El noise - too close?? (Chicago, Joliet: apartment, houses, neighborhood)

[becwells]

My husband and I are relocating from a quiet suburban neighborhood in VA to Chicago, and one of the houses we're looking at is about a block away from the El (California-O'Hare on the Blue line). How noisy do you think it would be? At the moment we live close to an airport and we have plane's flying low over us occasionally so we're used to a little noise, but I don't want our windows to rattle everytime a train rolls by.

Also, how's that area to live in? I guess it's Logan Square. The house is on W. Belden, close to the Milwaukee/California intersection.

Thanks!

[Mr Downtown]

If you're more than 100 feet (four houses) from the tracks, and if there's a building between your windows and the train wheels as they go by, I don't think you'll find it bothersome after a couple of days. Megabass car stereos may be more of a problem.

But you could also try a little-known, complex, empirical technique called standing in the house and waiting for a train to go by.

[Drover]

You'll hear the L all right. And unless your home is unusually soundproofed, the L will probably be pretty loud. And as a bonus, that line runs 24/7. "You get used to it" is a cliche, but for many people it's true. It probably wouldn't be too long before you sleep right through it.

[MannheimMadman]

Originally Posted by Drover

You'll hear the L all right. And unless your home is unusually soundproofed, the L will probably be pretty loud. And as a bonus, that line runs 24/7. "You get used to it" is a cliche, but for many people it's true. It probably wouldn't be too long before you sleep right through it.

Especially so if she is used to airplane noise. My family relocated from Bucktown to Franklin Park (Mannheim & Grand) when I was a kid, so I had no choice but to get used to O'Hare noise really quick. It can easily be done.

And, I just recently moved from a ghetto part of Joliet right across the street from the hospital. You can imagine how I learned to sleep through Ambulence sirens too.

Although, I think there are some points on the redline where I can look out my train-car's window and into the window of a building and see clear of day. That's too close for comfort.

[coldwine]

Eh. You get used to it. Buy earplugs.

[Attrill]

If you can handle airport noise the El shouldn't be an issue. Our house is about 40' from the El (just south of the California stop). Before we bought it we asked everyone we knew if they had lived next to the El and if it bothered them. I even sent out a mass email to 300 people in the company I worked for at the time. Not one person said they left an apartment because the noise was to much. Everyone generally said they got used to it in a day or so, and some said it took them longer to adjust to NOT hearing the El after moving away from it. Also, being a block away shouldn't be bad at all.

The area is fine. It is generally safe, and there is a fair amount of stuff to do in the area, with more opening all the time. A new Brewpub will be opening at Belden and Milwaukee in the next month or so. Transportationwise it is great, the Blue line is right there and it is easy to get to the expressway as well.

[latikeriii]

Every time I think of el noise, it reminds me of the Blues Brothers scene where the el train went by literally every minute in Elwood's apartment. Of course it wasn't realistic being at night time and lake street didn't run that often even at rush hour. You'll get used to the noise, it'll take a week or so and you won't even notice.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by latikeriii

...Blues Brothers scene where the el train went by literally every minute in Elwood's apartment. Of course it wasn't realistic being at night time and lake street didn't run that often even at rush hour...

Well according to everything I have gathered and what other people agree on, Elwood's apartment was close to the L loop tracks. So the now "Green line" train would not be the only train line passing by his apartment.

[latikeriii]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

Well according to everything I have gathered and what other people agree on, Elwood's apartment was close to the L loop tracks. So the now "Green line" train would not be the only train line passing by his apartment.

I still find it hard to believe that the El back then would run so frequently at night, back when it was the now Green Line, which was Lake-Dan Dyan, Ravenswood(Brown Line), and Howard-Englewood(the now Green/Red Line). The purple line was only rush hour back then as well. Oh well, this is irrelevant to this thread, just one of my favorite scenes of that movie, LOL.