Is it normal to get woken up a lot in a semi/terrace?

[everyleafy]

I've lived in 2 1930s semis, and in both cases I have frequently been woken up.

My current neighbours get up at 6am 7 days a week, and I quite often get woken by them. If they go downstairs and put the telly on I can hear it in my bedroom as clear as day. People talk about having a lie in at weekends and I find it depressing that I can't. I'm always tired.
I put some soundproofing in and it has hardly helped, because the sound seems to come through the floors.

Is this something most people joined with neighbours have to deal with??

I’ve lived in a semi and in a terrace and not been woken. Occasionally we would hear neighbours practising their instruments, including drums, but that was it.

In one house the joists ran between the two houses so it would often sound like someone was in the house with you, if they were walking about next door.

1990 semi - awful. We could even hear them pee in the loo.

1910 semi -awful. We spent £££ trying to soundproof but was then told that sound also travels through joists, not just walls, so it was a total waste of money. He was deaf & we could watch our tv with the sound off.

1960 semi -awful. They didn’t turn their tv off until nearly midnight & I was up at 5:30 am for work. It made me ill.

We stretched ourselves to the limit & now live in a detached. It was weeks & weeks before I stopped tiptoeing round so as no to disturb the neighbours & feeling like I would hear noise the other side of our bedroom wall any minute. The place is a wreck & we can only afford to do it bit by bit but it is bliss.

1930’s end terrace. Don’t hear a thing. Although on the dividing walls in our bedroom / next doors we have back to wardrobes so they obviously provide some sound proofing.

They do have a very loud switch in the living room that we always hear when they switch. Other than that nothing. Including when the previous neighbours had two year old twins and new born triplets

We hardly heard our neighbours in a modern terrace except when we or they had the windows open. Now in a Victorian semi and only hear the neighbours when they're shouting.

Have you tried ear plugs? I use the silicone ones because of my husband's snoring and they are pretty comfy

Yes my neighbours wake up at 5am to leave for work at 6am and I hear every footstep as they seem to go up and down the stairs about a hundred times every morning.

I live in a small new build terrace now but when I lived in a big Victorian house it was even worse and led to me moving.

No, its not normal.

We live in a 30s semi. We can occasionally hear them shouting / if they have a party but not normal day-to-day living.

Is there any way you can switch around your bedroom / living space so that you're further away from the shared wall?

Normal here, I hear everything my neighbours do. From turning on lights to having a pee. Tbh I don't mind the noise from them, but I'm sick to death of trying to be quiet all the time.

We were in an Edwardian semi until recently. Didn't get woken by them but heard them shouting, practising instruments, singing, and one very loud plug in their bedroom whenever the plugged their phone in each night. I was always worried about our dogs barking, baby crying, or having loud sex. Before that we were end of terrace in a 10 year old house - we could hear a lot more! We've just moved to a detached.

Never to the extent that I've been woken up but I spent my childhood living next door to a girl who played the organ, without fail, on a Sunday afternoon. I have also lived in a new build house where we could hear the neighbours' washing machine at all hours. The other, older houses we've lived in have all been ok, but maybe we just had quieter neighbours. We've since moved to a detached and I have to say it's wonderful!

Not in a semi. I had it in an old terrace. You could literally hear them on the toilet.

I'm in a new build now and it's great. Next door had a newborn and I didn't hear a peep.

1890s terrace and never been woken apart from when next door had the front of the house rendered. With our old neighbours we could hear through the walls a lot so assumed the walls were very thin as I could literally make out what they were saying. but our new neighbours are a lot quieter and I don't hear them at all (think we're the noisy neighbours now)

We’re in a period semi, 1860s. You can hear the parallel bedroom a bit but nothing major. Can’t hear downstairs at all. The only thing you can hear really acutely is if the other house is going up the stairs, I assume it’s weighing on a joist somewhere.

1930's semi. Bedrooms adjoining iuswim. Can hear drawers and cupboards being open and closed. Even though I have fitted wardrobes on that wall, with far too much in them, and a load of filled bookshelves. A detached house would be my dream. Rented house next door, and last neighbours didn't care about playing loud music, as they didn't intend to be there long enough to form good neighbourhood bonds. Ended up getting stuck in lockdown, and carried on with loud 'garage' music that I could hear in every room in my house.

Our last house was a semi-detached built by the military in the 50s I think.
The first 10 years (and 4 sets of neighbours) we didn’t hear a peep, first set had teenagers, next few sets had a baby while they were living there.
Then we had a new family move in, 3 teens, they were a nightmare, screaming and shouting at midnight, constant doors slamming, dogs barking all day to the point DH was starting a log for the council!
Thankfully we moved. Now I’m a 50s end terrace. Next door have babies, we sometimes here the baby crying but it’s quite faint so not bothersome.

Really varies depending on age/construction of house & more crucially the sort of neighbours you have. I used to go to sleep listening to snoring through the wall :/

I lived in a Victorian semi for ten years and although my neighbour was a shift worker, I never heard him. I admit I tend to sleep soundly. The only noise I ever heard was a plug going into a socket on the shared wall.

My neighbour on the other hand claimed he could hear my alarm clock, my radio, he could hear us talking (although never what we said), He complained about being woken by car doors slamming, despite having modern double glazing. Perhaps he was a very light sleeper

Not here. I live in a 70s built mid terrace and we don't hear a thing from either side, ever.

It is if you live next to me as I've got a Jack Russell terrier who likes his own voice too much.

1920s end terrace and we rarely hear the neighbours in the house. The walls are pretty solid though.

I have lived in two semis, 1930s and 1950s. I have never heard my neighbours unless they did DIY, which was rare. I apologised to them when the newborns (one in each house) were crying and they both said they never hear them!

1930s semi. Very little

1890s terrace. Nothing until they had a stair lift fitted

1860s semi. Nothing

I remember staying in 1960 semis and you could hear everything from next door.

1960s semi I think, don’t hear a thing unless it’s loud like when their grandkids visit and shout. Occasionally hear a plug switch being switched on in their lounge if it’s quiet in our house e.g tv or radio isn’t on.
Might hear their front door slam maybe but only if I really listen out for it.

It depends on layout we live in an Edwardian semi but the only adjoining bits are hall and bathroom , our morning room adjoins the back end of their hall but because of layout is a dead end in theirs with just a large cupboard. We hear nothing and they say they don't hear our two year old and he's noisy.

1890s terrace - every cough, laugh, TV, light switch and door close. Plus the newborn baby on one side and Top Shagger on the other - and not like a faint, distant sound, it's like they're in our bedroom.

Luckily I am an insomniac anyway and one with good headphones due to sensory issues with sound (and it helps that we have possibly the nicest neighbours of all time so there's a lot of goodwill there).

Would kill for a detached though.

1930's hall to hall style semi. Don't hear a thing.

Previously lived in an 80's detached house and the neighbours each side were really really noisy.

House before that was a tiny 80's semi and couldn't hear a thing through the walls. In fact we were really surprised when we discovered that there was a couple living in it! We only saw them twice in the two years we lived there.