No matter how long you’ve lived in your current home, we’re all aware of how odd it can feel sleeping in a new place. You may have felt it at a friend’s house or a hotel, or especially in an unwanted environment, such as when sleeping in a hospital bed. It’s the distraction of unknown sounds that can come to the forefront of our minds, where we notice every little thing.
If you’ve moved into a new home, it takes a little while for us to adapt to the noise and feel comfortable in it. This much is normal. But if you’ve noticed some strange household sounds that don’t feel entirely kosher, it’s worth doing some more digging.
That’s because sometimes a tap, tap, tapping sound could actually be a leaking pipe in the walls that needs to be restored before any further damage takes place. You may find that the banging isn’t an outside fence, but another indication of poor plumbing. In this post, we’ll discuss three odd sounds and what to do if you’re hearing them:
Scratching & Pattering
When you hear little scratching sounds coming from inside the walls or ceiling, it’s a good sign that you have uninvited guests. These sounds are often the footsteps and movements of mice, squirrels, or other small animals setting up a home inside your house. You’ll also hear pattering sounds in the attic or crawl spaces as they scurry across the floor, and in rural homes, it’s a very common issue best handled with proper rodent control and sealing up any entry points you find on the outside of your home. Don’t worry, they’re mostly harmless, but you don’t want them chewing through wiring or dying and leaving bad smells.
Banging & Howling
Loud banging sounds from the walls or pipes can be a sign of a few different things going wrong. It could be water hammers in your plumbing when a faucet is suddenly turned off, or it might be loose pipes in the walls. A low howling or whistling sound on a windy day could also be air getting in through tiny gaps around windows and doors, and you’ll want to consider getting those sealed up to keep the drafts and the noise outside where they belong.
Dripping & Grinding
A steady dripping sound from inside the walls could signal a slow leak that is happening somewhere in your plumbing. This can cause water damage and mold growth over time, so address it as soon as you notice it, or have a contractor come to point out the source. A grinding noise from a kitchen sink is usually a pipe that might be failing to push debris down, or if you have garbage disposal that isn’t functioning well, or even an electrical appliance that has wiring issues. That also happens with older appliances, where a motor is on its last leg and the bearings are wearing out. Be sure to fix it if you hear that sound.
With this advice, we hope you can take quick action on odd household noises even in a new property.
Meg is an author at Cinnamon Hollow. She writes on a variety of topics sharing tips and ideas for daily life.
