To buy a house on a main road?

[SaltandVinegar567]

My DH and I are looking to upsize. We have 1 DC but would like another. We’ve sold our house and been looking for 3.5 months. A lovely house has just come up that ticks all of our must haves (min 3 bed, decent size flat garden, driveway, bit of character e.g 1930’s-1960s house, not a Reno, walking distance to parks and high street, semi detached or detached). It also has lots of nice to have extras including an office (we both work from home), utility room, family room (in addition to living room) and playroom. However, it’s on a main road and there are 4 steps up to the front door. We would never be able to afford this much house on a quieter road.

It’s a very wide main road and fairly set back, with a big drive way. It’s a 30mph A road but it’s not a rat run so is never really busy, but a steady slow stream of cars. The house is doubled glazed but I could still hear a buzz of cars go past with the windows shut. I don’t know how busy it is at night but I am a light sleeper.

It also has 4 big steps up to the front door. My DC is 2 and we use the pram often but he could get out and walk up the steps whilst I carry the pram in but I would like another baby.

Schools are great and proximity to all the things I want to be close to is great.

Would I be crazy to go for it, considering we’d never out grow it and we would never be able to afford a house this big without being on a main road? I’m really stuck for what to do.

The house sounds like it ticks so many boxes for you so I would definitely go for it. It really sounds like the pluses heavily outweigh the minuses.

Traffic is getting quieter and less polluting as the proportion of electric cars on the road increases so I think you might be onto a good thing long term. It sounds like you probably have enough space to put a fence, wall or planting (hedge / trees ) to shield you from the road if you want to (this also reduces noise)

Regarding the steps - the pram years are actually relatively short, you could maybe get a portable ramp if you want to smoothly wheel the pram in (might also come in handy when moving furniture in 😁) but I don't think steps should be a dealbreaker.

I wouldn't worry about the steps at all, it's a very short term problem that can be overcome.

The road just depends on your personal capacity for compromise. If I couldn't afford ideal, I would compromise on condition rather than busy road but there are always people who will choose to compromise on busy roads, as long as you price it right.

It also has 4 big steps up to the front door. My DC is 2 and we use the pram often but he could get out and walk up the steps whilst I carry the pram in but I would like another baby.

This is a big of a pain (ours has some too)
You do get used to it and ultimately no one gets everything you do have to compromise

Sounds a lovely house and it ticks so many boxes, the street is wide and houses set back off the road. And you are getting more space than a smaller house on a nearby house. You have been looking for over 3 months which must be pretty frustrating for you. Course you will be able to sell it in the future as it has so much going for it. I would go for it. There are always compromises!

Main roads are great. You wont get kids pratting around playing on bikes or whacking foosballs about like you would in cul de sac for example.

Our last house was on a similar road to the one you’ve described. We had buses going past regularly but no lorries. It was a fairly busy road but not a rat run, although cars used to do 40mph (it was a 30 road) regularly and it could have done with speed bumps IMO. We were very happy there although really notice how quiet it is now we’ve moved. I actually got used to the road noise and quite liked it on nights my husband was away. Some things to consider:

How wide are the pavements? Ours were wide so I didn’t feel there was any risk of accidents, but I wouldn’t have let my children play in the street. This didn’t really affect us though as they weren’t old enough to play unsupervised and we had a large front garden and okay-sized back. Now we’ve moved though they like to ride their bikes up and down the road, although they’re now old enough to do this. If this isn’t your forever home, it could work.

Does the traffic calm down evenings / nighttime?

The steps up to the front door sounds annoying but they’re small for such a short time, this won’t be a problem forever. I wouldn’t even think of this being a problem now to be honest. They’re only in prams for a couple of years!

Resale: ours actually sold in a week when we put it on the market. The bus route was a plus for our house!

@Iceache The pavement and street are really wide. I drove by and parked up briefly the other night around 9pm and there were about 12 cars in 5-10 minutes so not really busy but still a steady slow stream. More than would go past my current house.

My DH says the same about the prams but he won’t be as impacted as I am. But you’re probably right and I’d probably get used to it once I find a technique that works. There’s no rear access as it’s had a side extension up to the boundary so I can’t go round the back (this doesn’t bother me though as I’ve never lived in a house that does and no major building works are required. We did have building work at the back in my current house and it was messy for a bit but a short term problem).

I moved from a house like that.
The constant traffic in the day seemed to be just background noise.
At night, the intermittent traffic was worse as it was quiet and then a car would very noticeably go by. Okay at 9pm, not okay at 2am when in would wake me up.

Loved the house and my neighbours but it was just too much after a while.

This was my first thought. But the noise is also an issue. I grew up on a B road and it was very noisy. The house was constantly dusty and you could hear the road noise whether you were in the back or the front.

I used to have a bugaboo bee pram when mine were small, probably still around but might have a new name. It was so small and light I could easily lift it, complete with baby, up stairs.

The road would be an issue to me though but probably more so as I live in a tiny cul de sac now and I'm so used to the quiet.

We’ve just moved from a quiet cul-de-sac to a much bigger property on a road that’s use as a rat run and can, at times, be much busier than what we’re used to but it’s had no negative impact on our lives at all. It’s our dream home, we’ll never move from here now (in early 40’s, children grown up and don’t live at home) and I actually find the occasional sound of traffic quite comforting for some reason. It does sound like the road you’re considering is busier, but I really wouldn’t let it put you off. With good glazed windows, it’ll be fine. Remember, you live in the house, not outside of it! And the steps will only be an inconvenience for a short portion of time. 😊

I lived on a similar main road a few years ago and would never do it again.

The sound of trucks roaring by at 40mph (it was a 30mph road) used to wake me up in the early hours (bedroom was at the front of the house).

It was also a nightmare getting on and off the drive as if you did it in traffic, all other cars would be beeping at you, with the alternative being waiting on a side road then driving on while there was a gap. It was a complete pain.

Also with small children we used to triple lock the front door, so they couldn't get out easily, but if we'd ever had a middle of the night fire, we'd have been pretty stuck too.

Best thing I did was selling and moving away from a main road house.

I wouldn't, the noise drove me mad when I temporarily stayed somewhere like that.

@Starseeking How busy was your road? Multiple cars per minute or 1 every couple of minutes?

I moved from a cul de sac to a house on a road. Much prefer the house on the road. Felt very enclosed in the cul de sac, felt like neighbours were always watching, kids out, cars coming and going etc. Much more privacy on the road. Have a hedge and a biggish driveway though. Would not like to be right on the footpath. Also have a large back garden backing onto woodland where I can sit and rarely any hear road noise there.

My relative lives in a flat on a main road. Their bedroom windows are to the back and we don't hear any traffic noise there. It's near a bus stop and that doesn't seem to be that annoying either. So it's not too bad for them and again made the flat affordable

On noise levels and open windows in summer - we live next to a train line and our bedroom is where you hear them most. Fine with the windows shut. We put in an air conditioning unit for hot summer nights so we don’t have the windows open after we have gone to bed

All houses have compromises and it sounds like this one has some significant upsides

People always suggest triple glazing as a solution for this but that is no help at all in the summer.

That house sounds fabulous but........... Having lived on a similar sort of road for 5 year though - I never ever would again. The road noise drove me crazy. As soon as I moved into my now current house (on a very quiet road, quiet area) I felt instantly better. I realised then that the constant buzz of road noise had actually been making me feel unwell in my head.

I live on a main road and wouldn't choose to again. The road has become so much busier over the years and we regularly wipe black silt from the windowsills in the front rooms of the house.
Maybe check pollution reports, see what the road is like at certain times of the day, and think about how you'll be getting about when you move. Will you be driving or walking more?

Also..... agreeing with someone else up thread - daytime noise is one issue but actually at night the intermittent noise is actually more of a pain. Especially "boy racers", empty lorries (surprisingly noisy) emergency vehicles with the nee nars on.
Also even when you do open the windows - you dont get genuinely fresh air but air + vehicle fumes as well as the noise. Plus at our place the noise was also a problem when trying to sit quietly in the garden.

We moved a year and a bit ago to a similar house - honestly, the road doesn't bother us anymore. With decent glazing you barely notice it downstairs; upstairs slightly more so when you've got a window open (our room is at the front of the house) but it's never woken me up when I've been asleep or anything. In the garden you don't hear any of it and the size of the house has been a huge benefit compared to what we could have got away from the road.

Also means that DH just needs to walk a minute or two to get to the bus stop to get into the city to work, and the kids can just walk along the road into the local little town centre - the convenience and transport links are a huge draw to us.

Sounds a lovely house and it ticks so many boxes, the street is wide and houses set back off the road. You have been looking for over 3 months which must be pretty frustrating for you. Only you know if it will irritate you,

Hmmm, it was busy enough to notice, so although the traffic wasn't continuous, there were at least 20 cars per minute. I actually didn't mind the daytime so much. Worst were the lorries during the night, what with the condition of the road being full of potholes.

Ironically like in your case, a house down a side road would have been much more money than me and my DP at the time could have afforded. The house itself was an absolute gem, but the road was just awful.

@Starseeking That does sound really busy. I think busier than the road of this potential house. I drove by earlier and there maybe only 5 cars per minute and I’ve never seen a lorry go that way - doesn’t mean they don’t. I just probably haven’t been there at the same time.

I would be worried about the pollution levels and resale. Also I think a more traditional residential area for young children can really shape a childhood by them being able to play out from an early age.