Buying a house near A road

[Movingtouk24]

Hi all
I’ve made a hasty decision purchasing a property near an A road. It’s on a lovely street, in a lovely area. The front of the house is quiet but the back of the house has a very large for the area garden that has a fence shared with a small car park (we are talking 3-4 car park spaces!) off an A road.

When we first viewed the house on a Saturday late in the morning nearing noon we didn’t hear the noise. Or, it was so barely there we didn’t notice it.

However we went back at peak hour in the evening and you can hear it from the back bedrooms (with double glazing) and in the garden, particularly at the far end.

I’m now nervous- is this a bad buy? It’s a huge house, period, in a very competitive area but along this road it is a little cheaper (likely because of the A road). It’s also got a huge garden.

The noise wasn’t terrible but now I’m worried you can never open the windows, and about air pollution for the children! My husband thinks it will be fine and it wasn’t that bad.

What are the options if we decide it isn’t for us after getting cold feet? I know, we shouldn’t have made the offer…but besides the A road it’s perfect. Alternatively would the air pollution be that bad?

We are currently renting, in no rush to buy- waiting for the right place. We’ve not signed anything. This place offers us the most we will get for our budget (most likely!) in terms of size and potential in the area.

Thanks! (Again, yes I know we shouldn’t have made the offer if it wasn’t right…but this was the only negative.)

The phrase "A Road" covers a multitude of sins. Are we talking proper 2-3 lane dual carriageway that's almost a motorway or just a busy main road?

Either way, I bought my first flat on a busy main road and regretted it. I couldn't open the bedroom window at night in the summer, and you could always tell vaguely what time it was in the middle of the night by how much traffic noise. That said, it was not set that far back and you describe a big garden.

Things to think about.

If they need maintenance, main roads sometimes get closed and worked on overnight.

Boy racers. Twats with souped up engines and deliberately noisy exhausts who like to hare around at night.

Black dust. Again, the distance/ garden might spare you from this.

Some people say you get habituated to the noise. I never did and we moved within three years.

I have cats so I wouldn't personally want to live on a busy road as I let them outside.

Please don't waste your sellers time. If you decide against it tell them now. It's not fair to string them along. Plus, the A road wouldn't bother me. Brown noise is good for you..

We live on a busy A road, we have triple glazing and I grew up on a busy road so tend not to notice it too much. Our back garden (not huge) is a haven of tranquility, the birds sing in the trees and we hear this more than the road. Air pollution is everywhere and I have the windows open lots of the time. I am a terrible sleeper anyway, we camp in a tent in the country and I use earplugs. At home I have a white noise machine which blocks out noise including my husband who goes later to bed than me in another room. the houses closest to us tend to sell quite fast, so the road must not bother too many people.

My friend is currently trying to sell her house, which is adjacent to an A road. She’s had no viewings at all since it went on the market in May. I would walk away.

One of my relatives bought a house on a busy road and regretted it as soon as he moved in, finding the noise when in the back garden difficult to cope with. It really took him years to get used to it.

I wouldn’t mind as we lived on a busy road growing up. That said, I’d be worried about pollution levels.

We always said would never live on a main road but now live elevated street above a main road. Our situation is very similar to yours. Can’t notice the traffic for 99% of the time. And large garden at the back don’t notice anything. We have not regretted it. Our home is beautiful and we got lucky to get it

I lived in a listed building on an A-road with a 40mph limit. It had single glazing and I never regretted it and never wished I could fit double glazing. I’ve just realised I’ve lived on an A-road for 5 years, this one has 30mph limit. It doesn’t both me. In fact I hadn’t realised my current road is an A-road until starting to write this post.

TBH I would not buy this house, though that is probably not what you want to hear. I value quiet too much.

I wouldn’t because I lived on a main road and by 7 years in it was driving me insane. The house shook and there was sticky black dust on everything all the time.

We didn't offer on a house for this exact reason (2 lane dual carriageway) except it was the front of the house that was one road back facing it.

It was the only house I regretted not offering on, but I also suspect my dh was right when he said I would never have got used to the road noise (am very noise sensitive).

So I suppose it was for the best in the end 🤷‍♀️

I back onto an A road and the front is on a pretty busy residential street. It doesn’t cause me any issues.
the A road is 50mph, and busy most of the day into the evening. Residential street is a bit of a rat run but I’m used to any noise and rarely pay it any attention. I’m a shift worker so come and go at funny times and sleep schedule is all over the place but rarely disturbed.
I moved here after a very quiet cup de sac and unless my house is silent I don’t hear anything that disturbs me

I personally wouldn’t.

We purchased a house on a busy A-road. The noise wasn’t too bad with double glazing but the house literally shook if a lorry hit a certain drain.

Our daughter also developed asthma. We moved sharpish to a rural location and she no longer needed ongoing medication. Scary.

Depends on what A road it is @Movingtouk24

Can you post a link? Or if you don't feel comfortable doing that, can you tell us the A road.

Agree with posters above, there are A-roads and A-roads, so it depends what you've actually got.
Crucially though the price for property is always impacted by location. The A-road is the compromise that means you can get a property this nice for the price you're paying. If you decide you don't want the A-road, you'll have to accept a less lovely house, it's just the deal you make.

Just pull out now while you can.

Wow! Thank you for so many responses.

It is a dual carriageway but it’s around a roundabout so the traffic does slow. I didn’t notice any movement in the house when there at peak time- there aren’t many lorries using the route as it’s residential.

I think we will go back with the surveyor/ builder and figure things out from there- if the noise really is too much I will want to pull out. I’m also worried about a bad investment- given you never know when you might need to sell. That said supposedly there has been a lot of interest in the house (and another offer). The houses do generally sell within 3 months on this road given the space and size for the area, and the lower price, but you would probably need to live in it for a while especially if we do any updates (which we will). The current owners have been there for decades and raised their child there - people do generally stay.

It is otherwise a lovely house- no noise at all at the front, or inside the bottom of the house. Just the top bedrooms- and I noticed it the second time around during 6pm peak traffic. I’m not sure if the windows are just double glazed or if they’ve done more. The house is probably 100m back from the A road.

I would probably run air purifiers every so often, inside, just in case, if we did move forward. And plant trees along the wall at the back of the garden etc.

Just to add as well, the other houses on the road have less land as they are blocked by properties in front on the A road (some of which have front gardens). The house we are looking at + neighbours on both sides do not have a house in front and the garden extends up to the parking for a property in front of other houses.
This is something I want to check on- that it’s definitely part of the land (the agent seemed to think so but I’m not so sure!)

I have to have a window open through the night, otherwise I don’t sleep well, so if the traffic dies down then it would be ok.

My house has a large front garden that faces a rural, single lane A road. We enter the property from the side and have a tall hedge that blocks the main road.

We mostly hear the traffic at peak times ie 7-9am and again 3-6pm the rest of the time it is easy to ignore. I’ve been here over 20 years now. I can have windows open without it bothering me and there is never any waiting traffic. I don’t here the traffic noise in the back garden.

It wouldn’t be a deal breaker but it would depend on busy the road is at night too, ie constant flow vs occasional traffic.

What did you do in the end ??

I bought my first house on a busy road - never again if that helps

We back on to a dual carriageway but there's a field full of trees between us and the road. I thought the road noise would be horrendous. We viewed in winter and it was really loud then but in summer once the trees are in leaf it is more muted. It's also better depending on wind direction. We are uphill from it as well so I expect that helps. I don't notice it when in the house and it's an easy noise to block out to be honest like white noise. I cansleep with windows open when it's warm.

One thing to keep in mind is it’s getting warmer so being able to open windows in bedrooms is pretty important and negates double or triple glazing from a sound perspective. We have lived on a 30 A road in a village and found it difficult to sleep with a window open in the bedroom facing the road.

There are always compromises when buying property, very few people can afford everything they want, you just have to decide what you’re willing to compromise on.