New build semi detached - noise!?

N3ptun3m00n

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Good evening people

I am currently on the look out for a new house and we have the choice at the moment of a roughly 100 year old detached house needing some updating works.

Or

A brand new still in progress built semi detached house in a much better location.

Now my worry about the semi is noise from next door as I currently own a detached house so the thought of being “attached” worries me... you hear horror stories etc.

Now the new build is being built by a well regarded local builder and is a small development of just 7 properties.

The builder informs me that the party walls are breeze block with an insulated cavity. He also stated that there will be no plugs or sockets on the party walls and the roof joists / floor joists are independent rather than running across both properties.

Does this sound like it would be ok for sound insulation or should I avoid altogether??

Thanks in advance for any help.
 
Thanks for the input. Deep down I think I knew this. Part of me fell for the new build charm me thinks.
To be honest after living in a 1929 detached bungalow for 11 years then building my own new build also detached, I’d never live in an old one not to the same spec as this,it’s chalk and cheese all mod cons never cold economical the list of improvements is massive, the main thing I miss is an open fire as it’s too warm in here to need one!
So the new build does have its attractions !
 
The semi won't be too bad.

As long as you like being able to tell when your neighbour is in the toilet and if it's onesies or twosies.


building my own

That's the big difference. Self-build, you spec it. Employ contractors, architects etc.

New build builder. Thrown up piece of carp, probably with tiny little rooms, built to the lowest possible price and bodged all the way through to cut time/costs. Then when you move in you have the joy of trying to get the jokers to fix it.
 
Haha. Ok ok - this is why I use these forums, nothing but complete loving honesty!

Semi and do one then
 
I live in a semi and my enjoyment of films is often interrupted by the neighbours banging on the wall and shouting "turn it down!"
 
Detached is good when it’s properly detached. However, location location location wins. If you can combine the two then great.

We are in the process of relocating from a large detached property in a rural setting on a large plot to inner city living along the canals in Amsterdam. No chance for a detached property there. But before we lived here for just over 18 years we lived in a flat in inner city London. Just turn up the volume of your home cinema so you can’t hear the neighbours :)

Ultimately only you can make the choice what is more important.
 
My new-build (2010) semi is incredibly well-insulated from next door. Eighty-year-old neighbour apologised to us about possible TV noise shortly after she moved in. We've never heard a thing. And we never heard anything from the late-middle-aged couple there before her.

Only thing you can hear is when someone (a grandchild, I suspect) stomps up and down the stairs. But that's once in a blue moon.

In contrast, the new-ish-build flat we were in before was high-spec, very nice and spacious, but you could indeed hear the neighbour upstairs having a wee if you were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
 
For a semi (ooer!) I'd seriously consider sound insulation on the party walls. There is no guarantee that you will be noisier than your neighbours.

I lived in a house where you could hear the neighbour having a pee.

Personally I'd go with the older property. But why are you moving?
 
Detached every time like most in the thread.
Luckily, we lived in a semi first house and we never heard her. But when her friends 'housesat' when she was on holiday they were so noisy.

Now detached and wouldn't go back - unless my dream property in the country was only a semi.
 
Detached every time.

If you are going from a Detached now, you will hate a semi. You can't escape the noise and a new build the walls will be paper thing.
 
I think it completely depends on the behaviour of those you live near to (well, obviously, duh!). I'm in a mid-terrace of 3 houses. I have a young family with 2 kids (ages 2 + 4 I'd guess) on one side, and a lady with a dog on the other side. I've never heard so much of a peep from either side in the past 18 months that we've lived here. House built in 2010.

Of course, having considerate neighbours and/ or good sound proofing means that we don't take the piss with our noise levels either. But...if I had the money to live in a nice detached bungalow with a double-garage for my future motorbike collection (don't tell the wife, she's adamant that one is enough o_O) - yeah, that sounds good thanks :smashin:
 
I live in a semi and my enjoyment of films is often interrupted by the neighbours banging on the wall and shouting "turn it down!"

I live in a ground floor flat.

The key is to turn it up so loud that you legitimately can't hear them telling you to turn it down.

Ignorance is bliss...
 
I think it completely depends on the behaviour of those you live near to (well, obviously, duh!). I'm in a mid-terrace of 3 houses. I have a young family with 2 kids (ages 2 + 4 I'd guess) on one side, and a lady with a dog on the other side. I've never heard so much of a peep from either side in the past 18 months that we've lived here. House built in 2010.

Of course, having considerate neighbours and/ or good sound proofing means that we don't take the piss with our noise levels either. But...if I had the money to live in a nice detached bungalow with a double-garage for my future motorbike collection (don't tell the wife, she's adamant that one is enough o_O) - yeah, that sounds good thanks :smashin:
If we’re dreaming, why stop at a bungalow? Castle, surely? :)
 
I often wonder this in some of the property programs, the couple stipulates detached and then go for an apartment :confused::confused:o_O They must have 3 foot thick walls/floors in them?
 
I would go for the detached, so you can enjoy your own noise, and not other peoples.

I do though think that it is strange that so many semi detached houses are designed with the living rooms adjacent, and the stairs at either edge of the property. It seems to me that stairway to stairway in the middle would at least add to the noise insulation of each property.
 
Thanks for the input!

The reason behind moving is only to get closer to family but prices are a little higher where they are so slightly more limiting. However detached it will be. I feel myself getting anxious about noise from neighbours just thinking about it so I know living with it would be a whole different game!

Plus as part of the move I will hopefully be able to upgrade my system a bit to enjoy it more
 
I do though think that it is strange that so many semi detached houses are designed with the living rooms adjacent, and the stairs at either edge of the property. It seems to me that stairway to stairway in the middle would at least add to the noise insulation of each property.
The thinking there would be that in the old days, before hifi, the most noise was people running up and down stairs. This was certainly an issue in the first semi-detached we bought, so in the next property we bought we went for the far wall option. That solved the stair issue, but as you say, brought living rooms and bedrooms onto the party wall. Can't win :facepalm: So we are now detached :thumbsup:
 
OP - well done on making your decision and allowing us to influence you so much!;)

But seriously, I live in a flat and would kill to live in a detached house. I am a light sleeper and am regularly woken up by my neighbours slamming their flat door, even though I wear ear plugs.

I do crank up the 5.1.4, but hardly ever during the evenings, mostly during the daytime.

Mind you, I don't think I'm a brilliant neighbour either as I am nocturnal, so living somewhere detached takes my lifestyle and needs right out of the equation.

Good luck!
 
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