I am looking at this place near Valley Fair mall. It’s just a couple of houses away from Hedding St which is the main route for ambulances going to O’Connor hospital and fire trucks from the fire station half-mile away. Does anyone know how bad the siren sound is going to be inside the house at night? I heard the ambulances and fire trucks blare sirens even in the middle of the night without much traffic around. Thanks for any insight on how to figure out this noise issue. How do people in big cities like New York, or SF deal with siren noise?
Looks like just fixing the windows wouldn’t help. The whole stucco needs to be reinforced with something more solid (even the roof). Cost may be easily upwards of $25K and results are still not guaranteed.
you’ll get used to it after a while - we live 2 streets over from train and I don’t even hear it at night anymore…only noticed it for the first few months
train horn - i woke up initially every now and then (not every night) but it was really only in first month of living there, like I said you get used to it quickly…
White noise (ocean recording in the background)?
Maybe a marketing opportunity. How hard could it be to produce a noise cancellation device which responds to sirens, trains, etc.?
Or just get used to it. A have a grandfather clock - a family heirloom. I don’t run the chime. I had it repaired by a grandfather clock guy. His house is full of them. He runs many of them. Sleeps right through the cacophony.
I had this experience as well. Rented a apartment for 3 months that was next to the train tracks. train and horn. Finally vaguely slept through it. But I would never buy such a place. It’s still distracting during the day.
Thanks for the responses. I knew not to buy on busy streets but it looks like we need to avoid even the ones that are on immediately adjacent streets. That can limit our options quite a bit.
There is something for everyone. The mansions in Los Altos hills right on 280 appeal to someone. Maybe because they are much cheaper than ones without the freeway noise. Appeal to people that never go outside?
When I lived in Fremont the BART whistle was annoying even though I was nowhere near it; I was in Niles Canyon up on the hill. But I got used tot it eventually. There’s also a train that runs through the canyon. The difference of one block up the hill on Canyon Heights is the difference between a little noise from it and a lot of noise. If you ever sell a house on the lower stretch know the train schedule and never show it when one passes by. Less than 100 yards up the hill, due to the slope of it, and the problem disappears.
