Living on a main road...do you? Could you?

Robbie G said:
We've had an offer accepted on a house, but I'm having slight second thoughts. Reason being...it's set back 15m from a busy main road, albeit it's a 30mph zone with two speed cameras just outside.

I have a one year old so I'm also concerned that it's stupid moving to such a place. I'm worried about sleeping in the summer with the windows open. I'm worried about the smell and the pollution and the dirt.

However...it's MASSIVE compared to anything else we looked at in our budget. It offers large family accommodation, huge rooms etc. that would serve us well for years.

The traffic noise is very low especially at the back of the house and I know I'd stop noticing it pretty soon.

I just have this nagging feeling that we're making a big mistake and that we won't be able to sell it on in the future, as only x% of all buyers would even entertain such a house, and even then they'd be expecting bargain basement. It was certainly cheaper than if it had been in a cul-de-sac and there are great views across the countyside, but I know it'll take ages to sell it when we come to do so.

So who lives near a busy road and what are your thoughts? I envisaged living in a peaceful cul-de-sac, but this is so nice inside and out.
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It basically boils down to whether you would prefer a quiet, more secluded location or space/aesthetics of the house as it sounds like you can't get both within your budget.
 
Depends on your definition of main road, I set back from a 30mpg, single-carriageway road. All the houses are on a kind of little "layby" type thing, to there's a grass verge and a little road between us and the road, and we never have any problems.

The road and grass out the front was our play area as kids, and my bedrooms at the back of the house and I don't hear the road at all :)
 
I really don't think you should be moving into somewhere if you are having these sort of doubts let along making the kind of financial outlay. For what its worth I've lived that close to a road a few times and it's ok if you can put the kids around back (present and potential future) if you can't then well you will get more sleepless nights and therefore stressful days but that will happen now and then anyway. What are the schools and nurseries like for the little one both primary and secondary - you have to think longterm. That will be a big plus or minus depending on the catchment zone.
 
I spent about 10 years as a child living right on a major road and as far as noise goes you get used to it very quickly and stop noticing it.

I don't think pollution will be significantly worse than anywhere else unless you literally have open windows/major vents that are in close proximity of the road (where I lived we only opened the back windows in summer).
 
Ive lived on a main road in the past, the only thing that really bothered me was the way the traffic fumes lingered on hot summer days, if i had a sproglet there's no way ide do it again for that very reason ( traffic fumes ).
 
Live on a very busy road maybe 10 meters from the front of my house. Can't even really hear traffic in the back. And now if sleeping anywhere else the sheer silence creeps me out.
 
I live right on a main road. Its a 40, but it really isn't treated like that. The random chavs on loud bikes or boomy exhausts is a pain too. However for sleeping you quickly and easily get used to it.

My major issue though is when I'm awake. You can't open the windows at the front if you want to hear the TV or hold a conversation. When I move (I'm only renting) I'm ensuring its further from a road.
 
Megahurtz400 said:
The road and grass out the front was our play area as kids, and my bedrooms at the back of the house and I don't hear the road at all :)
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I think that makes quite a difference.

Where I was living, my room was on the road, but people facing the opposite direction didn't really hear the road noise at all.
 
I don't live near a main road, however my girlfriends garden backs on to a dual carriageway and her bed room is at the back of the house. I only noticed it a couple of times during the summer with the windows open or when something heavy or with a particularly loud exhaust when past.
 
i live on a main road with buses driving by every 15minutes and i dont even notice the noise.

unless its been raining and the road is wet but at night time theres barely any traffic anyway
 
Wouldn't bother me. I have lived on some fairly busy roads in the past (in nice areas). Just don't let your kid play outside at the front.

As long as it is a decent house don't worry about resale value.
 
My parents lived on a main road for ~20 years when I was growing up and it wasn't a problem. The road was one of the main routes into the town where we lived and the road was very busy at times but you soon tunes it out. In fact when they moved everyone had trouble sleeping as they were used to a certain level of background noise which was now not there any more.
 
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