Hi,
we are about to buy a plot of land that is actually located at the end of a dead-end street in a completely new residential area with around 30 units. The catch: above the house (about 3 meters (10 feet) above the roof) runs a main road / through road of the town. The town has only 5,000 residents, and the daily traffic volume is estimated at 7,000 vehicles per day. Building plots are extremely rare in this region (southern Baden-Württemberg, district of Reutlingen / Tübingen) and not cheap. After a long search (June 2014), we have finally found a building plot that completely meets our infrastructure requirements:
- Bus stop right outside the door
- Regional express train connecting to Stuttgart in the town
- 5 minutes to the center of a city with 115,000 inhabitants
- Doctor, primary school, kindergarten in the town
- Excellent access to two federal highways (straight-line distance 1.2 km (0.75 miles) and 3 km (1.9 miles) away)
- 15 minutes to Stuttgart airport
What we don’t like, as mentioned, is the road... traffic volume is not going to decrease, and the town center is not very attractive... but that is less important. Our main concerns now are noise pollution, fine dust, and potential resale value. (We may want to move abroad later.)
According to the noise assessment, the east and north sides of the plot are primarily affected but can be mitigated with standard building measures. At night, the east side exceeds the limit value by 2.3 – 6 dB. The limit is 45 dB, with a maximum of 51.x dB measured.
Does anyone here live on a street like this? Or, to ask differently: would you buy a building plot like this?
I would appreciate your opinions. Thanks in advance.
we are about to buy a plot of land that is actually located at the end of a dead-end street in a completely new residential area with around 30 units. The catch: above the house (about 3 meters (10 feet) above the roof) runs a main road / through road of the town. The town has only 5,000 residents, and the daily traffic volume is estimated at 7,000 vehicles per day. Building plots are extremely rare in this region (southern Baden-Württemberg, district of Reutlingen / Tübingen) and not cheap. After a long search (June 2014), we have finally found a building plot that completely meets our infrastructure requirements:
- Bus stop right outside the door
- Regional express train connecting to Stuttgart in the town
- 5 minutes to the center of a city with 115,000 inhabitants
- Doctor, primary school, kindergarten in the town
- Excellent access to two federal highways (straight-line distance 1.2 km (0.75 miles) and 3 km (1.9 miles) away)
- 15 minutes to Stuttgart airport
What we don’t like, as mentioned, is the road... traffic volume is not going to decrease, and the town center is not very attractive... but that is less important. Our main concerns now are noise pollution, fine dust, and potential resale value. (We may want to move abroad later.)
According to the noise assessment, the east and north sides of the plot are primarily affected but can be mitigated with standard building measures. At night, the east side exceeds the limit value by 2.3 – 6 dB. The limit is 45 dB, with a maximum of 51.x dB measured.
Does anyone here live on a street like this? Or, to ask differently: would you buy a building plot like this?
I would appreciate your opinions. Thanks in advance.
G
Gartenfreund11 Feb 2015 01:05Not only would the noise probably rule out buying for me, but especially the location of the street. The house is located 3 meters (10 feet) lower, and what happens if a heavy truck crashes down there? Possibly even carrying explosive hazardous materials. I definitely wouldn’t want to be in the way then.
Noise reports should always be taken with caution. In the case of a fourfold increase (every 3 dB increase roughly doubles the noise level) over the allowed limit, I would be very careful—especially since the measurements were taken at night. I don’t even want to imagine the daytime levels, which are permitted to be higher.
With noise barriers (possible above the property due to a 3-meter (10-foot) height difference, causing the noise to pass over your property) and soundproof windows plus a controlled ventilation system for nighttime, you should be able to keep the interior of the house quiet. However, it will be louder when sitting outside comfortably—that’s something you need to decide for yourselves, depending on how often you want to enjoy "quiet" outdoor time...
With noise barriers (possible above the property due to a 3-meter (10-foot) height difference, causing the noise to pass over your property) and soundproof windows plus a controlled ventilation system for nighttime, you should be able to keep the interior of the house quiet. However, it will be louder when sitting outside comfortably—that’s something you need to decide for yourselves, depending on how often you want to enjoy "quiet" outdoor time...
Visit the property at different times of the day and under various wind conditions to check the noise levels. Can you still have a conversation comfortably in the garden when a car passes by? But don’t be too critical either. Even in very quiet areas, a tractor might occasionally pass... that shouldn’t set the standard.
How sensitive are you to noise? I can usually tune out sounds quite well, but the varying hum of a decentralized ventilation system disturbed my sleep.
The road above the house would bother me more.
Regards,
Michael
How sensitive are you to noise? I can usually tune out sounds quite well, but the varying hum of a decentralized ventilation system disturbed my sleep.
The road above the house would bother me more.
Regards,
Michael