preferred semi config - halls together or not ?

[Harvey Van Sickle]

On 07 Jun 2005, wrote

I've had both (and now live in a "halls together"). It's a trade-off, but I would never, ever, again buy a "halls apart/share the main walls" arrangement.

The bathrooms and kitchen sounds you mention can be annoying, but in my experience sharing the sitting-room wall -- especially when the stereo and telly's against it -- is way, way more invasive.

(I'll draw a veil over the shared bedroom wall with the "halls apart" design; she was very loud in her eagerness to please, though.)

[Owain]

My neighbour and I are agreed that our flats are significantly colder when the flat downstairs is unoccupied. We benefit from their heat.

Owain

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Yes. In my halls adjoining type I can listen to the stereo at a goodly level and it can't be heard in next door's living rooms - because I've checked.

The oldbloke who was two owners ago of next door had his TV in the kitchen/breakfast room, and he was a bit deaf. You could hear that - and his two chiming clocks he kept on that mantelpiece.;-)

But it never annoyed me - as I said there's more noise from outside.

[Pufter]

I have a 3 bed semi (built early 1960's) with the living room/mai bedroom adjacent to next doors. The wall is two solid bricks thicknes & very dense/hard bricks. Internal walls are also solid. Despite this noise is a problem & the solid walls seem to actively carry nois through them. Upstairs I put up a stud wall, 2 layers of Wicke insulation board, & two layers of plasterboard (skimmed). Also isolate the frame from the wall/floor with some carpet felt. This had a massiv effect on noise transmission. Downstairs, I think a lot of the nois comes through the party wall underneath the suspended wooden floor Unfortunately, the joists in the house run from side to side (not fron to back) & I think this arrangement transmits a lot of noise. When redecorate the living room, I plan to put up another stud wall from th concrete sub-base under the floor up. I think a lot depends on just ho considerate your neighbours are, whether they have theTV too loud o pushed against a wall, & worst of all, putting hi-fi speakers directl on the wall with no soft packing to limit the transmission. M girlfriends house is late 1980's build & the part wall is light block (can see in loft). Not sure if cavity (suspect not) but can hear jus about everything from next door through this. Next house wil definately be detached

-- Pufter

[Rick]

I am lucky to have 2 houses, a semi and a remote farm house / project

In the semi I notice the human noise less, it just all merges together into a constant thing you get used too.

In the remote farm house, where there is very little human / machinery noise, I enjoy the sounds of the wildlife, but when one of the neighbours decides to use a small hover mower to mow an acre of overgrown grass the noise really winds me up .......

Rick

[sm_jamieson]

I think it's mainly at night, when all is quiet. You have to be conscious of the neighbours if they've gone to bed etc. You dont feel as "free" as in a detached house. Unless you couldn't care less, in which case they may do the same back ! Simon.

[Rich]

I would go further and say that it's not just victorian areas where detached houses are rare or prohibitively expensive.

As to answer the OP I would definitely say that all semis should be designed with the main living area away from the party wall. This is to avoid noise from the living area of one house affecting the bedrooms of the other.

The only reason that semis were built with their main living areas together was to save a few pennies by only having one chimney stack!

Rich.

[Rich]

I would have thought the cost of this would be negligable. If not, it could be cheaply improved.

Rich

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I have a pal with an '80s Barret's box terraced house (timber framed) which although badly built in general has excellent sound insulation. They appear to have two separate studding walls between them with double thickness plasterboard and sound absorbing/insulation between them.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

And to make them warmer.

[Tony Bryer]

In fairness to the builders, more than pennies. If you have hipped roof semis gathering the flues in the loft into one ridge chimney is a little more involved on the brickwork side, but hugely easier on the roofing and flashing side. From an energy conservation pov (not that this was considered then) traditional non HA semis have the main rooms with only one external wall and much of the heat that goes up the chimney (in the days of coal fires as when most of these houses were built) will find its way back into your own house or next door and vice versa. With the HA layout the back of the flue is external brickwork and a heat sink.

[Mary Fisher]

I'm glad you said that, saved me from doing it!

It makes every sense to have that configuration.

Mary

[Mary Fisher]

Of course you do. But the lower neighbours would also benefit from your insulation.

Mary

[Mary Fisher]

You seem to have a problem with humanity!

I dislike the noise of traffic when I'm outside far more than anything I can hear inside. There's nothing anyone can do about that, people seem to LIKE making loud noises with their vehicles.

Mary

[Owain]

Yes, but I get their heat and they get my floorboard squeaks. Fair exchange is no robbery!

Now, if I could find their electric cables ... :-)

Owain

[Martin Angove]

South Wales:

in particular: it's a long while since I updated the website, but the place hasn't changed that much :-)

Probably counts as Victorian though as most of the development in this particular area happened between 1890 and 1920.

Hwyl!

M.

[sm_jamieson]

Haha. Oh dear. I don't think I'm that bad. But I think OldBill said it all when he said after you've had a detached, you'll want no other. Christian/Mary, I liked your previous comments about the telephone table. I may not fit one since you made it sound so twee ! Or I will go the whole hog, and put the phone on a doily. I still have the swirly net curtains up that the previous lady owner left (going to fit vertical blinds). Somebody visiting me the other day decided it must be the wrong house, since such net curtains couldn't possibly be mine. Simon.

[Owain]

Occasionally on Ebay you can get a gilt basketwork frame that fits over a 746 dial phone to give that added touch of tweeness.

"It was there when I moved in and it does the job" is a perfectly manly response to most questions of aesthetic vs function.

Owain

[Mary Fisher]

You'remaking assumptions.

Wrong ones.

Which says more about you than it does about me.

Whatever turns you on.

I bow to your greater experience, ! have no idea what you're describing. Of course, that could say more about your powers of description than about my understanding ...

Don't be so patronising and think you know about other people.

Mary

[Mary Fisher]

Wot's a 746 phone?

Yes, I imagine that the jamieson poster could well be so idle as to say that after not bothering to change anything.

Mary