Jessicayiyi
New Member
This is a very complicated issue that has been going on since late Sep 2013. I will try to start from something simple and get into something more complicated.
Something Simple:
- We live in a town home, no one above us. There is an attic with some pipes, etc.. We have been living here since Feb 2013.
- We hear water/pipe noise from our ceiling of bedroom at midnights.
- The time is kind of random: 1am, 3am, 4am.
- The noise usually lasts for 1 hour. On a couple of days, it lasted for 3-4 hours.
- The noise sounds like pouring water into an empty container, consistent “pouring” for 5 seconds every 15-18 seconds. There is also sound of water dripping which resonates in the entire attic (usually this is the sound that wakes us up). Also sound of water bubbling once in a while after the “pouring”.
- Here is a dropbox link for downloading a recording of the noise. https://www.dropbox.com/s/zrsj86fyfzfekd0/Memo.m4a. Toilet flushed at 4:20.
To make things more complicated:
- On the 2nd or the 3rd midnight we heard the noise, we got up and went to check on what was going on.
- We flushed the toilet and immediately we heard a very loud hammering noise that repeated for a couple of times. We tried flushing another 2 toilets and same hammering sound took place. We were certain that this does not happen during day time.
- We called in a plumber the next day and described everything to him (because we cannot reproduce the noise), he looked into the toilets and said the parts are old so there could be leaking. We had him replace everything in all the toilets. It did not help.
- On another midnight soon after, at 1am, when the same water/pipe noise came up and the same hammering sound came on after flush, we called in another plumber at 2am. He tested the pressure regulator and said the pressure dropped when the hammering sound came on so he installed a new regulator.
- Immediately after the regulator is replaced, the hammering sound went away no matter how much we flush the toilets.
- We were very happy and slept well for a week or so, but the water/pipe noise came back one morning at 4am. Tried flushing the toilets, no hammering sound and no change in the pattern of the water/pipe noise.
To make things even more complicated:
- Before all the noise (water/pipe, hammering) appeared, we had a leakage from the fire sprinkler pipe in the ceiling/attic that created some mass upstairs. Fortunately, everything is covered by HOA.
- A fire safety company came more than a week later and repaired the leaking pipe. It took quite some time before they came to repair, because --- according to HOA --- not many companies are familiar with our community and they do not know where the valves are.
- The first midnight after the repair, we started to get the water/pipe noise.
- The plumber checked the attic (as we believe the noise was coming from there), and told us that there is no plumbing but only fire sprinkler pipes. Highest level of plumbing is shower which is ~2.5 feet below the attic.
- We did one experiments one midnight when the noise came on:
1. We turned off the main valve to the entire house.
2. We drained all the water in the house (no water is coming out from the lowest faucet)
3. The water/pipe noise kept going for another 1-2 hours until dawn.
Current situation:
- We sent the recording of the noise to the fire safety company. They listened to it and insisted that the noise is not coming from the fire sprinkler pipe according to their many years of experience and refused to come out and do anything.
- We sent the recording of the noise to the plumbers who did all the toilet, regulator work (we paid them). They listened to it but they could not figure out what might cause the noise, and cannot do anything if we are not able to reproduce the sound during day time.
- We sent the recording of the noise to the HOA. They said they could hardly hear anything in the recording and suggested us to 1) go ask our neighbors whether they are hearing the same thing, and whether they take shower or do laundry at night? 2) Check if there are rodents in the attic.
We are feeling very exhausted & frustrated at this moment from what have happened and from sleep deprivation. Any suggestion, comments or help would be very much appreciated.
Many thanks in advance!
Jessie
jiayingfeng(at)outlook.com
Something Simple:
- We live in a town home, no one above us. There is an attic with some pipes, etc.. We have been living here since Feb 2013.
- We hear water/pipe noise from our ceiling of bedroom at midnights.
- The time is kind of random: 1am, 3am, 4am.
- The noise usually lasts for 1 hour. On a couple of days, it lasted for 3-4 hours.
- The noise sounds like pouring water into an empty container, consistent “pouring” for 5 seconds every 15-18 seconds. There is also sound of water dripping which resonates in the entire attic (usually this is the sound that wakes us up). Also sound of water bubbling once in a while after the “pouring”.
- Here is a dropbox link for downloading a recording of the noise. https://www.dropbox.com/s/zrsj86fyfzfekd0/Memo.m4a. Toilet flushed at 4:20.
To make things more complicated:
- On the 2nd or the 3rd midnight we heard the noise, we got up and went to check on what was going on.
- We flushed the toilet and immediately we heard a very loud hammering noise that repeated for a couple of times. We tried flushing another 2 toilets and same hammering sound took place. We were certain that this does not happen during day time.
- We called in a plumber the next day and described everything to him (because we cannot reproduce the noise), he looked into the toilets and said the parts are old so there could be leaking. We had him replace everything in all the toilets. It did not help.
- On another midnight soon after, at 1am, when the same water/pipe noise came up and the same hammering sound came on after flush, we called in another plumber at 2am. He tested the pressure regulator and said the pressure dropped when the hammering sound came on so he installed a new regulator.
- Immediately after the regulator is replaced, the hammering sound went away no matter how much we flush the toilets.
- We were very happy and slept well for a week or so, but the water/pipe noise came back one morning at 4am. Tried flushing the toilets, no hammering sound and no change in the pattern of the water/pipe noise.
To make things even more complicated:
- Before all the noise (water/pipe, hammering) appeared, we had a leakage from the fire sprinkler pipe in the ceiling/attic that created some mass upstairs. Fortunately, everything is covered by HOA.
- A fire safety company came more than a week later and repaired the leaking pipe. It took quite some time before they came to repair, because --- according to HOA --- not many companies are familiar with our community and they do not know where the valves are.
- The first midnight after the repair, we started to get the water/pipe noise.
- The plumber checked the attic (as we believe the noise was coming from there), and told us that there is no plumbing but only fire sprinkler pipes. Highest level of plumbing is shower which is ~2.5 feet below the attic.
- We did one experiments one midnight when the noise came on:
1. We turned off the main valve to the entire house.
2. We drained all the water in the house (no water is coming out from the lowest faucet)
3. The water/pipe noise kept going for another 1-2 hours until dawn.
Current situation:
- We sent the recording of the noise to the fire safety company. They listened to it and insisted that the noise is not coming from the fire sprinkler pipe according to their many years of experience and refused to come out and do anything.
- We sent the recording of the noise to the plumbers who did all the toilet, regulator work (we paid them). They listened to it but they could not figure out what might cause the noise, and cannot do anything if we are not able to reproduce the sound during day time.
- We sent the recording of the noise to the HOA. They said they could hardly hear anything in the recording and suggested us to 1) go ask our neighbors whether they are hearing the same thing, and whether they take shower or do laundry at night? 2) Check if there are rodents in the attic.
We are feeling very exhausted & frustrated at this moment from what have happened and from sleep deprivation. Any suggestion, comments or help would be very much appreciated.
Many thanks in advance!
Jessie
jiayingfeng(at)outlook.com
Last edited: