Would you ever buy a semi after living in a detached- can you hear neighbours?

[LooksForGlasses]

As above.

Do you get noise?

In time I may move and one of the choices would be a Victorian terraced house - a semi.

I like older houses but have always lived in modern houses, first a semi (with a very elderly man next door) and then detached houses.

I would be older by then in my 70s (moving closer to family) and very quiet!

I can't stand noise now and noisy neighbours would send me crazy.

As someone who has had no noise for the first 10 years of living in our mid-terrace (apart from occasional DIY from one side, which I think it's understandable), and now has a new neighbour next door - I would say stay detached! It isn't all the time, around once a week at most, but there is a dog that doesn't like to be left and it barks the entire time our neighbour is gone. The worst we've had it was 10pm-2am😡 it was always our plan to upsize to a detached one day, but this has made us eager to speed up our plans!

We did, last year, when we purchased a 200+ year old semi-detached cottage.

Our previous house was a small, detached 400 year old mill in a very rural area with only two near-ish neighbours. However, one of them had previously been operating as an occasional wedding venue (4 per year) till the pandemic when they stopped and never restarted. So, whilst incredibly peaceful most of the time, when they did weddings you could hear music outside. I was overjoyed when they stopped these and decided to sell as I'm really sensitive to noise.

We moved 'home' to be closer to family and sadly - as we'd been living in cheaper areas for years - our budget in our chosen location wouldn't stretch to a period detached (we didn't want anything too new 🙄).

Considering five out of six of our last houses were peaceful, detached period properties (the outlier being a Georgian end-of-terrace with very thick stone walls with no neighbour noise), it was a risk going back to a semi.

The old cottage we bought in 2024 was originally two, whilst our neighbour's was built a bit later, I think, being completely different in style, shape and footprint.

Fortunately this means our doors are nowhere near each other, our staircases are in different positions. Their cottage is long and thin (one room wide), with the staircase bisecting the front and back rooms. Whilst ours is much wider (three rooms wide) with our staircase winding round from the front wall from right to left and our living areas are on the unattached side. Our main bedroom is on the unattached side too. The only noise we hear is the occasional bark of their - otherwise very quiet - dog.

That said, when we've finished renovating (it was a probate project bought to do up/add value as well as being a foothold in the area), we'll probably sell and hopefully be able to upgrade to a detached again, as you can never guarantee quiet neighbours.

I lived in a 180 year old terrance. My neighbour of 10 years couldn’t hear him. Occasionally I could if he had a party. He moved and a large family moved in. I could hear everything. I once mentioned this to them and they then had a massive argument about the noise.

I now live in a new build semi detached. My neighbour is great. Can’t hear anything. We did a sound check when first moved in. But I can hear the people from the detached house beside me. They are so loud the Eid noise travels

I have lived mainly in period houses - Victorian, Edwardian, 1930s mixture of semi and terraces - all of them were noisy. I moved to a detached mid century house 2 years ago and I would never ever willingly share walls again. The silence rings in my ears and it is blissfully relaxing, I swapped period features for it and it was worth it to me.

No. My experience of terraced and semi-detached houses has been awful. I love the fact that my sleep is never disturbed by others.

Our last 1980’s semi had the rooms next to each other and we could only hear them if they were using power tools. The 1990’s semi we lived in before that where stairways were next to each other we could hear their conversations from two rooms away.

We live in a detached house in the country which is unsurprisingly very peaceful but my sister's purpose built city flat in a smart block is equally quiet and has fabulous soundproofing. In the past I've lived in flats, terraced and semi detached houses and never had a problem apart from a nightmare neighbour who played music at full volume in the early hours in a terraced house. I think it's very dependent on building standards and your neighbours.

I honestly think it really varies.

We live in an end terrace and our walls are well insulated. We also have a retired couple who live next door. We've heard noise in the middle of the night once or twice but they are generally very quiet. We try to be as considerate as possible. I'm sure they hear DD but are too kind to stay anything!

You won't know until you move in.

I think end terrace or semi only.

We live in a halls attached Edwardian semi. Never hear our neighbours..occasionally you can hear the son playing his bass guitar in my daughter’s bedroom, but she listens to music too so they don’t bother each other.

That is he is playing guitar in his room..not my daughters! 😆

I live in a terraced house. I almost never hear my neighbours on either side. My neighbours when I lived in a semi were AWFUL and the semi before that even worse.
It really depends on what your neighbours are like…. Not the type of house. Even living in a detached house on a posh estate is no guarantee the neighbours will be easy to get on with.

Detached house - no noise from the neighbours but can hear EVERYTHING within the household

Terraced house - can hear noise and baby crying from neighbour on one side but nothing from the other side

End terrace house - no noise from the neighbour and internal walls are solid can barely hear anything from room to room

all houses were built around the 1930’s

In 50 years, I’ve done it all (renting) apart from bungalows and detached and agree that it tends to depend on your neighbours, rather than the build. The worst has to be when I’ve been on ground floor flats - noise from above and people coming in and out if the building. Now I’m in a mid terrace (Victorian) and hear very little from neighbours but then the house on my right has been empty for years.

The time has come to finally get on the property ladder and because of my age and a relatively small deposit I’m limited as to what I can get. Flats are a no-no so it has to be a terrace but an end one. I wouldn’t mind a semi as I grew up in one and on balance that was the quietest experience. But I can’t afford one.

I hate being attached to someone else. I can hear my neighbours close doors, sometimes laugh or talk and it puts me on edge. I’m in a 1930s semi. My neighbours aren’t bad but it feels so invasive hearing them.

I did look at moving to a detached but most are in estates and I’m not sure if that would be worse especially in summer with everyone outside and dogs barking etc!

1950s semi d. We can hear neighbours opening and closing wardrobes. We've got woken up by their kids screaming and crying in the night lots of times. Used to hear TV through the bedroom wall when a older slightly deaf lady lived there. It's worse in summer when windows are open. But I'm sure they've heard lots from us too.

You may be lucky but the trouble is, there are no guarantees, and things can change day by day. Stick with detached if you can.

I had a maisonette in London where the child downstairs stoned my cat and then I had a Victorian semi where my neighbour threw weeds over the fence and threatened me if he heard my alarm clock.

I like detached. It keeps the horrible people at a distance.

A well built older house 100% but new builds are a different story. Even when detatched they seem to be built very close together here.

Never. I’ve only lived in detached homes and am very sensitive to noise. I

We downsized to a semi 10 years ago and can honestly say I have never heard the neighbours. We live in an Edwardian house so the walls are thick .

I’m now in a terrace (modern townhouse) and I can’t hear anything, very good sound insulation

I will stick to detached. I can't be bothered with noisy neighbours or the risk of that in my 70s. Been there, done that in my 20s when sharing houses.

Luckily I will be able to afford a detached house and I will also aim for one not cheek by jowl on an estate.

We lived in a terrace when the kids were small. The neighbours had a really old fashioned toilet cistern/chain (I'm assuming from noise) and woke my whole house up with their early morning toilet trip. Every. Single. Day.

To be fair, we had too many dc in a small house and spent many of those years dealing with big feelings that we all expressed loudly. The neighbours will have been as glad to seen us move out as we were to go I am sure.

We have only lived in detached houses since and I really really would avoid going back to sharing access or walls or feeling overlooked or overheard. I dont need the soze necessarily but the privacy is vital.

I live in a Victorian terrace. I only hear neighbours if they’re doing noisy DIY (not often) playing drums with the windows open in the summer.

I often have the radio on though, so perhaps that covers any sound. I wonder if they can hear me shouting at my children to put on their shoes every morning?

We were renting a detached house and then bought this house which is a semi - yes we can hear the neighbours unfortunately. We have had 2 different families next door since we moved in, neither of them have been excessively noisy but you can still hear stuff.
I don’t hate it or anything but I wouldn’t buy a semi again

my dad had to move all my furniture around to the opposite wall, including the built in bookshelves, and put insulating paper on the shared wall, when next door had a new baby. So insanely piercing. And persistent. And then he was a shouty toddler. Then the older kids were argumentative teens.

I'm in a Victorian terrace now, built originally to be expensive for the area, but we loathe our noisy neighbours. The amount of time I’ve spent listening to them screaming at each other! My kids learnt the word cunt through the wall. And oh good when they got a dog….

We have new neighbours moving in on the other side at the moment. I had no idea new carpets involved so very much hammering. God knows what the sawing is for - the house was just renovated. I ought to know! I heard all of it!