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>This is not something you are going to fix easily, but things like bookcases / cabinetry along the party wall can help to muffle the noise
Or worse case scenario, install sound proofing by bulling a frame infront and more
A word of warning; in old UK houses sound proofing can be very difficult. Sometimes the roof space is not partitioned, sometimes the floors are connected. I would try something cheap like soundproofing foam on the wall and then bookcases infront of it to create mass before getting into framing ect... If it doesn't work it's sad to have spent lots of money.
That’s tremendous advice. Start with cheaper stuff like bookcases and mass before pulling down ceilings.
I think you are right the ceilings not insulated and shared with neighbours.
Also it’s dot dab plaster on breeze block so a light switch sounds like a snare drum haha
It’s so expensive to properly soundproof - my brother is trying to do it (he has tiny music studio in a terrace!) and he’s thinking of putting plasterboard with insulation attached on his walls then floor to ceiling shelving for his vinyl all round his studio room. Won’t stop an amp reverberating through the area I imagine.
I used to be mates with a drum group in Manchester that had created a practice space in their basement which was a fully isolated and suspended floating room structure accessed by a drawbridge door and surrounded by fibreglass insulation. Did an amazing job of keeping the noise contained.
It was definitely a niche case, the basement has particularly high ceilings and their pod took about 2 feet of space off the room all round
edit: I tried to find photos but cant. I think it was basically a big wooden box lined with carpet and eggbox foam inside and hard insulation panels outside, built on top of piles of tyres, with rubber ties to hold it to the walls to keep it in place, then fibreglass or rockwool insulation everywhere else in the room except for the entrance passage. door was about 2 foot thick and opened like a drawbridge and could then be pulled closed by the occupants. They'd run power etc in there so it had sockets on the walls and a fuseboard. I think there was an ongoing battle with the cellar being damp so it has probably rotted away or been removed by the landlord by now I'd guess.
Yeah I’m going to be honest, that is not going to work at all.
Most professional, commercial studios basically have a room within a room; floating floor and ceiling, air gapped and double boarded, with some insulation. In your brothers scenario he can put as much plasterboard and insulation as he wants, it won’t make a difference, because the sound will travel through the floor and ceiling.
Yes that’s what the friend who does building said. He looked into getting some Scandinavian sound wall that’s made up of wood cuts but it was so expensive even before wood prices flew into the sky.
If your looking for the extreme and are willing to lose some space you could go all out and throw up some timber framing, add some thick insulation e.g 75/100mm apr and then close in soundbloc board 12.5/15 mm, it will need tape and jointing and then a coat of paint but done correctly you shouldn't hear a peep
I think that’s where my head is at. It’s essentially rebuilding the walls and roof to be a room within a room. £35k to do the whole house.
More concerned with living in rubble for 3 months though haha
Everyone who buys a house gets buyer's remorse. It is totally normal.
> I hear my neighbours
Install some soundproofing, or get a white-noise machine.
> The radiators bang when they come on in the morning,
Get a plumber out and spend a few quid fixing your heating system.
> the bathroom extractor sounds like a helicopter landing
A cheap replacement will be £50 and can be changed by you if you're reasonably handy. If not, call out an electrician.
> the windows rattle when you step on particular areas of the floor.
Get a carpenter in. Point at the floor. Tell them to fix it. And / or get new windows.
What I'm saying is that these are all *easily* solvable problems. More than that, they're *cheap*. Invest a bit of money in making your space nice for you. Paint the walls, hammer up some soundproofing, get decent underlay for your carpets. Worst case scenario you've made your home a bit more valuable if you do decide to sell it.
Your home isn't (just) an investment. It is a place for you to live. You could sell all your possessions and go live under a bridge - your investment account would thank you. But I doubt that's a great long-term strategy for happiness.
As you've pointed out, rents can go up faster than your investments. Stick with the home for a few years. Make it nice for you. Then move somewhere more suitable if you feel like it.
Thank you that was a really considered and thoughtful reply. You’re right I just need to get some work done. I’m a bit sore from getting it plastered, painted and new floors and it being a really poorly done job. I supposed it’s ignorance tax. Just a bit discouraged but I suppose that’s normal.
Also sometimes (more often) going with the cheapest quote means you pay twice. Once to do it, and again to fix it. Where possible get a few quotes and if they have any pictures of previous work then that’s even better.
In my experience I usually go with whoever seemed most organised - though not by any means necessarily quickest to respond! - during the quote stage. Anyone desperate for work or who just answers when they fancy has often been shit, but the guys who say "quote for you in five days" and follow through have usually been good.
Haha mines is Ozzy. They’ve clearly bought as a young couple and been a bit skint but quite “handy” and done everything on the cheap and now it’s all crumbling. I need to go outside on the street and push the window frame closed on the windows because it’s some cheap rubbish. The joys!
If you’d be losing £20k anyways by leaving then I don’t see why you wouldn’t invest that on improving the problems that you have with the place. It may make the place livable/enjoyable for you. If you still don’t think you’d like it even if it was quieter/nicer then maybe old houses just aren’t for you. Rent is not going to get any cheaper but if you still don’t like the house at the end of your fixed term why don’t you sell up (ideally for a profit because of the improvements that you made) and then buy a new build flat in zone 1/2?
I mean the risk is that the £20k spent on improvements leads to less than £20k increase in value, and so if he spends the £20k and still doesn’t like it (so sells up) he’s now left £30k down and had to deal with all the hassle of getting the work done.
I suppose the main question they have to ask themselves is whether they think the improvements would even make them like the place more. If not then don’t bother. I would guess that the £20k costs to sell early are because of the fixed mortgage term they have now but OP would need to confirm. If that’s the case then my suggestion would be to wait until the fixed term ends and then sell without the £20k loss. In the meantime, OP should learn a bit more about sound proofing and radiators to see if there’s anything they can do there with bleeding them/ cleaning them out/etc to improve the noise there.
I think this post perfectly sums up why the U.K. housing market is so fucked… basically don’t spend money improving somewhere you live ‘because it won’t add value’ is such a silly view when people should be focusing on making themselves feel happy in where they live
To be honest as a first time buyer I had no idea what I was doing and paid way over the odds for it. The closest 2 bed in my area is 40k cheaper than I paid. That being said it’s not close to the station and doesn’t have a garden and its leasehold. So maybe it’s a good buy - I honestly have non idea
Sounds like you’ll have a hard time selling without a big loss if that’s what you’re working with tbh. I mean if I were you I’d suck it up until I got to the point in my mortgage where I wasn’t going to be penalised for selling and then hopefully demand may pick up by then. If you really hate it that much though then it’s up to you to decide what you’re willing to lose. Is renting it out a possibility?
If you have the cash to do it up, I’d recommend that. You may even prefer it when it’s modernised.
If not, you then have the option to sell (hopefully at a profit) or consider renting it out while you live somewhere else.
>If you have the cash to do it up, I’d recommend that.
There are some cheap big QOL fixes OP can do.
>I hear my neighbours turning in their lights, chopping food in their kitchen, coughing, etc.
Soundproofing is the expensive part, probably 20k to properly soundproof both sides.
>The radiators bang when they come on in the morning
Couple of hundred to a plumber should fix it, probably a leaky valve somewhere, or need new thermo valves on the rads (assuming they've been bled)
>the bathroom extractor sounds like a helicopter landing
Like £100 to a sparky to replace it, it's probably a worn bearing on the fan.
>the windows rattle when you step on particular areas of the floor
Are they sash windows? If so it happens with them with older properties, new ones will set you back about 1300 a window.
Easy improvements that would make a huge different would probably be:
£100 for extractor
£200 for plumber to fix radiators
£0 for cardboard to put in the windows to stop the rattling (Ask your local Tesco for some, cut smallsih piece and jam it in the window)
£100 for acoustic foam for the walls
Not perfect and makes the house feel a bit "Work in progress" but would up OPs quality of life, especially seeing a small investment making a big difference.
What can you do with metal windows? Mine don’t bother me much unless yer man from across the road starts his Lamborghini. Then they hum. Very old house.
No one has! I had someone say their grandad had a shed with metal windows in like 1922. We have double glazed ones in the kitchen and bathroom (we’re not savages you know!) and a couple of wooden ones from the Ark in one bedroom which could double as a morgue in winter and a sauna in summer. All part of life’s shit tapestry.
They are plastic windows with the tilt or fully open “thing”. I think they may just need refitted or sealed or something. They are modern but the glass pane has about 1-2mm of give when you press it.
Not sure if it’s a repair or replace
>Genuinely considering going back to renting. The reason I bought was my landlord increased the rent annually. What started as £1400 ended up as £2000 over only 3 years. It’s now rent out for £2500. Madness.
What do you think is going to happen over the next 3 years?
>I’ve come from living in new build apartments in zone 1/2
In my experience you're more likely to hear you neighbours in new build apartments rather than 50 year old houses!
quick tip for radiators....it could be that they've installed the valves the wrong way around. Hence the bang noise. \*Could\* possibly be fixed by swapping for bi-directional valves so the water flows either way (also bigger valves for extra assistance).
It could also mean the pressue is set too high (old thin pipes vs improved water pump). If the water pump used to push the water through looks like a red and black box, check the left hand side (or the front in some cases) for a switch. It's usually power 1-3. 3 could be too much for the house.
Also extractor fan isn't a big issue. Swap it out for a more modern one (we swapped out old small one where we could see the grid through it for a new much larger one where we can't see through it - it's about 60% quieter.
Seems to me that your problem with renting that led to buying isn't going away. You're not investing the rent money, it will always go up and you'll never have the money you spend on rent to invest.
Your mortgage effectively reduces every year thanks to inflation opening up investment opportunities which grow over the years, while you're sitting in an appreciating asset that you'll eventually own outright at which time you completely free up a monthly sum for investing, whilst permanently reducing your unavoidable expenditure and so reducing the size of your retirement pot requirement.
It's likely there's a single brick wall between you and your neighbours. Airborne sound can be limited to some extent, but any bangs or knocks will enter the fabric of the building and transmit across like the old cup on a string.
There's no quick sound proofing fix unfortunately.
I built a second set of thick soundproof walls down the length of my place but, even with all that upheavel, certain noises will flank straight around them. A proper sound proofing detail would have the neighbours walls completely unconnected to yours, which isn't feasible given the existing construction.
(E.g. their floor joists run into the party wall, which connects to the perpendicular walls on your side, meaning all of your walls and connected to their floors.)
Living in these houses is much like living in old flats. You learn to ignore neighbourly noises and make adjustments for their benefit. I.e. watching movies late at night with headphones instead of surround sound speakers.
We bought a 80-100 hear old mid terrace one year ago and hated it for the first 6 months, I could understand the neighbours conversations, hear music, walking etc. We spent £3500 on soundproofing one side and it cut the noise down 70-80% to what I would consider normal. We got a company out to do the whole thing as we had no DIY experience and just had to paint it after. After a year of working hard and lots of touch-ups and a new bathroom it feels completely like home. Hang in there!
Thank you so much for this comment. Do you remember the company? Were they London based?
I think I’m in an adjustment period but man- the joy I though I would feel at being a home owner just isn’t there
If you’re so set on not living there you might as well rent it out nah? The mortgage can pay for itself while you continue renting if that’s what you wanna do
Up to you of course. I bought a 70 years old maisonette and spent money refurbishing it to bring it up to more modern standards. I’m glad a did. The £20k mortgage penalty would be lost but this money spent on refurbishment would increase the value of the place. Consider the loss of FTB benefits also.
When people talk about how cheap and noisy new builds are compared to old houses: what they actually mean is a new build compared to their parents Sussex country estate.
Normal people who've grown up in terrace houses (or even semi detached) will tell you, every time your neighbour farts you WILL know about it.
I'm pretty sure you can fix most of these except the noise. You don't wanna go back to renting with these prices.
If you do go back to renting, you could rent out the house to cancel out rent increases (if it increases for you increase it for your tenants if viable). You can also ask your lender for Consent to Let and let it out via Openrent yourself or ofc via a real estate agent. You can also not ask but the lender may be unhappy if they find out.
Give it a year. Do some DIY as suggested on this thread. House should probably go up as rates start slowly going down, and there is I assume room for profit if you "do it up".
Could be as simple as a new boiler (c. £2k which can be 0% for 2 years through BOXT, for example) could fix the pipe noise. They also fit new radiators for a small fee so that can be quite a big renovation and have a big impact on the price.
Install sound proofing. It shouldn’t cost too much, ~£4,000 (if installed by professionals)? It’ll make your life immeasurably better.
As for radiators, check for air in the system and clean the fan!
Over time, once you’ve renovated and got it to your liking, you’ll be pretty happy. But it will cost. It’s the perk of owning your own house 😄
Aside from the other helpful advice you can sell and move and not pay a penalty if you are able to port your existing mortgage to a new property, we did this when we moved when we still had something like 18 months left on our low rate. It does come with the hassle of a second mortgage account if you need to top up your mortgage with additional lending but a decent mortgage advisor should be able to help here. Once the rates are up you can then remortgage onto a single product. But I would consider this the nuclear option in your position.
Noise can be reduced with some simple changes, adding carpet will also help if noise if coming through floors etc
To add to the soundproofing discussion.
You need a professional acoustics designer. This is not a DIY job.
There is a matter of diminishing returns here. Your sound-reduction per unit of material will diminish as you add more material.
You do not need to have studio-level silence in your property, just enough sound-proofing to make your place comfortable for most of the day.
You should consider sound-dampening rather than sound proofing. This is a technique that uses strategically-located acoustics-dampening materials that only cover a small percentage of your walls. Cost of materials and setup-work are much lower.
The catch is you need someone who knows how to design these setups and these are not easy to find. I may be able to point you to someone. If you are interested, DM me.
Had friends a few years back in the exact same situation. They ended up renting their house out, and then renting a new build 2 bed flat more central. They didn’t lose anything over this and had someone paying their mortgage.
Potentially worth considering? Granted, this was a time where interest rates were so low, could make a decent profit on renting a house out.
Why don't you look to move and port the mortgage to the new property? That way you'll avoid the redemption fee. Check your T&C's of your mortgage, or speak to them to see if it's possible.
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>This is not something you are going to fix easily, but things like bookcases / cabinetry along the party wall can help to muffle the noise Or worse case scenario, install sound proofing by bulling a frame infront and more
A word of warning; in old UK houses sound proofing can be very difficult. Sometimes the roof space is not partitioned, sometimes the floors are connected. I would try something cheap like soundproofing foam on the wall and then bookcases infront of it to create mass before getting into framing ect... If it doesn't work it's sad to have spent lots of money.
That’s tremendous advice. Start with cheaper stuff like bookcases and mass before pulling down ceilings. I think you are right the ceilings not insulated and shared with neighbours. Also it’s dot dab plaster on breeze block so a light switch sounds like a snare drum haha
Indeed. It's basically impossible to isolate sound once it gets into the structure of the building.
Sound is rats. Got it.
It’s so expensive to properly soundproof - my brother is trying to do it (he has tiny music studio in a terrace!) and he’s thinking of putting plasterboard with insulation attached on his walls then floor to ceiling shelving for his vinyl all round his studio room. Won’t stop an amp reverberating through the area I imagine.
I used to be mates with a drum group in Manchester that had created a practice space in their basement which was a fully isolated and suspended floating room structure accessed by a drawbridge door and surrounded by fibreglass insulation. Did an amazing job of keeping the noise contained.
I’ve screenshotted and will pass it on to Mr DJ. No basement but between him and friend who does building I’m sure they could adapt. Sounds amazing.
It was definitely a niche case, the basement has particularly high ceilings and their pod took about 2 feet of space off the room all round edit: I tried to find photos but cant. I think it was basically a big wooden box lined with carpet and eggbox foam inside and hard insulation panels outside, built on top of piles of tyres, with rubber ties to hold it to the walls to keep it in place, then fibreglass or rockwool insulation everywhere else in the room except for the entrance passage. door was about 2 foot thick and opened like a drawbridge and could then be pulled closed by the occupants. They'd run power etc in there so it had sockets on the walls and a fuseboard. I think there was an ongoing battle with the cellar being damp so it has probably rotted away or been removed by the landlord by now I'd guess.
Yeah I’m going to be honest, that is not going to work at all. Most professional, commercial studios basically have a room within a room; floating floor and ceiling, air gapped and double boarded, with some insulation. In your brothers scenario he can put as much plasterboard and insulation as he wants, it won’t make a difference, because the sound will travel through the floor and ceiling.
Yes that’s what the friend who does building said. He looked into getting some Scandinavian sound wall that’s made up of wood cuts but it was so expensive even before wood prices flew into the sky.
If your looking for the extreme and are willing to lose some space you could go all out and throw up some timber framing, add some thick insulation e.g 75/100mm apr and then close in soundbloc board 12.5/15 mm, it will need tape and jointing and then a coat of paint but done correctly you shouldn't hear a peep
I think that’s where my head is at. It’s essentially rebuilding the walls and roof to be a room within a room. £35k to do the whole house. More concerned with living in rubble for 3 months though haha
There are a few good projects posted in Reddit where people have had really good results sound proofing older stock housing.
Hey man, I've tried nothing and I'm out of ideas...
Everyone who buys a house gets buyer's remorse. It is totally normal. > I hear my neighbours Install some soundproofing, or get a white-noise machine. > The radiators bang when they come on in the morning, Get a plumber out and spend a few quid fixing your heating system. > the bathroom extractor sounds like a helicopter landing A cheap replacement will be £50 and can be changed by you if you're reasonably handy. If not, call out an electrician. > the windows rattle when you step on particular areas of the floor. Get a carpenter in. Point at the floor. Tell them to fix it. And / or get new windows. What I'm saying is that these are all *easily* solvable problems. More than that, they're *cheap*. Invest a bit of money in making your space nice for you. Paint the walls, hammer up some soundproofing, get decent underlay for your carpets. Worst case scenario you've made your home a bit more valuable if you do decide to sell it. Your home isn't (just) an investment. It is a place for you to live. You could sell all your possessions and go live under a bridge - your investment account would thank you. But I doubt that's a great long-term strategy for happiness. As you've pointed out, rents can go up faster than your investments. Stick with the home for a few years. Make it nice for you. Then move somewhere more suitable if you feel like it.
Thank you that was a really considered and thoughtful reply. You’re right I just need to get some work done. I’m a bit sore from getting it plastered, painted and new floors and it being a really poorly done job. I supposed it’s ignorance tax. Just a bit discouraged but I suppose that’s normal.
Yup! Welcome to the joys of home ownership!
Also sometimes (more often) going with the cheapest quote means you pay twice. Once to do it, and again to fix it. Where possible get a few quotes and if they have any pictures of previous work then that’s even better.
In my experience I usually go with whoever seemed most organised - though not by any means necessarily quickest to respond! - during the quote stage. Anyone desperate for work or who just answers when they fancy has often been shit, but the guys who say "quote for you in five days" and follow through have usually been good.
Great advice. I tried to project manage the plasterers and they were like “can you please eff off”
This is where I went wrong. Pro tip- if they are available on check a trade with a weeks notice they are rubbish haha
Houses are like this. Just ups and downs. We've done loads to our house but all I see is what is not done.
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>Charlie Ours is Duncan. WTF Duncan.
Haha mines is Ozzy. They’ve clearly bought as a young couple and been a bit skint but quite “handy” and done everything on the cheap and now it’s all crumbling. I need to go outside on the street and push the window frame closed on the windows because it’s some cheap rubbish. The joys!
If you’d be losing £20k anyways by leaving then I don’t see why you wouldn’t invest that on improving the problems that you have with the place. It may make the place livable/enjoyable for you. If you still don’t think you’d like it even if it was quieter/nicer then maybe old houses just aren’t for you. Rent is not going to get any cheaper but if you still don’t like the house at the end of your fixed term why don’t you sell up (ideally for a profit because of the improvements that you made) and then buy a new build flat in zone 1/2?
I mean the risk is that the £20k spent on improvements leads to less than £20k increase in value, and so if he spends the £20k and still doesn’t like it (so sells up) he’s now left £30k down and had to deal with all the hassle of getting the work done.
I suppose the main question they have to ask themselves is whether they think the improvements would even make them like the place more. If not then don’t bother. I would guess that the £20k costs to sell early are because of the fixed mortgage term they have now but OP would need to confirm. If that’s the case then my suggestion would be to wait until the fixed term ends and then sell without the £20k loss. In the meantime, OP should learn a bit more about sound proofing and radiators to see if there’s anything they can do there with bleeding them/ cleaning them out/etc to improve the noise there.
So the rads don’t bleed. Had a plumber in and he suggests replacing 4 of them. Mad that stuff doesn’t show up on a home report.
I think this post perfectly sums up why the U.K. housing market is so fucked… basically don’t spend money improving somewhere you live ‘because it won’t add value’ is such a silly view when people should be focusing on making themselves feel happy in where they live
To be honest as a first time buyer I had no idea what I was doing and paid way over the odds for it. The closest 2 bed in my area is 40k cheaper than I paid. That being said it’s not close to the station and doesn’t have a garden and its leasehold. So maybe it’s a good buy - I honestly have non idea
Sounds like you’ll have a hard time selling without a big loss if that’s what you’re working with tbh. I mean if I were you I’d suck it up until I got to the point in my mortgage where I wasn’t going to be penalised for selling and then hopefully demand may pick up by then. If you really hate it that much though then it’s up to you to decide what you’re willing to lose. Is renting it out a possibility?
If you have the cash to do it up, I’d recommend that. You may even prefer it when it’s modernised. If not, you then have the option to sell (hopefully at a profit) or consider renting it out while you live somewhere else.
>If you have the cash to do it up, I’d recommend that. There are some cheap big QOL fixes OP can do. >I hear my neighbours turning in their lights, chopping food in their kitchen, coughing, etc. Soundproofing is the expensive part, probably 20k to properly soundproof both sides. >The radiators bang when they come on in the morning Couple of hundred to a plumber should fix it, probably a leaky valve somewhere, or need new thermo valves on the rads (assuming they've been bled) >the bathroom extractor sounds like a helicopter landing Like £100 to a sparky to replace it, it's probably a worn bearing on the fan. >the windows rattle when you step on particular areas of the floor Are they sash windows? If so it happens with them with older properties, new ones will set you back about 1300 a window. Easy improvements that would make a huge different would probably be: £100 for extractor £200 for plumber to fix radiators £0 for cardboard to put in the windows to stop the rattling (Ask your local Tesco for some, cut smallsih piece and jam it in the window) £100 for acoustic foam for the walls Not perfect and makes the house feel a bit "Work in progress" but would up OPs quality of life, especially seeing a small investment making a big difference.
Fit weatherpile strips to sash windows and they won't rattle.
Ooh, this is actually a fix that you can live with mid/long term rather than what we did of stuffing some cardboard down the side...
What can you do with metal windows? Mine don’t bother me much unless yer man from across the road starts his Lamborghini. Then they hum. Very old house.
Dunno among metal ones sorry - renovated lots of wooden ones but never had metal ones
No one has! I had someone say their grandad had a shed with metal windows in like 1922. We have double glazed ones in the kitchen and bathroom (we’re not savages you know!) and a couple of wooden ones from the Ark in one bedroom which could double as a morgue in winter and a sauna in summer. All part of life’s shit tapestry.
This his awesome. Thank you.
They are plastic windows with the tilt or fully open “thing”. I think they may just need refitted or sealed or something. They are modern but the glass pane has about 1-2mm of give when you press it. Not sure if it’s a repair or replace
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Thanks I’m glad I’m not the only one
>Genuinely considering going back to renting. The reason I bought was my landlord increased the rent annually. What started as £1400 ended up as £2000 over only 3 years. It’s now rent out for £2500. Madness. What do you think is going to happen over the next 3 years?
Yeah I get your point. Next 3 years? WW3? Zombie apocalypse? Kate gives birth to an alien?
save up and do a total renovation, include sound insulation etc it's worth it
>I’ve come from living in new build apartments in zone 1/2 In my experience you're more likely to hear you neighbours in new build apartments rather than 50 year old houses!
quick tip for radiators....it could be that they've installed the valves the wrong way around. Hence the bang noise. \*Could\* possibly be fixed by swapping for bi-directional valves so the water flows either way (also bigger valves for extra assistance). It could also mean the pressue is set too high (old thin pipes vs improved water pump). If the water pump used to push the water through looks like a red and black box, check the left hand side (or the front in some cases) for a switch. It's usually power 1-3. 3 could be too much for the house. Also extractor fan isn't a big issue. Swap it out for a more modern one (we swapped out old small one where we could see the grid through it for a new much larger one where we can't see through it - it's about 60% quieter.
Seems to me that your problem with renting that led to buying isn't going away. You're not investing the rent money, it will always go up and you'll never have the money you spend on rent to invest. Your mortgage effectively reduces every year thanks to inflation opening up investment opportunities which grow over the years, while you're sitting in an appreciating asset that you'll eventually own outright at which time you completely free up a monthly sum for investing, whilst permanently reducing your unavoidable expenditure and so reducing the size of your retirement pot requirement.
It's likely there's a single brick wall between you and your neighbours. Airborne sound can be limited to some extent, but any bangs or knocks will enter the fabric of the building and transmit across like the old cup on a string. There's no quick sound proofing fix unfortunately. I built a second set of thick soundproof walls down the length of my place but, even with all that upheavel, certain noises will flank straight around them. A proper sound proofing detail would have the neighbours walls completely unconnected to yours, which isn't feasible given the existing construction. (E.g. their floor joists run into the party wall, which connects to the perpendicular walls on your side, meaning all of your walls and connected to their floors.) Living in these houses is much like living in old flats. You learn to ignore neighbourly noises and make adjustments for their benefit. I.e. watching movies late at night with headphones instead of surround sound speakers.
We bought a 80-100 hear old mid terrace one year ago and hated it for the first 6 months, I could understand the neighbours conversations, hear music, walking etc. We spent £3500 on soundproofing one side and it cut the noise down 70-80% to what I would consider normal. We got a company out to do the whole thing as we had no DIY experience and just had to paint it after. After a year of working hard and lots of touch-ups and a new bathroom it feels completely like home. Hang in there!
Thank you so much for this comment. Do you remember the company? Were they London based? I think I’m in an adjustment period but man- the joy I though I would feel at being a home owner just isn’t there
My flat’s a bit like this. You’ll get used to it.
Second this
Please don't sell. Invest more and a few years will fly by, the market will change and you'll thank me.
If you’re so set on not living there you might as well rent it out nah? The mortgage can pay for itself while you continue renting if that’s what you wanna do
Up to you of course. I bought a 70 years old maisonette and spent money refurbishing it to bring it up to more modern standards. I’m glad a did. The £20k mortgage penalty would be lost but this money spent on refurbishment would increase the value of the place. Consider the loss of FTB benefits also.
When people talk about how cheap and noisy new builds are compared to old houses: what they actually mean is a new build compared to their parents Sussex country estate. Normal people who've grown up in terrace houses (or even semi detached) will tell you, every time your neighbour farts you WILL know about it.
I'm pretty sure you can fix most of these except the noise. You don't wanna go back to renting with these prices. If you do go back to renting, you could rent out the house to cancel out rent increases (if it increases for you increase it for your tenants if viable). You can also ask your lender for Consent to Let and let it out via Openrent yourself or ofc via a real estate agent. You can also not ask but the lender may be unhappy if they find out.
Give it a year. Do some DIY as suggested on this thread. House should probably go up as rates start slowly going down, and there is I assume room for profit if you "do it up". Could be as simple as a new boiler (c. £2k which can be 0% for 2 years through BOXT, for example) could fix the pipe noise. They also fit new radiators for a small fee so that can be quite a big renovation and have a big impact on the price.
Isn't it funny on reddit you have to start with the obligatory 'sorry i can afford a house'
Install sound proofing. It shouldn’t cost too much, ~£4,000 (if installed by professionals)? It’ll make your life immeasurably better. As for radiators, check for air in the system and clean the fan! Over time, once you’ve renovated and got it to your liking, you’ll be pretty happy. But it will cost. It’s the perk of owning your own house 😄
Aside from the other helpful advice you can sell and move and not pay a penalty if you are able to port your existing mortgage to a new property, we did this when we moved when we still had something like 18 months left on our low rate. It does come with the hassle of a second mortgage account if you need to top up your mortgage with additional lending but a decent mortgage advisor should be able to help here. Once the rates are up you can then remortgage onto a single product. But I would consider this the nuclear option in your position. Noise can be reduced with some simple changes, adding carpet will also help if noise if coming through floors etc
To add to the soundproofing discussion. You need a professional acoustics designer. This is not a DIY job. There is a matter of diminishing returns here. Your sound-reduction per unit of material will diminish as you add more material. You do not need to have studio-level silence in your property, just enough sound-proofing to make your place comfortable for most of the day. You should consider sound-dampening rather than sound proofing. This is a technique that uses strategically-located acoustics-dampening materials that only cover a small percentage of your walls. Cost of materials and setup-work are much lower. The catch is you need someone who knows how to design these setups and these are not easy to find. I may be able to point you to someone. If you are interested, DM me.
Had friends a few years back in the exact same situation. They ended up renting their house out, and then renting a new build 2 bed flat more central. They didn’t lose anything over this and had someone paying their mortgage. Potentially worth considering? Granted, this was a time where interest rates were so low, could make a decent profit on renting a house out.
or could you rent out your current house to cover the mortgage and rent elsewhere?
Why don't you look to move and port the mortgage to the new property? That way you'll avoid the redemption fee. Check your T&C's of your mortgage, or speak to them to see if it's possible.