Lorries causing house to shake

[BeachTree]

Does anyone have a similar experience and can impart any advice? I live in an old building, located right on a main road. The road has been patched up over the years and has been dug up and patched up for utility cables etc. While there are no huge pot holes, the road surface is visibly uneven and not smooth which results in my house shaking/vibrating considerably everytime a lorry or bus passes ( I estimate the number of hgv / bus movements to be in the hundreds per day). It can be felt in every room of the house. When in the attic, I can hear creaks and cracks from the roof and timber, and while down stairs, the building shakes (a lot) while the vehicles bump their way over long the road.

The lorries start about 6.15am and this is usually what wakes me. I have previously wrote to the local authority who sent me a generic response and in short said there was no issue with the road.

What can I do? This greatly affects my quality of living and enjoyment of my home, not to mention the damage that's likely being caused to the buildig. I struggle to see that this is normal and should be accepted as such.
Thanks so much

It was certainly my experience when I lived in an old house on a busy road. I moved. Surely you knew about the road when you moved there? If the road meets the standards councils have to adhere to then I doubt they will pay to resurface it.

I live in an old house on a busy A road and it's exactly the same, but it has been the same for the past 30 years so we are just used to it!

I live in a newish flat on what used to be a fairly quiet road. There’s a new housing estate being built nearby and it appears the road outside will be the main access to it. The traffic has probably increased fourfold over the last year. The development was initially turned down because of this but the council were overturned on appeal. My flat shakes from about 5.30am onwards. Bloody annoying but nothing I can do apart from move.

So you bought a house on a main road and are annoyed that the lorries wake you up? This is very normal! You can't buy a house on a main road and moan about the noise. I assume it was appropriately priced to take this into account?

I hear you op.

Is your house listed? If yes then English Heritage might be the next port of call for you.

Good to know. I knew it was on a main road, however had no experience of an older property and therefore no reason to expect this would be an issue. You don't know, what you don't know.

I had no reason to think lorries would shake the foundations of the house and wake me up. I previously lived in newish house in a cul-de-sac. My post was to ask if this was indeed normal.

Sorry to hear you have issues too. Especially being in a newer house, seems the age of house doesn't make much difference :(

Totally normal. We had a house built 1900, main road in front and a quarry, mainline railway behind. House vibrated a lot.
learnt to use blue tak to secure Knick knacks to shelving. When decorating, I used flexible fillers and flexible decorators caulking. Wall paper was very popular along the row, whilst tiling wasn’t.
you either live with it or move I’m afraid.

Our house shakes on the odd occasion a lorry goes past. But it’s been here for over 400 years so I’m pretty relaxed about it.

Totally normal.

One very good reason for not replacing lime mortars, renders and plastering in old houses is that lime can not only flex, but also repair itself.

From the Highway Authority point of view, you would need to undertake your own structual survey/investigations and provide evidence that defects in the highway were causing damage to your property. They would then consider remedial works such as reinstating trenches to alleviate the issue.
But if you are living on an A or B classified road that is essentially a strategic part of the highway network then you will get heavy vehicles, buses etc using it and inevitably there will be associated noise and vibrations for adjacent properties.
It would be worth asking when the road is likely to be resurfaced and contact your ward councillors to try and put pressure on this to be brought forward. A residents petition can help.

Thank you. Wall paper is a good shout to cover the cracks!

Thank you, that's very helpful. I will ask about potential dates for resurfacing and see if I get anywhere with that, thank you for the suggestions.

Our 400 year old thatched house on a rural A-road used to rumble throughout its three storeys whenever heavy traffic went past. It didn't help that we were situated at the bottom of a hill so that as juggernauts entered the village they were picking up speed/juddering over every pothole.

Shortly after purchasing the property, major roadworks elsewhere diverted additional heavy traffic through our village which exacerbated the situation for very many months. There were meetings with the parish council and highways but nothing was resolved, despite huge signs being erected advising hgvs to take an alternative route.

We stuck it out for three and a half years then sold up as it was playing havoc with my nerves.

The only options are to learn to live with it or move.

My parents house is an 80s build and shakes every time a lorry goes past on the 30mph main road outside. We got used to it quite quickly! They've lived there for over 20 years and no indication of any damage to the property.

My old house was the same - the road was resurfaced in August last year, we moved in mid November. The resurfacing made no difference; I think the road just wasn’t built for the number/weight of vehicles using it. But it didn’t cause any damage that we knew of; and we sold okay.

I used to live in a gorgeous Edwardian house on a road where vehicles used to tear down at 40mph (it was a 30mph road). I used to get woken up frequently during the night by lorries, as there were a couple of industrial estates on the same road.

I moved, and my next house is in a cul-de-sac!

Sorry but this is totally normal. I also live in an old house on a main road and the lorries wake me up at about the same time every day. It's just part and parcel of living on a main road.

Same for me OP. We live in a traditional tenement in the middle of town with old sash windows, and the whole place shakes when the buses drive past.

To be honest we are happy with this, as we enjoy being able to go to our front door step and have buses, pubs, shops etc right outside. We are used to it now, but yes I do think it’s normal.

You mention cracks? I really wouldn’t paper over them. Busy traffic CAN cause problems with foundations and significant structural problems, you really need to get a survey done.

We had this with enormous tractors shaking our very old cottage, which didn't have foundations as such. It was also shaken by an earthquake!!! Sold three years ago and it had a full structural survey - it was absolutely fine.

I can understand how you might not have anticipated this, it's hard to imagine it until you've experienced it. I haven't lived in a similar road, but i have lived in a similar house. Shutting the doors made it shake and anyone walking anywhere made it shake. I was so glad to sell. I'm not anxious by nature but that really got to me.

My last house (1900s mid terrace) had a water main running underneath it and then under the road (it was deep in the ground) but would reverberate. I only really felt it in the living room (front room) which had a wooden, suspended (i think) floor, whereas the back room and kitchen had concrete floors. So I'd suggest looking at the ground flooring and if it's not solid concrete that might be something to investigate.