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Original poster

Detached on a main road? Or Semi on a quiet road?

92 replies

Custardcreams35 · 24/10/2023 09:53

A house has come up which looks ideal, is detached but is on a busy main road - I am talking double decker buses thundering past. It is set back slightly with double glazing, and I reckon shutters and thick curtains would also help. We have two small children and the front is all gated so the safety aspects of them running out would be covered off.

We are struggling to find anything in budget for what we are looking for. I would be more than happy with a semi (currently in terraced) but this house would give us more space than we could have hoped for and is in great condition.

Is this a compromise that you’ve made and regretted? Is it worth it for a detached house?

OP posts:
Araminta1003 · 24/10/2023 11:00

We rented a detached house on a smaller London B road once. There were no lorries allowed, just buses. Shops, library, GP and bus stops were minutes away. The owners had installed a huge hedge on the front, the drive was like 15m wide, and they had secondary glazing. It was absolutely fine.

My kids play brass and woodwind instruments so we needed detached with 4x3 lots of practice going on daily sometimes at all hours. Also the garden was huge for the area like a park with lots of trees. That would also impact pollution. After living there I would have happily bought a house like that.

Araminta1003 · 24/10/2023 11:04

“Before you know it they're teenagers never at home, then away at Uni...”

Lots of London teens are back after uni and it can be so useful for them to save for a deposit. Great for work experience etc too in the holidays. So that is worth factoring in and considering too. However, heating costs are a big downside to a large detached property unless you can somehow go green in an energy and purse efficient way.

ActDottie · 24/10/2023 11:08

I’d choose quiet road but it depends what you’re used to.

I grew up in the country, my husband grew up on a main road so this wouldn’t phase him.

LBOCS2 · 24/10/2023 11:14

We had a house on a London A road in z5 with all the traffic - and night buses - going past at all hours of the day.

It was fine, until it wasn't. DH and I both grew up in very urban areas and were more than used to the traffic noise but there came a point after about 7 years in which it just started getting on our nerves. It became invasive and I really began to struggle with it. Our car kept being damaged by other vehicles clipping it, there was (on average) one major crash a year in the vicinity - and by that, I mean within 100m of our front door. Plus there's the pollution and the difficulty selling the property on.

I would go for the smaller semi, every day.

Araminta1003 · 24/10/2023 11:26

OP is it an A or a B road?

Janieforever · 24/10/2023 11:34

I think from your responses op you really want it. Which is fair enough. You’ve got your feedback and accepted it as a compromise you are willing to make.

as said, for me, I did it, got the detached house that I couldn’t have afforded otherwise, and was swayed by the size and space, as well as the big garden. Thought it can’t be that bad with the road.

We both found it to be a terrible mistake.

And when we sold and moved on found a house at the top of a very long drive and far away from any main road. Any house on a main road we simply refused to view. For us the price we had to pay for that space was absolutely not worth it.

lavenderlou · 24/10/2023 11:41

The house on the main road will be harder to sell on if that is a factor for you.

tiglit · 24/10/2023 11:45

That's tricky, road noise doesn't bother me too much, I'd struggle more with noisy neighbours than I would with cars going past, I think you become used to the latter.

But would there be pedestrians too? How is access to the house and parking? Does it feel safe for the kids?

Original poster
Custardcreams35 · 24/10/2023 11:52

Thanks @LBOCS2 it’s good to hear from first hand experience. We would have off road parking, but yes crashes etc would be unpleasant.

OP posts:
Original poster
Custardcreams35 · 24/10/2023 11:56

@Janieforever its not that I’m sold on it, I’m just desperate for more space and we are under offer (have been for months) and it provides the space and layout we could really do with.

we would have off road parking, there is a large gated front drive. There would be pedestrians but we have a lot of that anywhere in London. It’s a safe area (as safe as anywhere in London), definitely not the worst though.

OP posts:
Iwasafool · 24/10/2023 11:59

Depends on neighbours, I'd rather have a busy road and detached than a quiet road semi detached with noisy neighbours. The neighbours would bother me much more, voice of experience.

Duvetdweller · 24/10/2023 12:05

People think we live on a busy road but it’s only busy at rush hour really. It’s a detached house and we are right in the centre of town so my teens can walk everywhere - school, shops, cinema etc. We do have off road parking but the road doesn’t bother me in the slightest. I wouldn’t move even if you paid me - it’s an advantage for us.

purplecorkheart · 24/10/2023 12:08

I think that I would taking everything into account the detached house. For me I would be more bothered by the noise next door rather than the traffic outside. I think I would get very stressed if my attached neighbour put their house on the market about the risk of noisy people/neighbour from hell type people moving in. I would probably long term look into putting in good insulation and triple glaze windows though.

PassTheNuggetsPlease · 24/10/2023 12:14

OP if you can't find what you want within budget and this is in your price range it's clear that the main road is off-putting. Are you OK with struggling to sell?

The sort of people who buy detached houses want privacy and quiet. Which is why this isn't an attractive proposition.

Although I tend to agree with PP attached neighbour noise is probably worse.

Have you gone for a viewing at a busy time to check out noise levels?

Aldicrispsareshit · 24/10/2023 12:21

Bigger house, especially if it's in the ULEZ. Neighbour noise to me is worse than traffic.

watcherintherye · 24/10/2023 12:24

Is the road likely to be heavily used even at night - night buses etc.? Prob a stupid question, but I’ve never lived in London!

My experience of living in a semi-detached in a quiet area is that it’s very easy to become pissed off with next door’s noise (hound of the baskervilles dog, shouty dad, arguing kids) in a way that doesn’t seem to happen when the same noise is emanating from a more distant source. Sometimes I feel like I would give anything for a detached house.

MidnightOnceMore · 24/10/2023 12:26

Quiet road.

PinkRoses1245 · 24/10/2023 12:27

Quiet road, 100%

MyheartgoingBoomBoomBoom · 24/10/2023 12:32

We’ve lived in our house for 25 years, it’s next to a main road and wasn’t too bad years ago but it’s now so noisy that we can’t open our windows during the summer as the traffic wakes me.
I am desperate to move and would honestly now live in a caravan if it was situated on a quiet road.
I would now chose quiet over anything.

LibertyLily · 24/10/2023 12:50

We've been there with a busy/noisy road (twice - you'd have thought we'd have learned that lesson) and wouldn't do it again however big a bargain the house seemed compared to equivalent houses on quieter streets.

First time was in the 1990s - city location (not London but south coast of England), bus route (in fact bus stop was directly outside too!) with double yellows on both sides of street. Lovely double-fronted, Victorian, four bed detached house that was priced lower than the five bed Victorian terrace on a side street we'd been gazumped on.

Desperate to secure somewhere before losing our buyers, we went ahead despite my head telling me it was a shit idea. Worse five years of my life with traffic noise a constant through the (beautiful original) single glazed windows....and the dust/grime everywhere. Even though we had a walled front garden it didn't feel private either - although that was more a result of the bus stop.

Then, having escaped from that place (took ages to sell and then it was an elderly widow from outside the area who was the only interested party), 15 years later we sold a house on a quiet suburban estate (my other idea of hell, but at least it was quiet!) to buy a pretty thatched house on a rural A-road. As this was well set back from the road we naively believed it would be different. It wasn't. The three-storey house vibrated and noticeably shook as heavy traffic rumbled past.

We had timber replacement sash windows with acoustic glass fitted but barely noticed the noise difference. You could never open the front windows but at least the large garden was reasonably quiet. Again it was a bargain, purchase price wise and we did find a buyer very quickly when we sold three years later...but for considerably less than it would have achieved had it been in one of the villages not located on the A-road.

So, definitely the semi on a quiet road all the way for me.

minipie · 24/10/2023 13:19

Think also about sirens. Near me (also London) all the B roads have fairly frequent police/ambulance etc using it as a fast route, often with their sirens going. Obviously not constant but often enough to be annoying. Motorbikes too - they use main roads without speed bumps rather than small roads, and they are SO loud. A few roads away makes all the difference.

SunnieShine · 24/10/2023 13:34

Detached house, I would love to have no neighbours.

Original poster
Custardcreams35 · 24/10/2023 13:42

@PassTheNuggetsPlease not necessarily, for us it’s more about the space, side access and not hearing next door playing their music.

The mopeds and sirens are also a consideration. There are a few restaurants nearby but no pubs. But likely to be noise at night from traffic, although I think the buses do stop at night at some point.

OP posts:
BananaPyjamaLlama · 24/10/2023 13:48

Semi on a quiet road for sure. At least if you get a noisy neighbour its an issue you can try and resolve with them.
A noisy road outside you cant - traffic noise all day long, emergency vehicles at any time, empty lorries at night are somehow even more annoying than full ones (they rattle). If you have your front windows open you'll have the delightful aroma of engine fuel in your house, lovely.
If other major artery roads are blocked.......... all the traffic will end up going past your house instead. Any accident on your road all the traffic will back up outside your house.
Ive lived on a main road twice and wouldnt ever consider doing so again. People say "oh you'll get used to the road noise" Ha, funny joke. I never did.

Lampzade · 24/10/2023 13:56

It depends how far back the house is.
My dsis has a large five bed detached on a relatively busy road. However, the house is set back quite far and she has ample space in the front. . She also has electric gates and lots of trees /bushes that reduce the noise from the traffic. In addition , the house is double glazed. You can barely hear the traffic

However, if the detached house is near the road I would choose the semi detached in a quiet area