If you live in a semi detached, main rooms adjoining, what noise do you here from neighbours?

[monumentalidiot]

Considering a move and dont know what to do. Its been done to death but what to do, im not sure...

Want to keep this general just in case i "out" myself.

We have two suitable property options, a main room (living areas, bedrooms) adjoining 1920s semi detached with about 900sq ft of useable living area (not including bathrooms or hallways) or a detached house with 700 sq ft of useable living space.

The detached is totally open plan kitchen and the semi has separate kitchen, dining and living rooms.

We have two children. Gardens for both are comparable.

Both cost roughly the same but detached house will mean i will have to drive to supermarket etc as poor public transport links.

Love both.

Semi is SW rear garden. Detached is west facing garden.

Unsure about another semi as i dont like hearing neighbours' tv running late at nights in bedrooms adjoining etc and dont like hearing extractor fans of shower rooms running etc. I can live with it though but i grumble about it. I know its part and parcel of semi detached living.Also our children are under 5 and are noisy.

Like the detached house a lot but open plan is annoying but detached would be amazing.

Both plots are fairly unsuitable for further development as both small plots in tightly packed streets.

The semi is bigger and if you add the wide front door hallway, it feels so spacious.

Can anyone tell me cons of semi detached living and what you hear day to day and if small detached are better?

Really vague i know but cant add anything else!

When our neighbour used to go "OOOoooooOOO" in that singsongy way, we always joined in. It was friendly really.

"I Did It My Way" when the pubs had shut, not so much.

We hear TV, footsteps, snoring and weeing. To be honest I don't really mind. It's just day to day noise, not enough to be an issue.

Victorian Semi
We hear them putting plugs into plugs sockets and that's about it.

they used to hear DD2 crying when she was small, but TBH so could most of the north west, she was that bloody loud.

In DM's 70's semi (where DH and I are staying at the moment) you hardly hear anything apart from a bit of laughter in the conservatory if they've got guests over. Her old neighbours used to play v loud music and TV (deaf) so she could hear that.

We lived in a 30's semi where you could hear absolutely everything :( and an 80s terraced where you couldn't hear anything at all! Get the detached, I would - it's such a lottery otherwise.

Barely anything , and they have 6 kids , 1 grandchild and the eldest's partner living in a 3 bed semi ...

I used to hear the baby crying in the night but that was because my youngest was a similar age and I was on high alert myself ...

We are all nice people , we live and let live ,

Wall mounted TVs should be banned on adjoining walls it is the most inconsiderate and unneighbourly act - as you were.

Look at elements apart from size - the semi we live in now is almost twice the size of the bungalow we moved from, but the latter had much better cupboard and loft space. A lot of the space in this house is wasted, particularly downstairs, and it feels much more cluttered generally. As for sound levels, we don't hear much from next door through the walls, but they can be noisy in the garden. I'd go for the detached option again if I had the choice, but that's mostly because I want the freedom to turn up my music again.

1930s semi here. I am saving up for soundproofing. The? have tv on wall. Plus the man is very shout and sweary.

Would love a detached.

Mid terrace. Can't hear anything from one side. Other side can hear TV in living room only occasionally. Can hear alarm clock in morning very annoying pre small children. Can hear teenage children laughing and chatting in middle bedroom until silly o'clock. Not enough to say anything as am sure my little ones are noisy at times. Would go detached every time.

We had a 1970s semi which I think was constructed mainly of paper.

The noise from the neighbours was horrendous. Screaming kids, slamming doors, her swearing and shouting at the kids, music....

We moved after 5 years and went way out into the country so we can hardly see our neighbours let alone hear them. It was that bad we decided we couldn't even live in a street let alone another semi!

I had EXACTLY the same thoughts as you about buying a semi. We moved from an Edwardian semi in which the halls seperated the living space. We bought a 1930s semi with back to back lounges. The couple next door are pleasant enough - early 70s, retired at home a lot. Problem is their TV nose is heard very clearly through the party wall. We've been here 12 months now & I've only just got to a point where I don't let it piss me off. It's worse in the bedroom but luckily they go to bed around 10-10.30pm plus I wear earplugs. On balance between this and a smaller detached it would depend on size & cost. A detached on this street is approx 100-125k more for the same downstairs space but one extra bedroom. Problem is you can't chose your neighbours!

We have moved from a semi to a detached recently and the difference is amazing. Our two lots of previous neighbours in the semi were reasonable (you could hear a baby crying loudly, kids running up and down a wooden floor) but the most recent set - not good at all. Four kids, all really noisy till late at night, doors slamming constantly, waking us, our baby, not only with the noise but it would make our house shake.
As someone else said, you can't choose your neighbours, I would always, always go for a detached now.

I've lived in a victorian terrace and a 30s semi and the only noise is an occasional sneeze and when the world cup was on I heard the women next door cheering when there was a goal. But I think it depends on your preference. I would go for spacious and airy every time, and I like hearing the occasional murmurings of neighbours, it makes me feel secure knowing there are people around. If hate to live in the middle of nowhere with no noise. But then maybe I've been lucky and had quiet neighbours, I guess I might not feel the same if I lived next door to people who had loud parties every night.

Sorry that probably doesn't help your decision much! But of the two houses you've described I'd go for the semi.

1950's semi here and I can hear banging next door/kids running around upstairs etc. Hear their dogs barking sometimes, and, very occasionally, squealing, but never talking or tv noises. Bizarrely, it's really loud when they plug something in on the adjoining wall, and I could hear a squeaky bed, but I never hear much else. I think if I had louder neighbours, it would be more of a pain, but they're pretty considerate and I never hear a peep after about 9.30pm. In an ideal world I'd love a detached, but couldn't afford that round here and I'm not prepared to compromise on location.

As heyhey said, it's a lottery. You may be end up with just day to day low-level noise in a semi-detached or you could be unlucky and get some noisy neighbours that will make your lives miserable.

Are you prepared to take the risk if detached is also an option? I grew up in a semi-detached house which we all loved as a family home, but did have a few years of calling out environmental health due to noise of elderly neighbour (who we were on friendly terms with, but was very very hard of hearing.)

Brand new build semi- were a young couple so are they
Bedrooms don't adjoin (thank goodness) have heard one party loud music and occasionally stair walking but other than that nothing!

I've lived in Victorian, 1950s and Edwardian - there was some degree of noise from next door in all of them. Bricks decay over time and become less soundproof so older properties aren't necessarily any better than newer ones.

If you're living next to a family with young kids whilst it may be noisy during the day, they may well be keeping the same sort of hours as you (assuming you have kids) so you may not be disturbed at night. Even if they have babies/toddlers up at night, they'll be presumably trying to stop that noise, not encourage it.

Living next to a group of sharers is another matter though...they might like to play their guitars at 11pm...they might not have to be up early for kids and may work irregular hours, have friends etc staying frequently. A house full of 6 adults is very likely to be noisy...

So it depends in part who the neighbours are...

I'd recommend sound proofing adjoining walls, it really does help.