Should I consider a mid terraced house?

[Coffeesnob11]

I completed on my sale ( 2 bed end of terrace) in Feb and my son and I are staying with my mum. We are looking to move to a specific village but as you would expect there are not a lot of properties coming up and the ones that do I am often beaten in a bidding war. I have always put down I wanted a end of terrace, semi or detached but a mid terrace is coming up and everyone seems to think I should consider it. I have always worried about noise on 2 sides.
Have you gone from a semi or end of terraced to mid terrace and if so have you had any issues or would you recommend it?

Op your potential house sounds just like mine, I'm right in the middle of a terrace of 60s houses.

I have a family of 2 adults, 3 primary aged kids and a large dog on one side, can't hear them at all. On the other I have an older couple. I can honestly say noise isn't an issue for any of us as our houses, though just regular 60s estate houses, are well built.

We also have back gardens accessed through the back door or a back alley. Our bins are all safely and neatly tucked away in the alley (still plenty of room to walk down it) so not an eyesore or smell in front of the house. The only pain is bringing the lawnmower to the front garden, as I store it in the back so I either have to bring it through the house or around the terrace.
I also have a garage in a separate block which is handy storage

Go and view the mid terrace and get a feel for it. You might love it.

You can get lucky or unlucky with neighbour noise is any type of house unless it's totally isolated!

I wouldn't buy a new build mid terrace as the timber frame construction method has very poor noise insulation. 1960s should be fine. We had a 1930s mid terrace ex-local-authority as our FTB house and it was fine. Solid brick between houses. It wasn't silent but we don't need or expect silence from our neighbours so long as they keep noise to normal waking hours. It was fine. If this property is similarly solid in its construction then I don't think you'll have problems. Do check what the access rights are for getting to your back door though. Is there an alley or would you have to cross a neighbour's garden. Easements for right of access can ne a pain and neighbours aren't always cooperative.

if everyone's quiet we can hear next door wee (and therefore they us) in our mid terrace. we can also hear their conversations even when we're talking. it's also cold (obviously not picked up by survey) when terrace houses are as allegedly warm and damp because of their leak- no thanks 😕

I am in my third mid terrace.

The first two were fine noise wise. This house is more cheaply built, I think, (v late Victorian, maybe Edwardian, small houses for non rich people), and there is no soundproofing at all.

luckily I have very quiet neighbours.

Not all terraces will be the same but the one I lived in seemed to have paper walls, I could hear everything. Neighbours on both sides had babies within a few months of eachother and it was hell, two screaming babies on either side of my bedroom wall for months on end. So I would never want to risk another terrace like that.

I’ve lived in a victorian mid terrace, 1960s maisonette (upstairs and side neighbour) and 2x 1960s mid terraces and the only noise problems were with one tennant in the upstairs maisonette and that was antisocial noise that could have happened in a semi. In fact the worst noise problems I ever experienced was a semi where the sound proofing was so bad I could hear the neighbours’ kettle boiling and clothes hangers as they selected clothes for work every morning.

Currently in early-2000s mid terrace (of three houses) and can hear a bit from my neighbours but nothing intrusive - more likely to hear them outside. One neighbour is a bit of a party boy but his living room is the opposite side of the house and so I rarely hear him.

Previous house was 50s concrete ex-council semi and I could hear EVERYTHING, my neighbours were v noisy though and I had to go round a few times to ask them to keep it down. Our stairs adjoined and they were like a herd of elephants. Drove me mad.

I would try to visit at a typically noisy time of day such as 6pm, and see what you can hear.
Bonus with mid terrace is you're insulated from the sides so your energy costs will be lower.

Try and find out how the party walls are constructed, in some Victorian terraces they are only 1 brick width thick (4.5 inches).

Not all mid terraced are the same. Things to consider:

Does it have any access to the back other than through the house? Ours has a passageway so we are only connected downstairs on one side (and that is the stairs and a bathroom so no living space)

Has it been extended? We have a single storey extension as does next door. Both dining kitchen with sofa. But they are not joined so no noise in our main living space as it's effectively detached.

How is it configured upstairs? You may only join bathroom to bathroom on one side

ours also is unextendable un-loftable and no rear access 🙊 and I'll say again; cold also got lead pipes to meter so no smart meter possible

We are in a 2 bed mid terrace with an insulated loft and our heating bills are incredibly low!
Don't hear any noise from the neighbours except for when one of them hoovers a particular skirting board downstairs.

You'd save money on heating. And there's brilliant soundproofing if needs be.

I'm mid terrace now. Our neighbours are great and very little noise - but it could easily go the other way should one of them decide to move.

I don't think it'd make too much of a difference depending on the age of the house/quality of build and how noisy the neighbours were. I'm in a very solid 1950's semi-detached ex-council house (struggle to even drill into the walls as they're all rock hard) but normal sounds really travel through the walls. My neighbours have fairly loud voices compared to my husband and I but they're not shouting or doing anything out of the ordinary. Sometimes their conversations wake me up! And I'm a good sleeper. It doesn't really bother me but probably would if it were things like parties/loud music and generally inconsiderate behaviour.

I live in a mid terrace. Not much noise from either side, and the house is warm in winter as each side has heating on!

I live in a 1903 mid-terrace. Not a problem for noise - there is a little, but not a lot. What does piss me off is the lack of alternative access to the back of the house and garden. It's through the house. So make sure you've got a back or side alley or something.

And I agree about the heating!

I have requested a viewing as it has access to the garden via an alley so I don't have yo carry muddy things through the house. There is no grass at the front so the lawnmower can stay in the back. The front has been converted to parking and the houses either side are slightly offset so I don't know if this would help with noise factors. It has a separate garage which I could use for extra storage.
I had the insulation done in my last house and it made a massive difference. I viewed an end of terrace with the same layout that I loved so I am hoping I would be able to find out if I could do a similar extension.
thabka for all your feedback. I had terrible issues in a flat I was in but have never been in a mid terrace house but it meets all my requirements and is under budget so I could make it my own.

Go and look. It all depends on how well they are built, how soundproofed they are. We are end of staggered terrace. These old council houses are so well built. People scoff but they are fabulous. Never heard a peep from my neighbour in 20 years.

In my third mid terrace and wouldn’t consider anything else - so much warmer and half the exterior maintenance of detached. All of my neighbours have been at least OK, and the current ones are amazing; we are key holders for each other.

I’ve lived in two-up two down, Victorian, and current 1930s or 40s average standard brick build. No noise issues, and I’d know because I tend to sit in silence reading, crafting or MN. Have lived in semis for many years before that.

Parking would be an issue but luckily I don’t have a car.

I think it just depends on high strung you are. We used to here noise from our neighbours occasionally but I can't say it ever bothered me.

Oh, FFS... we would hear

I'm in a 1975 ex-LA mid-terrace house.

The walls are thick and solid. I can play music loudly at 1am and my neighbours aren't aware of it. The only noise I hear from the neighbours on my left is occasional arguing, but the sound comes via open windows rather than through the walls and from my neighbour on the right, I hear the microwave ping and that's about it.

My house is well insulated which keeps my heating bills low (recently went away for 2 weeks leaving the thermostat on 12 and the heating didn't come on once).

We all have driveways so no parking issues.