Dream House & Motorway

[Reagol]

After viewing a lot of houses have finally found one that ticks every box.

But. It's 0.5 from a motorway, not a hugely busy one but you can hear the vehicles when you're in the garden. Imagine it'd be worse when it's wet.

The noise itself was okay, I imagine it would be background noise that I'd tune out but I'm concerned about pollution/fumes too.

Would you run a mile?

It makes a difference OP whether the motorway is raised, sunken or screened with trees. I'd go back at peak times like 9am or Friday 6pm and listen. I live in a major city and hear blue sirens & helicopters all day long. I barely notice them now unless they stay overhead. My friend has the tube train track alongside her garden fence and weirdly the sound is comforting. Certain levels of noise you can adapt to.

We live about 3/4 mile from the M4 across some fields. There's a background traffic noise but we hardly notice it. The birds sing louder.
The only time we do really notice it is on a busy day like Christmas Eve.

I think it would depend on the motorway. I have a friend selling a house on M50 and it's so quiet in their house and garden. I suppose you get used to the hum of the traffic though after a while

I live 0.7 miles from a motorway.

I do find the noise annoying but I am very sensitive to noise. My DH doesn't notice it.

I personally wouldn't buy this close again but I think many people would be fine with the levels of noise. It varies a lot. Some days it's completely silent. Most days it's background. The odd days it's loud and you can hear it in the house.

I suspect it very much depends on what's between you and the motorway.

I live virtually under a freeway in the USA (in a large city so 24 hour traffic) you get used to it

My DM bought a house about 0.5m away from a busy motorway about 12 years ago. She's very sensitive to noise.

It's been okay. It's mostly steady background noise, with the occasional extra loud lorry. She did put a pond in the garden with a waterfall feature that's on most of the day; it really helps to mask the noise.

I used to live just off the busiest main road ever. I never heard it - ever.

Until we moved to the countryside and the quiet was driving me insane!

You will tune out to noise that is daily - honestly. You will only 'hea'r the motorway when there's a crash and it goes silent.

I grew up in a village where our house was about a mile from the M1. Used to only be fields between but have been some houses built now. Very rarely notice motorway noise, only if wind in wrong direction and heavy traffic and even then its fine.

Personally this wouldn't bother me at all. 0.5 miles is a really long way IMO

We live on an A road about 5 doors up from an underpass under a busy dual carriageway. We couldn't have afforded the house anywhere else. Road noise isn't an issue for me / us and pollution levels when we mapped them were basically the same as anywhere else in this suburb.

I live near a busy A road. It doesn't bother me generally, i don't mind a bit of background noise and it's quiet at night.
But it does get louder depending on wind direction and always seems louder in the winter for some reason.

Depends too on where the house is in relation to the road. Generally the prevailing wind comes from the west, so if you are east of the road you will hear it more. It will be louder in the winter when there is less leaf on the trees and also when it's wet.