Flat vs House

I lived in a 2010/2011 build flat for a while that had really good sound insulation... was while I was a student and the other flat on the same floor had loud parties every other night. The parties could be heard in the hallway by the elevator... but as soon as you went inside the flat and closed the door - it was inaudible.

Also good for me in the other direction, as I like having a decent surround sound system and my subwoofer wasn't subtle... no complaints.

Later lived in another flat with similarly good noise insulation.

Then went to Switzerland and the neighbours in both flats could hear even normal volume conversations and even called to police on us more than once for volume levels even I wouldn't complain about and I'm fussy... both were new builds.

All depends on the place... just have to investigate thoroughly and test as much as you can.

For what they were... they were good... but now I really struggle to live in anything other than a detached house... I'm making even more noise and we have cats.
 
johnny6 said:
As far as I'm aware the service charge can't make a 'profit'
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Tell that to the ones with 5 figures sat in the "reserve account" :p

It's true though they all cover different things but from my experience the majority don't deal with what I would class as normal owner's maintenance.
 
End terrace would be a decent option imo. Moving to a flat after living in a large detached house would be a bit difficult imo.
Otherwise go and live in a detached 2-3 bedroom park home. :p
 
I rent a brand new top floor (2nd floor) flat, there's two flats on each floor either side of the building and we don't share walls, in effect my only "neighbour" is the guy below me, and only when it's really warm in the summer with the balcony doors and windows open do I hear anything from him.

I must have landed lucky as this is the quietest place I've ever lived, no traffic/roads, no noise from residents etc. I love it. Just the right size (2 bed, 2 bath) and all on one level so cleaning etc. is a breeze and takes no time, no maintenance and energy bills are cheap as it's so well insulated.

I used to live in a victorian semi and I swear sometimes the noise from neighbours was such as you'd think I was sharing the house it was that bad!!
 
I would hate to but a nice flat only to find the walls were so badly insulated that you could hear an ant fart next door!
 
I currently live in a flat that was built in 2012 and the sound proofing is terrible, can literally hear conversations and "Other" activities in both bedrooms below and above which is not that pleasant to be hearing at all hours of the morning I have to admit, then the walking/running around people do is very loud.

I guess from flat to flat these things can be different but I am personally never moving into a flat again, the second I can afford to move on I will be and as you are buying I would definitely recommend you buy a terraced house over a flat.
 
blame the plasterboards - they are absolutely everywhere. There is zero soundproofing from these standard plasterboards but they are cheap as chips!
 
Glacius said:
I currently live in a flat that was built in 2012 and the sound proofing is terrible, can literally hear conversations and "Other" activities in both bedrooms below and above which is not that pleasant to be hearing at all hours of the morning I have to admit, then the walking/running around people do is very loud.

I guess from flat to flat these things can be different but I am personally never moving into a flat again, the second I can afford to move on I will be and as you are buying I would definitely recommend you buy a terraced house over a flat.
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It's difficult to tell even terraced houses can be terrible for soundproofing, it all depends on the build.
 
I've lived in flats, terraced houses and now detached.

I'd go for an old terraced house with sold walls as I didn't have any issues there. The relatively old flats have been pretty poor for sound proofing. Also been in a relatively new one (sub 20 years) and also quite poor!

I'd really try check or just avoid! I wouldn't like to own a flat as harder to move with difficult neighbours etc.
 
Lived in a terrace and a semi in the past. One new one old construction. Both terrible at sound insulation.
 
Flats can be a bit of a fault economy in the long run vs a house with the service charges. But it really comes down to the individual flat your looking at.
 
Don't assume old terrace/semi with solid walls means good insulation, like I mentioned above, my old victorian semi with solid walls was a nightmare, I could hear what they were watching on TV and all sorts of stuff, toilets flushing, bedroom stuff, kettle boiling the whole lot.
 
I rented a flat in an old converted industrial building, that was great, quirky and soundproofed by virtue of having proper walls from its previous use.

Less good was the purpose built block I rented in, sound and smells from all around.
 
Well, I will have to weigh it all up I guess. I am leaning towards a small terrace at the mo. Not a new build though. Still have to go and look at some once we get our house on the market.
 
A small end terrace house with only one neighbour to worry about, you can change just about everything but not your neighbours, a bad neighbour can make your life a misery and a flat multiplies the chance of getting one.
 
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