Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

Buying near a main road?

29 replies

Mybloodycat · 21/01/2023 16:26

Seen a really nice house today, but it’s on a very busy 30mph road (it’s the main road into the town)
The house itself is set back from the main road on a separate road (if that makes sense) so you have main road, turn right off it and other roads come off like a ladder and this would be the first road.
There are large hedges between the road it’s on and the main road, so you can’t see it but you can hear it. It’s about 20m from the front door I would say.
Tbh it’s only busy early morning and rush hour, but during those times it can be very busy.
I really love the house, but is the close proximity to the road going to be an issue? I think I’m my head I’m making it worse than it is, but I have never lived on a really main road?
Is having windows open a nightmare?
Will we sleep with the noise?
Am I being too much of a worrier??

OP posts:

NellyBarney · 21/01/2023 16:45

So it's not actually on the main road, and the 'main' road is a 30 miles village B road? How do you expect to get to your house if there are no roads anywhere near by?

whirlyhead · 21/01/2023 16:51

I live on a main road and have for 20 years. It’s fine, the road is mainly busy during rush hour so quite quiet at night. I have noise reducing glass in the front windows which helps. I really don’t notice anymore. The screaming baby next door is far more annoying.

the good thing about living on a main road is your house is less likely to be burgled!

Roselilly36 · 21/01/2023 16:54

Depends on the layout, with live on a busy road, but we tend to spend daytime in the extension kitchen/breakfast room and only use the lounge in the evening, so it isn’t a problem at all.

NellyBarney · 21/01/2023 16:55

For what it is worth, we live directly on a 30mph road, it's one way, single file, but can get busy during rush hour. I can hear cars (and people's voices walking on the pavement) in the rooms facing the road (listed single glazing), but I can't hear a thing in the rooms at the back of the house. For me, it's just background noise, and my bedroom faces the road. What I can't stand is the constant humming noise of a motorway, even if it's a mile away, but then my dh never noticed it at our previous house.

LIZS · 21/01/2023 17:06

We live on an A road. It is quiet at night generally even though a priority route for emergency services and has buses. Main noise is between 7:30-8:30 and 4-6. Visit at different times of day and at weekends. It can be hard to hold a conversation at the front during the day. You might want to consider air quality as well as noise, the council may monitor it and publish an annual report.

Original poster

Mybloodycat · 21/01/2023 17:33

Thanks for the input. To clarify, although it’s 30mph it is the main road from A to B that most people would use. It’s also the bus route, so it’s not like a little village road.
I have often sat on it in very slow moving traffic, but although it’s always being used it’s mainly rush hour times.
Inside the house I can’t hear it, but I’m thinking of summer.
Also, pollution.
It is set back (I think it would be described as a service road as it goes nowhere, so the house road won’t get much traffic.

I love the house though

OP posts:

JoonT · 21/01/2023 17:37

I live on a main road. I prefer it to living on an estate. We bought on a new build estate near social housing, but have now moved. Obviously I have no problem with people who happen to rent off the Housing Association (my lovely aunt and cousins grew up in social housing, and so did my dad and most of my friends at school). But you only need a few bad families and they will make everybody’s life a misery. There were a couple of nightmare SH families near us, who parked wherever they liked, woke us up at three in the morning (none of them seemed to work), dealt drugs, let their numerous feral kids run riot (riding their bikes up our drive, kicking balls against people’s cars, etc). The final straw was a police helicopter being called in. So much for our quiet dream home. Wish I hadn’t bothered to work and save all those years.

The downside to living on a main road is the boy racers. They race up and down at night, which wouldn’t be so bad if their cars were quiet. But they modify them to make the engines screech. They also modify their exhausts to sound like fireworks going off. I can hear them as I type these words. The police, needless to say, do nothing about it.

Probablymagrat · 21/01/2023 17:43

OP do you have to do a school run? pulling out onto a main road might be an issue every morning.

C4tastrophe · 21/01/2023 17:46

I would never live on a main road again. There is the noise, in the rain it’s much louder. And the pollution.
In the summer, you can’t sleep with the windows open.
The other side of the coin is it should be cheaper than a quieter house, but that discount comes at a cost.

Original poster

Mybloodycat · 21/01/2023 18:19

Fortunately you can go down the roads behind the house and avoid all the traffic, so there is that option.
Im just torn because I love the house, but I would have liked a quieter road, but I’m starting to feel I’m looking for a mythical house that doesn’t exist and isn’t affordable for me!

OP posts:

Oopswediditagain2023 · 21/01/2023 18:24

I wouldn't do it. We too looked at a house on a 30mph road into a town (also set back a little bit from the road, high hedge etc) but the lorries were SO noisy during the day that they'd definitely disturb you in the night too. Also I used to live on a fairly busy through road which was a bit of a rat run at rush hour and it would shake the house when the vans went down there. I grew up near a very very busy dual carriageway so was sort of used to the drone of traffic as well.
Also for re-sale, my friends who have young kids won't live near a busy road - I think if you're having doubts now, the next people who come to buy it will too.

BigotSpigot · 22/01/2023 20:01

We bought on an A road. It has hardly any traffic at night though and not that much during the day, although outside in the summer you can of course hear it with the windows open. We got a lot more house and garden for our money and I am still glad we made the decision we did as we really love having all the space. Is the house you are interested in priced accordingly?

Highlandhome · 22/01/2023 20:12

Whatever is on your list of wants & needs (& no-nos) for a house, its unlikely anywhere will tick all of them.

Sounds like its reasonable to seriously consider the house, if 9 out of 10 other boxes are ticked .... if it's also missing the en-suite or utility or large garden or whatever else you prioritise, then maybe it's not such a good choice.

Do you know why the sellers are moving? OK they'll probably not admit to the noise being horrific and no-one can sleep .... but what's their view?

If you are at the point of "mythical house", then that's an honest conversation about what your money buys. If this house was 2 streets further back, or in that beautiful village, would it still be in budget? If not, there's the point to consider ... would you prefer the house in its current location, or a different (smaller) house on the other street, or the village?

SeasonFinale · 22/01/2023 20:16

We moved from down a track in a village to a main road with a bus stop right outside the house. The double glazing deals with noise (or should do). Traffic is usually generous in letting us off the drive when it is rush hour.

It really hasn't been an issue for us andI was worried too. I was surprised how quickly I got used to there being life outside after being so remote before.

arghtriffid · 22/01/2023 20:23

No for pollution and noise but also resale will always take longer.

PeachDelany · 22/01/2023 20:57

Go there at rush hour and park up & wind your window down and just listen. It might be that you get used to it & stop noticing. My friend has a house that is immediately adjacent to the London overground tube track. When I first visited I noticed it but by the same afternoon it was just background hum. I actually found it comforting weirdly..

TenTeo · 22/01/2023 21:01

My parents live on a main road and it doesn’t bother them, you get used to the noise. Personally I would never live somewhere like that as I have 3 x cats and it would be a death sentence for them.

johnd2 · 22/01/2023 21:38

We bought on an a road, our budget would only buy something small, or something by a graveyard, or something on a main road.
When we moved in it was like having the windows open as they were badly fitted. We updated to triple glazing and you don't really notice anything to be honest.
There are 3 different regular buses in each direction, not to mention the lorries and whatnot that often get stuck . And a school 2 minutes one side and the local shopping area 2 minutes walk the other But we just tune it out now.I was a bit worried at first though.

TheNoodlesIncident · 22/01/2023 21:57

C4tastrophe · 21/01/2023 17:46

We live on a main road. I never actually notice the traffic noise now, you filter it out and don't really hear it (except for emergency vehicles with sirens obviously). There are busy times like rush hours, but evening traffic abates to a trickle after that and there's very very few during the night. We have our bedroom windows open all year round.

We have a cat, she doesn't go anywhere near the road. She mostly stays in the back gardens. Her mother used to cross the road to go hunting but she always used the Green Cross Code and checked there was no vehicles before crossing (she was quite streetwise in that respect). I don't think current cat is quite so savvy so glad she stays within the front garden and prefers the back.

Downside is there will be a bit more pollution. We have monthly window cleaners to ensure our window panes and frames stay clean. Upside is that the road NEVER gets iced over, it always gets gritted.

Your proposed house isn't even on a main road, it's on a road off the main road. It sounds ideal for you, so I wouldn't let the road situation put you off if it's great in every other way.

OpportunityKnockss · 22/01/2023 22:02

Don’t do it. I think buying a house near a busy road is the only big regret I have in life. I ended up in the house for twelve years as got tied to schools. Now every day since I moved is a blessing.

lissie123 · 22/01/2023 22:09

I lived on a main road as a kid and swore I would never buy a house as an adult near an A road. Never say never cos the cheapest house we could afford in our town was on the A road with constant traffic (albeit not at night). Got sick of it after a few years as the noise increased due to a supermarket being built nearby- so we moved. Now live on Lovely quiet B road in rural location just on the outskirts of the town. Bliss.

Thesonglastslonger · 22/01/2023 22:14

If you have or might get cats, don’t do it.

If you’re a light sleeper, don’t do it. I did the main road thing once and got woken every time a heavy lorry passed the house.

If you’re a heavy sleeper with no cats, go for it!

OpportunityKnockss · 22/01/2023 22:15

Sadly I lost my cat within the first month of moving to the road house.

IsThePopeCatholic · 22/01/2023 22:32

Absolutely not. I’d worry about the pollution, the noise, etc.

Original poster

Mybloodycat · 23/01/2023 20:45

So, I do have a cat, but currently it refuses to go outside.
The owners have been there 10 years and are moving to Yorkshire now, so I think they have been happy there.
House wise it ticks nearly every box, I had discounted it due to the road though, but I’m going back in a few days at rush hour to just see.
The other downsides are that although all the houses on the main road are private, the streets behind are not and they are not necessarily nice (I grew up on a council estate so I’m not snooty about it) however, a look at the crime statistics in a month is worrying (think not far off 100) and that does worry me, considering I’d like the kids to be able to leave the house and not get mugged immediately, but it is a very busy area, so it’s always going to be higher than a village.
Last worry, although it’s the “nice” end of the area it is a step down from the area we are in.
For this money I would get a lot less where we live, smaller house and less garden so it’s all a compromise.
Also I wouldn’t be able to drive my eldest to school anymore, she would have to get (the horror she’s expressed over this) the train

OP posts:

Flip

1 2