Noisy House

[zasml]

I've just moved into a new build house on a large estate. I'm really struggling with the noise from every single room. The house is about 3m from the road which is a 20, but now I've moved in, I think I've made a massive mistake.
Cars going from left to right past my house go over a speed bump and then a lot slow down to turn right, or go straight on. There's also a bus stop about 50m from my house. It's also a double T-juntion. I can hear the constant slow down and acceleration of cars though the lounge (at the back of house) but its more the low frequency sounds that are more annoying - as well as the booms that often happen. It's the same in the top floor (2.5 storey house) room. The kitchen you hear the swishes of cars all the time. I get buses, HGV's, cars going past what seems like all day. They're still bulding new homes too which wont be finished for the next 3 years.
I paid top whack for the house too. I almost feel embarrassed to have bought it. We didnt use HTB as FTB's and we put down a big 25% but I feel like we've wasted all of it. Older homes sell for about 20K less and these are away from the main road. Mine is on the main road. It feels like I should just cut my losses already and sell up already. I look at what other homes are going for on Zoopla almost daily and it makes me anxious and I'm starting to get mild depression over it.
My gf put in money into this place too but we both hate the road so much...At 27 I feel like I've made the worst decision ever. iIf my house was 50m up the next road along, I wouldnt be having this decision. We paid 255 for it and have 188 on the mortgage. Advice please. :(

Oh dear, you sound unhappy, it is stressful buying a house and takes time to settle in. What's the double glazing like, could it be upgraded to triple glazing. Don't feel embarrassed, new builds can seem attractive because they are all new and clean, we looked at some today, my sister bought one and the drains all blocked where the builders had poured cement down them. Older homes have problems too, I've never found the perfect home. What positive things are there about it, is it a nice area, good shops, lots to do?

Not to undermine what you are feeling - but I freaked out about plane noise when I moved house. Turns out I was just super stressed and unsettled by the move and was focusing on the plane noise as an outlet. I can’t hear tre plane noise at all now (it really was never bad).

Give it 6 months to settle in then reasses.

Sounds like you have tuned into the road noise and now are super sensitive to it, it will get better, firstly you will get used to it, and second as you are on a new estate I expect there are no plants and trees to soften the sound, once the area starts to develop and mature the traffic sound will feel less invasive. You can be pro active by planting some trees and bushes yourself and make sure your interior has plenty of soft furnishings, rugs and sumptuous curtains, they will help deaden sound, if you are sat there with hard floors and no window dressing it will sound much worse than it is.

You can download a free app like a sound meter on your mobile phone and measure the background noise level. Obviously it won't be as accurate as a professional one, but it will give you some idea.

You can compare your noise level with a noise chart. Then at least you know whether it is really noisy or if you are on the sensitive side.

But if a bus-stop 50m away from your house bothers you, then maybe you are on the sensitive side...

I think when you notice certain sounds and your Brian registers what they are you tend to listen out for them. We live in a raised position on a busy A road. A lot of heavy vehicles drive past and we only have single glazing (old house). Most of the time we barely notice it. If I tune into it I can tell what kind of noise I'm going to hear when as something big drives past. This was worse before the stretch outside our house was re-surfaced, due to a number of pot holes.

Brain, not Brian!

It sounds as if you are now so tuned in to the noise that you notice every sound. I have had this as I moved from a very quiet estate, just the odd car and I lived in the back of the house so heard nothing. Where I am now is backing off a road with rural views, I was led to believe the road was fairly quiet and I should have known better and checked it out more fully. It turns out that it is a cut through and especially in the rush hour starting early there is a lot of traffic going past. I got so stressed about it in the first couple of days I felt my head would explode which made the noise sound even louder. I am learning to live with it and it does have it's quieter times. I replaced all the windows on the front, whilst not in my budget has helped, although not made as dramatic a difference as I had hoped. Heavy curtains and possible nets, you can get nice sheer ones so at least you do not have to actually see the cars passing. Can you do some planting outside your front windows, which would shield your view and over time absorb some of the sound? It costs more but you could buy some more established plants / trees as anything small would take a few years to grow. Other posters are right, give yourself at least 6 months and see if you can learn to live with it.

Not as bad as yours, but I used to live in a flat on a busy road which had double-decker buses going past every ten minutes. The first week or two I heard every one, and thought I'd made a terrible mistake.
Then I just stopped hearing them, and the traffic didn't bother me again.

I hope the same happens in your case.

I used to live right on a busy A road. Even though it was a 30 mph limit, the house used to shake sometimes due to the bumps in the road surface and heavy lorries. I had the front triple glazed, which reduced most of the traffic to a 'swish' . After a while I didn't really hear it, but I did spend most of my time at the back of the house.
I loved the house, couldn't afford to move, so I had to learn to live with it. Give it some time. Be determined to ignore it; it might work.

I find traffic noise very annoying but having bought similar to you, I've learned to tune it out. Use heavy furnishing for windows and add blackouts for night use. It will get softer and help you to forget it.

There is always an advantage to being near a busy road so don't lose sight of these. It will be safer to walk at night and you will be closer to transport links.

You may need to get your windows cleaned often due to the dust and pollution.

You'll be fine...give it time and don't talk about it with everyone who will just agree with you and make you feel worse..

Thanks for the replies.
The estate is almost complete, it's been going since 2005 - it's huge. There's 2 entrances to it, and my house is on one of them. I was blinkered when I said yes to it with my gf - I was taken in by the showhome in a different (quieter) part of the estate. I've fallen for their tricks. :( My gf did mention the busy road but I just shunned it off and said, ah it's fine, I used to live by a road - but its very different to this one (very set back, behind a wall etc) Now I feel terrible about it.

I cant put any plants etc out the front of the house. It's too close to the road - 1m ish to the pavement, pavement, then road. My house literally sees every single car that goes through the estate taking this road. I feel as though if I try to sell in the future I'll never get my deposit back.
The problem is that the main bedroom fronts the road at the top and thats noisy. Same as the study room. The back bedroom is ok. Every time cars slow down and speed up I can feel the low freq sound that comes with it though the wall. Its subtle but I know. Sometimes its really bad - buses especially. i can feel small but notable vibrations through the floor too - maybe when the road it properly tarmac'd it might help - but that wont be for 3 years time...

Yes, I guess theres a ASDA 5 minutes away, tesco ex 1 minute away and they're building a gym and more shops 5 min walk away. The problem is that right opposite my house is a street which gets no through traffic. So why would anyone want my house - unless its dirt cheap :( I'm an intelligent person, but have made a huge financial mistake.

Not in anyway helpful but you're not alone and you've illustrated perfectly what is largely wrong with the current property market... people giddily diving in without doing any real research and paying ''top whack'' for houses that simply aren't worth it.

Net result buy in haste repent at leisure.

I now live on a 30mph road which is more like 40mph set back by 15m. It has Single glazing so can hear the road easily. Outside noise 65db inside noise 45db. The back of the house I can’t really hear the road. And the garden is 45-50db, not peaceful but can be ignored easy enough. Secondary glazing should more than sort my issues... closing the door on my walk in wardrobe confirms this haha....

A friend of mine lives in a new build flat 3m from the 40mph A road which feeds my classfied road. It’s 2 lanes plus bus lanes in each direction.
It has thick laminated airport spec glazing and passive ventilation. With the window open it’s 80db! With the windows closed it’s not audible at all unless you’re ear to the glazing.

The reason I say this is usually developers on new builds have to put in top notch glazing and passive ventilation if near a noise source. Have you looked into if they did this or had agreed to do this on original plans? My council always puts in a note saying bedrooms should be 35db, living areas 45db. And night time noise should average 30db with allowance for single events that shouldn’t exceed 45db when accepting new developments.

I would of at least thought they’d put in Laminated glazing and mechanical ventilation in a new build house house next to the main road into the estate.

Just you may have recourse if your new house is wrongly speced or shoddy built.

I’d download decibel app and see if the reduction correlates with norms.

Crap double glazing -25db
Good double glazing -30db
Laminated glazing -35db
Acoustic specific windows -42 to -55db
Standard cavity walls with no vents etc should be around -50-55db

In regards to viberation if a genuine structure viberation and not a verbation from sound waves getting in. Not much you can do other than a good thick underlay and carpet to make it less obvious.

Also I meant 55db in the front of the house. Single glazing is so bad for traffic noise...

SquirrelTamer.

So just downloaded the app.
Kitchen - window closed, approx 50db, rising to 55, low about 45.
Open - 75
Spare bedroom - closed - 55 ish.
open - 75.
When double deckers go past, I can see people perfectly. It's that close.
This makes sense about the ventilation. I have vents all around my house. But my friend who lives in a silent part of the development also has the same vents.

I think you are anxious as it is all new & you have 'tuned' in to the noises.

Give yourself time to adjust to your new home.

New properties have advantages too

Give yourself time to settle & when the estate is finished if you no longer like it, move

Sounds like you have similar noise levels to myself inside. To be fair 50db isn’t easy to ignore. Every 10db is like doubling the sound. From the sounds of your comparison figure, it appears you just have standard double glazing.

I would of expect a 35db drop from a good laminated double glazed window. This is the minimum I’d expect to be installed on a new build in your described location. This would put your sound level at a much more comfortable 40db which you’d soon ignore in time.

I’d check your plans and any regs. As it apears to me something isn’t right with sound levels. Unfortunately vibrations are just something you have to live with.

Someone mentioned this upthread1, when I moved in Nov 17 I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed that the house was on a BUSY NOISY flight path, I was so annoyed with myself and it created so much stress when I moved. To anyone who would listen I talked about the planes and how I could hear them over the tv, waking me up etc. I too thought I'd made a high mistake and plotted moving. During the summer months whilst outside I noticed that I didn't hear planes that much anymore and remarked to my husband that they moved the flight path, he agreed. Only 2 weeks ago he confessed when I mentioned it in front of friends that no they haven't moved the flight path, planes are still flying over constantly but I've tuned out and not focussing and stressing on the noise. I didn't believe him, but he's right they haven't moved the flight path!

Personally I think you're on a hiding to nothing.
If you are noise sensitive, you'll never get used to it. I have moved twice due to noise, once a noisy road and once under a flight path.
In the winter it was ok, but in the summer with the charter flights all heading off at 6am, it was awful.
Add in the pollution aspect and the noise when you are trying to sit in the garden in the summer.
You could/should try to sell now, you may take a hit of a few K but you'll be rid of it. Maybe see how the market is in the spring.

The country is heading into a housing slump, so the longer you wait, the bigger the loss. After a few years, it will come back up, but realistically, could be 10 years to come back to point A.

Whatever happens, good luck.