how far apart between houses will cancel out noise people make? (construction, renting)

[civic94]

Im in the seattle area, and many new home construction is going up, but the problem is that its about 10 feet from each other, and noise can travel. if i buy a home, i better have privacy.


so around what distance, in your experience, can I, as a your neighbor watch a movie with sorround sound in the house, without you noticing?


I think maybe 25 feet is the minimum.

I never turn up the tv since im renting, but i would like to one day buy a house and enjoy my tv and privacy.

[FalconheadWest]

My neighbors are 15' from me and we never hear either one of them, except when their kids are outside jumping on the trampoline and screaming. You can't hear inside your house from someone else inside their house.

[dontaskwhy]

I say about 1 mile between homes would be good enough to avoid noise from your neighbor.

[manderly6]

Originally Posted by dontaskwhy

I say about 1 mile between homes would be good enough to avoid noise from your neighbor.

Clearly you have never heard my kids.

[rational1]

The difference between 10 and 25 feet may not be that significant.

Double or triple windows make a far bigger impact. Of course this only works if you keep them closed.

[glamatomic]

I think it will oftentimes depend on the neighbors. We're about 16 feet from our neighbors on the left and right (but have a huge back yard so nowhere near our neighbors behind us) and we don't hear either of them. Then again, we have newer double glazed windows which I realize block out some of the sound anyhow.

[chet everett]

Honestly the modern use of multiple pane windows, HVAC systems that are efficent for year round operation, insulation materials that seal all pathways for air leakage and use of power driven screws / nails for super stiff framing a minimum separation of even half a metre (about 19") is the recommended for dense urban freestanding homes, and that is mostly becuase spacing of less that than (which still be capable of preventing nearly all sound transmissions) is harder for firefighting or other public safety issues.

[Snowball7]

you also need to consider outdoor noise, not just indoor.

[civic94]

it seems like windows make a huge difference.. so I guess if i can get a home thats at least 20 ft from another house and have good windows, im fine. probably about 8000 sf lot.

[nikitakolata]

I agree that it is more about the building materials than the distance. When I lived in Chicago I could touch our neighbor's homes on both sides if I was standing between our houses, yet I never heard anything that was going on inside their houses. If they were listening to music outside loudly, then yes, we would hear that.

Noise really hasn't been an issue for me in any single family house I've lived in. Littering in the neighborhood, on the other hand, I definitely won't miss that!