Has anyone ever had "ticking" plasterboard before?
Discussion
I've got a single storey extension on the side of my house. A few weeks ago, i could hear a ticking noise coming from the plaster above me. It's near the corner, about 1ft away from it, where the ceiling meets the wall. It sounds like it's just above the plaster.
It's the same sound you hear when a car engine is ticking itself cool, or sometimes when the floor clicks when you've not had the heating on all winter.
Thing is, it's doing it all the time. I'm confident it's not dripping water. The loft space is so small (literally 2-3 foot in height) and none of it is boarded and I cant get over. Along with that, there's a s
tload of insulation in the way.
It does it day or night, and regardless of time of day or weather. It did it for about 5 hours the other day, and the temperature was about 14 degress, and the roof had no heat/sun on all day. I'm confident it's nothing cooling down and if I crack the ceiling plaster with my hand, the noise stops for maybe 10 minutes. I cant get up the side of the extension because the who built it, didnt leave a walkway down the side of the house, and decided to get it flush with a neighbours fence.
The only thing in that area, was I heard a buzzing noise from the light fitting (which is about 12 inches from the noise) a few weeks back. I popped the light fitting out (it's a ceiling spotlight flush with the ceiling) and a half crushed dead wasp dropped out. The noise definately sounds more like wood movment than any type of buzzing/natural noise, so I don't think it's any insects or anything.
It's starting to drive me totally mental. Any ideas?
It's the same sound you hear when a car engine is ticking itself cool, or sometimes when the floor clicks when you've not had the heating on all winter.
Thing is, it's doing it all the time. I'm confident it's not dripping water. The loft space is so small (literally 2-3 foot in height) and none of it is boarded and I cant get over. Along with that, there's a s
tload of insulation in the way.It does it day or night, and regardless of time of day or weather. It did it for about 5 hours the other day, and the temperature was about 14 degress, and the roof had no heat/sun on all day. I'm confident it's nothing cooling down and if I crack the ceiling plaster with my hand, the noise stops for maybe 10 minutes. I cant get up the side of the extension because the
who built it, didnt leave a walkway down the side of the house, and decided to get it flush with a neighbours fence. The only thing in that area, was I heard a buzzing noise from the light fitting (which is about 12 inches from the noise) a few weeks back. I popped the light fitting out (it's a ceiling spotlight flush with the ceiling) and a half crushed dead wasp dropped out. The noise definately sounds more like wood movment than any type of buzzing/natural noise, so I don't think it's any insects or anything.
It's starting to drive me totally mental. Any ideas?
thebraketester said:
If you switch of the power dies it still do it
Power on or off, still does it.stewjohnst said:
Ugh I hope not!!The only thing with this, is that all the videos i've just watched (and worried myself with) have the beetle bouncing it's head very quickly and rapidly to make a fast click noise. Mine is very slow in comparison, maybe one1 'click' per second, so I'm hoping it's not this.
However, a 'wood boring beetle' might be an answer, it seems to make a slower noise. Ugh.
un1corn said:
Ugh I hope not!!
The only thing with this, is that all the videos i've just watched (and worried myself with) have the beetle bouncing it's head very quickly and rapidly to make a fast click noise. Mine is very slow in comparison, maybe one1 'click' per second, so I'm hoping it's not this.
However, a 'wood boring beetle' might be an answer, it seems to make a slower noise. Ugh.
Sorry, I live in an old house that has had woodworm so it did come to mind. Wasps also like to chew old wood to make nests. I doubt it 's those but if you've got insulation up there an it's pushed in tight, are you sure you're getting enough ventilation though the roof space to avoid creating the conditions for woodworm.The only thing with this, is that all the videos i've just watched (and worried myself with) have the beetle bouncing it's head very quickly and rapidly to make a fast click noise. Mine is very slow in comparison, maybe one1 'click' per second, so I'm hoping it's not this.
However, a 'wood boring beetle' might be an answer, it seems to make a slower noise. Ugh.
If it is woodworm of some sort, they don't like dry wood so a decent airflow will dry any wood and below a certain humidity they can't eat it.
Can you pop out the light and get an endoscope camera up there?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Waterproof-6LED-USB-Andr...
Death watch beetle almost exclusively flourishes in previously rotted hardwood. Unless your extension was built with rotted reclaimed oak beams it would be virtually impossible to be dwb.
Also the noise they make is extremely quiet, you might be able to hear in the dead of the night. Hence their name.
Sorry, I can't offer any other suggestions.
Also the noise they make is extremely quiet, you might be able to hear in the dead of the night. Hence their name.
Sorry, I can't offer any other suggestions.
It could very well be wasps. I had something very similar a couple of months ago. It sounded like something stuck under the edge of the wallpaper or something, a sort of ticking, sort of scratching noise. Eventually they chewed their way through the coving and emerged, en masse, while I was out one day. Got home to about 2000 wasps in my sitting room, and had to evacuate and call someone out to sort it.
OpulentBob said:
It could very well be wasps. I had something very similar a couple of months ago. It sounded like something stuck under the edge of the wallpaper or something, a sort of ticking, sort of scratching noise. Eventually they chewed their way through the coving and emerged, en masse, while I was out one day. Got home to about 2000 wasps in my sitting room, and had to evacuate and call someone out to sort it.
Agreed, we had something similar a couple of years ago in the bathroom. Just like you describe, it sounded like a ticking noise in the ceiling - When you looked from outside, there were few (not loads, but enough) wasps flying around the roof line - We got an exterminator out and he got rid of them.When the bathroom was replaced couple of months ago which required the ceiling to be taken down the old wasps nest was found (and was quite big)and there were still a few dead wasp corpses kicking around too
C Lee Farquar said:
Death watch beetle almost exclusively flourishes in previously rotted hardwood. Unless your extension was built with rotted reclaimed oak beams it would be virtually impossible to be dwb.
Also the noise they make is extremely quiet, you might be able to hear in the dead of the night. Hence their name.
Sorry, I can't offer any other suggestions.
Agree on the hardwood bit...though they're not always that quiet depending on where they are. Damp and poor ventilation are the killers.Also the noise they make is extremely quiet, you might be able to hear in the dead of the night. Hence their name.
Sorry, I can't offer any other suggestions.
Insect infestation would be easy to spot though by taking a bit of plasterboard away and looking at the condition of the wood.
OP - could it be heating pipes? Are there any behind the area(s) you hear the ticking from?
Murph7355 said:
Agree on the hardwood bit...though they're not always that quiet depending on where they are. Damp and poor ventilation are the killers.
Insect infestation would be easy to spot though by taking a bit of plasterboard away and looking at the condition of the wood.
OP - could it be heating pipes? Are there any behind the area(s) you hear the ticking from?
Nope, no pipes in this area.Insect infestation would be easy to spot though by taking a bit of plasterboard away and looking at the condition of the wood.
OP - could it be heating pipes? Are there any behind the area(s) you hear the ticking from?
In terms of the wood, I'd assume it's good quality dry wood. The house is about 15 years old, and the extension is about 12.
Some sort of an insect is the primary culprit.
I can see where this is going, I'm going to have to pull all that f
king insulation out and get into the corner and have a look. That in it's own right is going to be a nightmare 
I've got something like this right now. Started a couple of months ago, but mine is something like once every 5-10 minutes rather than every second. I hadn't considered it being caused by insects - I suspected it was something expanding and contracting as the house warms and cools as it seems less frequent when the outside temperature is less than 15 degrees.
I would like to be rid of it, but I don't really fancy ripping the floor/ceiling up to track it down. If it was going every second though it would have sent me mad (but would be easier to locate I suppose).
I would like to be rid of it, but I don't really fancy ripping the floor/ceiling up to track it down. If it was going every second though it would have sent me mad (but would be easier to locate I suppose).
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