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Original poster

Road noise

47 replies

Bluey4 · 27/06/2023 10:37

I moved just over three years ago to a house on a busy road. I was worried about the noise when i moved but i didn't have many options and needed a quick move.

The noise gets me down every day and ive never got used to it.

I have recently had a small inheritance and am able to move but the children are settled in a (very) local school and with the market as it is moving is a silly thing to do.

My question is, if you've ever moved from a road noise house to a traffic free area has it been as good as you thought? If it's going to change my life then I'll do it!

OP posts:
GasPanic · 27/06/2023 10:50

Noise for me is something that just gets your focus. If the big noise goes then another smaller one just takes its place.

TBH I would be more worried about pollution than noise.

I would say my area is largely traffic free, but the little traffic there is still makes noise. A lot of it is due to the crap windows (trickle vents) which do not surpress the outside noise adequately.

Daisiesandprimroses · 27/06/2023 10:55

I did. I also never got used to it. We had to stay for a long time due to finances, to be honest, it just got more annoying. When we eventually moved, we immediately discounted anything on a busy road. Wouldn’t even look at it. We ended up in an area only about 2o mins drive further on, but off a quiet street and at the top of a long private drive. I never hear traffic noise. The difference is worth every single penny for us.

PosiePerkinPootleFlump · 27/06/2023 11:15

Is there anything you could do to minimise it? Eg secondary glazing? Or would it still be as much of an issue

Daisiesandprimroses · 27/06/2023 11:18

PosiePerkinPootleFlump · 27/06/2023 11:15

Is there anything you could do to minimise it? Eg secondary glazing? Or would it still be as much of an issue

It’s still an issue as if you open your windows rhe sound is very apparent again.

Original poster
Bluey4 · 27/06/2023 11:25

@PosiePerkinPootleFlump I've already replaced the windows, i did it after a few months! It's great in the house but as @Daisiesandprimroses says, it means i can open the windows or use the garden!

OP posts:
thehonscupboard · 27/06/2023 17:18

I wonder if in future it will become less noisy because of electric vehicles becoming widespread? I guess that doesn't stop honking etc. but I'm curious to know if I'm a few years a lot of noisy streets will become quieter because of this.

It does sound like it impacts on you a lot. Have you got a front garden? Clever planting could help reduce the noise a little.

areyouhavinglaugh · 27/06/2023 17:25

Our house faces a busy road, backs onto a quiet road. No houses overlooking at the back. There is a difference!

I installed double glazing in the front with acoustic glass, this stops the awful hum of traffic and cars. Can't leave the windows open at night because of traffic.

Personally, it's not a massive thing for me, but for you, it sounds awful especially if it's on your garden.

If you want to move go for it

thehonscupboard · 27/06/2023 17:26

Sorry that didn't actually answer your question in your original post. I moved from somewhere that had lots of school traffic in the morning and afternoon to somewhere that's not on a road at all (lucky as equally close to amenities etc.). I find it really peaceful and relaxing. Now I'm used to the silence I wouldn't move anywhere so noisy again.

Should say it's not totally silent as is a terraced house so have neighbours but lack of car noise is lovely. Also am ok with kids playing out the front.

areyouhavinglaugh · 27/06/2023 17:28

Yes also have lived with no traffic just a few passing cars and it was silent, I could leave my windows open at night and sleep.

Property market is not as bad as you think.. try it and see

Nothing ventured nothing gained.

FarTooHotForMe · 27/06/2023 17:31

I stuck
it out for 12 years due to the DC’s school. I’ve now been in my quiet lovely truly blessed house for 10 years and literally every day I am thankful.
Please dint wait as long as I did.

mattbr · 27/06/2023 17:31

I think the only way for noise not to bother you is to literally move to the middle of nowhere (my dream - but not so much for my partner).

We moved from a busy road in Bristol, so a not-so-busy road in a village in the countryside. Weirdly, even though there is much less traffic I notice it more now...I think because in Bristol it was constant and slow moving, but now it is every now and then...and it is faster now.

MrsMoastyToasty · 27/06/2023 18:14

I used to live by a road that was made of concrete sections rather tarmac. It was also a bus route. It was very noisy despite being the primary road into a housing estate rather than a main road. Strangely enough when the buses stopped running at night and traffic into the estate was quiet, we could hear the electricity sub station buzzing.
I've since moved out of Bristol, like @mattbr , to a small satellite town and live in a cul de sac. We still have the noise - we can hear the bypass and the ringroad, the sirens from the fire station and closest of all our neighbours which is a secondary school

FarTooHotForMe · 27/06/2023 18:35

Buying my road noise house is one of my only regrets.

Peppadog · 27/06/2023 21:09

I love my busy road house, I don't even notice it once inside. But the garden backs onto fields, so can hear birds etc, maybe that's the difference. I actually don't mind background noise, I prefer it to silent curtain twitchy cul de sacs.
It's funny my great grandmother ONLY wanted to live on a busy road. She moved out of her semi on a quiet road into a mid-terrace on a busy through road and couldn't have been happier. She found silence deafening.
Different folks and all that.

electriclight · 27/06/2023 21:22

I lived on a busy main road and never got used to it either. The constant sound of traffic rumbling past really got me down. I moved to a smaller house in a quiet little market town and it is life changing for me. Obviously, I still have neighbours but the main sounds now are birds, church bells, children playing and the odd car. I have windows open all the time and enjoy sitting in the garden. I notice traffic when I visit friends and would never buy a house on a busy road again, such an unpleasant noise.

Peppadog · 27/06/2023 21:34

I wonder if it makes a difference what sort of road it is. Our road is a 20mph limit outside the house and is fairly quiet in the late evenings. I barely hear it. I can imagine cars shooting past really fast might be louder.

sureigot20 · 27/06/2023 21:41

I have lived near a busy A road and we moved after 3 years. It was so noisy and we never got used to it. I loved the house itself but couldn't cope. Best thing we ever did was move. Now the birds wake us up and we can have our windows wide open. I don't worry about my children playing in the garden and pollution.

I would never live near a busy road again.

Chenford · 27/06/2023 23:27

I moved from a house that faced a busy road, to one many miles away that is quiet

All I hear now in my back garden is lawn mowers, birds and church bells.

I am grateful every time I go outside and would never live so close to a road again. I went to visit an old neighbour recently and the noise really jarred.

MakeADecision · 27/06/2023 23:56

We are moving from a very busy noisy road to one set back in an estate and I cannot wait OP! Been here nearly 9 years and although I am used to it, it is still annoying.

electriclight · 28/06/2023 06:56

We could also feel very big vehicles as they went past, like a vibration. On the odd occasion, something would rattle in the house. Hated it.

whirlyhead · 28/06/2023 07:00

I live on a busy main road and installed noise reducing glass at the front which helped a lot. The back of the house and garden are quiet though (apart from neighbours noisy kids)

Can’t say the noise bothers me that much and it’s counteracted by houses on busy roads being less likely to be broken into.

I used to have the Eurostar at the bottom of the garden. Now that was noisy!

C4tastrophe · 28/06/2023 07:02

I used to live on a busy road, with buses also. I never got used to it. Also the pollution was terrible.
Electric cars will help, but not with the tyre noise which is amplified when wet.
Move as soon as practical.

Roselilly36 · 28/06/2023 07:09

We live on a busy road, but also a very desirable one, property on our road, always attracts a premium and sells quickly.

The noise doesn’t bother us at all, as we are mainly in the kitchen/breakfast room in the day, which leads onto our garden. Our living room is at the front but we only tend to sit in there in the evening.

Something, I have noticed that helps seem to reduce traffic noise is having a water feature in the garden, the sound of trickling water is very soothing.

WildFlowerBees · 28/06/2023 07:18

I'd move, we've been living in our home for 6 years and I still can't get used to it although some days I notice it more than others. Whenever I go to my parents where I grew up I love sitting in the garden listening to nothing, just the birds. I can't wait until we can move somewhere quieter.

winteriscoming2022 · 28/06/2023 07:23

I moved from a cottage in a few house hamlet to a busy city centre road. Tbh I love it. In the silence in the country, any noise at all disturbed me, an unusual car driving near our drive, foxes, neighbour leaving early for work etc.
Here I have cars driving past through the night and I find it strangely comforting, don't particularly enjoy the pissed up people having loud arguments outside the house though. I don't know that I even register the traffic now after two years.
I love the feeling that there's life around me through the day and night and sleep very well, much better than in the dark and silence in the country.
The city is full of students and we know that it will be extra noisy as some leave this week and others arrive in the Autumn, it's all part of city life and I love it