I cleaned off my roof so I know it is not the weight of snow. I hear loud pops, cracks, and creeks in my house during cold nights. What can it be?
Its from the extreme cold most likely. Ours was doing that last night too. I was nervous thinking about the snow and ice on the roof, but theres only around 6 inches. The deck this morning sounded horrid, and I wondered if my next step would be my last.......... nope, its just the cold.
Frost popping in the ground. Happened all over this area last year. I haven't heard it yet this year but the first time I did it scared the chit out of me
It's actually the lack of snow not insulating the ground and with the extreme cold the frost is going deep. Also called frost quakes. http://globalnews.ca/news/1740203/the-frost-quakes-have-returned-what-have-we-learned-since-2014/
My deck likes to "talk" in this extreme cold. Every once in a while you hear a bang, like an M-80, startles you bad! I walked across it this morning leaving for work and it was BANG, BANG BANG.....
The house itself can creak and groan from the building materials expanding and contracting in the cold. Your siding, sheathing, etc is all shrinking in the extreme cold but the warmer framing inside is not shrinking so from time to time something shifts. In this old post and beam house the sound of it is enough to make you think somethings about to cave in when one of the large beams shifts. Happens all the time in winter and completely harmless.
Same here. Wasnt sure if I was being shot at this morning. (Yea, I pee outside in the cold; only 1 bathroom)
Yep, our deck explodes every once in a while too. Sounds just like a gun. Buddy of mine built a log home 40 years ago. He said the first 2 winters were unreal as the beams were still drying and would canon blast all night long it seemed. He said you could feel it too. The beams would have massive open cracks following the grain. No structural issues... that's just what they do.
Yep, in the old days when they built houses by hand all the posts and beams where cut on site and assembled green (easier to square the beams and cut all those mortise and tenon joints with hand tools like Axe's and Adze's working green wood). Most of the timbers in my house have those massive checks and cracks. Some even have holes where a knot from an old branch stub dried out and fell out.
You would have liked this Jeremy... an old fashioned post and beam raising... 24'x75' x 2 stories up. 12/12 pitch roof. 30 men... 6 AM until 8 PM... the builder had pre-made every piece, every mortice and tenon joint over a 6 month period during the winter. 8"x8" stuff. 6 bents were already assembled and laid down like dominos along the 75'. I got there with an 80' crane and got one h*ll of a session doing hundreds of lifts in every zone of that frame. It was a sight to see with that crew drilling holes for all of the wooden pegs and driving them with huge long handle wood mallets. Every single piece fit like a glove (still can't believe that) ... one of those jobs you never forget. What a blast I had that day!
Thanks, the first to you hear it is a bit unsettling. Frost quakes sounds like a dunkin donuts product.
We built a log home 5 years ago. The first 3 winters we did hear all kinds of "wood noises" as the logs dried even more. Cracking, popping etc. Really threw me at first. Logs used were dried for 2-4 years in the log yard prior to building. It's over now even in the coldest nights. Never had any structural issues but we do have some interior cracks.
Walking across the deck first thing in the morning is like walking through a mine field, so cool. I also like the firewood ring next to the stove, after bringing in a load of cold splits and I let it sit next to the stove for a little bit you get small pops from that too. My wife thinks theres an animal in the wood
I've never heard any loud noises from the sub-zero temps, but last winter there was a lot of frost heave. In some areas the ground rose up a few inches and I noticed that the contour of the yard had changed in some places when I was cutting grass in the spring. I'm sure I'll find more signs of it this spring, after the muck dries.
In Maine, every spring, that frost brings a new crop of rocks growing up and out of the ground. 99% of them I then find with the mower...
I always had the belief that the noise came from nails "popping" or letting loose. Think of the sound one makes when you are removing it. Of course, this happens when it is bitterly cold. Along with that, I believe if you have any ice on the roof, it can also be the ice "stress cracking". Now there's a wake up call! Sounds louder than if someone was on the roof with a splitting maul! If you've ever been on a frozen lake and heard/felt a pressure crack, you'll know what I'm talking about......
