Will I ever get used to the road?

[Flipflop356]

Have been in our new house 2 months. Love the house, a beautiful country side setting with loads of space and we’re about to extend the kitchen. The only bad thing is the road outside, it’s a small country road but is a bit of a rat run and can be very noisy at peak times of day (meant to be 20mph). It’s getting me really down and it’s all I can hear when I’m in the garden and at the front of the house. My husband has said we will be here for at least 10 years and that’s making me even more anxious about it. Has anyone got any positive stories of a similar situation? What helped you to get used to it? We can’t afford another move so soon, I have thought about renting it out but that’s a big job and husband won’t let me. Thanks

If it's a rat-run, perhaps explore with the Council (? I'm guessing) the possibility they could put sleeping policemen in? If there's a school or old folks' home nearby that could buttress your case. Or try to get someone to enforce the 20mph speed limit. Triple-glazed windows would help deaden the sound indoors but obviously not in the garden. Could you plant mature trees along the front to act as a noise buffer?

@TheRoseTurtle Thanks for your reply. I actually phoned the parish councillor and she has a community speed watch group, so I’m going to be trained up and we’re going to go out and do speed watch which apparently makes a big difference. We already have large hedges at the front which must work a little bit the sound still manages to get to the garden, although very faint. The front rooms can hear the noise but it’s also faint, I could do triple glazing long term I suppose

You do get used to it. We've got a busy road to the front which although residential carries quite large vehicles and buses due to low bridges on other roads, but we rarely notice the usual traffic. It's just fast motorbikes or eg skip lorries with chains etc that make you aware.
We also have a commuter railway at the end of the garden. I tend to notice when the trains aren't running rather than when they are.
Give it 6 months and it will just fade into background noise.

@Seeline thank you so much for your reply. I’m really hope that’s the case as I do love the house and our location is good for schools/town and getting to grandparents. Did anything help you to get used to it?

Used to live somewhere very similar and what happened was that the people that didn't focus on the road noise and accepted it got used to the road noise, the one that did never got used to it. Make of that what you will.

I think you need to try and forget it's there. If there is background noise in the house (music, kids, TV etc), it all blends together and then it's not so noticeable when the house noise stops.