Next door extention help

[Awayanyday]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone was able to share their experiences of living next door to a single storey extension being built. Long story short - my health is poor and landlord is selling up, I have savings and need a secure (and hopefully peaceful) roof over my head so im going to buy. I will be undergoing multiple operations in the next 2 years so really do need a 'Safe and quiet' space to recover. I was about to put an offer in on a house when I was informed the house next door is building a single storey extension, they have planning permission but it won't be immediate but maybe in 12 months time. I'm very noise sensitive and have poor sleep so I just have to 'grab' sleep when I can whether it be day or night. Reading about the noise I wouldn't handle this is my current condition (I struggle with living near a train line where I live currently) so I would need to 'move out' temporarily at least while the foundations were laid etc. But I've also read that general noise can go on for months. I am aware I can't predict every variable but just wondering what people's experiences were so I could make a decision if its something I would be able to manage or would just cause me too much stress and in turn make my health worse. Due to health I can't work at present and can't go out for very long so if it's a lot of noise I will be stuck listening to it all day.

Thanks for any input!

We had an extension which took 3 months, neighbours said it wasn't overly intrusive and I had sensitive builders, who finished by 4pm, swept up every night and never worked weekends. It also depends what other ambient sounds already exist in the area that would drown out the builders anyway, traffic, hospital, schools. Is it detached or attached.

Thanks for your response. It's a semi detached so I'd be attached to the house.

I won't be great because you have a party wall and will hear most things. But, maybe see the bigger picture, is the house, in the long run, a forever home, a few months pain could be worth it. See the plans if you can and make sure they are not building something too large or onerous that blocks your 'right to light'.

If you are very sensitive to noise, I probably wouldn't do it. Builders and building work are noisy. They don't creep around, they shout, drill, hammer, have the radio on at full whack all day, park like twats. It will be like that for weeks/months.

That said, you could buy anywhere and building work next door could start at any time. Much of it doesn't need planning permission, so you won't necessarily get prior warning.

Any chance of buying detached? Even in a cheaper area? If so, consider your borders - you want some land all round your house so no walls finish right on the boundary. I say this is someone extremely sensitive to noise who has at last moved into a house I can tolerate.

With a semi you may hear neighbours just generally through the walls, let alone when they are building. With a noisy neighbour, building work would be the least of your worries.

Thanks for your advice! I wish I could afford a detached...unfortunately getting a semi as opposed to a mid terrace is difficult on my budget 😬. Am worried about the neighbour noise in general yes, building works probably not the best for me. But like you say....it could happen with any house....or one bad neighbour.

How is the semi laid out? You want both front doors together in the middle of the building ideally. So the party wall is mostly stairs and hallway.

I have lived in a mid terrace and a semi, the mid terrace was quieter as tilder houses often had thicker walls

Second this. My Edwardian terrace was quieter than my mid-century semi. But it may be that my terraced neighbours were just more considerate. I guess if you make a racket in a terrace you risk pissing off two households and not just one!

It's the opposite way around unfortunately. It's a very small house as well so there wouldn't be much escaping noise at the best of times.

builders radios are the worst!

You don't know when it's going to happen, you don't know how long it's going to take, you don't know how considerate the builders and/or neighbour will be.
Unlike moving in somewhere and having it happen and having to deal with it, in this case you can't really do anything but anticipate what might occur and can't really deal with anything.
I'm not sure I'd chose to buy that particular property, it would have to be 'unique' to make me feel better.
In the case of terraces then as has been said it depends where hallways and entryways are, or the type of material the walls are built from. But that bit is the same for most houses, we moved into a 'link detached' it wasn't really and because it was newish build it was a 'house of straw' and noise travelled easily.
I hate noise, particularly dogs and kids, but just loud neighbours, it's a really tough call. I'd want to be moving into somewhere where I at least thought would be 'quiet' at the start.

Yeah, I've heard this. I find next doors tv annoying....I think builders radios will be much worse 😬.

Thanks for your help! I don't tolerate noise well either (obviously), especially since deteriorating health. I'm fed up of the noise here so found somewhere that 'looked peaceful' on paper (obviously you can never tell) and then the extension was flagged up. I just want to live in a field really 😂. Difficult being so noise sensitive, never use to be.

I think I'd look for somewhere that had a room or rooms that were isolated from the neighbours party wall, somewhere with at least one room you could retreat to if necessary? Or perhaps even a flat, at least they would have been build with noise 'reduction' in mind?
We have new neighbours moving in soon, after a long period with very quiet neighbours, I'm nervous to say the least.