This Is What Those Mysterious Creaks In Your House Really Mean

Whether it’s a rattle, screech, or ominous creak, we’ve all found ourselves confronted with an unfamiliar sound in our home in the middle of the night. And while your mind may conjure up a host of horror movie endings when those noises arise out of nowhere, in most cases, it’s just your house itself creating that cacophony. The only problem? Those bumps in the night might indicate something scary is actually wrong with your home.

So, read on to find out what those noises in your home really mean—and how to remedy what’s causing them. And for more ways to get handier around the house, check out these 40 Easy Home Maintenance Tasks You Should Do Yourself After 40.

1 Your floorboards are loose.

Those deep groans that seem to be coming from underneath your home could be something serious. When a home’s foundation begins to falter—whether due to improper construction, water damage, soil erosion, or other factors—it can produce loud groaning or popping noises as the materials crack or sink into the ground below it.

And it’s not just older homes that have foundation issues. In 2016, for example, a group of Connecticut homeowners filed suit against their insurance companies for denying claims related to their homes’ collapsing foundations, all of which had been poured in the past 36 years.

3 Your boiler isn’t lighting.

Those loud scratching, creaking, and scurrying sounds coming from behind your walls could be the result of a pest no bigger than your palm. “The volume of the noise that you hear can be very misleading. The mouse that’s chewing on your framing will be a lot louder than a squirrel that’s running along your insulation,” says state-licensed nuisance wildlife control operator Matt Osinskie, co-owner of Hudson Valley Wildlife Solutions in New York. To determine what kind of pest you have, “what you need to look for is time, duration, and frequency,” Osinskie says.

“The time of day or night will dictate if it’s a nocturnal or diurnal creature. Duration is important because squirrels will chew on your walls for hours at a time, trying to get from one point to another, but mice will be more erratic in their timing and will chew for a shorter duration,” Osinskie notes. “And regarding frequency, if you’re hearing the noise every day at the same time in the same area, that tends to be a squirrel or a nesting bird. Mice tend to be inconsistent—you’ll hear them for two minutes or 20 minutes, sometimes during the day, sometimes at night.”

5 Your pipes need securing.

That creaking sound coming from outside your home is a sign that your gutters are being used as an access point for pests to come inside. It’s usually the metal making noise as animals bend and pull it away from your house.

“Gutters can be utilized as a platform to sit on. Animals then chew through soffits and fascias to get into the house,” says Osinskie. Birds like starlings and sparrows are also common culprits when it comes to gutter noise, he notes. Osinskie frequently finds nests behind or underneath gutters, where they’re better protected.

7 You have a loose electrical connection.

That whistle you hear when you flush your toilet means it’s time to get to your local hardware store for a new fill valve. “It whistles just before it shuts off and needs to be replaced,” says Ingersoll. “Sometimes it gets a little dirt in it and it’s sticky, so before it shuts off, it makes a little squeal sound.”

The good news? It’s not a very expensive part to replace, usually costing $12 to $18.

9 Your hinges could use some lubrication.