Expert: Michael Curry - 1/11/2008

Question
QUESTION: I live in an approximately 16-year-old two story brick house with a walk out
basement.  I have been living in this house for almost two years.  When it is
windy the walls creak, especially on the sides of the house.  The creaking is
very loud and appears to be worse on the 2nd floor.   Also, the creaking can
be reproduced by pushing on the drywall.  My husband thought that the
noise was being caused by nail movement, but pulling out a nail from the
drywall in one of the areas where the creaking seemed to originating from
and putting in two screws in place of the nail did nothing to help the
squeaking.  My husband feels that the next step to investigate the problem is
to remove the drywall, but he is not sure if after doing this the creaking can
be fixed as he does not know the cause the creaking.  What is the likely cause
of this creaking and what can be done, if anything, to fix the problem?

ANSWER: Hi Karen,

Your house is probably moving inside the brick veneer.

Does the drywall crack or nails pop?

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: There are no cracks and maybe one or two nail pops.  This is true for the
whole house.  Before we bought the house we had a home inspection and
nothing structurally was found wrong with the house.  The walls only creak
when it is windy or when you push on the drywall (you don't have to push
very hard on the drywall to make the walls creak) and mainly effects my son's
bedroom and the guest-room.  I think that the wind is somehow getting
between the brick veneer and the drywall and this is causing the creaking (my
husband does not agree with this).  Could this be the case?  Like I said in my
previous e-mail, the creaking is loud and when it is windy, my son is unable
to sleep in his bedroom due to the noise.   The noise is something that really
needs to be fixed if at all possible.  Any advice or suggestions as to how we
can investigate the source of the creaking and possible fixes will be appreciated.

Answer
Hi Karen,

Most houses make noises from time to time and even loud bangs. Your type of noise is uncommon. I have seen this in building with steel studs, but they are not used in residential much.

Two suggestions:
1. Re-screw the drywall and see if that helps. While re-screwing you will know if you have steel studs as the screw will stop momentarily at half an inch in.
2. Remove the drywall and let me know what you find.