Bang noise in the middle of the night from the attic

[KingKitty]

The night before last, I was woken up in the middle of the night from a loud bang noise in the attic. It only really lasted a few seconds. It was still loud. It nearly sounded like something falling and maybe falling onto a water tank. Something didn't sounder right.

It was so odd. It was in the middle of the night. It was t the first time I heard it either.

Unfortunately I am afraid of heights and I am unable to go up to the attic and have a look. I don't have anyone in my life to be able to have a look. Maybe in the summer time I might have someone to help.

I stayed awake for a while after that. The house was silent. I didn't hear anything like the pitter patter of feet. So I doubt it's a rat up there. I just don't know.

Has anyone else experienced similar before? Just a loud bang out of nowhere in the middle of the night coming from the attic.

It was so weird. It definitely wasn't the first time it happened. Definitely happened a few times before. But I never took note of it.

This happened to me once. When I had it checked out the noise was caused by a beam splitting. It was a very old house though.

Our house does that when there’s a change in temperature - a frosty night after a sunny day. It’s just expansion/contraction noises. Quite a loud repeated bang sometimes.

Or, do you have mouse traps up there? They can make a loud bang when they snap especially if it flips about a bit.

A few years after we moved into this house we heard an unexplained bang one night in the loft space.

Didn't think too much of it until we noticed a sticky, dark reddish brown liquid dripping slowly down the bedroom wall through a gap where the coving had lifted a little away from the plaster.

It reminded us of that scene in Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles where the landlady sees blood dripping through the ceiling after Tess has murdered her husband, Alex d'Urberville.

We went into the loft to investigate and found that a tin of red wine making concentrate (now several years old that had been stored in the loft when we first moved along with a box of wine making equipment and demijohns) had fermented and blown a hole in the tin.

The liquid was seeping down through the ceiling boards and out through the gap between the top of the wall and the coving.

Rats that have got into the roof space via the cavity walls will push stuff over and scatter the contents of boxes.

I hope you can find out what may have caused the noise.

Do you have any electrical wiring or plugs in the loft space?

How high can your attic be?

Options:

1. Get up ladder and find cause or not
2. Speculate on MN

When I heard scrabbling kind of sounds in our attic, my friend commented that it was probably my husband’s mad first wife 😁 ( a la Bertha in Jane Eyre).

In fact, an owl had got in and got itself out when we peered in.

You mention the water tank. I think it could be to do with the plumbing as it can make funny noises.
It may be what Allthegoodusernamesarechosen suggests, but maybe a plumber should take a look.

This happens in our house quite regularly as the temperatures change. It’s the rafters in the roof adjusting.

Could it be squirrels or bats?

There's only one way to find out OP, someone has to go up and have a look! Otherwise you will just continue speculating. It could be something that needs attention so you'd be wise to act on it.

We had a big crash in the night and it was the kitchen ceiling falling in from a leak. Our pipes also making banging or knocking noises sometimes.

Definitely worth investigating asap as if you have a burst pipe or a leak, the sooner you sort it out the better unless you want your ceilings crashing down around you!

You got a Frogger

I would get a handyperson in as PP suggested to have a look and see if anything needs fixing.

Bats bashing things or nesting birds
moving about at night.
get someone to go up

I think it would be a good idea to get someone to help you. If they empty the they could have a look round at the same time (droppings, lose tiles etc) and then you'd feel safer too. If you then sort all the stuff out (with a very cathartic chuck out) and they return to put the few back of stuff you really need you'll probably feel much better.

My house has literally just done this lol new build well 5 years old it genuinely sounded like someone was stamping up there nothing is in my lost due to not allowed to according to my housing association but yep bizzare