How many acres do you need not to hear your neighbors?

[edwardcoast]

@Ken001

It is virtually impossible to get away from all noise but there is a comfort level as described by other posters. I grew up on a 250 acre farm and we could hear neighbors dogs and tractors etc. Nevertheless it was peaceful.

We have a home on 4 acres in a busy tourist location. The house (by chance not design) is built in a hollow and I have built up earth mounds along the road boundary. Sound rises with the result that ambient noise travels above the house and garden. At night it is quiet enough to hear the small river 500 yards away.

We still hear the neighbours dogs and children occasionally but its not intrusive. They in turn can hear my chainsaw.

I don’t have the expectation of zero noise while outside on any property. I mean, even a jet flying over in the distance is going to be heard. But I’m hoping with enough acres surrounding the house in the country, while at least I am working inside the house I won’t be able to hear the leaf blowers and lawn mowers next door. Or the sound will be so distance it won’t be annoying. I understand what is annoying to one person might not bother another.

It’s a good point that if everyone has large lots, say, 5-10 acres then the noise should be greatly reduced. I imagine property with lots of woods would be helpful to reduce the sound traveling, but I don’t expect it to be a real sound barrier.

Barking dogs can be another concern. I love dogs, but I can’t stand to listen to them barking for long periods of time. Drives me nuts when people leave them chained up outside without proper shelter.

There are choices to live in the country where people have large lots and others where the lots are large because they are mostly farms. With what goes on a farm, I would expect there to be noise, but any time I have driven in the country, pulled over the side of the road and rolled down the windows I don’t hear anything. I must be catching it at a quiet time.

[lieu]

Finding a place that borders a state or national park is always good. Cattle ranch country is good too, in that there’s not a lot of activity aside from occasionally working them or moving to different pastures and even that doesn’t generate a lot of noise. The cairn is where we’ll put the cabin and that smoke is the nearest neighbor in that direction. No noise from there. It’s a drought year winter so normally there’s a lot more grass waving in the wind. In fact wind, birds, deer, cows and coyotes are what we’ll probably hear the most of and that’s fine by me.

If you ever work or recreation in a place with a lot of solitude it’s an easy thing to get used to. I hope you have some luck in finding that place that’s right for you.

[edwardcoast]

@lieu

Finding a place that borders a state or national park is always good. Cattle ranch country is good too, in that there’s not a lot of activity aside from occasionally working them or moving to different pastures and even that doesn’t generate a lot of noise. The cairn is where we’ll put the cabin and that smoke is the nearest neighbor in that direction. No noise from there. It’s a drought year winter so normally there’s a lot more grass waving in the wind. In fact wind, birds, deer, cows and coyotes are what we’ll probably hear the most of and that’s fine by me.

If you ever work or recreation in a place with a lot of solitude it’s an easy thing to get used to. I hope you have some luck in finding that place that’s right for you.

Thanks for posting that. That image is very peaceful looking!

[Renee]

We have 25 acres. It’s farm country, cattle, corn, and soybeans. It’s not the type of place people use leaf-blowers.

We can hear it when our neighbors are doing something on their tractors, but that’s not a particularly annoying sound, nothing like leaf blowers. Probably the most noise we get is when they wean the calves. For a couple of days, there’s a whole lot of mooing going on.

Re: the smell thing. That baffles me. It smells great out here.

[GusNSpot]

lieu, remember the wind in making your decision, it used to drive some ‘round the bend’ because it almost never stops on the high plains… ( bet the view in summer is pretty good also… )

What are you going to use for internet access? ( you are very near 26,000 posts just on SDMB so I don’t see you giving up your net access. )

[beowulff]

@lieu

Finding a place that borders a state or national park is always good. Cattle ranch country is good too, in that there’s not a lot of activity aside from occasionally working them or moving to different pastures and even that doesn’t generate a lot of noise. The cairn is where we’ll put the cabin and that smoke is the nearest neighbor in that direction. No noise from there. It’s a drought year winter so normally there’s a lot more grass waving in the wind. In fact wind, birds, deer, cows and coyotes are what we’ll probably hear the most of and that’s fine by me.

If you ever work or recreation in a place with a lot of solitude it’s an easy thing to get used to. I hope you have some luck in finding that place that’s right for you.

Do you mind if I ask where that is?
The agave and general terrain remind me of the high desert of Arizona / New Mexico / Nevada.

[lieu]

Yes, I can see that. Colorado east of the Rockies.

[GusNSpot]

Thanks. I bet it will be a great place.

[48Willys]

If you are only concerned about hearing noise inside the house, just insulate it with the sound deadening kind of insulation. This would be much cheaper than buying a lot of land. You would have to look into sound proof windows as well. Good luck.