Terraced houses experience

[Hippielle]

Hi, we currently live in a semi detached and are looking to relocate. Our budget is very limited and would like a semi again but money wise a lot of terraced houses are more in our range.
What are people's experiences with terraced houses - with neighbours, noise, privacy etc ?

All terraced neighbours are noisy horrible scum who live off the DSS and who are always staring at you in your garden. Don't do it.

It's impossible to say. It depends what neighbours you have!
We have lived in 2 terraced houses. One had a nightmare neighbour who complained when we flushed the toilet. The second had fab neighbours who we didn't hear a peep out of except when we chatted over the fence.
So that doesn't help you at all.
It's the same as living in a semi except with an extra neighbour!

I've just bought a back to back terrace (on a cul de sac with a green at the front) after 7 years of renting a semi. It was all I could afford and while I love the house itself, I'm having a wee bit of trouble adjusting to the noise. My neighbours at the back seem to consist of a mum who is constantly screaming at one or two adolescents who then spend a lot of time sobbing loudly and I can hear it all . It just makes me sad.

I'll have to get used to it as won't be able to afford anyhere else and don't want to move again. Luckily my DC are incredibly heavy sleepers and haven't been disturbed by it.

And my neighbours on either side are great. Super helpful and friendly and have done me numerous favours since moving here. There's a real sense of neighbourliness and community which I really like. The area that I used to live in had zero sense of community. The roads were too unsafe for the kids to play out. This area is better in numerous ways for us (semi-rural, great dog walks, quiet).

Very much a case of swings and roundabouts.

I've lived in mid terraced and end terraced. The mid terraced was completely quiet (never once heard neighbours) however this house was built in the 50s/60s and they tend to be of solid construction from what I understand.

One end terrace was fine with no neighbour noise. Current end terrace (built in victorian times) is appalling for noise. Can hear neighbours walking up and down stairs, kitchen opening and closing, can hear normal conversation level and if we're in the toilet it's embarrassing as you can hear everything as if the wall is paper thin.

We lived in one terrace sandwiched between two elderly couples who were super quiet, the stairs went from left to right across the house (from neighbour to neighbour) so no stairs noise and it was fab.

We now live in a terrace sandwiched between a single lady (quiet) and a family with two DS (noisy as fuck). Noisy families stairs run along our lounge wall so all we hear in the evening is their boys running / jumping up a and down the stairs, screaming and arguing. It is honestly horrendous how thin the walls are (we can hear them wee!) and I hate it, if we could afford to move again so soon we would but we can't so we have to put up with the noise

One thing I do know is never again will we live in a terrace. Never ever ever.

We own our little mid terrace and have had neighbour noise problems since we moved in. Those on one side were noisy from day 1, but they've grown up a bit and had a baby so are much better now.

The neighbours the other side in the end terrace had a few kids and we rarely heard any noise, but they moved last year and in came a young couple who laid hard floor all over, upstairs and down, so we hear every footstep. They also have a noisy dog who howls when outside for up to an hour, plus we hear their baby screaming all the time and to top it off, they have people round every sunny weekend for barbecues and parties. It's awful.

It wasn't until they moved in that I realised how shit living in a terrace is and we're desperately saving a deposit to try to get out asap. Even putting off our ivf plans to get away from the noise. And I'm really quite a tolerant person usually. I just don't want to be attached to inconsiderate arseholes anymore, especially when the walls are so thin.

I live in a Victorian terrace - really nice on both sides, but one is a rental so we've had some dreadful people living next door. But the noise! I can hear next doors TV (Lewis at the moment) but the thing is - it's not on loudly. It's just the way these are built, the noise seems to seep through. If they yawn loudly I can hear. I really wouldn't recommend one. I'm stuck with this, and sometimes I really hate this house

We have recently moved into a terrace.
I think it depends on the neighbours, one side lives a lady who we don't hear a peep from, even when her grandchild is over we don't hear anything.
The other side is the opposite, the children are screaming and shouting right now actually. Obviously can't be helped throughout the day - I don't mind at all and have children myself so I imagine the neighbours hear them at times. The kids stay up till about 11pm (not yet school age) which means they are noisy most of the day - I imagine tired and cranky judging by the amount of crying, it's just how late it goes on that bothers me. But saying that, they probably get annoyed at my teething 11 month old early hours of the morning.

I wouldn't go for a terraced again.

its a huge risk, we have had dreaful experience and good experience now.

I would do anythyng to try and stay in the semi

We live in a new build terraced, NEVER AGAIN, we will be moving to a detached as soon as practical!

They are ok if you have thick walls and good neighbours. We had thin walls in our Victorian mid-terrace and it was unbearable with bad neighbours (6 dogs, screaming rows, loud parties).

Even with good neighbours it was hard being able to hear all their noise, all the time. You have to be conscious all the time of the noise of your TV/children/CD etc. I didn't like the lack of privacy, especially on the toilet!

We moved to a cheaper area so we could move out of the terrace, which has never been a decision I regretted.

My Victorian terrace was great - couldn't hear anything between the walls - except stuff like trumpet practice at 2am (yes I went straight round and was greeted by his exasperated house mates who were equally pissed off) and party noise.

You could hear people up and down the stairs but the stairs were next to each other not a room so was no bother.

Current 60s build semi.... I can hear he neighbours thinking the sound proofing is so bad!

We are end terrace in a 2 bed and I say to dh regularly that I would hate to be mid terrace in these houses as you're sharing both walls in the bedroom for example with a neighbour.

We have 2 dd and I know we are loud during the day. Thankfully my dd are both in bed by 7.30 otherwise I think my neighbours would lose the will to live!

I have been looking at 3 beds but only eot/semi as I couldn't stand to have possibly 2 bad neighbours! Needless to say as we're in London these come at a huge premium.

I'm desperate to move. Paper thin walls. Get as detached a house as you can afford, OP, not a terrace!

I'm mid terrace but old build, with really thick (1.5 foot thick) granite walls. Very little noise can be heard between the houses except scraping out the fireplaces (thinner walls) or little kids/parties outside with windows open in summer. Sure I'd love a detached on several acres, but obviously not an option - and on the subject of money, a mid terrace stays warmer in winter as you don't lose heat through outside walls.

Old (properly old, Edwardian, Victorian etc) fairly good. We had families on either side, and it was only the drumming we could hear (carefully monitored by his parents regarding times and duration).
DH had a 1980s semi. You could hear EVERYTHING! I wouldn't buy anything post war attached to anything else.

We were in a Victorian mid terrace and hardly ever heard the neighbours. Maybe the front door occasionally or randomly through the bathroom ceiling.

We're in a semi now (similar age) and it's much noisier.

In defence of the Victorian terrace, mine is one as well and I've never once heard people using the stairs or (thank god) the loo!! Also don't hear telly noise apart from last weekend when one neighbours blasted Ed Sheeran at Glastonbury with the front door open . Thankfully I passed out from sheer boredom after two songs .

In my rented semi the neighbours young DC never seemed to go to bed before 11pm/midnight and ran and jumped around making an awful racket. That was much worse than what I have now.

You just never know who your neighbours are going to be though. It's such an unknown entity that can really affect your quality of living.

We are in a Victorian too and only hear the neighbours when they're having a proper row. They say they don't hear us but I think they're being polite

We're the middle house in a terrace of 5, built in the 80s and as pp have said it very much depends on the neighbours. We have a nice couple on one side but he does thump up and down the stairs and they are partial to a loud all night BBQ in the summer. They are lovely though so I don't mind.
The other side is a rental that only has 6 month contracts and it attracts the loudest people! One family had their bass system up against our living room wall which is under our bedroom so at all hours the house vibrated. The stairs in their house are also on our bedroom wall so if they thunder up and down them it wakes our DS.
The new people have just moved in and are fab (I know them from work) as they're quiet and don't slam their doors but if you like privacy and a quiet house definitely don't go for a terrace!!

I live in a Victorian mid terrace. I've been here 10 years. One side I've had 2 lots of neighbours, the other side 4 lots (2 of them renters) in that time.

I've never really had a problem with noise - and one side has a 5 year old and a toddler. I hear the 5 year old occasionally at weekends but the family all go to bed early and I very rarely hear the little one, I think I was woken up once by his crying since he was born.

Great house and lovely neighbours too.

Just make sure you buy Victorian or Edwardian.

Ours is a new build terrace and we seriously don't hear a thing!
One side is a young professional couple, the other a couple with 2 young DC. At worse I've heard their front door slam.

To echo above, the end terrace where we had no issues with noise was a newbuild

Used to live in a 1970's mid terrace, One side was an old couple who were hard of hearing and needed the tv volume up, we never heard them. Other side were a very loud family who made our lives hell with the sound.
I don't think the walls were thin, it was just that some people sometimes don't give a damn about anyone else but themselves and live as if they are in a detached house when they don't.
I do see some detached houses nowadays that have been extended so close to next door that I wouldn't be surprised if the neighbours feel like they are joined on.