Discussions

Is it me or does other people have roof cracking noise at night time?  
 
Seems like it started after the stupid weather that we had lately....  
 
Anyone....

from the freezing rain on roof now its getting really cold and the ice is cracking

have excessive snow on the roof after the storm? If yes get if off. what you are hearing are nail pops. The roof is moving either from weight on the roof or from thermal bridging. Heat escaping into the attic and heating up the steel nails causing them to expand and contract popping against the wood framing members.

do you have a lot of snow on your roof?

My house has been making a lot of noise as well since the storm. Noticed it last night especially, and still creaking some now. Thinking it might have moved a bit with the high winds and now with the cold it is popping back into place. Glad it isn't just me!

It's likely making a popping sound because of the cold. It's pretty common. Every place I've ever lived in has made a popping sound when it's cold out. Check the articles out below, they explain what causes the popping noises.  
 
http://carletonnow.carleton.ca/february-2005/why-does-my-house-make-loud-cracking-sounds-in-very-cold-weather/  
 
http://www.theoaklandpress.com/general-news/20140109/cold-temperature-causes-homes-to-make-loud-cracking-noises

I'm so glad you posted this. It started last night and I couldn't figure out what the heck the noise was. It sounds like snowballs are hitting the roof. We were pretty sure it wasn't any critters as the noises would jump from one area to another. Plus we don't have much snow on the roof. Thanks for putting my mind at ease.  
 
Edited by PoohBear, 2017-03-10 00:22:55

in my new house it has been 3 nights now with loud cracking sounds

Mine has been too!! Newer house and had never noticed it before!

I've been in my new house for 4 years now. The past 2 nights has been the worst in the 4 yes.  
 
I also don't think there is much snow on my roof.

Yep here too. Never ever in our 16 years have we heard these noises. It started Wednesday night and scared the heck out of us at midnight. It is fine during the day and then again last night.  
 
Sounds like someone hitting the house with snowballs and something on the roof

Happening the last 2 night.. The first time it happened we thought someone was throwing stuff at the house and this was a midnight scared us pretty good haha

snow from your roof top ruins your shingles. Do not do this.

Just wondering how much freezing rain is on the roofs of most houses, while in Souris yesterday, I couldn't help notice the amount of actual ice that was covering the complete roof area of most homes. Most of us are familiar with nail popping in really cold weather, but I'm inclined to think that this is more the result of ice sheets fracturing on the roof surface. Our roof surface was not completely snow free before the storm, except on the north side, which was blown snow free in both storms. We had two large thumps last night, both seemed to happen in areas of the roof that were snow free before the freezing rain.

Thanks so much for this posting. We are on our third night of the roof popping. I checked the riff yesterday and there's virtually no snow on it. My wife was so scared someone was trying to break in she wanted me to patrol the house with the rifle. Wasn't going to happen but some of those pops are very loud.

I would think warmer weather will help.. but temps are suppose to be cold until next week. I am pretty sure most of us will still have the popping atleast a few more nights.

GoWheatiesGo said "snow from your roof top ruins your shingles. Do not do this. "

can you explain your statement there especially to those whose their roofs collapsed this winter.

We were about to hire someone to take a look at the roof as this has been going on for a few nights now. It sounded like someone thumping on the house with their fist. Has to be the result of the freezing rain we got because there's hardly any snow up there.

1 chance said "    GoWheatiesGo said "snow from your roof top ruins your shingles. Do not do this. " can you explain your statement there especially to those whose their roofs collapsed this winter. "

I think they are referring to scraping right down to the shingles. Shingles are fragile at cold temperatures and it doesn't take much to chip or break them. Couple feet wet and heavy should be cleared or light and fluffy about 4'' is fine. Those that have roofs collapse either have really old poorly built roofs or there was something wrong in the first place.  
 
Edited by Fishin Guy, 2017-03-10 10:59:23

First we had a warm spell. Then rain leading to freezing rain and hard winds. It's the wind that probably contributes to most of the "cracking and Popping" that's now happening. Think of it this way... The house was in a relaxed state from all the above zero temps. Then quickly is pushed slightly out-of-shape from all the wind and covered in a layer of ice on the exterior, literally locking into that slightly off position. Now enter the deep freeze of the last two nights. The cold now contracts the exterior sections. Thus, the cracking and popping of the timber trying to go back into it's "natural" state/position it's usually in during the winter. That's why people who never heard their house make such noise before are experiencing now. It's this shot of cold that's forcing the structure to quickly revert back into position. If we had the same temps and gradually warmed, most of these homes would probably settled back without all the pops and bangs. It's nothing to worry about, unless there is a higher then normal amount of snow on the roof or new cracks in the walls or a drop in the center of the ceiling... Then there should be a cause for concern with the structural limits of the house. For most, they'll probably never hear something like that again until the next big shift in the temperature.  
 
Just my opinion, I could be wrong.

Thank you snowman!

its the house shifting...been happening in my house lately.

finally a post where I learned something. thanx for the post of the year. not sure if that is awarded though.

Wow look at all the posts about this. 2 or 3 nights ago I heard a double pop at 330 am. I got up and looked around for suspicious activity. And yep been hearing it the last couple nights. Post of the year! Lol

There have been statements saying about the popping sound, the sound we heard wasn't a popping sound but more like someone dropping something like a bag of cement powder on the roof.  
The part that I'm curious about is what type of roofs is this happening on, is it only happening on only a certain type of roof system such as truss rafters, or is it happening on older roofs that don't have a truss system, also the houses in question, was the wind hitting the house on the end walls. The winds where predominatly out of the west or north west, also where these houses facing the full brunt of the winds or were they partially sheltered. Last question have there been any cracks show up in interior ceilings. I have many other questions but this is a start.

considering that we live in Canada and that houses are suppose to be built to hold the weight of snow (as per code), most roofs can support 20lbs per cubic foot. Compact snow weighs roughly around 20lb per cubic foot when it compact and wet.  
 
All I was saying that you don't need to scrape down to the very bottom and wreck your shingles, all you are wanting to do is ease your roof from the weight load.  
 
If your roof is going to collapse from the weight of snow, you most likely had other problems already starting to happen.

It is the ice on the roof cracking

it was more of a boom or a loud thud. I initially thought it was someone banging on the side of the house or maybe the door. because I initially heard 2 I thought it was someone banging on the house. but after awhile I heard it again,and again. so it was not a 'popping' sound. I just used that term as the posts before me used it.

don brown said "There have been statements saying about the popping sound, the sound we heard wasn't a popping sound but more like someone dropping something like a bag of cement powder on the roof.   The part that I'm curious about is what type of roofs is this happening on, is it only happening on only a certain type of roof system such as truss rafters, or is it happening on older roofs that don't have a truss system, also the houses in question, was the wind hitting the house on the end walls. The winds where predominatly out of the west or north west, also where these houses facing the full brunt of the winds or were they partially sheltered. Last question have there been any cracks show up in interior ceilings. I have many other questions but this is a start. "

To answer:  
 
Our current home is a truss roof. Our previous home was a truss roof. I don''t often hear the popping in this house, this is really the first time that I can remember hearing multiple ones. It''s a bungalow, and because of our proximity to the river we have a fairly high clay content in our substrata. We''re a west-east orientation. Our previous house was a 1/2 duplex, a 2-story, and we could only hear the popping upstairs but it did it constantly when it was colder than -20. That house shifted very quickly with the weather, where you could close a bedroom door tight at bed, but by morning you couldn''t open it! It was on very sandy substrata where it was. It was a north-south orientation.  
 
Neither of those houses have significant cracking. My current house settled weird, but it hasn''t moved in decades.  
 
Previous to that, we lived in Winnipeg in a 40''s vintage 1.5 story house and I don''t remember any popping there. My parents are also live in a truss bungalow in Winnipeg, and I don''t remember hearing it there, ever, growing up.  
 
Edit to add: our duplex and my parents' house were both the same builder/designer - Engineered Homes - even if they were in different cities. The only significant difference is the substrata.  
 
Edited by Abbysmum, 2017-03-10 19:54:37

The reason for all the questions is that I read snowmans reply and thought it sounded very logical, and was sort of curious of shifts that could be caused in roof systems because of the high winds. I have lived in a hundred year old house, a cheap mobile home with walls that were very thin, and the my present house. I have heard nails or screws pop in two of these structures, the pops were more like a rifle shot and not like this mojor thump.  
I got busy reading on nail pops, but far to much of the information was on decks, and not enough on structures that were protected from moisture or had an interior heat source. There was some information of joint expansion and contraction, that could happen with drastic swings in temperature, but that should happen any time there were drastic temperature swings, so it left me wondering how much of a factor the wind did play in these loud thumps we are hearing. I was not able to find information about what effects freezing rain had in making strange structure sounds, except for concern over excessive accumulation.  
 
At times I'm like that old saying,"curiosity killed the cat, satisfaction brought him back".