To ask you how to identify this noise

[StrangeSqueaking]

Over the past few weeks I've been hearing a squeaking / rubbing noise in the living room of my flat. At first I thought it came from next door, but the neighbour's said that he hears it too and doesn't know what it is.

It sounds like a bed squeaking - like wood rubbing against wood, or maybe even a boiler bubbling, I guess? Maybe pipes? It's really loud and seems to happen every few minutes.

That wall backs on to the neighbour's kitchen, which is why I wondered if it could be a boiler making a loud squeaking / rubbing / bubbling noise that's coming through the wall. The neighbour's new and has been doing DIY but says he hasn't had any plumbing done. There's a bit of a language barrier, though so I don't know whether either of us quite understood.

He's going to go up to the roof to check (we're both on the top floor next to each other) to see if something's banging or squeaking there. If he can't see anything, how do we find out what it is?! Would I need a builder to come around? Or a plumber? An exorcist?

Mouse?!

But it's so loud! It's more like a wooden squeak, if that makes sense? It's kind of like when you squeak furniture across the floor, or shove the kitchen table with your hip and all the wood squeaks together as it tilts a bit.

If it was his bedroom on the other side instead of the kitchen I'd be wondering if he were having a marathon shagging session!

Friction of a phallus through a secret glory hole?

Haha, @ShirleyPhallus! He doesn't seem the type, somehow. But maybe that's just what he wants me to think

It's driving me nuts - it seems worse at the moment with the wind, which I guess could mean it's something banging or scraping across the roof. I don't even know how he's going to get up on the roof, there literally isn't any access and we're 5 floors up.

Aerial? Sky dish? Nesting noisey bastard birds...
Ime.

Is there a chimney there? sounds like a bird stuck somewhere or trying to nest

Sorry just seen your 5 floors up so chimney not likely! sounds like something on the roof

Oh, those are good ideas, @Easterbunnygettingready! It could definitely be an aerial squeaking. I don't think a satellite dish because I'm fairly sure it's on the back wall, but an aerial - yes.

It could be birds as we do have loads of pigeons. But would they squeak?? I guess it's bird nesting time, but surely they couldn't be quite that noisy / squeaky? It's a bit like a wet finger drawn across a mirror - that kind of squeak.

Does the noise occur at regular intervals? Are there any clear blocks of time during the day without the noise?

I don't want to bother them if it's birds (though I wish they'd picked somewhere else!). But it sounds so loud! I assumed the noise was just getting amplified or distorted by coming down the wall, if that makes sense.

No, @MustBeDueSomeBetterFeet, there doesn't seem to be any particular time. I don't think I've heard it at night, though, it seems to be a daytime thing only.

@StrangeSqueaking This would drive me absolutely bonkers.

I noticed a really strange noise on one side of our house, an intermittent knocking, which turned out to be a noise the bathroom extractor fan made for the two hours after it was shut off bizarrely. Luckily in a spare room!