BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be

20 Oct 03 - 04:18 PM (#1038553)
Subject: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: GUEST,Sibelius

I am disconcerted by a strange tapping noise which has started up in my house. It occurs in one corner of one room, and appears to come from (or from under) the floorboards. It's quite distinct, and sounds like the sort of noise you'd make by tapping something small and hard or sharp, like a gravel fragment or a needle, against the floorboard. It lasts for between about 30 seconds and a couple of minutes, then stops for a while, then starts again. The rate of tapping is usually at intervals of a second or so, but that varies as well, and sometimes the rate is noticeably quicker - 2-3 times a second. The first tap in a sequence is nearly always louder than those following.

What does the fervent imagination and experience of the collective Mudcat mind make of this?

This, by the way, is Manchester UK, so I doubt if it's termites, unless very brave, foolhardy or hopelessly lost termites. I don't have any pets.

The tapping started last Friday, 17th October. The floorboards have been stripped and varnished but that was about six years ago, and they've been exposed ever since, so nothing has happened recently to change their condition.

The house is old-ish (1897), and I suspect the floorboards are the originals. The void under the boards is about 18 inches deep, and the floor of the void is just earth and old rubble.

It's bloody irritating, I can tell you, and I want it stopped!

The only noise I've ever come across like it was years ago, at an ex-girlfriend's house. It took her ages to pinpoint the source of the noise, and it spooked her badly. So badly, I'm afraid, that when she finally found the cause - a stag beetle - it scared her to death, and she drowned the wretched thing in polyurethane lacquer.

I've never seen a stag beetle in this neck of the woods, but if the source of my own tapping torment is made of flesh and blood (with or without exo-skeleton), I'd really rather not drown it. I just want it to shut the **** up!

What can it be?

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20 Oct 03 - 04:22 PM (#1038554)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Amos

Poltergeist. Try posing it questions. Ask it to confess or unburden itself to you and then thank it roundly and advise it it may now go on its own.

Or get a small youth to crawl around looking for a trapped woodpecker, unlikely.

A

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20 Oct 03 - 04:24 PM (#1038555)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: GUEST

Death watch beetle?
A hot water pipe expanding?

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20 Oct 03 - 04:40 PM (#1038565)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: katlaughing

Do you hear it more at certain times of the day?
Does anyone else hear it?*bg*
Could a small mammal, i.e. mouse or rat have gotten trapped under there?
Do you have a cellar or crawl-space which you could explore for the cause?
Have you tried tapping back?:-)
Do you know Morse code...perhaps it's an SOS?:-)

I'll bet it is a critter of some sort. Unless you have a child of a certain age, I doubt if it's a poltergeist. Do you know the history of the house?

Is it possible the house might be settling and cracking its bones, so to speak? Due to excessively dry summer or other factors?

Good luck and please let us know what you find out!

kat

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20 Oct 03 - 04:42 PM (#1038567)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: GUEST,The Escape Committee

Terribly sorry old chap, its the boys from hut 15 again I am afraid, a tad lost I think. Please dont tell anyone else, dont want the "goons" to find the tunnel do we, eh what?!

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20 Oct 03 - 04:44 PM (#1038569)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: GUEST

Take the floorboards up, and have a look. Like durr...

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20 Oct 03 - 04:51 PM (#1038574)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: GUEST

Ever read Poe's The Telltale Heart?

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20 Oct 03 - 05:07 PM (#1038583)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: open mike

if it was the upstairs instead of the downstairs
you might have bats in your belfry!

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20 Oct 03 - 05:27 PM (#1038594)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: McGrath of Harlow

I've never heard of anyone having Death Watch Beetles in their floorboards. But it mightn't be a bad idea to get on to the Council anyway.

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20 Oct 03 - 05:28 PM (#1038595)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: okthen

It sounds pretty much like death watch beetle, the tapping sound is a mating call, on the other hand you could take it as a wake up call to get the wood treated while it's in one locality, the longer you leave it the more expensive it'll be.

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20 Oct 03 - 05:52 PM (#1038603)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Mr Red

What kind of heating have you got - its about the time of year to switch it on. Though I would guess Sibelius would have needed it a month or two back in Finland. Anyway I was getting that ticking sound about 6=30 in the morning when the next-door neighbour's central heating switches-on and the pipes expand and strain against the holes and beams they traverse. I won't notice it (more loudly) from my system because I am far too macho (or mean) to have central heating on at this time of year (not that we are seeing any global warming at all - Oh no).

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20 Oct 03 - 05:54 PM (#1038604)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Blowzabella

Just looked at that link McGrath - eeerrgh!!!

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20 Oct 03 - 06:23 PM (#1038614)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Mickey191

The things one can learn here - McGrath - Thanks for that link. I have a tapping too, thank God I know it's not a Death Watch Beetle. It's my water heater.
Tomorrow I'll read about earwigs.

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20 Oct 03 - 06:41 PM (#1038621)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Joybell

I have learned so much in just a few months here. Death watch beetles, ear candles.
We have lots of wall and ceiling noises but it's mostly possum farts -yes truly! and possum foot-thuds.
My husband woke me up one night when he heard a regular soft thud-thud noise. He thought it came from under the floor. After some searching around on our hands and knees I took his pulse - it matched the thuds!! He is a musician with tinnitis and he had just had drainage tubes put in his ears. ( it didn't help)
The moral of this story is, before pulling up the floorboards, - have you listened inside yourself Sibelius?

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20 Oct 03 - 06:56 PM (#1038628)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Bobert

Ahhhh, sounds like you just cranked up yer heating system, didn't ya? Well, could be air in the pipes if ya get radiators. If not, it's something expanding that is cold...

If it ain't that then bad news. You gotta move...

Bobert

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20 Oct 03 - 07:04 PM (#1038633)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Rapparee

Do the thuds come in a particular time, like 4/4 or 12/8? Are they sometimes staccato, fortissimo, andante? It could be a musical group practicing, perhaps the Beetles.

If it happens after flushing or running water, consider a thing called "water hammer."

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20 Oct 03 - 07:29 PM (#1038652)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Stilly River Sage

Ohhhhh--a good creepy noise story just in time for Halloween! The thuds we hear around here during the day are the yellow-bellied sapsuckers in the trees across the street. At night (and I heard it again last night, damn-it, after I thought I plugged all of the holes) it is squirrels. I swear one was dancing a jig on my attic stairs door.

SRS

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20 Oct 03 - 07:30 PM (#1038653)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull

heloo, maybe its a gohst/
i dont thinjk gohtsts do bad things, but just hide youre bears, and sandwidges just in case.john

ps=if its a gohst, you could get youre local vicar to get rid off it, he will shout at it etc =[fuck off ghohst, and go away]
i knoew aboiytt this, because i seen it on telly, and he had a motobike,
and that bloke off emmerdale farm got a motortbike as well.john

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20 Oct 03 - 07:45 PM (#1038661)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull

or maybe its a moose, you can get poisun for them, or ring up the coincil mooose catcher, [they catch rats as well], i know tyhe rat cathcher in hull, he;s called pete.

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20 Oct 03 - 07:54 PM (#1038669)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Joybell

Pete-the-rat-catcher! Is he that cousin of Pete-the-possum-man? Little Peter picked a peck of pickled possum.

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20 Oct 03 - 07:57 PM (#1038674)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull

whois pert the possum man/, i never herd of him.

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20 Oct 03 - 08:47 PM (#1038689)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: McGrath of Harlow

There aren't that many moose in Manchester. We're a bit deprived that way, this side of the water.

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20 Oct 03 - 09:02 PM (#1038693)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Stilly River Sage

Look for Roald Dahl's rat stories in Someone Like You. Two of them appear in Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life (a later edition, with stories remixed), but to get the full effect of the interrelated short stories, best to go to the original.

SRS

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20 Oct 03 - 09:04 PM (#1038694)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Stilly River Sage

Reminds me of a line from a song: "What can it be, what can it be, what can it be, what can it be?"

"Henrietta's Wedding," I think?

SRS

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21 Oct 03 - 12:47 AM (#1038756)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: LadyJean

Do they have squirrells in Manchester? They can get into anything, and would make that kind of noise. Friends had a possum living in their attic, that liked to roll a log back and forth at night, which made quite an interesting noise.
Though you might check out the story of the Fox sisters, in Hydesville NY. They also had noises in their floor. It started the whold spiritualist movement.

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21 Oct 03 - 02:42 AM (#1038782)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: open mike

ooh goody--the fox sisters...a good ghost story
and with trick or treat right around the corner!

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21 Oct 03 - 04:04 AM (#1038799)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Roger the Skiffler

Just prise up the boards and let the poor washboard player out. What did he do to upset you?

RtS
(rattlin' in the trash can)

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21 Oct 03 - 04:27 AM (#1038805)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: HuwG

If you leave it alone for a few years, and your house falls down, it was Death Watch Beetle.

Squirrels are found in parts of Manchester (there are also parts where they wouldn't be seen dead).

My house is roughly the same vintage as Sibelius's; I have been troubled with mice in the ceiling and floor spaces once or twice, but only in hot months. One the other hand, no rodent in my house ever had ambitions to become a drummer.

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21 Oct 03 - 05:48 AM (#1038823)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: McGrath of Harlow

No more news from Sibelius. Maybe the house has fallen down...

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21 Oct 03 - 08:47 AM (#1038882)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Amos

SRS:

On Henrietta's Wedding the mystery is :"Who can it be. who can it be?" at least as i recall it -- a real oldie from Joseph Marais and Miranda! Thanks for the nostalgia!


A

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21 Oct 03 - 09:42 AM (#1038915)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Stilly River Sage

Yes, I know that. I should have added a smiley face to that post.

;-D

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21 Oct 03 - 11:09 AM (#1038956)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Peterr

Must be rats who have read Beatrix Potter about the Roly Poly Pudding.
Did you used to have a kitten that's gone missing?

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21 Oct 03 - 12:14 PM (#1038996)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: GUEST,Sibelius

No, I'm still here McGrath o.H., as is the house and the damn noise! Just come in from work (16:30 BST) and there it was, greeting me like an enthusiastic terrier. By the way McG, no moose in Manchester? You ever walk down Deansgate late on a Friday night?

Yes LadyJean, there are squirrels round here, lots of 'em. Horrible scrawny grey things descended from, er, a US import if I'm not mistaken! I doubt if they're the cause. They prefer being outside in the trees. Generally, I'd have thought rats, mice, even squirrels, would make scratchy scraping noises, rather than a sharp tapping. And if it is an animal, well it's been there in exactly the same place for five days now, clinging to the underside of the board, just tapping. Tapping, tapping.....

Bear in mind that there's an 18-inch deep void under the floor, so it's unlikely to be an animal trapped - unless it's big enough to get trapped in a space that size, and if it's that big, it ought to be making more racket than a sharp tapping!

Guest ("Like, durr...") - I would have followed that great piece of advice, except there's a small access door to the void from the cellar, through which you can shine a torch and see the whole of the underside of the floorboards and the void, and there's nothing to see but earth and rubble. The boards can stay put.

Yes there are hot water pipes, but they are several feet away from the source of the tapping and have always been in the same place. They do make some noise, but it's recognisable and only really occurs when they're heating up or cooling down.

Yes, the central heating's on, but it's been on for a month or so. It comes on and off during the day with the timer, but the tapping noise is there regardless.

Rapaire, I did wonder whether I could put the tapping to good use as a metronome, but whatever it is, it can't keep time to save its life. Ah, now maybe you're onto something - could it be a bodhran player? Maybe not; there are too many pauses....

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21 Oct 03 - 12:16 PM (#1038998)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Dave Bryant

I can remember being woken up on the narrowboat, by a clang, clang, clang sound, it was quite loud and very scary - perhaps a WW2 mine bashing against the hull - OK perhaps not that likely in the Grand Union Canal. I jumped out of the bunk and searched the boat with the aid of the other friends aboard plus the dog which belonged to one of them. The noise had stopped and we couldn't find anything. Went back to sleep and was woken up yet again by the noise - I grapped the torch which I'd left by the side of the bunk and shone it in the direction of the sound, only to find that it was the dog wagging it's tail in it's sleep and hitting the grill of the (unlit) gas heater.

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21 Oct 03 - 12:27 PM (#1039008)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull

Its a tiny little bodhran player, but he has dropped his bodhran, doesn't want to get out of practice, so is tapping on your floorboards, till he finds it.

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21 Oct 03 - 12:28 PM (#1039009)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: McGrath of Harlow

But do check out the Death Watch Beetle possibility, seriously.

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21 Oct 03 - 01:35 PM (#1039047)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Rapparee

My serious guess is insects.

My unserious guess is that someone was buried in the ground beneath the void by a former owner and they are rapping to be let out, their boney fingers will fasten around the throat of whoever opens the floor, dragging the poor chap down to eternal perdition or at least scaring the poo out of him or her.

The first is more probable, but but the second is way cooler.

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21 Oct 03 - 01:41 PM (#1039053)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: HuwG

Following requests, I must correct my earlier post. For ".. no rodent in my house ever had ambitions to become a drummer. ", read, " ... no rodent in my house would ever sink so low as to become a drummer. "

Apologies to Jerry, Dangermouse, Hammy the Hamster and any others affected.

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21 Oct 03 - 01:46 PM (#1039059)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: GUEST,Sibelius

Gimme a break, McG, we don't have those here do we?

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21 Oct 03 - 01:50 PM (#1039062)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Mrs.Duck

'a little mouse with clogs on' :0)

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21 Oct 03 - 02:30 PM (#1039086)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: open mike

i heard that many years after the fox sisters and family
moved out of their house there was a skelton found under
the foundation!!

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21 Oct 03 - 03:21 PM (#1039142)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: GUEST,pdq

As rare as it is for me to agree with McGrath, the Death Watch Beetle
                                  is a good possibility. The species mentioned, Xestobium rufovillosum,
                                  is European. The term comes from the beetles tendency to make a
                                  "ticking" sound when they bore through wood. The beetle is quite small,
                                  approx. 3/16 of an inch (or 5mm), usually less. The sound is very faint,
                                  hence the name. The sound was not noticed until late at night when
                                  ambient noise was very low.

                                  Several closely related families such as Bostrichidae, Lyctidae (Powder
                                  Post Beetles), and Psoidae all make some noise when actively chewing
                                  in/on wood and can also be considered suspects. Do you have firewood
                                  stored inside? If so, listen in the vicinity of the wood or move it to an outside
                                  storage area and see if the sound stops.

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21 Oct 03 - 04:05 PM (#1039159)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Raptor

Its David Blaine and this is his next trick!

Raptor

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21 Oct 03 - 05:07 PM (#1039203)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: GUEST,Sibelius

I have no firewood stored in the house, pdq, although I'm sure the thought has crossed the minds of many who have heard me play my guitar.

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21 Oct 03 - 05:09 PM (#1039205)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Mr Red

Forgive me for acting the engineer and all that but wood expands and contracts with the heating and nails in floorbaords can give slightly in spurts. Of course it might be the TV aerial or the cable in the wind, it might be telephone ditto and one of the clips has rusted through. Get out those binoculors and start looking at the chimbly. It might be flashing (noun not verb).

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21 Oct 03 - 05:31 PM (#1039221)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: McGrath of Harlow

Death Watch Beetle aren't actually that rare in Britain. Not that common in modern houses, but in old buildings it's one of the things to worry about, especially for roof timbers, particularly oak. Normally the critters live in the wild, where they do a useful job in helping dispose of fallen trees and suchlike.

Most timber in modern houses isn't the type of wood they like, I gather - if it's not oak it doesn't suit their lifestyle or something.

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21 Oct 03 - 05:42 PM (#1039225)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Penny S.

Remember those earthquakes? Could your house have settled a bit? Setting up heater or wood drying noises you haven't heard before? But check out the beetles. Also Death's Head Hawk Moth. Don't they bang a bit? Could be way off beam there. Record them, and find an entomologist - local Wildlife Trust, University, whatever.

Or talk to it in Irish.

Penny

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21 Oct 03 - 06:14 PM (#1039239)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Blowzabella

Didn't they have Death Watch Beatle to contend with in The Archers a couple of years ago? Any Archers addicts out there who might be able to help?

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21 Oct 03 - 08:50 PM (#1039318)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Stilly River Sage

Hmmm. . . Blowzabella, would that "Death Watch Beatle" be named George?

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21 Oct 03 - 10:23 PM (#1039352)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: GUEST,.gargoyle

RATS!!!

Sincerely,

Gargoyle

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21 Oct 03 - 10:50 PM (#1039369)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Ebbie

Does 'it' tap when you're standing right over it? When you lay your palm above the affected area can you feel the vibration/pulse? If not, is it possible that it's actually occurring somewhere else and the sound carries to a different spot?

The Death Watch Beetle sounds very much like what we call carpenter ants. They differ from termites primarily in their affinity for damp wood, I understand. The exterminator told me that southeast Alaska has an ideal climate for carpenter ants- cool, moist, lots of trees, lots of houses made of wood.

There are many horror stories of the effects of neglected carpenter ant infestations- houses that have turned to shells that implode and collapse in upon themselves. A building I know had one wall ruined by them. The exterminator treated the nearby areas for the critters, the construction contractor put in a new wall.

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22 Oct 03 - 01:31 AM (#1039421)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: LadyJean

Sibelius, we have black squirrels in one city neighborhood, here in Pittsburgh. It is called, appropirately, Squirrel Hill.
Could it be foxes, I know they live in English cities.
You might want to look up The Bell Witch, as long as you're looking into hauntings.

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22 Oct 03 - 03:58 AM (#1039474)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Jim McLean

I would suggest water pipes, I get it all the time. If you have radiators, try 'bleeding' them to let any build up of air escape. Last year, every now and then I used to hear a sound like a modem and finally traced it to next door neighbour's central heating!

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22 Oct 03 - 04:37 AM (#1039488)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Dave Bryant

I agree with the suggestions that it's the central heating or the plumbing. Is there a radiator near the corner that the sound comes fromn ? - do you get the noise just after the system has kicked in ? Our heating system definitely produces expansion noises in the morning and on of them is a sort of knocking as floor or skirting boards expand. It could also be air in pipes as has also been suggested - you could try bleeding the radiators (should be done a couple of times a year anyway) to see if that makes any difference.

Why not lift up the floorboards and have a look - mind you just to be on the safe side make sure that you've got a crucifix, some garlic, a pistol with a silver bullet, a wooden stake and hammer . . . . . .

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22 Oct 03 - 08:59 AM (#1039604)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: kendall

If you find that it was a moose, I'd like to know how the hell it got into such a small place? hehehe (Sorry John)

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22 Oct 03 - 10:09 AM (#1039652)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Allan C.

On the chance that it might have anything at all to do with expansion or contraction of the floorboards, sprinkle a generous amount of talcum powder onto the floorboards in that area and then work it into the cracks with a brush or cloth. It has worked for me in some of the older houses where I've lived. (If this should happen to cause whatever it is to sneeze, you may want to consider a different approach.)

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22 Oct 03 - 10:22 AM (#1039664)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: muppett

could be a Bogart

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22 Oct 03 - 12:14 PM (#1039736)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: GUEST,Sibelius

Okay okay, there's clearly some of you who aren't going to be satisfied unless I lift the floorboards and see what's in that dark void below, where no living thing has been for decades.

Hang on... I'll just lever up this corner... there... I'm just peering uncertainly into the dark.... wait a minute, what's that?....something moving....I'll just shine my torch and see if I can see wh

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22 Oct 03 - 01:10 PM (#1039765)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: alanabit

My uncle is an ex policeman. He tells the story of an old lady who complained that she was being woken up every night by loud knocking on her front door. My uncle kept an eye on the house and found no reason to suspect anyone of disturbing her. A chance meeting with her doctor led to the discovery that she had a mild irregularity in her heartbeat. She was woken up by a knocking sound, which in actual fact was her own heartbeat.

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22 Oct 03 - 07:51 PM (#1040006)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Bill D

borrow a stethoscope and/or small drill...perhaps also a fiberoptic viewer with camera...enquiring minds want to know...

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23 Oct 03 - 04:23 AM (#1040184)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Dave Bryant

Of course, since he calls himself Sibelius - it could be TAP-iola !

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23 Oct 03 - 04:31 AM (#1040188)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: s&r

Years ago as a television engineer I was sent to investigate a whistle from the TV. This wasn't uncommon and was difficult to eliminate completely; in this case it never showed when I was there. The man never complained, but his wife was driven to distraction.

I went one day when the man was in bed, and there on the top of the tv was his deaf aid, not quite switched off and feeding back like crazy.

Every time anyone called he put his deaf aid on to hear what was being said; the rest of the time it lived on the TV

No help I'm afraid, but it just brought back memories

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23 Oct 03 - 09:12 AM (#1040324)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: kendall

About 30 years ago, a friend of mine was being driven nuts by a "pinging" sound near his bed. It turned out to be his watch winding itself.

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23 Oct 03 - 11:52 AM (#1040452)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Raggytash

Anyone seen that David Blaine fella ?

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23 Oct 03 - 12:56 PM (#1040485)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Rapparee

If it's not kobolds or tommyknockers, have you considered that someone on the other side of the world has dug a REALLY deep hole and is politely asking to be let out?

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23 Oct 03 - 03:10 PM (#1040566)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: GUEST,Sibelius

Very good, Dave Bryant! Hey, whaddya mean "calls himself..."??

That truncated last post of mine was supposed to look like I'd been swallowed whole by The Thing That Came From Under The Floorboards, just as I brought my torch to bear (think about the captain of the Nostromo, crawling around in the air shafts in 'Alien'). There's no fooling you lot, is there?!

Maybe suspense thrillers aren't my strong point.

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23 Oct 03 - 03:38 PM (#1040584)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: GUEST,Shel Silverstein

Given your last post, it can only be one of two things, either a Boa Constrictor, or a Slithereedee.

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23 Oct 03 - 04:04 PM (#1040597)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Megan L

Ah I wondered what happened to Michael Flately!

Reminds me of an incident when we moved into our old house. Every night about midnight we could clearly hear tapping, just like morse code. Of course being half asleep at the time we never quite managed to locate it before the noise stopped. What could it be? Many of the old houses in our area had been used as billets during the war, was it perhaps the ghost of the nightshift radio operator?

Alas no all was revealed when we had visitors and new hubby and I moved to sleep in the sitting room, the lovely little mantle clock my cousin had given us for a wedding present turned out to be an alarm cloock with the most annoying morse like ring.

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23 Oct 03 - 07:17 PM (#1040690)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: GUEST,Sibelius

I can imagine an alarm cloock would be very annoying.

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23 Oct 03 - 11:52 PM (#1040808)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: LadyJean

Do you know the H.P. Lovecraft story, "Rats in the Walls"? Do you know anything about the people who lived in your house before you?

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24 Oct 03 - 04:25 AM (#1040876)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Dave Bryant

Sibelius, do you mean I got the gender wrong, or that it was somebody else who called you Sibelius. Incidently the composer was christened Johan, but decided to call himself Jean, because he was somewhat of francophile.

I realised what you were insinuating in your previous posting but one - I was just waiting for a posting from Guest: Floorboard Monster saying BUUUUURRRRRRP - delicious ! - tap - tap - tap - Hurry up next meal.

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24 Oct 03 - 10:14 AM (#1041033)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Stilly River Sage

Ohhh, that reminds me of a story that was on American television many years ago. Had David Carradine in a staring role. I think it might have been on one of the later iterations of The Twilight Zone. He and his wife lived out in a desert area with a lot of junk cars and stuff around their remote home. They had an old-fashioned well, the kind you lowered a bucket into. I forget how, but one day something fell down the well and a note came back up with the bucket saying "tasted good" and included a small fortune in golden objects. Evidently some underground population of creatures had access to this loot and wanted to trade for food. He was greedy and would send down food and loot came back. Finally he couldn't resist and went down himself to see if he could steal the rest of the loot. . . you guessed it: the last note the wife got in the bucket filled with treasures was "Tasted good, like chicken."

:)

SRS

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24 Oct 03 - 11:36 AM (#1041095)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: GUEST,Floorboard Monster

Yeeuucchh!! Scrawny tasteless thing.

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24 Oct 03 - 11:50 AM (#1041102)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: GUEST,Sibelius

LadyJean, I don't know the Lovecraft story. As for the previous residents, the last, who left five years ago were a couple with a toddler. They tried to sting me for £700 for carpets they hadn't even bought. Why do you ask?

Seriously, the tapping's getting worse if anything. Louder. I've been under the floorboards and can't find anything, and I'd say the noise is more distinct above than below. It's distinct enough that you can pinpoint where on the floorboard it's coming from, within a couple of inches, but there's nothing there, dammit!

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24 Oct 03 - 11:51 AM (#1041104)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Stilly River Sage

Tell it to go toward the light. . .

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24 Oct 03 - 12:44 PM (#1041139)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Rapparee

Are there unexplained, dark stains that can't be washed out? At night, do you hear chains dragging? Are there blue mists in the halls at night that are cold when you walk through them? Do you hear groans that don't seem to have a specific source? When you arrive home after dark, are there lights in windows where lights shouldn't be -- and they go out as you approach the house? Are there lights in windows where there aren't any windows? Does Anne Boleyn drop around, her head underneath her arm?

Seriously, pinpoint the spot as closely as possible and then lightly touch it. See if you can feel vibrations. If you can, the problem would seem to be in the boards themselves (e.g., Death Watch beetle). If not, consider that the acoustics are lousy and that the noise is coming from elsewhere.

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24 Oct 03 - 02:45 PM (#1041193)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: GUEST,Stilly River Sage

I vote that it is an acoustical trick, that the noise is coming from somewhere else and just focuses in that area (bouncing from this point).

What is directly outside this part of the house?

SRS

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24 Oct 03 - 03:09 PM (#1041208)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: katlaughing

Is there a specific time at which it always happens or, is it random? That might help to pinpoint what it could be.

Barring anything corporeal, I'd get some sage smudge sticks/incense and smudge the whole place, along with doing a ritual "leavetaking" for whomever/whatever might be hanging about.

Oh, and your mystery writing was fine...I got the under-the-floor grabbing just didn't think there'd be much point in answering as you been "got" and presumably would be unable to return!**bg**

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24 Oct 03 - 03:32 PM (#1041227)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: GUEST,Sibelius

It's pretty much random, katlaughing. Doesn't seem to make any difference what time of day it is, central heating/water on or off, light or dark, even my singing doesn't stop it.

A friend has just come up with a brilliant idea though, which I may try this weekend. There's a highly inquisitive Patterdale terrier of our acquaintance, Peggy, not a mile away from here. Peggy is known for her unerring search-and-destroy capabilities. She usually destroys things which weren't remotely intended for destruction, it has to be said, but on this occasion I might just be inclined to invite her round and let her have her head.

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24 Oct 03 - 03:40 PM (#1041232)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Amos

Well if he puts his ears back and growls and the hair on his neck stands up, call an exorcist.... :>)


A

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24 Oct 03 - 04:04 PM (#1041237)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: katlaughing

Leave it to a terror-ier to get to the bottom of a mystery! Go, Peggy'O, Go!!

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24 Oct 03 - 05:49 PM (#1041274)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Blowzabella

Completely irrelevant but katlaughing's 'terror-ier' just reminded me of a local council election, when a sweet, moderately elderly lady, who had long represented her ward, and done all that a good councillor should do (including supporting music festivals) didn't proof read her election material very well. Instead of saying that she bred irish terriors it said she bred irish terriosts!

She still got elected...

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24 Oct 03 - 11:57 PM (#1041444)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: LadyJean

In the spirit of Halloween I have just been reading up on the Fox Sisters. Sibelius, try saying, "Mr. Splitfoot do as I do." then clapping your hands four times. If you hear four taps in response, either there's a spirit in the house, or someone is cracking their toes. (Which is how one Fox sister claimed they made the noises.)
Quite seriously, I'd try the terrier. My sister has a terrier mix, (Part yorkie, part jack russell, part your guess is as good as mine.) shortly after the beastie took up residence, she killed a rat that had been living in the kitchen.
A friend had bats in her attic. Someone offered a black persian cat, called the Ayatollah Kitty Meini to take care of the bats.
In "Rats in the Walls" an American living in his ancestral home in England finds that his forbearers bred a race of subhuman creatures, that still inhabit the walls of the house. Bleah!

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25 Oct 03 - 12:25 AM (#1041458)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Little Hawk

The floorboard tapping noise is the skunk trying to get Clinton Hammond to stop making offensive noises in the middle of the day!

(check other thread about "Getting a skunk out from under the porch")

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25 Oct 03 - 03:09 AM (#1041482)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: GUEST,Sibelius

Little Hawk, I did consider suggesting to Clinton that he try out some of the ideas from this thread to get rid of his skunk, but I was afraid of being accused of self-indulgently spotlighting my own thread!

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25 Oct 03 - 03:26 PM (#1041705)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Penny S.

Are you detached? Semi or terrace? I have spent a day hearing noises upstairs which have travelled from work done below my downstairs floor (I'm in a two floor maisonette over a flat). I know that sounds travel very oddly laterally as well.

I also get sounds from within boards, because mine were cut with the grain curving through them in such a way that they bend. Not like your sounds, though. Is there any particular time that they happen? Is it unusually dry in Manchester at the moment? My boards creak more in different weathers, though I haven't correlated them well yet.

Penny

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06 Nov 03 - 12:06 PM (#1049246)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Peterr

I'm getting nervous about Sibelius's welfare. Has the mysterious noise got him, or has he decided the story has gone on long enough?

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06 Nov 03 - 12:33 PM (#1049267)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: McGrath of Harlow

Last time Sibelius posted anywhere on the Mudcat was 25th October...

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08 Nov 03 - 09:11 AM (#1050110)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: JennyO

Ooooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhh! The gremlins under the floorboards got him!

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08 Nov 03 - 09:39 AM (#1050119)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Amos

He didn't think he would need a weapon when he lifted the floorboards to find the source of the tapping. And since then, not a sign. One floorboard is a bit loose, but ... nothing but silence. The Inspectors are baffled. They assume he went off, p'raps to Argentina. Maybe a love interest. They say they are still investigating, but I don't think they are very serious about it.

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08 Nov 03 - 11:04 AM (#1050148)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Stilly River Sage

Jane Yolen wrote a short story called "The Babysitter" (they've read it on Selected Shorts) that deals with things that go thump in the night. Maybe he didn't do the correct routine upon entering the house the last time?

SRS

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27 Nov 03 - 06:20 AM (#1061887)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Bassic

Any news?

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27 Nov 03 - 07:28 AM (#1061920)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Dave Bryant

What gender is Sibelius - I got the retort Hey, whaddya mean "calls himself..."?? earlier on in this thread which makes me think that said catter is female.

Sibelius lives in Manchester, so does Noreen or any other catter from the area have any more details ?   

I will PM Sibelius - to find out more.

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27 Nov 03 - 07:29 AM (#1061921)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Dave Bryant

Whoops - can't - she/he is a Guest.

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27 Nov 03 - 07:44 PM (#1062277)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: McGrath of Harlow

Over a month now and no word. And it was only a couple of days before Halloween too...

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27 Nov 03 - 08:03 PM (#1062290)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: artbrooks

Dragged off into the underfloor and eaten. Never to be seen again by the eyes of mankind.

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27 Nov 03 - 08:03 PM (#1062292)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: The Fooles Troupe

Omigod! the tapping noise (thread) is back!

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27 Nov 03 - 08:20 PM (#1062298)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Bassic

This is irisistable..........tap

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27 Nov 03 - 08:21 PM (#1062299)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Bassic

..............tap......................

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27 Nov 03 - 08:22 PM (#1062300)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Bassic

.............100!!!!!!!!!!! :-)

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28 Nov 03 - 05:56 AM (#1062416)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Dave Bryant

Perhaps the monster ate Sibelius as a desert - you know a sort of Karelia sweet.

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28 Nov 03 - 06:29 AM (#1062438)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Bassic

Is that your Fin(a)l(andia)comment on the subject Dave? *groan*

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28 Nov 03 - 06:43 AM (#1062452)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: McGrath of Harlow

The original Sibelius did write an opera called "The Maiden in the Tower" - not your standard Sibelius either: "the lustful Bailiff (baritone) has seized the virginal Maiden (soprano), and imprisoned her in the castle tower. The noble retainers think the worst, and disown her, but the Lover (tenor) still believes in her innocence. He comes to rescue her, and draws his sword against the Bailiff..."

Nothing in it about things under the floorboards, so far as I know.

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21 Apr 05 - 04:18 PM (#1467287)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: GUEST,Sibelius

Hey..... it's stopped!

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21 Apr 05 - 07:57 PM (#1467440)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Ebbie

Glad it stopped, Sibelius. Do you know what caused it? Did it change over the months?

No tapping, but the other night I got out of bed rhree times because every three minutes or so there was an electronic-sounding beep beep! At first I thought it was a low battery in my phone, so I disconnected it, both the phone cord and the electricity connection. Went back to bed in great satisfaction. And then beep beep! Got out of bed again and stood stock still. Ascertained it was not the smoke alarm, and not the other phone, which was not even connected in the first place. It sounded like it came from the floor. Moved two chairs, examined behind the drapes, checked the bedside table surface, checked my bedside clock. beep beep! Went back to bed. beep beep! Got ear plugs. Went back to bed.

Still have no idea what it was. Haven't heard it since.

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21 Apr 05 - 08:10 PM (#1467460)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: The Fooles Troupe

The battery has expired on your pacemaker?

Hello?

Hello?

You still there?

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21 Apr 05 - 08:28 PM (#1467481)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Ebbie

No cigar, Foolestroupe.

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21 Apr 05 - 09:10 PM (#1467531)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Rapparee

Ebbie, it was the low battery signal for the bugging devices.

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22 Apr 05 - 05:49 AM (#1467770)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: The Fooles Troupe

I don't smoke, Ebbie, even after sex... I've looked!

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22 Apr 05 - 07:14 AM (#1467821)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: katlaughing

Ebbie, anything to do with your computer? We have a somethingorother which does that when theres a split second blip in the power; it's not a power surge strip thing. I cannot remember what it is called, at the moment, but it drove us nuts the first time because we couldn't figure out where it was coming from!*bg*

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22 Apr 05 - 09:58 PM (#1468537)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: The Fooles Troupe

Ah! My UPS wakes me up in the night when I get a power outage - I have 2 in the house - both 2 rooms away in different directions, and I can hear both, thru walls and closed doors. It seems the pitch carries well, even at low volume. But you would have known of a general power outage.

I have found though that occasionally one of the little beasties gets upset for apparently no good reason, no power outage, etc. Just switching it off and turning it off at the wall then back on, and waiting a few minutes before restarting this UPS makes it happy. I have never known mine to reset by itself though.

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22 Apr 05 - 10:04 PM (#1468546)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Rapparee

Aye, 'tis the hauntings, 'tis. 'Tis the ghosties who come out to possess your electronic things, 'tis those who have passed over trying to tell us things, things of great import, things that we need to know.

'Tis the Tommyknockers and the Kobolds, e'en the Banshee herself, trying to break through the electronic cage we've surrounded ourselves with.

Are you sure it wasn't a smoke detector?

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22 Apr 05 - 10:10 PM (#1468552)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Peace

Hot water pipe expanding and contracting. Either that or--well, did you ever see "The Exorcist"?

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22 Apr 05 - 10:18 PM (#1468558)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: The Fooles Troupe

It could have been a smoke detector in another room, but they normally beep for ages before the battery dies, unless you had a cheap battery in it.

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22 Apr 05 - 10:30 PM (#1468563)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Ebbie

Nope. Forgot to mention that I checked both smoke detectors in the vicinity. Besides, it wasn't a chirpburble. It was a beep beep!

I very purposefully missed seeing 'The Exorcist'. The promos were enough for me.

No pipes.

Foolestroupe, what is a UPS? I'm guessing that it's an internet server? In the States, UPS is a courier service- I would be VERY surprised if they showed up at my door in the middle of the night.

Yep. I guess Rapaire is correct. Ho hum. See how blase* I am? *G*

*Insert mark

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22 Apr 05 - 10:42 PM (#1468571)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: The Fooles Troupe

Uninterruptible Power Supply. You would surely know what it was if you had one for your PC. I also have one for my TV/Video - power outages mean that the things have to be reprogrammed! and when on standby, they will be sustained for a couple of hours - also I can watch 15 mins more TV before it gives out. :-) They will normally reset and stop beeping when the power comes nack on, but you should have known if you had a power failure...

Never, ever send anything to Australia via UPS, they break things (like playing football with accordions!) then always deny the insurance claims. Also no Queensland office, and they rely on independent contractors to make delivery from Sydney. Use the USPS (who link up Australlia Post) - The Australian Post Office takes far more care, especially at this end, and UPS are no faster and often more expensive.

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23 Apr 05 - 07:48 PM (#1469040)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: The Fooles Troupe

The tiny invisible elves from the CIA came and replaced the battery while you were asleep.

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24 Apr 05 - 07:54 AM (#1469227)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Bobert

Yo, GUEST, Sibelius,

What brucie has said above is probably the culprit... Aeeing as it is getting warmer out there is less contraction in the hot water pipe from ambiant (outside) temperatures... It hasn't really gona a way at all but will be back next fall as the temperatures cool down...

You can correct this by wrapping your hot water pipes with a foam insulation tubes which are cheap... Oh course you may have to hire a kid to crawl unner the house to install them... Or not and then you can refresh this thread in 6 months???

Einstien: "Insanity is repeating a behavior expecting different results..."

Good luck either way...

Bobert

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24 Apr 05 - 11:43 AM (#1469292)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Richard in Manchester

Einstein also said that without ideas that seem ridiculous at first, there is no innovation.

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24 Apr 05 - 12:01 PM (#1469303)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: McGrath of Harlow

"Repeating a behaviour expecting different results" is surely how most of us learned to play musical instruments.

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24 Apr 05 - 07:59 PM (#1469681)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: The Fooles Troupe

... and write computer programs ...

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24 Apr 05 - 09:12 PM (#1469746)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: Rapparee

Did you ever consider that it might be a very tiny fiddler with very big feet who is playing a set for very tiny dancers?

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24 Apr 05 - 09:18 PM (#1469751)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: The Fooles Troupe

It's the Pixies!


Run Away!

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24 Apr 05 - 09:29 PM (#1469758)
Subject: RE: BS: Floorboard tapping noise: what can it be
From: GUEST,Imp

wussies!

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