Please help me solve mysterious tapping noise in wall!

[Stupidtapping]

Last year from Jan to March I was kept awake most of the night by an intermittent tapping noise coming from the top of the bedroom wall, just underneath the coving. It is an intermittent tap, not regular, that sounds similar to recordings of death watch beetle but again, less regular as sometimes there is just one or two taps and sometimes there are 20 quick taps in a row. I've been told it can't be deathwatch beetle as the house is modern, built in 2000.

I tried all sorts of things to figure out what it was, even bought an endoscope but before I could use that the tapping just stopped in March 2020.

Now it is back again and driving me crazy! I went into the loft and used the endoscope into the cavity wall space but it won't go down far enough into the wall to where the noise is coming from.

Does anyone have any ideas of what it could be, it is driving me crazy and I'm not getting any sleep.

There are no pipes or electrics in that area. I have put down sticky insect traps in the loft but caught nothing. I have put down cheese/crackers/peanut butter in the loft and it isn't touched. You can't hear the noise from the loft, only from the bedroom. It is in one specific place and doesn't moved around, difficult to locate exactly but in about a 30cm square area.

Does anyone have any ideas of what it could be before I abandon the bedroom and sleep on the sofa?

Ha! I'd better not show that to my DCs or they will be forever singing it!

Sorry @PigletJohn I am a dunce at these kind of things. I have no idea if we have a water pressure gauge or where it would be located. But there are no water or heating pipes on the side of the wall where the tapping is coming from.

I would look for the common factor. Does it only happen when it's windy, or when someone takes a shower, or only at a certain time or temperature?

If you hold a length of piping (hose or similar) to your ear and the wall you'll find it a lot easier to locate the sound exactly.

Thanks, I'll try that. I can't seem to find any common factor except possibly when it's windy but I've also heard it a few times when it hasn't been obviously windy.

I'd make a note of wind direction, too.

Hi stupidtapping,

I read this entire thread—every word—in baited breath at 4:30am. We are having the exact. Same. Problem. Intermittent tapping or clicking in the wall on the top floor under the soffit. Just started a few days ago (winter 2021). Slightly too loud for noise machine. No electrical wires or pipes of any kind in that area (and we have pretty extensive experience with those noises). We don’t have a boiler, we have forced heat. Closest sound I’ve found is recording of death watch beetle. House is older but made of brick.

Did you ever figure it out!?! WHAT IS THE ANSWER?!

As Sam has bumped this thread into life, I too want to know if you figured out what the tapping was @Stupidtapping

@Sam2334 you have to @ then the user name to alert someone, it will then email them. Or you can direct message them too.

Hi, I don't have a definite answer I'm afraid but the good news is that it stopped! My best guess is that it was a wall tie between the bricks that was moving about in the wind. I poked around a lot with the endoscope and think I must have dislodged it. I haven't heard it for ages now and am hoping it doesn't come back this winter.

It was the bane of my life and kept me awake so many nights! Hope you can get to the bottom of your noise.

Bats? We had some earlier this year and they made a scrapping/ tapping noise all day - in the evening we could see them fly out of tiny tiny gaps in the roof/ edge of the wall (dormer window) and swoop round the garden...

No it was inside of the cavity wall on the inside of the house, ifyswim, nowhere for bats to go in and out.

I also bought an endoscope to put down the cavity and couldn't see anything.

Ah! Well, quite happy that it has ceased for you! I will look into an endoscope and see if I can't get lucky, too. I will let you know if I ever solve it!

We had same problem. Three knocks every 20 seconds. In the mid-afternoon or around nine at night. Drove us bonkers wondering what it was. Finally went round to the neighbours to ask if they also heard it, and then we found our answer. It was her partner playing darts! Truth stranger than fiction.

I had that problem for years, moving from one apartment to the next and found out it was my neighbor harassing me. I reported her, recorded the noise and she was eventually evicted. No more noises since. You see, we have these people who watch too much Tic - Toc and they learn these bad habits because they are bad! My neighbor had the audacity to call herself my friend while making those noises to disturb and harass me all at the same time. It's not Ghosts nor do pipes make those kinds of sounds. Just look your neighbor who is close to the wall the noises are coming from and ask, "Why do you keep tapping on my wall, I appreciate if you would stop?" And let them know you've reported it to the Landlord.
This should resolve your problem!!!