# Please help! Banging in walls!



## lisapisa83 (Jan 2, 2010)

My husband and I currently live in a Clayton double-wide home.  The house is 3 years old.  Our bedroom wall is an exterior wall and in the summer, it seems that when the sun hits the siding, it bangs and cracks at even intervals (like every second to 2 seconds) for about 15 minutes.  In the winter, it seems to do it when the heat is on.  It seems to be coming from the exterior wall and the ceiling.  This morning it sounded as if someone was stomping on the roof.  I'm pretty sure _something_ is adjusting to the temperature changes, but what? and why is it so loud? I have never heard anything like that in a house before! I am rarely at home this late in the morning, but on the weekends when I'm trying to sleep in, I get interrupted by this constant noise!  Is there anything we can do? If it weren't set up as the master bedroom with an attached bathroom, I might just change rooms!

Thanks for your help!


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## oldognewtrick (Jan 7, 2010)

Lisa, it could be thermal expansion of your exterior products. Vinyl siding is not suppose to be nailed tight to the exterior wall. There should be movement to allow for expansion and contraction of the material as you go through temp changes. This may be part of your problem. Also, wood decking that is butted tight will often buckle and move as the temps change. There should be a gap in between the sheeting when it is installed. Both are easy enough to identify. Walk up to the side of your house, put light pressure on the siding and see if you have any movement side to side about a 1/8-1/4". Now look up in the attic and see if you have about a nails width space in between the course of decking. Let us know what you find.


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## Bud Cline (Jan 7, 2010)

You may need a Catholic priest!


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## Nestor_Kelebay (Jan 8, 2010)

Lisa:

     There's a tool mechanics use to pinpoint the source of a noise called a "mechanic's stethoscope".  They cost anywhere from $5 to $20 for a cheap set and up to $200 for a professional quality set.  I have a cheap set that I use for diagnosing problems with appliances, and it works well enough that I've never been tempted to spend the $200 on a better set.







You simply touch the metal probe to whatever you think is making the noise, and the noise you're hearing will be loudest when the metal probe is in contact with the source of the noise.  You can use this tool to tell where noises are coming from.

That's because noises are nothing more than pressure waves in the air caused by movement.  If you touch the metal probe to whatever is causing the noise, then the movement of that object will cause the same movement of the diaphragm in the mechanic's stethoscope, and you'll hear that same noise loud and clear through the ear phones.  So, you'd touch the metal probe to the various pieces of siding on the outside of your trailer, and if that piece happens to move when you've got the metal probe on it, you'll hear that same banging or cracking sound loud and clear through the earphones.  You can buy mechanic's stethoscopes anywhere they sell automotive tools. 

I expect Oldog/Newtrick is probably correct in that it's coming from the vinyl siding.  Vinyl siding isn't supposed to be nailed tightly down because as a building material, it has one of the largest co-efficients of thermal expansion.  So, it expands and shrinks much more with temperature changes than aluminum or wood siding would.  There should be "nail slots" at the top of the siding for the nails, and the siding should slide back and forth in the nail slots rather than be nailed tightly down.


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## lisapisa83 (Jan 24, 2010)

Thank you all!  On a nice, warm day, I will go out and see if it is the siding!  I appreciate your replies!!!


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## subzero (Jan 31, 2010)

Anyways, tool mechanics use to pinpoint the source of a noise called a "mechanic's stethoscope".


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