Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Original poster

Detached vs Semi detached

77 replies

Finsburyman · 15/12/2020 22:53

Hi all, We are about to purchase a new house to the south of London and I am really struggle with our two choices. I think we would purchase one of the two properties for sure. Both houses require alot of work / modernisation and we plan to extend both in the same way with side and rear extension. Both have an existing garage that I plan to convert to a side extension.

Detached house - 1930s, 3 beds two large reception larger rooms, smaller garden at 80 feet, Price £550k

Semi detached - 1930s, 3 beds, one long but narrower joint reception, smaller rooms, larger garden at 150 feet. Larger plot in general. Slightly nicer road. Price £520k.

We are really torn about which one to go for as they are both near stations, outstanding schools. Is it worth going for a smaller plot but detached house?

Which one would you go for?

OP posts:
Costacoffeeplease · 16/12/2020 00:01

Detached wins every time

SlopesOff · 16/12/2020 00:03

@Finsburyman

I forgot to mention, the detached house is inches from a neighbour on one side and about 2 foot from the other neighbour's house. So I am not sure whether it is worth it to get that kind of detached and forgo a much bigger garden.
It is still better than sharing a wall, but it is a bugger if you need to repair anything at the side and you only have a space you can slide into sideways.

A small garden is better than no garden. Is this a 1930's house?

Original poster
Finsburyman · 16/12/2020 00:05

Some other factors to consider for the two houses:

  • vis.oobrien.com/booth/ shows that the road for the semi is in least deprived decile
  • the detached is on a road that is the 7th decile
  • the detached is on a road that has a Petrol station at the end (about 150 meters away from the house) so has more cars going through and parking on the road. The road is tree lined but slightly narrow
  • the detached is closer to local high street with pub, bakeries and some other local shops
  • the detached is 13 minutes walk to Waitrose, the semi is 19 minutes walk to Waitrose
  • Detached house has Westerly facing garden but with one large beech tree with TPO so we can't cut down (80 feet long)
  • Semi Detached house has North East facing garden - no large trees (150 feet long)
OP posts:
Original poster
Finsburyman · 16/12/2020 00:09

@DonttouchthatLarry

We sold a semi and moved to a detached when the neighbours complained about our dogs barking - would never buy a semi again. We also like films on with the surround sound floor shakingly loud Grin
That's interesting to note. Is your detached has good space with your neighbours though? The detached one we are looking at barely has any gaps with our neighbours.
OP posts:
dahliaaa · 16/12/2020 00:10

Your posts sound like you don't want the answer to be the detached ....

Original poster
Finsburyman · 16/12/2020 00:13

@dahliaaa

Your posts sound like you don't want the answer to be the detached ....
Ha ha, we are really 50/50 and want to present all the factors for consideration!

For me personally, I like the larger garden and of course the £30k saved :D. But the detached factor is huge as we see in this thread!

OP posts:
8obbingabout · 16/12/2020 00:19

Detached every single time.

propertyhell · 16/12/2020 00:27

Detached - especially now I'v seen orientation of the gardens. Would always take a S or W garden over a N.

FlamedToACrisp · 16/12/2020 00:28

Detached, unless you/DH are obsessively keen gardeners. And 6 minutes' extra walk to the station is a plus point - more exercise!

ClaireP20 · 16/12/2020 00:28

We're in the process of moving from a detached to an semi detached. East London, doer upper. However we are moving for the school, and the semi is still £620k and needs loads of work. However, although a semi, it has a big garden for the area (124ft) and has 4 bedrooms on the same floor. This in itself is unusual here, so we're going to take a deep breath and pray the neighbours are nice.

Where we live now, neighbours on both sides have yappy dogs who bark all f*cking day and stop me sitting in the garden, even though we are detached

I'm praying the new neighbours are a little more considerate..

dottiedaisee · 16/12/2020 00:30

We have always lived in a detached house until 5 years ago. The house we now live in is a semi but has so much character with beautiful Edwardian features and I can honestly say I have never heard our neighbours.

BluebellsGreenbells · 16/12/2020 00:34

You never know what the neighbours will be like, you spend more time inside... doing DIY

Please spare the neighbors from hours of banging and sawing and buy the detached

Original poster
Finsburyman · 16/12/2020 00:34

@ClaireP20

We're in the process of moving from a detached to an semi detached. East London, doer upper. However we are moving for the school, and the semi is still £620k and needs loads of work. However, although a semi, it has a big garden for the area (124ft) and has 4 bedrooms on the same floor. This in itself is unusual here, so we're going to take a deep breath and pray the neighbours are nice.

Where we live now, neighbours on both sides have yappy dogs who bark all f*cking day and stop me sitting in the garden, even though we are detached

I'm praying the new neighbours are a little more considerate..

Ah, we are moving because of schools as well as our daughter is 3 years old and we are keen to get her to a good primary.

It seems that your part of London is more expensive than where I am buying! But that is a really good size garden with lot's of rooms!

It seems like from your experience, a detached is good with no connecting wall, but once you get out in the garden the benefit goes away if neighbours are noisy.

OP posts:
Original poster
Finsburyman · 16/12/2020 00:43

@propertyhell

Detached - especially now I'v seen orientation of the gardens. Would always take a S or W garden over a N.
What are the main benefits of a West garden?

What do you think about the semi with a garden that is almost double in size though?

OP posts:
OutOnTheFloor · 16/12/2020 00:45

Detached. We’ve lived in one for 32 years, it’s bliss.

SlopesOff · 16/12/2020 00:47

I hear the child next door in the garden, a young teen but with a very heathy pair of lungs and a voice like a foghorn, I hear this in the kitchen as well as outside. Surrounding gardens are full of heavy gardening equipment in summer, dogs barking and lots of yelling and screaming and some loud music. A detached house doesn't save you from that unless you are indoors but it does reduce the noise from both sides when you are in it.

Older houses have thicker walls but you still hear neighbours through them and we once declined to offer on a solid house because there was a punch bag set up in the side return, thud, thud, thud.

A north east or north west facing garden will still get sun but not all day, a west facing one is sunnier.

SlopesOff · 16/12/2020 00:52

One question for you. Does noise bother you and how much?

If you were subjected to shouting, loud music, surround sound, someone playing an instrument non-stop, dog barking all day and night, a child screaming all the time (read some of the threads on here about noise) that sort of thing.

Some people are oblivious to external noise, and some are really noisy bastards, who possibly don't care.

PastMyBestBeforeDate · 16/12/2020 01:02

Thing is that people who are irritating outdoors are probably irritating indoors too. At least a detached house gives you some respite

tuttifuckinfruity · 16/12/2020 01:08

It also depends on the configuration of rooms. What rooms are on the adjoining wall, and what rooms will be once you have extended? Can you keep bedrooms away from the adjoining wall?

Is there more scope for a creative / larger extension on the semi?

Are the gardens in one more mature / secluded / private than in the other?

As regards the sun garden aspect, the height of the house and the slope of the land also factors. For example a bungalow or a house whose garden slopes up can manage a N facing garden because the sun gets high enough over the house that the shadow does not fall on the garden. So,for example, you could consider a single storey extension in order to keep the house profile low, which could still mean a lot of sun at back of garden. Nearer the house, depending on aspect, will sometimes get sun, sometimes be in shade.

The slightly better road is intriguing....how much better? Location location location

Could you post links to the houses? Anybody looking for a house in that area will already have seen them so you won't be tipping anybody off!

greenlynx · 16/12/2020 01:13

Detached.
I could say a semidetached if you are completely happy about the house but if you are going to extend both I would go for a detached. It will be easier.

24hrpantypeople · 16/12/2020 02:51

The small gap at the side of the detached would concern me a bit. A family member has this and they have had a lot of leaking/roof issues that have been made more complicated because of the space between their houses.

PicsInRed · 16/12/2020 07:05

The detached house is 16 minutes walk to the station.

Detached, without a shadow of a doubt.

I'd happily walk what is only an extra 6 mins in the freezing cold, not to spend 365 days a year listening to the neighbours from hell (or to stress about my own kids being them 😂), and being woken or kept awake by other people's noise and music. The sayings "hell is other people" and "good fences make good neighbours" didn't spring from nowhere.

midscram · 16/12/2020 07:15

I've lived in semis when I've never heard the neighbours. Depend on the stair position & age of house.

Do you need to do a kitchen extension? will that reduce the 80ft garden?

midscram · 16/12/2020 07:21

What part of London is it? It seems pretty cheap (compared to crazy prices) for a detached house.

Original poster
Finsburyman · 16/12/2020 08:05

@midscram

I've lived in semis when I've never heard the neighbours. Depend on the stair position & age of house.

Do you need to do a kitchen extension? will that reduce the 80ft garden?

The living rooms of the semis are adjoining but the stairs are apart.

If we do a kitchen extension and new pavings, that would take 20 feet of garden. So the detached house would have 60ft of lawn left.

The semi would have 130ft of garden left.

OP posts:
Swipe left for the next trending thread