Quiet houses

[impossiblehunt]

... how do you find these?

We're looking for something quiet - no noisy roads or noisy neighbours as we're both autistic and can't deal with noise very well.

Is this something which estate agents could help with, or would they just say anything to get you to buy a place?

I suspect the only way to achieve this is by doing your own research. I certainly wouldn't take an estate agent's word for it that a property is quiet.

Your only chance is moving to a village/middle of no where. You can also look out for houses with triple glazing. Ours is triple glazed in a noisy area. We still get noise but it's no worse than you would get in a relatively quiet suburban type area.

That's what I thought sadly.

I wish we were rich enough to buy somewhere in the middle of nowhere, or farmland or something!

I'd look for properties in a cul de sac or on roads which don't look like they're main routes to/from anywhere. Then you won't get much in the way of through traffic.

Noisy neighbours are obviously a bit more difficult to work out. Not much you can do about that until you move in and see.

You'd be best off looking for something with land, I think.

Or at the very least detached. I'd be making multiple trips at different times of day so you can hear how noisy it is at different times.

Our house is quiet - we live at the far end of a cul de sac, backing onto woods and with a park behind, within a suburban estate (away from the busiest roads). The most noise we hear is people playing football in the 5-a-side pitches in the park in the evenings. We are also very lucky to have a quiet neighbour.

Best to just look at houses you like and see how you find them when you get there.

Look for a house where you can have your bedroom on the back of the house.
We’ve moved to a similar road to our old road but the master bedroom is now on the back.
The kids rooms on the front are pretty loud with car and pedestrian noise, but on the back we literally do not hear a peep all night long.
Oh apart from the one night a neighbours gate banged all night long

I'd look for detached if possible.

I wouldn't discount a house with road noise. I moved to a house next to a fairly busy road and actually the road noise acts as a constant white noise to cover the more annoying sounds like music, kids playing etc.

Avoid places where the neighbours have a dog . . .

Have you got to be in a certain area or can you move anywhere? Is this UK? also what is your budget?

Now, I would never look for a house in a cul de sac, I did live in one once, and it seemed as if the children from miles around came to play football, kick round everyone's gardens, cycled into cars parked - it was a nightmare. Funnily enough when the house was for sale, we never saw a child - which may have been explained when one of the little dears asked what had happened to the nice lady who used to give us money? We moved.

Be wary of current owners/tenants if you meet them - a few times now I've been absolute bollocks by them. Bastards.

When we were house hunting in London this was DH's top priority. We eventually bought a place that:

• Had our bedroom at the back, and it looked onto our garden and then the garden of the parallel row of houses and then the parallel row of houses itself iyswim before it got to a road, so we couldn't hear traffic at all

• It wasn't detached or semi detached, but it was a well built modern terrace so you couldn't hear the neighbours

Hello OP

Give us some sort of idea where you are in the country and what kind of location you need to live?

It'd also help to identify what kind of noise disturbs you? constant? overhead? sudden?

The countryside can be noisy if you notice it. The noisiest place I ever lived, despite living on a main road route a couple of times, was the edge of a village. That was because traffic either speeded up or braked hard just outside where we were.

Fill us in on what you're looking for and everyone will be delighted to help.

Being ultra sensitive to noise, I would agree with previous posters about road noise and cul de sacs. I lived on a busy road for years and it did just become background noise, as do railway lines with trains passing close by. Nowhere near as stressful as other people’s noise! You don’t generally get kids playing football or sitting in their cars playing loud music outside your house on a busy road. In a cul de sac, the peace can be shattered by just one person’s noise - revving cars in the early hours, kids playing etc and it’s much more amplified. I’d say don’t rule out a detached house set back on a busy road but not next to a bus stop!

I would never live in a cul de sac again. It's stifling and like a goldfish bowl, eyes all around you watching you come in and out. In school holidays all the kids in the neighbourhood descend on it as it is a safe place to play.
I've had kids being rude, bikes ridden inches away from cars, footballs hitting cars etc.etc. in the past.
I'd go for a detached too, back from the road with no lane at the side, yes away from a bus stop and be careful what it backs onto. I'd prefer a railway line to a neighbours garden or a park for example.

Interesting different opinions about cul de sacs! I guess having the woods and park behind mean no kids would prefer the road outside our house. There are children around here but I very rarely see or hear them.

It really does depend on what noise upsets you, too... personally I can't stand road noise, have briefly lived on a busy road and never again.

Detached. Space around. Check local acoustics - in hilly areas road and dog noise sprays upward. Away from schools and pubs.

Detached. On a road which isn’t really a through road to anywhere. Populated by old people (although I am lucky as the ones around me don’t currently have loudly barking dogs, or have shouty grandchildren round to play in their gardens - but then there is a fairly high attrition rate so this could change at any time).