Anyone bought near a motorway? Do you get used to the noise/stop noticing it?

[Radleygirl]

I’ve looked a house today, very close to the motorway which makes it really convenient for travelling to work but the traffic noise was loud in the garden. There are large mature trees at the back but it doesn’t seem to dull the noise very much.

It’s a lovely house with lots of potential but the noise is reflected in the price, I wouldn’t be able to afford such a big house around this area if it was this close to the motorway.

So has anyone bought a house like this? Do you just get used to the noise after a while and just not hear it? Or have you regretted it? It’s fine inside the house, it just really in the garden.

First, don't listen to people that say you can grow trees/shrubbery to mask the noise - I've looked into soundproofing a lot and it simply doesn't work like that if you're close to the source of the noise.

How close is it? My in-laws live fairly near to a motorway but it's more sort of like a constant background noise that you can't notice at all unless you're listening to it/when you first go outside - but they have fields in between their house and the road so it's not "right there".

I live on a main road that has huge transporters/ lorries/ noisy motorbikes etc go past sporadically and that's far worse than constant background noise.

I'd suggest making several visits if you can, at different times of the day and see how it bothers you. FWIW we can hear traffic in our garden but being outside sort of means you 'expect' to hear other noises - initially there was also a lot of traffic noise inside which was much harder to deal with. In the back garden the house shields the noise whereas in the front (where we don't spend much time) it's too loud for my liking.

You can bet it will be louder in the winter when the leaves are off the trees.
Just think about hot summer nights and trying to sleep with your window open. Or sitting in the garden on a warm evening with a glass of wine, and listening to the roar of traffic. Not very restful. Worst of all would be the polluted air you will be breathing.
Think how difficult resale would be as well.

Also, is the motorway elevated compared to where the house is?

I rented a house near a motorway once. I actually didn’t find it intrusive. In fact, the low roar was quite soothing after a while - a bit like the sea!

It's noisier when wet and depends on the wind direction.

We live fairly close and doesn't bother me, a friend lived next to a section with sound proofing and it was fine - almost like it actually carried over the house and it was noisier in the next street.

Not a motorway but I did live on a very busy main road. Bedroom was at the back but I could still hear traffic noise constantly...I'd get a few minutes blissful silence at about 3am on a Sunday if I was lucky. After that I moved to a house on a quiet side road. I remember my first night there...I've never been so over joyed.

It's noisier when wet and depends on the wind direction.

Yes, this is true! There's a noticeable difference.

I live between a motorway and a main road. The noise is worse in the winter when the leaves fall, although it is a drone rather than individual loud noises. We had to replace our windows and we bit the bullet and bought triple glazing. Problem solved, no more noise.

If you are planning on staying there a while electric cars will phase in and replace combustion engines. The roads will become much quieter so could be a good long term investment.

I looked at a couple of houses near/ on busy roads. Personally I could not live with the noise. But I am a windows wide open all the time person and I like sitting outside and gardening. One of the houses we saw was beautiful but you could not have a normal conversation in the garden, it was so loud! But you get more for your money, so if the noise doesn’t bother you go for it!

Agree with the comment about the wind direction.

Not a motorway, but I rented in a house in East London that had tubes until late at night, and they started again about 4.00 am.

I didn't hear them after a week or so.

We're about a mile from the M4. It's just fields and trees between us.
I'm sitting in the garden right now, and hadn't noticed the noise until I read your text and thought about it.
We noticed the quiet during The Covid more than we notice the noise. It's just in the background.
Can't hear it at all in the house (old double glazing).

@OryxNotCrake

I rented a house near a motorway once. I actually didn’t find it intrusive. In fact, the low roar was quite soothing after a while - a bit like the sea!

Snap. I lived close to the M25 for a number of years and the noise never bothered me. I visited a friend on the west coast of Ireland, beside the Atlantic. We were out walking one day (about half mile inland) and I could hear sounds not unlike the motorway noise. I asked her what the noise was and she told me it was the sound of the waves breaking on the beach and rocks.

Where we currently live we compromised on location and bought on a main road in a town. I now want to move.

We live 0.7miles from a motorway, and there are only fields between us and the motorway. It’s a background hum but we don’t notice it much. I agree with other posters that it is noisier in the winter. It was noticeably quieter at the start of lockdown.

Thanks for all your advice.

It’s about 500m from the motorway and it’s a junction too so that makes it a bit noisier. The actual motorway is lower than the house but the junction bridge is elevated. I hadn’t thought about the difference in the wet weather and when there are no leaves. The agent was telling we how it was good I came on a still summer day as this is as loud as it gets

I think I got a big excited by how much more I could get for my money but there’s always a reason for that.......

I will go over the next few days when it’s raining and see what it sounds like then.

Thanks.

My parents lived near a motorway for a while. The noise was generally pretty soothing but they weren't directly on the road - there was one row of houses and some trees between their house and the road.

I'd be more worried about pollution now though. You can get motorway pollution maps that show where the pollution is really high. The effects of pollution were not known when my parents bought their house.

How close is close? We used to live across a field from the M5. The motorway was down a steep embankment so we couldn't see it but the noise was a constant low roar. To be honest it bothered me at first but we soon got used to it. It was only when the motorway was closed due to an accident etc. that we suddenly noticed the lack of noise. I remember a tradesman came to do some work on the outside of the house when we first moved in and I commented that the motorway noise would take a bit of getting used to. He said "just imagine it's a weir on a fast flowing river", which worked as it did actually sound like that!

It was an issue when we came to sell as often feedback was it was too close to the motorway but, as in your case, that was reflected in the price. It was an amazing house (barn conversion) for the money and we were sad to leave.

I used to live 0.5miles from M25.
Sometimes you couldnt really hear anything and other times it was quite loud...all depending on wind direction.

Could never hear it in house.
If in garden, never spoiled enjoyment. As others say you get used to it and barely notice it, but visitors might notice it more.

Yes to visiting the property as several different times of day and weekend etc to get a fee of it.

Where'd I used to live, some houses were a few hundred metres away - that seemed a bit too close I thought. Once you're 1/3-1/2 mile away, I think it's okay.

Oops, sorry crossed post. 500 metres is probably the same distance we had.

We live about 1.5 miles from a fairly busy country B road that leads to the local town and is a cut through between two motorways so used by a lot of heavy vehicles. Most days we can't hear anything, but when it's wet or the wind changes, the noise can be horrendous.

I wouldn't chance it, and would be worried about the pollution too.

And that estate agent doesn't know what they're talking about or they are being deliberately misleading. The noise is definitely worse when there are no leaves on the trees and when it's raining.

We lived within sight of the M40 for a bit - probably about 500m away too. I didn't mind the noise in the house, and the house was between us and the road, so the back garden was fine, and I did get used to it and not mind. The front garden was very noisy sometimes though - loud white noise.

Another time I lived within 50m of a busy train line, which made the house shake, but there was a heavy wood (think 1 foot thick) sound absorbing fence between so the noise didn't bother me at all.

Yet another time, I was again within 50m of a motorway, and the car noise was annoying in the back garden - noisy enough that we couldn't hear each other very well at a BBQ, and more than once I heard a crash in the middle of the night which can keep you awake thinking about it. The main annoyance was the lights shining in the bedroom window though.

Right now I'm within 1km of a busy main road, no fences, and it's at the bottom of a valley while we're up the hill a bit so all the sound seems to bounce back at us. I don't mind it at all, and in fact quite like just sitting watching the cars go by.

I would say that if it's continuous loud white noise in the back garden, and you're a person that wants to use the garden, that's the only thing that would put me off, although a proper fence might mitigate it if the road is low enough (I imagine they're quite expensive though).

If it's a quieter, background noise, then you won't notice it in the house, and you'll probably stop noticing it in the garden.

I live in the middle of London on a road that leads to a major bridge, so it can be noisy, plus emergency vehicles, helicopters, buses, and people!

And before lockdown, planes - not noisy at this distance from Heathrow but you can hear them if awake.

You do get used to the noise and I noticed the lack of it during lockdown, but it's the price I pay for the advantages of living so centrally.