Semi-detached - can you hear your neighbours?

Letree

I would just like to do a poll of people living in semi detached housing to see if you can hear your neighbours.

athtrasna

Letree wrote: »

I would just like to do a poll of people living in semi detached housing to see if you can hear your neighbours.

What do you hope to gain from this? Noise levels can vary according to age of house, building materials, flooring, insulation, wind direction, demographic of occupants and a whole load of other factors.

theteal

I grew up in a terraced house and couldn't hear the neighbours. I live in a semi now and can occasionally hear the little 3 yr old scream the house down. It's kinda funny though, he's a stubborn little sh!te. Obviously it's going to depend on the neighbours and build quality etc

dudara

I live in a fully terraced house and rarely hear the neighbours. The only thing I really hear is the little baby next door crying cause she's teething at the moment. That will pass soon hopefully.

Letree

I understand there are many factors that influence whether you will hear your neighbours or not. But if enough people respond to the poll it may provide an idea of peoples experiences with semi detached housing in Ireland.

I paid a bit more than i think i should have to buy a detached house and i wonder if i made the right decision. There are some nice semi detached houses for sale around my area also.

Ursus Horribilis

It'd also be interesting to know what age the semi detached houses are. Can you hear more through the walls of a newer build?

My house is 20 years old and I hear very little from next door. I've never heard voices but sometimes I can hear doors closing and the coat hangers in the wardrobe. Their master bedroom backs onto mine.

It was much the same in the last house I lived in. It was an early 70s semi-D. 'Er Indoors suffered with her nerves though so sometimes her meltdowns would carry through the walls.

vagazzled

House was built in 1980 and I've been living next door to the same family 19 years.
They've had maybe 3 stinking rows that were audible in all that time (which is pretty good for a large family!), and as for day to day noise I can hear them if they talk in the loo, which is beside my loo.
It doesn't bother me at all, basically.

Cheshire Cat

Semi-D built in the late 90s. I hear lights being switched on and off, curtains being drawn, shower, TV, toilet visits at night, the whole lot. Current occupants are fairly quiet. Was much worse with the previous lot.

Moving out in January. Again a semi-d, but attached at the stairside, so should be a lot better.

theteal

Cheshire Cat wrote: »

Semi-D built in the late 90s. I hear lights being switched on and off, curtains being drawn, shower, TV, toilet visits at night, the whole lot. Current occupants are fairly quiet. Was much worse with the previous lot.

Moving out in January. Again a semi-d, but attached at the stairside, so should be a lot better.

That's fairly shocking stuff.

The terrace I mentioned earlier would have been built 1940-50. The current semi d was built around 1890-1900

Blingy

In a semi d built in the early 80's I think. Very quiet neighbours however I can hear them close the front door, talking on the phone (sometimes), the house phone ringing, walking up the stairs, walking In the bedrooms as the floor boards constantly creak, the noise from the shower. The insulation in these houses is non existent!!

I would definitely think spending extra for a detached was well worth it. I would if i could.

athtrasna

martin101 wrote: »

Moved from a semi detached house cause I could hear everything. I was beside two rented house and every year both sides would get new tenants in. Some good and some back. Last one like to do weight training at 11 o'clock at night and slam the weights down between each exercise. Moved further out from the city to a detached house and its the best thing I could have done. Bit long to get to work but I feel it's worth it. For me anyway

A semi detached is only attached on one side?

Pink Fairy

I live next door to an alcoholic mother and a psychotic daughter..... Yes I can hear their arguments, daily, and their 4 yapping dogs that are left abandoned for most of the day ...not ideal, but you actually get used to it

Cheshire Cat

athtrasna wrote: »

A semi detached is only attached on one side?

That doesn't mean you can't hear them. We had a family with 3 young children living next door in the unattached house and you could hear them no problem. They also liked to do their laundry in the middle of the night and the spin cycle sounded like a plane taking off.

Ursus Horribilis

Letree wrote: »

I paid a bit more than i think i should have to buy a detached house and i wonder if i made the right decision. There are some nice semi detached houses for sale around my area also.

I'm not sure what a poll will achieve. Have you got buyer's remorse?

mad m

Live in a terrace house, daughter in front room can hear next door going at it when they are at it. She says they are quite loud....

I've asked daughter can we swop rooms.:p

looksee

I live in a 45 year old semi with dodgy cavity wall between the houses. All i have ever heard is a very occasional bit of distant music from their upstairs, if our house is very quiet, and odd bits of diy occasionally.

Gumbo

Grew up in my parents semi d built in 1996. Brick and block construction with a 215mm solid block party wall.

In the dead of the night you can hear toilets as their ensure backs onto our ensuite etc

I now live in a terrace timber frame house. Can hear noises but different noises, more impact noise than people talking.

Jen44

I've lived in two different semi d's. Our first was a newer house around 15 years old and we could hear everything next door. They werent solid walls which also was a nightmare when you wanted to hang stuff up. The second house is a much older house built in the 60's solid walls and you cant hear a thing its great!

Michael D Not Higgins

My parents house was built in the 70s and we never heard the neighbours unless they were hammering nails into the wall (which happened surprisingly often but that's another story). I also lived in a terraced house (built maybe late 80s, early 90s) in my 20s and never heard the neighbours apart from some muted TV noise now and again. Now I'm living in a flat in Edinburgh in a building from the mid 1800s which I can hear basically nothing from any side (the walls are about half a metre thick though).

PurplePrincess

Living in a semi-d built in 2003. No soundproofing or insulation between houses as can hear everything, kids fighting, up and down the stairs, phone ringing, blender going, doors opening and closing. Construction work going on for last 4 weeks and I'm nearly psychiatric from the constant noise 12hrs a day.
Saving for a detached.

Penny Dreadful

Live in a semi d built in 1995. Neighbours are noisy, a bit less so since I told them so (they did say they hoped they weren't being too noisy and I said "actually, yes you are") They weren't too happy but have quietened down a bit).

Their chosen method of communicating with their children is to roar and scream at them. Needless to say the kids (4 - twin boys and 7 year old girl) roar and scream back. They also stay up really really late, kids too.
If the parents have the tv on in their bedroom it must be on really loud as I can hear it and the phone ring too.

We're hoping to build next year and I can't wait to live in a detached house.

L1011

Terraced - built 1970s - can hear impact noise only and rarely. Power shower on the party wall is it.

Newer houses are often much worse

loyatemu

Lived in a duplex where we could hear them opening and closing cupboards next door - that was concrete construction. Subsequently moved to a timber framed semi where we never heard a thing from next door. Place we are now is a 1970s semi and we can occasionally hear music if they have it up loud but it's nothing major.

Not sure what you're trying to find out OP - you're living in a detached house, it'll always be quieter than a semi.

Moonbeam

early 70's semi D and I can hear a bit but not much.
I can hear her phone ringing in my bedroom and sometimes the grandkids if they are loud but generally it is nice and quite.
She can probably hear alot more from my house!!

harr

Semi d built in 2000 ,timber frame but solid walls between houses...we hear a bit the young lad 12 I think is wild so I do hear the mother roaring on occasion they are night owls but I can't hear a whole lot,can't hear phone,tv or stuff like that ..the only thing that bothers me is they work shift and they tend to put washing machine on at two or three in the morning ..:mad:

liquoriceall

This is actually something I've wondered about, I live in a early 2000s semi, it's timber frame and I can hear next to nothing, the electric shower in the ensuite which backs on to my ensuite. But....it's just 1 girl living there....I wonder is it just because there isn't actually much noise to hear??

harr

liquoriceall wrote: »

This is actually something I've wondered about, I live in a early 2000s semi, it's timber frame and I can hear next to nothing, the electric shower in the ensuite which backs on to my ensuite. But....it's just 1 girl living there....I wonder is it just because there isn't actually much noise to hear??

There is noise in the house next door to me,always full of kids and I only hear them the very odd time..my mums house is solid house built in the late 90,s semi d as well and she can hear the people next door talking...if anything I taught our timber frame would carry sound between houses

happypants

We live in a terraced house built in 2006. Bought this time last year and can honestly say over that time we hear next to nothing. Neighbours either side with dogs etc. The odd time I can hear them plug what I presume to be a charger into walls at night but that's it. I don't know if it's because there's no noise to be heard or it's because we're the noisey ones!! I had real fears about it when we were buying but now I'm glad we did. My dads house was built around the same time, it's a detached house and I could hear him boil the kettle in the kitchen from my room and I could hear the tv and him cough it's so badly built.

Teyla Emmagan

Live in a 100 +year old terrace. I have never heard a single noise from one house and from the other you would very occasionally hear the telly from the adjacent room. I love these walls.

alastair

Live in a 1880's end of terrace. In 20 years the only sound I've heard from next door is hammering when they were having renovation work done. Initially it was a little old lady, so assumed she was very quiet, but two sets of owners since then, and no change.

Jaketherake

Whenever i have lived in any terraced, semi or apartment the amount of noise i heard was directly propertional to hom much i let it bother me.
The more annoyed i got, the more sensitive i was to the least noise next door.
In the end i stopped letting it bother me and id swear the noise died out.

miezekatze

I live in a semi-d built in the mid nineties. The houses are attached at the 'wrong' side, i.e. not where the staircase is, but I rarely hear the neighbours even though they have several young kids. I can only really hear them if they have an argument, have guests over or sneeze.

meeeeh

liquoriceall wrote: »

This is actually something I've wondered about, I live in a early 2000s semi, it's timber frame and I can hear next to nothing, the electric shower in the ensuite which backs on to my ensuite. But....it's just 1 girl living there....I wonder is it just because there isn't actually much noise to hear??

Nah. We live in timber frame detached house and you hear less what is going on in next room than we used to hear going on in neighbour's house when we lived in a brick built semi-d. It depends how good the insulation is. We have decent insulation, the house we used to live in had some and there are houses with basically no insulation. Then it also depends how loud the neighbours are.

I actually remember someone on the radio saying that you don't need baby monitor because you can hear kids crying anyway and I remember thinking well you might not need it but we certainly do.

pwurple

Used to live in an "end of terrace" which is effectively semi-d. Heard nothing from them. House was joined stairs to stairs, built in early 80's.

Lived in a few apartments in my time too... Some heard nothing, others were liking living with noisy roommates. Each build is different, I think you have to check the individual circumstances.