Advice Needed - House on Busy Road

[EEvermore]

Looking for advice on my current situation which I am finding very hard to deal with.

DH and I are in our late 20s and have just bought our first home together in a UK city. For the past 5 years, we had been renting a flat from DH's parents. It was a great flat (quiet area, lovely interior) however it was small and we were ready to have our own house with a garden.

I'd been browsing RightMove for YEARS (I love looking at houses), but we properly began our house search in August/September 2023. We viewed a few places, but either were too expensive or needed too much work. Roll around October 2023, and up pops our house. At first glance, everything about it was perfect. It is a 1900's 3-bed victorian terraced house with newly renovated bathroom and kitchen, and beautiful period features. It was exactly what we had been looking for - I couldn't have dreamed it better myself - with the one disadvantage that it is located on a fairly busy B-road within the city (30 mph but often cars go faster).

Even though we both had fallen in love with the house after the first viewing, I remained cautious about the busy road. We went back for a second viewing, and I carefully listened to the traffic noises this time, but it really did not seem so bad and I came out feeling overall very positive about the house.

After that second viewing, things moved very quickly as the then-owner had offers in already and the house was going to a rapid closing date. I was away travelling with work at this point, so in haste my DH put in an offer (higher than I would have to be honest) - about 7% over the home report value.

We obviously got the house, and officially moved out of our flat and into the house about two/three weeks ago. The whole time we were moving, I kept having this niggle at the back of mind about the busy road, but the excitement and stress of redecorating and moving kind of pushed that away.

Now that we have been living here properly for a few weeks, the dust has settled and the busy road is really starting to grate on me. There is a constant stream of traffic between 7am - 10pm. It does quieten somewhat in the nighttime though - there is only maybe 1 or 2 cars going past every minute or so.

For most of the day, the traffic is a constant noise wherever you are in the house. For the first few days I tried to ignore it by having the TV on in the background, or playing music, but a few weeks in and I'm getting tired of having things running all the time to cover up the noise. I am originally from a small countryside village and love peace and quiet so this is less than ideal.

Our living room, bedroom and my home office are all located in the front of the house and therefore receive the worst of the traffic noise. Even as I type this right now, there are cars whooshing past. There are about 12 yards between the road and our front door, and thankfully we have a very high (8 foot) hedge in the front garden which blocks out a lot of the traffic from view in the living room, although you can still hear it. Our bedroom and my office though have a clear view straight down to the road, and there is nothing that has worked to completely get rid of the noise or the view of cars.

I am really starting to resent buying this house, and we have only been here a few weeks! DH says he is not bothered by the road or traffic at all, and we are starting to have arguments about this and the decision we made to buy this house. More than my hate of the traffic is my fear of how this issue will affect DH and I’s relationship. I really have tried since we moved in to ignore it, but with every passing day it seems to be all I can focus on. I am trying to tell myself that we couldn't have afforded a house this nice if it wasn't on this busy road (the same house for 1 or 2 streets back go for 50-100k more). But overall we have spent so much money in buying this house, paying the moving fees, and then another good couple of thousands in decorating (plastering, paint, windows, carpets).

I can't help but feel that this should be the most happy and exciting time for us, yet this road is ruining everything.

I feel very alone in this situation, and I have no one apart from DH to speak to about this. Any advice or messages would be very welcome (even if it's just telling me to get over myself!). Thank you.

This sounds like the last house we had and I found it very difficult. Hearing constant traffic is particularly triggering for me and I hated it. We moved 3 years later to a lovely quiet culture de sac and I've loved it. Now on the move again but the house has to tick these boxes, no way do I want to go back to a main road or even a busy road. X

I live on a busy main road and i like it, to be honest. I feel safer, there's always someone walking by and i think break ins feel quite unlikely.

I got triple glazing put in at the front and heavy curtains in my bedroom - it does help to dull the noise. But the triple glazing is what really made the difference. I put double glazing at the back to keep costs down.

My friend will only consider living on a busy main road with a lot of passing traffic because she feels more secure, eg less likely to be burgled or have overbearingly nosy neighbours.

Whilst this might not be very helpful to hear OP, I am in complete solidarity with you regarding the noise from the road. I lived on the approach to a roundabout on a busy B road for a decade. The traffic was a constant stream from 6am to 10pm including lots of heavy lorries and loads of motorbikes.

By the end I hated it so much. The racket and the black dust that settled on everything. But it was a private rental so I had limited options for mitigation, and I had really poor mental health for many of those years, so that probably made it all feel worse.

During that first lockdown when there was no traffic and I could actually hear birds singing, it was utterly sublime!

Consider moving your bedroom to the back. Save up for the triple glazing and the sound-proofing fence and try not to fixate on it like I did! All the best.

Move your bedroom to the back of the house. Also as more and more vehicles become electric it will become quieter. We live on quite a busy road and it is okay at the back of the house

Yes I agree. We moved from a quiet cul de sac and I just couldn't ignore the noise when we first moved. I think it probably took me the best part of a year but I just stopped noticing it after a while. I'm sure you will get used to it in time.

Before spending any more on the house, maybe put the brakes on, and focus on yourself and your partner. Your mental health needs your main focus here, so do things that make you feel happy and get back to being a team with your man. The strain will make the noise feel ten times worse.

You're so young too! Your next house will be around the corner before you know it, and in the mean time, learn what you love/don't love about your current situation and plan for your next move. In time, you might want to invest in things to try and tackle the noise because you love the rest of it so much, or you might not. Nothing is final, so take the pressure off, feel proud for the step up, and decide what you want to do in time when you've settled a bit.

OP, I was you 13 years ago. Just married and the first home with my DH. After looking at a series of tiny houses we decided to compromise on a house on a busy road to get more space. I spent the first few months convinced we'd made a mistake. The noise really bothered me.

However, we installed secondary glazing on the front windows and it made a huge difference. It was much cheaper than getting new windows - and I believe more effective than triple glazing anyway. It meant I couldn't really hear the road. Opaque blinds on the windows meant I couldn't see the cars and we planted a thick hedge in the front.

It turned out to be fine. The house was large enough to stay in for years and we had our children there. It did annoy me in the summer not being able to have the front windows open and parking was a real pain, but we had 6 happy years before moving on. Yes, we moved to a quiet road, and no, I wouldn't live on a busy road again, but as a starter home it was the right decision to compromise on road rather than space.

Give it time and get secondary glazing

I agree with this. One day you will suddenly think 'oh.. I've not really heard the road today' as it just becomes background noise that you eventually get used to. Now if we stay in the countryside for a holiday I find it way too quiet, like the silence feels deafening.

I think you’ve made a bad decision in moving to a poor location. Regardless of how nice the actual house is, location is everything. I would try to take control of the situation - come up with a plan to add value to the property (doesn’t sound like a lot you can do to it) and save money for another move. Can you increase your incomes? Sell stuff or cut spending? You’ll feel better if you have a plan and a funding goal to exit the house, something to work towards and see progress. The problem is that yourDH doesn’t agree.

Some stuff that might help:

• As suggested plant a row of trees in your front garden to give a bit of a sound barrier
• Triple glazing for the windows where you can hear the sounds the most
• put back on the market but I would really try to live there for at least a year and be prepared for the fact that some potential buyers will be put off.

I lived in East London for years and had a railway line behind my flat and a fair amount of traffic noise on the other side. I got used to it after a while and the only thing that really bothered me was people playing loud music because the thumping bass is so disruptive...

Also OP there is never a 'perfect house' unless you can spend millions on a detached mansion!

I have a 1930 terrace now as well and I can hear the TV sometimes from next door neighbour (she is 90 and of course tends to turn the volume up!) but it is still bliss compared to my East London flat.

The first couple of months in a new place can often lead to a huge buyer regret phase but things should settle a bit after that.

Our 19thC terrace is on a busy road in the middle of town and right on the pavement, only the width of the pavement from the road. I'm very sensitive to road noise and we also live and sleep at the front of the house. We had secondary glazing installed specifically for acoustics. It's highest grade glass available (10.8mm acoustic glass) and the biggest gap possible, both of which are important for noise. It cost us £4,200 this time last year for three very large sash windows. It made a massive difference, and I'm quite happy about the noise level now. I can still hear the traffic but it's muted. We also fitted draught excluder round the front door, which I didn't think would help, but really did.

These are the people who fitted it. They seemed to have an understanding of acoustic requirements over thermal requirements which swung it in their favour. I'm not affiliated!

arcticglaze.com/

I would have priced up triple glazing, but the house is listed so we're not allowed.

You can fit secondary glazing panels yourself inside the double glazing to help. This company do magnetic acrylic panels which are not too expensivve, and have had very good reviews in the national press including broadsheets.

They may also be useful for those in listed properties who cannot fit double glazing.

theplasticpeople.co.uk

Thank you! This is really positive to hear.

The back of the house is quite peaceful which is a relief. I've now also become a huge advocate for electric cars!

Secondary glazing (ie with a gap between the original windows and the secondary ones) really helps with noise.

I was like you OP. I cried on the first morning in our new house. I’d lived in a noisy central London flat so knew that secondary glazing was an essential. It’s not cheap but with any quote you receive, always haggle. We got our secondary glazed windows at 50% of the salesman’s initial quote from a well known company. It wasn’t a question of being cheeky. We couldn’t afford what he suggested, told him how much we could afford and sealed the deal that way.
And the bigger the gap, the better. Ours have reduced noise by 90% and we’re on a 40 mph road.
Also take heart that lots of people wanted to buy your house initially, so if you have secondary glazing it will sell really well in a few years’ time.
Secondary glazing is the way to go ( you only need it for the windows at the front ( four?) and I’d probably forego holidays/treats this year to do so. It made SUCH a difference to my enjoyment of our house and we’ve been here 15 years. Everyone loves our house and can’t hear the road! I’d also query with the people who installed your double glazing why they didn’t suggest it in the first place
Honestly do it if not only for your own enjoyment, but for selling on at a later date if that’s what you intend to do.

Try perspex secondary glazing panels. We fitted these in our house and the traffic noise has completely gone in the rooms we did.

I also think double glazing is not enough. We live on a rat-run road and the double glazing has helped a bit, but it wasn't as dramatic as I'd hoped going from the old single panes. Maybe it's also worse with sash windows.

Apart from adding secondary glazing maybe you could also look into planting some shrubs or small trees behind your hedge in front. I did quite a bit of planting in my front garden and it really looks so much nicer than hedge and busy road. It won't make much difference to noise I think but it visually distracts from it.

Also could you move your bedroom or office to the back so you spend less time sat close to the road? Our bedroom is at the back and it makes a huge difference.

I really feel for you. Please don’t berate yourself. Houses were moving very fast in 2023 and you didn’t have the time to think more carefully. You can never be 100% certain when you buy a house if there will be things that you find difficult to deal with. Try and focus on the extra space you now have. The space obviously appealed to you when you viewed it, you will get more used to it in time as people do with plane and train noise. It’s still very early days.

Make some plans for the future, like this will be our 5 year house etc. Hopefully you do a post very soon about how you are settling in. Maybe try a mindfulness course if you are still finding it difficult and a friend you can confide in.

Thanks for your kind replies everyone. Reading through these has made me feel a lot better, and I've been researching your suggestions regarding secondary glazing, landscaping, etc.

The last few days have been better. I do love this house so I am trying hard to get over this. I've been decorating the rooms at the front of the house and adding in a lot more indoor plants around the windows - I find this helps subtract from the industrial visual of cars outside. I've also been running the air purifier which is helping blur the car noises a bit. If I find the noise is really grating on me, I pop on my noise cancelling headphones and get on with my work. We've had temporary blinds at the front of the house for the past few weeks, but next week we will be installing our proper blinds, which should also hopefully help.

I don't think this will be our forever home, but I do sincerely hope to be happy here for a few years before moving on.

I wouldn't worry . You'll tune the noise out soon and it'll be a non issue

@EEvermore Hey. Can I ask how you’re finding it now? Considering buying a house on a busy road that has a lot more space than I could otherwise afford and trying to work out if I could get used to it.