Thick walls..I have never lived in an apartment..

[ganesh]

apart from a brief stay in college,and have always been put off by hearing your neighbours and neighbours hearing you,some modern semi's can be bad! Is it true that the age of the building equates to the thickness of the interior walls? i.e are Georgian properties better than Edwardian,better than Victorian etc?Does it reflect in the price perhaps?

[Count-A-Strong]

No. Most, if not all, adjoining Walls will be masonry ( brick) construction in semi detached and terraced houses right back to mid 1700s ( semis didn't become popular till 20thC) so will have similar sound proofing qualities. Sound can be transferred thru floor voids too so you can't simplify things as you're trying to.

[jackthehat]

As a rule of thumb, yes the age can have an impact.
But it's not always, true..........
Remember the increase in house-building that occurred in towns, specifically, in the latter part of 19th and early 20th Centuries. Speed of build and economies of scale often led to a diminuition in the quality of materials and construction.

As you are purchasing a 'period' property, the price may well be a little higher to reflect that.............or not, depending upon circumstances and situation.

[daffy654]

I live in a Victorian terraced house and we can hear the neighbours as clear as a bell through our walls.

[ganesh]

Thanks,
So when looking at apartments there's no way of telling how quiet they will be from age or price? Georgian flats seem to have very igh ceilings and maybe that would help? I want to have a flat but don't want to hear the neighbour every time he turns on the tv! Is it more of looking at the individual design then?

[The Builder]

About the only reasonably accurate indication is the "poshness" of the property. Big, "grand" Georgian and Victorian houses tended to be a better spec, 'cos they could afford it. In small market towns and country areas, it's quite common for there to be nothing but a 4-inch (100mm) timber stud wall with lath and plaster only.
Today's houses have a much higher soundproofing spec.
Age is not necessarily helpful. Also, it may be a grand Queen Anne house for instance, but if the flat conversion was done in the 60s or 70s, then the party wall is likely to be just stud and plasterboard......... pretty grim!
Things can be done from your side though. Don't let it put you off. Use it to negotiate if you're buying.

[ganesh]

I suppose it was a false assumption really.I have rented a big georgian house with ridiculously thick walls throughout,and I have known someone who lived in a modern semi where you could hear the neighbours talking almost as if in the same room-something I could not live with.
When it comes to buying I shall be going round banging on all the walls!

[KARL]

We live in a Victorian building that is in fact a semi-detached one. Outer walls to each dwelling are all 600mm thick stone construction. Our neighbour (i.e. beside us with a 600mm stone wall separating us) smokes and when the wind is right we can smell the smoke through the wall. This is because there are such things as back-to-back ex-fireplaces plus although people talk of these houses as being well built, they are not (the party wall is anything but airtight) - but enormous amounts of material went into them. There is no reliable observational yardstick/measure to establish what a place is like regarding soundproofing, etc. and the truth of matters will only come to light once you are living there. The lifestyle of your neighbours is critical to how aware you will be of them, as yours is to how much they are aware of you.

[milly143]

We live in a modern-ish terrace. It's probably about 20 years old. You can't hear too much normally but at about 6.30 every morning I get woken in my bedroom by the sound of next doors blender! I am assuming they keep this in the kitchen. It's sooooo annoying.

The walls inside may aswell be made from toilet paper. It's not a big house anyway but even with the doors closed upstairs, you can hear word for word the conversation being held downstairs.

[NazNomad]

My friend bought a new semi ... Every morning, whilst eating his breakfast, he could hear his neighbour ''launching a torpedo'' ... nice ;-(

[LoftyLottie]

We live in a brick, flint and rubble cottage built (probably by farm workers off-season) about 250 years ago. Our walls are extremely thick and we are attached to a similar property. The wall between us is probably about 20" We can't hear a thing from next door in normal circumstances - in fact even when they have builders in we could hardly hear anything.

I simply couldn't bare to hear anything from neighbours.

[pastafreak]

I've lived in a variety of places both here and in the States. I have to say-the apartments I lived in in NY seemed to be far better as far as sound insulation is concerned. This included 'brownstones'-Victorian attached,and 1920's blocks of flats. Never heard a thing.
Here I have lived in a 2 up/2 down....could very distinctly hear the neighbour and his GF,a turn of the century Victorian-pretty sound proof except when next door had flaming rows,...and my current-a 1960's block of maisonettes-on occasion, I can hear my neighbour who has emphysema coughing for all he's worth.
But....I've never heard word-for-word conversations in any of those places.

[bushbaby_de]

If you purchase something relatively new, constructed under recent modern building regulations, the sound attenuation should be rather good. I bought a flat built in 2004 and I couldn't hear a thing outside my own property. However in my current 1985-built flat the noise from the neighbours drives me potty!

[welshlibranr]

Our house is Victorian, a semi, we hear nothing from the neighbours, they have lots of offspring!.........still not a thing!.........great!.............

[ummmm]

I live in a Victorian and the only time we can hear the neighbours is when the gobby cow is shouting. I can only hear her if I'm in the kitchen....she has to have the loudest voice I've ever heard. I've never heard the other side...

[thebarron]

Our nearest neighbours live three miles away.

[jno]

I've always had more noise from people above and below than from the sides. Part of that is no doubt lack of soundproofing under floors

[welshlibranr]

never hear mine barron, so she may as well be that far away!.........

[douglas9401]

Nw THAT'S a semi! :)

[boxtops]

Our house was built in 1860, mid terrace. We can hear people on either side of us, and the dog, and the extractor fan...

[sandyRoe]

I used to live in a flat where the only thing that separated the neighbours from me was a nailed up door. You could have heard a penny, amongst other things, drop.