Living next to a motorway - good or bad?

[krhall]

Well the missus desperately wants to move to another area and today we found the perfect house, perfect in everyway (especially the double garage). However the next door neighbour is the M20. Literally right next to it.

You can't really hear it indoors, but outdoors it is quite noisy...

So what to do?

What would you do?

Summer would be a nightmare with the windows open, which I guess is the reason a few house had air-con condensers outside.

The garage was sweet!

[zsv650]

not a chance in hell skip it.

[speedplay]

We have a dual carriageway behind us (down a 25 foot bank, other side of trees and a 6 foot fence) and after a while you don't notice the noise, we even sleep with the windows open.

I have a friend right next to the M1 and shes lived there for 20 odd years and shes fine with it , although I notice it when I go round.

Jenns mum lives well out in the country and now when we visit, we find the silence really weird.

I'm guessing that the house will be cheaper than anything else of a like for like comparison?

It's up to you really, trade off the noise with the standard/cost of the house.

[-Ralph-]

not a chance in hell skip it.

Especially if anyone in the household is asthmatic.

[jimmy4237]

Good luck selling it back on when you decide to move on.. I wouldn't buy any house next to a noisy 24-7 motorway.You may find it'l be on the housing market for quite some time, and you'll need to drastically reduce the asking price to get it shifted..

[Sid Squid]

Good question that I couldn't answer directly.

But a friend of mine lives next to a railway, they don't even notice it anymore, to the extent that in summer when the windows are open, they break conversation when a train passes and take up again when it's gone and apparently don't even realise they do it.

[krhall]

When we were kids we had a railway at the back of the house, but it was 140 feet plus an alleyway away, the M20 would be about 20 or 30 feet to the side...

[speedplay]

When we were kids we had a railway at the back of the house, but it was 140 feet plus an alleyway away, the M20 would be about 20 or 30 feet to the side...


Might be a bit too close for comfort that :(


Go round a couple of times at different times of day and see what the noise is like.

Don't forget, when living in a house, you spend most of the time there indoors but its always nice to be able to use the garden.

[dizzyblonde]

Well you could live at Stott Hall farm

Slap bang in the middle of six lanes on the M62!

http://wapedia.mobi/thumb/305d14593/en/fixed/470/290/Stott_Hall_Farm_%2528RLH%2529_2009-08-13.JPG?format=jpg,png,gif

[timwilky]

The M6 is about a mile from me. I cannot sleep with the windows open for the noise. It has been getting steadily worse. 20 years ago I couldn't hear it. I already have hearing trouble and 4 nights out of 7 there is a low continuous endless rumble that really gets on my tits till the window get closed. summer is hell.

[krhall]

TW = you have made my mind up...ta muchly!

[Lou M]

I'd rather have the motorway than noisy neighbours. Would be quite happy to live next to a motorway, there will always be lulls in the noise. And as others have said, you won't notice it after a while. (and if you do have noisy neighbours you won't notice cos of the noise of the motorway!).

[CoolGirl]

Good question that I couldn't answer directly.

But a friend of mine lives next to a railway, they don't even notice it anymore, to the extent that in summer when the windows are open, they break conversation when a train passes and take up again when it's gone and apparently don't even realise they do it.

do I?

it's all relative - I swore I;'d never livw next to a railway line again after getting woken up at 4am every moring by heavy goods trains rumbling up the east coast line, which was right outside my window. But now I have a train line running down the iddle of my street. It has it's pros (2 sides of the road to park on for 1 side of houses), and being on the ower ground, we don't really hear it. but on the floors above, they do, and I once tried sllepnig up here and couldn't.

If youlove the house, try going and spending some proper time there rather than the 20 mins it usually takes to look around. Find out what it's like in the middle of the night, with the windows open, when you're in the garden.


And remember, no matter how gutting it is to walk away, there are other houses.

[Biker Biggles]

When I first moved away from the sea I couldnt sleep because there were no seagulls.I missed the constant row they made.

[FG1]

I live on the other side of the fence (literally) where the M25 joins the M4 at Heathrow. TBH, it isn't an issue. You become deaf to the constant roadnoise but now and again you are reminded there is a motorway by the scream of some biker hair ar5ing down the motorway...:cool:

[timwilky]

I used to live about 20 yards from the west coast main line. after about 3 months I never noticed that unless something out of the ordinary was on it.

As for the M6, it is really over the past 5 years that it has become intolerable for me. I don't know why the noise has increased yet I am so far away. Maybe a change in surface? but I do feel for those nearer. It is not all the time. But lying in bed at midnight already struggling to fall asleep and all you can hear in this low pitched rumble that is so relentless that you find yourself listening to it for hours.

[Mr Speirs]

I lived next to the A1M for 7 years and you really start to cancel it out in your head and it isn't a problem anymore.
I also have lived on RAF camps for nearly 13 years of my life and had a constant barrage of Harrier's, Lightning's, Tornado's you name it and again you start to not notice it even when they were on night exercises.

[xXBADGERXx]

Don`t do it . I live right next to the A55 and in the Summer in the dead of night , windows open because of the heat ............. you really start to hate Chavs ragging up and down in a Poxhall Corsa

[Sid Squid]

do I?
I wasn't thinking of you - and it's been so long since you invited me 'round I've forgotten where you live anyway.

:)

[Ed]

I wouldn't buy - air pollution, noise, and difficult to resell. Is the motorway lit? If it is, just think of the light pollution at night. And when the ferries are on strike or blockaded, you'll have a 3 lane traffic jam outside your window. As Debs says, there are other houses.

[CoolGirl]

I wasn't thinking of you - and it's been so long since you invited me 'round I've forgotten where you live anyway.

:)

since when did you need an invitiation..... ;)





(and Aine's very welcome too)

[Well Oiled]

I already have hearing trouble and 4 nights out of 7 there is a low continuous endless rumble that really gets on my tits.

I had the same problem, until I got the wife something to stop her snoring :)

[Ch00]

Motorways are noiser when all the taffic is jammed up too.

Krhall - I thought you travelled up the A2 a lot. Would you want to live in a house on the Falconwood part of the A2?

[ethariel]

On the other side of the coin, after 15 years living in london in a house just a pavement away from a main road i moved up to Lochaber, so few vehicles went near the house the quiet kept me awake for a couple of months!

Have friends up by heathrow who live more or less under a flightpath, as above they break a conversation then look puzzled that the planes bother you.

It's just what you are used to in the end.

PS Noise is not the worst, try living downwind of a distilery or sewage works, both take years to get used to!

[G]

I used to live less than 250m away from the M27 when I lived on the south coast, the I lived less than 1/2 a mile away from the M1 when I moved up north. Both were very noisey, you couldn't really sleep with the window open.

I now love in a deep quarry miles away from any major routes, at night it is completely silent, absolute bliss.

Living next to a motorway has it's perks though, straight onto the motorways when going anywhere. Always fairly easy to sell as people who travel alot like to get straight onto the routes.

[appollo1]

you soon get used to the noise. I live beside a busy RAF camp with Tornado aircraft taking off all the time. When friends visit they always comment on the noise when a jet is taking off but we are so used to it we never realised one had just passed. It will be worse and a lot noisier later this year when the Typhoon moves in.

The main problem by a motorway or busy road would be the pollution getting into the house in the summer when the windows are open. Is there much farm land nearby? You will get a lot of dust from that which wont help either.

[kellyjo]

I live right next to the A1M, don't even know its there!

[Cymraeg_Atodeg]

I have the A469 Llanbradach By-pass behind my house and in the winter is when it is most noisy as the trees behind the house have no leaves and the noise of the cars etc "leaks" through. In summer the increased foliage of the trees deflects most of the noise and it is quite bearable.

Although, the past couple of days with snow and ice on the road have been bliss and there has been no-one using the road.

I also used to live in Essex right near the A1112 and A12, these are both very busy roads, so, in summer with the window open the noise can get pretty loud, but, to be honest, you kind of tune it out. Like when you hear an annoying noise constantly...

[metalangel]

We have a friend who lived directly next to the M4. While you could hear it outside, inside it wasn't so bad, but you get used to it.

When I was a student (and again when I was living in a flat in Cardiff) I lived right next to busy railway lines. You get used to it, and indeed, you might start to miss it when you're not there.

[malks]

i live right next to a dual carriageway (trying to upgrade to motorway) and as has been said, you very quickly become oblivious to the noise outside. it just becomes part of the background noise and you dont notice it.

i would say you will notice a bit more dirt and dust and stuff about the house though. it sounds weird but if you have the windows open the window sills inside and stuff are always dusty/dirty. my folks also have a caravan parked in the garden and that shows how much dirt and crap come off the road!

but we also have a summer house/hut/shed type thing out the back and can happily sit in there over the summer and have bbq's with friends out in the garden.

but the huge bonus is being 1min away from being on main roads north/south/east or west. which is good for work or play!

[Cazza]

As most people have already said, I think you can tune out to the noise of traffic and trains etc after a while, especially if they're not loud sudden noises. If I spend the night somewhere without traffic and train noise then it feels a bit weird and almost 'too quiet'. Not that it's a problem - my sleeping skills are much practiced.

I suppose the context is important too. I live in a very built-up part of London, so noise is 'normal'. But if I was sitting in the back garden of my rural house, surrounded by countryside, but with the constant roar of traffic in the background, then perhaps I'd prefer a rural home with the appropriate level of rural background noise. Don't know if that makes sense...

[fastdruid]

Hell we turned down a house with a 4+ car garage that was 1/2 mile away from the motorway because of the noise. I'm sure you could get used to it but it was a constant drone in the background.

Well that and the upstairs wasn't much bigger than we already had. The house we're buying now is so quiet its untrue[1].

Druid

[1] Although it only has a 1 car garage, *sob*.