Noise between houses?

[McKenna]

Hello, we are moving to ED and currently viewing houses. We?re looking at semi-detached and terraced houses in the areas around Lordship Lane, and just wondered whether anyone could tell us whether you can hear your neighbours through the walls? We?ve had bad experiences with neighbour noise (drum kits and parties!), so want to know what the houses are like here. I know it?s a very general question and houses/streets will differ, but just wondered if anyone had any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

[indiepanda]

I am in a Victorian terrace and if I am being quiet and the children either side are being noisy or if someone is drilling or doing other noisy DIY then I can hear them, but its not bad. Same was also true when I lived elsewhere in a modern semi.

Am not convinced any houses with shared walls are build robustly enough to prevent any noise leakage - certainly not at the drum kit and loud parties level.

[Sue]

I also live in a Victorian terrace and yes, as I'm sure with any adjoining houses, I can hear sounds from both sides and no doubt they can hear me.

Also, sounds travel in weird ways.

[Angelina]

yes we can hear our neighbours.

you'd pretty much have to get a detached if you don't want to hear your neighbours (and don't want them to hear you)

[Lynne]

Friends in Ulverscroft can hear everything. Friend in Worlingham can hear nothing

[d.b]

Drum kits and parties tend to go beyond just adjoining houses - when there's a big noisy party it's something most of the street can hear. But the good news is ED is generally pretty normal/reasonable about this. Like anywhere, there will be the occasional party but (round my way certainly) it's more like once in a blue moon, and not on a work night.

[KidKruger]

Normally a 9" wall between Victorian terraces / semis round here, plus render and plaster and maybe wallpaper.

Could you have a conversation through the wall ? No probably not.

Can you hear kids shrieking or dogs barking ? Probably.

It's not just walls though. Floors are built into/suspended off walls so any heavy footfall can transmit through the fabric between houses too.

[Townleygreen]

So called "halls adjoining" semis tend to be quieter in that you have the front doors and halls next to each other, so that the main reception rooms of the two semis are separated by two halls from each other. Usually quieter but - as others have said - won't stop you hearing noisy parties etc.

[Calsug]

We sometimes hear our neighbours but only if they are playing loud music. Generally though no real issues.

[tomskip]

I can hear my neighbour snoring. Standard Victorian terrace.

[DovertheRoad]

When I lived on Landells Road my lounge wall backed onto our neighbours 1st floor bedroom. Most nights around 8.30pm they had a fairly noisy bondage session. I could hear them over the television- she would shout " Spank me master!" And " I'm here to serve you" over and over again and it would culminate with a very noisy orgasm. I would say that was a 9" wall with plaster.

Our current place with adjoining hall semis is a bit better but our poor neighbour can definitely hear our kids sing / tantrums etc. If you are doing up the house you could insulate any problem walls slightly with acoustic board in say the bedroom. Halls less of an issue.

[bubbachumps]

We viewed a house we loved this weekend and then realised that either side are flats. This means that two of the bedrooms are adjacent to kitchens and living rooms which puts me off a bit. Anyone with experience of this?

[McKenna]

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply everyone! Really appreciate it. Does feel like a bit of a gamble, and guess we will have to hope we get lucky with nice neighbours.

[Sue]

It works both ways.

I know people who moved because of the people who moved in next to them :)

ETA: Also, different people have different expectations and tolerance levels for noise, and different kinds of noise, frequent or one off.

[Help-Ma-Boab]

9" is the crucial bit of detail here.

DovertheRoad Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> When I lived on Landells Road my lounge wall

> backed onto our neighbours 1st floor bedroom. Most

> nights around 8.30pm they had a fairly noisy

> bondage session. I could hear them over the

> television- she would shout " Spank me master!"

> And " I'm here to serve you" over and over again

> and it would culminate with a very noisy orgasm. I

> would say that was a 9" wall with plaster.

>

> Our current place with adjoining hall semis is a

> bit better but our poor neighbour can definitely

> hear our kids sing / tantrums etc. If you are

> doing up the house you could insulate any problem

> walls slightly with acoustic board in say the

> bedroom. Halls less of an issue.

[P.O.U.S.theWonderCat]

Don't touch half-houses if you are worried about noise.

[NewWave]

My advice would be to view any property you are interested in at varying times of day.

I lived in a victorian terrace similar to many of the houses in ED in North Kensington and I could hear my neighbours kids clearly through the walls.

I now live in a 1960's terrace and its wonderfully quiet.

I think most of the smaller terraced houses around ED will be as bad for hearing the neighbours as my old gaff.

The reason I say view at varying times is because when I put my old place on the market I told the agent not to do viewings at times the kids had just come home from school and were thundering around before teatime.

[mynamehere]

We were in a house where the neighbours hung out their window a few inches from one of ours to smoke and chat

All their smoke was sucked into our house along with their chat. The adjoining wall wasn't the problem

[muffins78]

I?ve been reading this thread with interest and other similar ones on the forum.

I?m looking at a narrow Victorian terraced house to purchase and it all needs to be redecorated, to say the least.

Having lived in one before, I now remember hearing the neighbours cough etc..

What?s the best thing to do, in your experienced re sound proofing? Should I get all neighbouring walls sound proofed? I won?t have the space to put up the ?timber framed? solution - I believe that takes 5 inches of space at either side! What is the best (and reasonable) to cover the neighbouring walls with?

As the flooring will all be removed, is it a good idea to also do under the floorboards?

Or perhaps only do under the floorboards in the bedrooms?

It would be good to get it done right, so no regrets after!

Would I be looking at 5k, 10k - everyone is saying it?s expensive!! But I?ve no ball park figure to go on!!

Thank you :)

[HelBel65]

This has always been an important issue for me because I can be a bit over sensitive.

In my experience it comes down to 3 factors.

1. Personalities (nice neighbourly types....or not)

2. One's own perception of noise

3. Luck - how the properties are configured/used, who lives there (elderly couple vs young family of 4, you can fit both in a 2 bed flat) and what kind of people they are (see 1.)

[civilservant]

i'd suggest careful consideration

our bedroom shares a wall with next door's kitchen, where two flats have been shoe-horned into a victorian house, so their room layout is a bit random.

generally things work ok except that our new neighbours sometimes run their washing machine late at night, when ambient noise levels are too low to mask the noise and vibration, especially when the bloody thing starts its spin cycle.

[BigED]

Hello civilservant - used to have the washing machine problem in an old converted flat where our bedroom was below the upstairs flat's kitchen. It was simply a case of asking them not to start the ashing machine after 9 at night - even the longest cycles were done by about 11.15, which seemed a reasonable compromise. I can't say it never happened after that, but it became quite rare. Maybe you need to try talking to them, if you can work out which flat is which. Or drop a note round mentioning the late night washing machine noise.

BigED

[uncleglen]

bubbachumps Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> We viewed a house we loved this weekend and then

> realised that either side are flats. This means

> that two of the bedrooms are adjacent to kitchens

> and living rooms which puts me off a bit. Anyone

> with experience of this?

Give it 10 years and EVERYONE will have experienced this!

[civilservant]

hi BigED, we have spoken and asked nicely, so things are much better than they used to be - but they seem occasionally (esp. late on a saturday night) to forget...

[worldwiser]

Given how much houses cost, I'm amazed one isn't allowed to stay overnight before offering. People are expected to make a decision in less time than they would take buying a sofa.