Downsizing from detached to terraced

[downsizing]

We’re in the process of downsizing from a large 5 bed detached house to a mid terrace 1960’s townhouse that will see us become mortgage free.

I’m starting to worry we won’t be able to cope with the change particularly as we have 2 teenage DS’s coming with us.

Looking to see if anyone has positive experiences of a similar move.

If it’s an old house the walls will be sufficiently thick so the noise won’t be a problem inside

Not necessarily. I agree with pp it depends how the houses are laid out.

I'm mid terrace in an ex-LA built in the 1950s. My stairs, kitchen and bathroom are connected to my next door neighbour in the same manner. I only hear them if they are doing DIY. With my other neighbour our bedrooms connect so I can hear them taking plugs out of sockets and sliding their wardrobe but that's it and this is a matter of seconds. Overall it's very quiet here even during lockdown.

My SIL recently moved from a small Victorian terrace to a new build detached. Contrary to popular opinion her Victorian house was awful for noise, she had to have her two DC's sharing a room because the neighbours snoring was waking her youngest and she could hear her other neighbours shagging. She also had to listen to doors slamming and people running up and down the stairs, music, vacuum, washing machines etc. My house is much better than hers in terms of noise but is the sort of home most mns would turn their nose up at in favour of the Victorian terrace.

Good luck OP

We have just downsized. We love it. I think hearing noisey neighbours depends on the type and age of terraced or semi.

We just moved from an Edwardian semi and the walls were thick so we never heard our neighbours.
We are now in a tiny 2 up 2 down cottage which also has thick walls and I forget we have neighbours it's so quiet. It also helps that our kitchen/living room is in an orangery at the side that we spend most of our time in so we don't feel attached.
Loving hearing all the stories of people doing the same and going mortgage free. We lived off basics for years climbing up the housing ladder to be able to do this and it's such a great feeling to be able to finally step off it and have money spare for all the nice things.

@TedMullins

How the other half live 😂😂😂 some of these replies are hilarious to me. If you want another point of view, I have only ever lived in properties attached to the neighbours having grown up in a terrace then lived in a multitude of shared houses and flats as a young adult, then onto a flat of my own. In all my 32 years, I’ve only ever had one noise issue and that was with specific neighbours who went out of their way to be a nuisance (swearing and arguing when asked to turn music down). Thankfully, they moved out, but I can hand on heart say that I’ve never had my mental health compromised by hearing neighbours’ TV, hoover, footsteps or the occasional muffled conversation.

I’ve lived in Semi’s my whole adult life until my last place which was end terraced. I’ll never go back to a house attached to anyone else’s after our experience there. You might find it hilarious but it’s not so funny when you have a malicious neighbour out to cause as much distress as possible. Your lucky that your neighbour moved on, maybe you won’t be so lucky next time 🙄

OP, I’ve lived in all sorts of places over the years. One bad experience put me off completely.
We looked into sound proofing but sound can travel in different ways, it may not be as simple as just sound proofing a wall for example. It can travel through sockets etc.
You might be lucky with your new house, we were for many years, you might not though! At the end of the day if it does turn out to be awful you would just have to consider moving again.

@downsizing - we have just done this - moved from a huge great detached in a village to a small terrace right in the middle of a very busy location. I was sick of running a big house with its huge bills (it's like running a sodding ship), and we are now mortgage free with absolutely everything we could want on our doorstep. I totally love it.

Yes we can hear our neighbours, but it doesn't bother me at all. You soon get used to it. There is a dog next door which clearly has separation anxiety every time its owner goes out. And on the other side are young people renting who can get a bit excitable late at night.

It's a gorgeous area, and I like to hear the hustle and bustle of life. I suppose if I were living next door to people out of Shameless it would be a different matter. I have no regrets at all, and no mortgage either! (Hooray!)

{shock] Ah @downsizing - my advice would be if a nice terraced house in a nice area it will not be a problem. I get @TedMullins post.

Where do people live whose neighbours are so dreadful and inconsiderate,? DH and I have only ever lived in terraced houses, Just lovely. Lots of advantages. I would rather the terraced houses we have had than ( for the same money - NB I said for the same money ) some detached house in a cheaper area )

My friend has an end of terrace 60's house - just lovely - but yes a nice area,

We previously lived in a Victorian mid terrace.

You got used to the neighbours' noise: washing machine on spin, slamming the front door, music being played. It was audible but not hugely irritating (apart from daily drum practice).

What was irritating was the garden. As soon as the sun came out it was bbq, noise, music, parties, power tools etc etc. This I really struggled with.

Whilst I miss the neighbours in our new detached house, I don't miss the noise at all.

@BasiliskStare I think the point is it’s a bit of a lottery. You might be lucky with neighbours, you might not. It doesn’t have to be a rough area either to have noisy inconsiderate neighbours. I don’t think anyone is questioning that terraced houses or semis can be lovely. I loved my mid terrace house, but the neighbours ruined it. They had young adult kids living there who were home alone a lot and made a LOT of noise. It was hard to live with and over time it caused a lot of stress. I couldn’t feel comfortable in my own home because of the constant music blaring through and banging and shouting. If you haven’t had that then you’re lucky, but you don’t know who will move in next is the point I guess.

I've lived in a terrace built in 2012 and there was zero noise. It was very surprising but there was never any noise at all! Then in a detached which was bliss. Now in a 100 year old semi with muffled noises and some door noise occasionally. I am very sensitive to noise but even I find it bearable. Neighbours have 3 teens who occupy the first floor and that's where our master bedroom is.

In your shoes, I'd try and visit at a possibly noisy hour (evening?) to see how you find it. It's very hard to judge theoretically because it depends so much on the build and people.

We live in a semi and hear the neighbours. It honestly doesn't bother me and I don't see why it is such a huge problem for some. I don't want to pretend that me and my family are the only people nearby. I live in a city and am part of a community. Of course there will be other people and within reason I have no problem with having daily evidence of that. Our neighbours are reasonable though - the noise we hear are the muffled and faint noises of reasonable family life going on next door but nothing anti-social or at an unreasonable hour, and normally not noticable over the normal noises from our own household.

Obviously if one had unreasonable neighbours then it's a problem but I suspect most neighbours are reasonable, and there are established official procedures to deal with the awful ones.

@natalienewname

We previously lived in a Victorian mid terrace.

You got used to the neighbours' noise: washing machine on spin, slamming the front door, music being played. It was audible but not hugely irritating (apart from daily drum practice).

What was irritating was the garden. As soon as the sun came out it was bbq, noise, music, parties, power tools etc etc. This I really struggled with.

Whilst I miss the neighbours in our new detached house, I don't miss the noise at all.

But you could have the same situation with the garden in a detached house. The difficulty with this is the element of luck with who you end up as your neighbours

We moved from a large detached to a Victorian semi-detached cottage c.1830 build. No noise from neighbours except in the small gardens in the summer.

If only we could try before we buy!
I once lived in a doors in the middle Edwardian semi, true there was no problem with noise downstairs really. However, upstairs when they walked in to their bedroom adjoining ours it felt as if someone was walking in to our own room. We could so clearly hear them having sex as well.
True, it depends how considerate your neighbour's are, but these days people do not seem so considerate. Also remember even if you are lucky with neighbours they could move.
Luckily my neighbours do not seem to talk to one another, but if their daughter is visiting I can hear them speaking though the wall. She all but lives there and along with a child who is not capable of speaking without yelling or screaming. My heart sinks when I see their car pull up daily as the noise starts as soon as she gets out of the car.

We lived in a terrace for 10 years, never heard any sounds inside the house - except DIY drilling type noises. Not TV or normal speaking or anything.

Outside was different and was the reason we moved - noisy neighbours with a hot tub.

Be ruthless decluttering. You won't miss it when you've got rid of it. Buy some furniture that is also storage.

Don't keep stuff just in case.

Vacuum sealed big bags are good for stuff like winter weight duvets.

Bear in mind, OP, if you're bringing 2 teenagers with you, you may find it's the neighbours feeling nervous about you moving in.

I grew up in a mid-terrace 1960's build and can't remember ever hearing the neighbours. Maybe I was just lucky, or maybe we were the noisy ones!

I think it depends a lot on individual properties. I've lived in a 1930's semi where I never heard the neighbours; a 1930's flat where the noise both above and below was awful; 2 new-build flats where the only noise was from the communal hallway.

The only consistent one for me has been Victorian houses & conversions which were the absolute worst for noise IME.

Personally, I would never ever choose to live in a house attached to someone else unless the walls were 3ft thick and you never hear them. A terrace is my idea of hell as you have them on both sides.
I used to live in a 3 bed semi and had the most god awful, inconsiderate neighbours who used to blast heavy metal music for 7+ hours a day and it quite literally drove me mad!!
We moved to a small 3 bed detached as soon as we could afford to.
Can you not downsize to a smaller detached house?

We have just downsized from a very large detached house, to a 3 bed detached bungalow, there is no way I would consider a non detached property, I know I couldn’t cope with neighbours noise. We lived in a terrace, many years ago, absolute nightmare, had a neighbour that used to play his guitar all hours of the night. Once you have lived in a detached property, it’s really hard to go back.

Personally I wouldn't do this. We've just moved from a semi-detached cottage (thick walls) to a detached house. In our case noise wasn't a problem, but the boundary issues were. Because of the age of the property there were boundaries with three different neighbours. One neighbour was always chucking weedkiller on our boundary where we had our orchard, and the other neighbour got a digger in and undermined our land by about eight feet. This involved joint solicitors action with another neighbour who was also affected. It was successfully concluded in the end. So worrying and of course we had to declare it when we sold our house.

A long time ago in the eightees we lived in a newly built semi - a nightmare. We had two consecutive lots of neighbours who played loud music and it honestly sounded as though they were in the same room! My sister-in-law couldn't believe the noise when she came round!

Now in a modern detached with straightforward boundaries - can just be courteous to our neighbours when we see them, but have the feeling of autonomy, privacy and peace and quiet by being detached. Unless there are pressing reasons for being mortgage free, I honestly would think twice about it.

We are in a 1930s end terrace and have only heard next door when they were putting in a new kitchen. We don't hear day to day noise. Their stairs and hall are next to our lounge, though, so that probably helps. We don't hear them going up and down their stairs like some posters have said. Before we lived in this house, we rented a tiny 80s semi. It was too small for us and I hated living there but we still never heard next door, ever, even though our living rooms were next to each other's. We will be moving house this year, hopefully, and after reading this thread I'm terrified that we will end up living in a house where we can hear next door all the time!

I used to live in a mid-terrace in Hammersmith & the noise was unreal...

I thought for months there was a ghost in the house as I could hear footsteps. It turned out I could hear my neighbour walking around his hallway & up the stairs!

As for the neighbours on the other side - to begin with it was a lovely quiet couple who then moved on & sold it to a party couple. We had to get the council involved & it meant eventually moving out of London far enough to buy a detached house.

Buy an end of terrace and make sure all your big furniture, cupboards, wardrobes, bookshelves are on the shared wall!

@TedMullins laughing is really upsetting for those of us who's mental health has been detrimentally affected due to noisy neighbours. It is easy to sit there in judgement or fun when it has only rarely happened to you and/or it was sorted out.

I was living with daily trauma and NOTHING was ever done about it. I am still recovering.

If you can try and find a new build as certainly our apartment has good soundproofing.

@downsizing

This is reassuring, thank you all. Please to know we’re not completely insane.

Have started to clear out and the amount of stuff we’re able to get rid of is unbelievable now we won’t have the room to keep things ‘just in case’.

You know your circumstances better than me I do think this is crazy I would hate to have less space and having neighbours attached would be a pain

We are in a 1960s terrace and I must admit, we really like it. The ceilings are a little higher in a sixties build, the walls are thick, there are good size wardrobes and cupboard size and the windows are large. We are mortgage free!

You will be dependent on how nice your neighbours are but ours are friendly and retired.

You may Be unpopular if you are moving in and having noisy work done. Building work really travels and everyone is at home all day right now.

My teens love the terrace because it’s very central so they don’t rely on me for transport.

Is being mortgage free the most important thing to you? Personally, I'd hold on to the 5 bed detached. At least you've got something more likely to appreciate in value and people will want to buy. Lots of people don't like townhouse, let alone mid-terrace.