/close) and draught proofed, but I think we will still need secondary glazing to cut down noise.

MinimalistMommi · 09/04/2013 12:23

I think you will definitely need to also if you're anything like me. Have you booked the refurbishment? I was told not to draughtproof my sashes bc once you have secondary glazing fitted it can lead to condensation between them. It's best to keep the draughts apparently.

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