My kids all play multiple instruments, and one of them does have a drum set. Ironically, that’s in his room and is generally quieter than the saxophones, clarinets, bass clarinet, piano, and sundry other instruments that are in constant rotation…
@shahnm While the carillon I play is not in the house - the sound is in the houses close by. Actually the practice instrument for a carillon is pretty loud. Once at U of MI we stood inside the 12 ton bell while someone played it. Our bones literally vibrated. Although we had our fingers in our ears I would suspect we did not do good things to our hearing.
@LaserEyes The secret to that is to not be quiet while your baby is sleeping. Let them get used to the noise. Otherwise, you’ll be tiptoeing around them for the rest of your lives…
IMO.
The cat’s water fountains.
The cat’s laser toy.
The ice maker.
Things you just hear in the night. What is that sound… Oh right.
By far the loudest right now is the actual cats. Never mind the “kittens”. Like Dartanyan on top of the 8 foot kitchen cabinet at midnight pawing the door open and knocking bags of beans on the floor because he’s trying to get to the bread, a shelf below where he cant reach. I’ve had to hide it because when I left it on top of the fridge, never mind a normal place like the counter. Id find bags of shredded chewed on bread. Asshat
@unksol I had a cat who ate bread (and pancake mix - couldn’t tell the difference between that and flour until he had already chewed a hole in the bag). I had to buy a plastic bread tube thing to stash the bread in. Initially he’d knock that to the floor but never did figure out how to break into it. Might try that. Mine looked like this except it had an insert that the bread sat one where you could pull the insert out and so not have to dump out the bread to get at it.
@unksol Actually the slide in goes in the other direction as it keeps the bread from falling over in the back of the container and even if it does you can still easily get it out by pulling out the slider. Mine is made by rubbermaid.
@Kidsandliz I have a bread box. Although it’s not quiet that secure/wasnt meat to be. Might have to plant a roll in it and see what he does I don’t normally go through that much to the point I don’t use my breadmaker much .But if I get any random bread off the “we baked too much” cart poof.
Bread/cornbread left on the counter to cool hegets at. Cornbread at least the way I make it has low flour so. IDK what his fixation with any and all available breads is. But something
@unksol My bread eating cat liked pancake mix but not flour. I have no clue why some cats get fixated on stuff like this and others don’t.
Of course he may initially miss your bait and then when the smell is stronger with fresh bread figure it out. My bread eating cat figured out how to open drawers.
@Kidsandliz there is no way to keep them off the counters. They are too many and they like to go look out the bay window which… That would be fine if that was it but I’m pretty resigned to never leaving food on the counter anymore. I’m sure I’ve caught them drinking dishwasing water never mind me chopping bacon. I just try to keep a spray bottle handy when cooking.
I’ve walked into the kitchen trying to figure out who is making the racket and it was Dartanyan and there were two of the orange ones, one behind me and across so they all can get up there. And may be plotting.
@unksol Of course they are plotting. They are cats. LOL. Of course if you are the only one who feeds them they may think twice about killing and eating you in your sleep.
Yes mine try to drink any water in the sink regardless. You’d think soapy water would taste bad - of course these were all originally strays so may not be as picky due to what they had to drink before I snagged them - and toilet water if I leave the lid up.
The neighbors in the unit next to me are for the most part completely quiet, but they apparently close their front door by going inside and drop kicking it closed after a running start.
Until recently, my death metal rock musician wannabe neighbor of about 20 years was weirdly and phenomenally noisy for hour and hours and hours. Since he moved, the silence is weird, but very welcome.
The dish washer. The loose shaking and gear grinding sounds are getting louder, and but not as loud as her complaints. (Be honest; you saw that coming a mile away.)
@pooflady Mine too; I’m used to it so usually don’t notice, but my sister was over here once and said “Your refrigerator is haunted! It sounds like it’s talking to me!” It does make strange noises.
@ircon96@Kyeh@pooflady Yes! My mother and I each bought new refrigerators in the last couple of years and they make odd noises. The motor is louder than my old one, hers cries and whines.
@callow@Kyeh@pooflady Thanks for sharing that, you make me feel better about being too cheap to buy a new one to replace my geriatric model. If the new one were just as noisy, after spending all that money, I’d be livid!
@ircon96@Kyeh@pooflady My old one was 27 years old and worked great (and quietly) but I’ve heard horror stories of how long it takes to get a new one delivered so replaced it when my stove died. It did take 7 months to arrive.
@pooflady My new fridge is pretty quiet and shaved @ $20 off my monthly electric bill, but everything in the freezer has a thick coating of frost. I’ve tried all four temp settings and rearranging the contents for better air circulation but no help. I would welcome back the extra 20 bucks and noise at this point. It just sucks.
@detailer@pooflady My experience matches. I bought a new refrigerator in 1985. It is still going strong in a rental house we own.
Meanwhile, we are currently on our third refrigerator (same brand as Ol’ Reliable) since 1998 in our current house. WTF?
@detailer@macromeh@pooflady This behavior might maybe just possibly be intentional. A kid’s introduction to planned obsolescence can be watched in The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars.
The piston gives the inrush of water some room to move when the toilet valve closes instead of suddenly stopping and vibrating the pipe. It might help.
@kostia@lisagd maybe… I mean technically yes and even if you only had access to the bottom of the pipes insulators are slit so you might be able to feed a few up from the bottom. But water should not be that loud.
I mean it could also be the toilet. When they first started making the 1.6 and smaller gallon toilets. And maybe before. They used pressure assist designs. And those things are very loud when flushing. Most efficient toilets these days just use a large 3-4 inch valve in the tank and an efficient trappway to accomplish the same thing.
@kostia@lisagd@unksol When we built our house 24 years ago, I installed 4 pressure assist toilets (after some bad experiences with conventional flush water saving toilets of the time in other locations). At the time, they were top rated by Consumer Reports. In 24 years, even raising 4 kids in the household, none of the toilets has ever plugged/failed to flush. I can recall only a few instances of needing a second flush.
Yeah, they sound like airplane toilets, but we got used to it. (Several guests were surprised/commented on it though. )
@kostia@lisagd@unksol I know! It’s so humiliating for people to learn the horrible truth that you are not exempt from normal human bodily functions.
If/when any of the existing units need replacing, I would likely buy a modern conventional model, but since we are well used to them, I’m not in any hurry to switch.
@unksol You are all so helpful! It’s just water rushing, and it’s a townhouse so the verticality of the place makes it obvious. I’m very very used to it.
@kostia@macromeh@unksol My townhouse is almost 50 years old, so it has the old wide-diameter pipes. I replaced the original toilet 6 years ago with a low-flow. Most of the time it’s fine, but I guess because each flush sends less water through the pipes, there’s not enough pressure to move everything all the way through them, so I get periodic not quite clogs, more like slowdowns. I’ve gotten good at clearing them, but it’s really annoying to have to deal with that. I’d almost be willing to trade the noise of yours for consistently good flushes.
@kostia@lisagd@macromeh they do still make pressure assist toilets which might help… But the water/pressure in the tank is meant to overcome the trap built into the toilet not assist the sewage pipe. That should all be gravity/the sewage pipe is just air. If you have actual issues with the sewage pipe that probably needs looked at. And if you did drains would be backing up/you would smell it.
The style of low flow toilet can also matter. Some are better than others regarding flush valve size/trap design. If you are just not getting a full flush it’s literally just the toilet being… Pardon me… Crappy.
@kostia@macromeh@unksol Damn, Google led me astray again! That’s where I read about the pipe size. Once I started paying attention to what went on, I was able to find the most efficient way to clear it, so now it’s over in minutes instead of days.
Now that I think about it, it might be something to do with the flushing mechanism. It sounds different on the flushes when the problem starts, and pouring a gallon of water into the bowl as I flush seems to do the trick.
I might have to get the toilet replaced anyway. The grout around the base started breaking up, and then I noticed that one end of some of the tiles has raised up above the rest and it feels like the floor is now sloping down from the toilet. I need to find a reliable and not too pricey contractor to fix it; my old guy is in jail (not related to contracting). I only have one bathroom, so it’s tricky.
@rtjhnstn I just came to describe this sound in my building, we call it “the sound” in the same ominous tone it comes. But “the spirit of a whale” is pretty spot on and I’m almost convinced you and I live in the same building that may also be a submarine. If you ever figure out what causes it let me know. Pipes/ water pressure/new water heater is our current favorite guess.
@accelerator Came here to say this. So many concerts when I was younger…guess “they” were right . I heard that listening to a cricket soundtrack was supposed to help but I haven’t tried it yet…
/giphy tinnitus
@accelerator@llangley I have been a fanatic about hearing protection my whole life. I always wore earplugs to concerts, and earplugs and/or muffs while mowing, using power tools and equipment, etc.
I once had an extensive hearing test at a specialist and he said my hearing was in the 99th percentile and good enough to be a sonar operator or a tester of high-end audio equipment.
And yet I still wound up with tinnitus. Go figure.
@accelerator@llangley@macromeh One of my earliest memories as a child is going camping and saying “this just makes my ears hurt”. Some people just have it forever no matter what.
@accelerator@llangley@macromeh My hearing tests fine, too, but I have tinnitus literally every waking moment. Add in the earworms, and it’s a wonder I even hear the voices.
@llangley I hear ya Mine was mostly caused by working on the flight line; B-52s and KC-135A Stratotankers. But, yes, Nazareth, Ted Nugent, and a whole host of others took their toll as well.
@accelerator@llangley@macromeh That is weird. I was 1.5 standard deviations above “normal” with hearing as a kid. I hated store lights, TV’s, etc. as they made such fingernail on blackboard noises. My mother would get so mad when I wouldn’t go in some stores because it hurt my ears (and of course she couldn’t hear what I was hearing). I also have had tinnitus since my early 20’s. I wonder if the two go together more often than usual. Tinnitus is so Irritating at times.
@accelerator@lisagd@llangley@macromeh@Kidsandliz I’ve been dealing with a different kind of tinnitus lately, called “pulsatile.” It’s a loud, rhythmic whooshing/roaring sound, usually in one ear, and in my case it seems to be related to congestion caused by allergies. Fortunately, a combination of antihistamines & guaifenesin finally seem to be keeping it at bay. My sympathies to anyone with chronic tinnitus, I’ve had temporary bouts of the higher-pitched kind over the years & it really is maddening!
@accelerator@ircon96@Kidsandliz@lisagd@llangley I experience something similar from time to time in my left ear - it whooshes in sync with my heartbeat so I assume it is blood rushing in/near my ear.
@accelerator@Kidsandliz@lisagd@llangley@macromeh Yep, that’s what it is, an anomaly in a blood vessel in or near the ear, but it can have a lot of different causes, from what i understand. Mine was coming & going, too, but was becoming more frequent & persistent (read: annoying), so i was motivated to find a solution.
@accelerator Re-reading your OP reminded me that I get periodic sounds that are like metallic crickets inside my head. I also get the sound and feeling of when you put a seashell up to your ear, and other times a super high-pitched tone, both of which cover up the usual high-pitched noise. Man, I’m a real mess.
The last time I saw an ENT doctor, he said there’s basically nothing you can do. That was about 20 years ago. Maybe technology has improved,
so I should probably get re-evaluated. I haven’t had my hearing tested since then, either, so I’m sure I’m due. One more appointment to add to the list of calls I need to make. Sigh.
The train going through my back yard. I don’t notice it when I’m sleeping but when I’m watching tv it bothers the fuck out of me bc it’s so loud. Also the washing machine and dryer, they’re on the main level off the living room. Great for convenience, horrible for watching tv.
@PooltoyWolf@Star2236 I had friends who lived two blocks from the train tracks and loved it; they also had a great model train set-up in their basement.
@Kyeh@PooltoyWolf@Star2236 Our house is on top of a hill in a heavily wooded area. Google maps says our house is 1.67 miles from the train tracks. Usually it is pretty quiet around here, but if the wind is just right when a train passes, it sounds like it is right in the back yard. Very annoying.
The I5 freeway is over 4 miles away across the river in Washington state, but with the right (wrong) conditions, I can hear the traffic passing.
@Kyeh@macromeh@PooltoyWolf
On the other side of the train tracks us a 5 lane road with lots of traffic and there’s also a small airport (the kind the president, and sports teams fly into) about 4 miles away. It’s definitely noisy.
@Kyeh@macromeh@PooltoyWolf@Star2236 Wow, and here i thought being on the flight path of the nearest airport was annoying. I’ll never complain again! Lol
@ircon96@Kyeh@macromeh@PooltoyWolf@Star2236 I live under the final approach for the hospital helicopter landing. Sometimes they have their spotlight on at night passing over the apartment building (they land across the street).
Flight path side comment - at U of Rochester (NY) the final approach to the local airport was over the campus. We’d fly kites in the classroom quadrangle. One day in the student paper was an ad that said something along the lines of “keep your kites out of the final approach path for the airport or your craft will be shot down!”. Very humorous but they made their point it was dangerous to the planes.
@Kyeh@macromeh@Star2236 Our house is about equidistant between Orlando International Airport and CSX’s Taft Yard. Personally, I love it…jet engines on one side and train horns on the other! When the weather over the departure lanes is poor, they’ll send the airliners right over the house. The view is amazing! If the wind is just right, you can actually hear the crossing gates and locomotive engines from the house, too.
@Kyeh@macromeh@PooltoyWolf
I’d probably shoot myself if I moved into @pooltoyWolf house and didn’t know how loud it was. Not to mention my residential street is so loud too bc people are constantly cutting down it trying to beat the train or traffic and mind you it has pot holes bigger than me on it that the city never really repairs. I shit you not people will fly down my street doing 50mph (let me remind you this is a residential street with children playing and people trying to pull in and back their cars out of the driveway) I don’t know how their cars survive bc I go like 5-10mph in the man swallowing potholes and I still feel like I’m ruining my car. Thankfully my house is only the 3rd house down from the end of the street and I really don’t have to drive through the pot holes unless theirs a major traffic back up or the trains stopped for some reason.
Actually when we first moved In the train got stopped blocking the entrance by my side for almost an entire day bc some guy was walking on train tracks with headphones and the train ran him over. They ruled it suicide bc if you didn’t feel those vibrations coming there’s really something wrong with you bc I can feel them in my house.
@Kyeh@macromeh@Star2236 The yard and airport are at enough of a distance from my place that the sounds never rise to the level of annoying and/or sleep depriving.
@Kyeh@macromeh@PooltoyWolf
Must be nice for you. It’s almost 8 at night and I can still hear cars passing by on the rd. You do get used to it when you sleep it’s just super annoying when your trying to watch tv quietly bc your partner is sleeping and you have to pause the show and wait for the train/ambulance to go by and their not quick trains. They honk three times at every light since the person got killed and there’s a lot of lights on the tracks. Not to mention the traffic and running ambulance that me we seen to stop.
@Kyeh@macromeh@PooltoyWolf
Bc of my work in psychiatric hospitals my ears trained to pick up background noise incase of fights/and or incidents (it’s something that never goes away) so I always here it more than my boyfriend does. This is actually our second place on a busy road (I don’t know how he finds these places). But the next one is going to be quiet. I love spending the night at my fathers, it’s so quiet in the morning except from the tv blaring bc he’s deaf which wakes my up as soon as he turns it on. But the outside is so serine, I love the mornings lasting to nothing but peace and quite there.
@Kyeh@PooltoyWolf@Star2236 Our previous house is directly under the flight path of a regional airport (second busiest airport in Oregon). It was only a nuisance occasionally with normal air traffic.
However, when they held annual airshows it got more interesting. One time the Blue Angels were practicing ahead of the actual show and 4 jets flew right over our rooftop at pretty low elevation. It literally shook the walls.
We had an old shed that had a honey bee nest in the wall. The bees were quite upset at the noise/vibration and formed a huge swarm in the backyard. It took them about 45 minutes to calm down and return to the nest.
@lisagd Another one is the airplanes coming in for a landing (I’m under a landing path for the airport). It’s especially loud on really overcast and rainy days, when the sound bounces down off the clouds. In the week after 9/11, it was strangely quiet and a little unsettling. It was almost a relief to have the noise back.
Other than that, the neighbor kids across the street have an early morning habit of shooting hoops in their driveway before school, and the sound of the ball hitting the pavement tends to wake me up before sunrise.
My neighbor who shoots off fireworks in the backyard. The gun fire we have around here. And when a transformer blows up. At least I mostly don’t hear the train unless they blast their whistle. At one point in my life I lived 3 blocks from train tracks and the first time the train went by my friend from California thought it was an earthquake since the ground vibrated.
@Kidsandliz This past new year’s, the party house (they have a lot of parties with live music - we’re what would be considered a bedroom community at this point with all the kids grown and gone and the parents retired, except for this house) up the street set them off at nine. Then ten. (I fell asleep after this.) And, according to my husband, when it wasn’t yet raining (we were supposed to get a lot overnight, which we did) at midnight, more fireworks.
At which point there were neighbors weighing in on the noise, there was shouting and swearing.
Like so many places around the country, fireworks are illegal here. This was the first time these people set them off. Hopefully it will be the last. They did clean up the mess from the street the next morning.
@Kidsandliz@lisaviolet I live about 3 blocks from a park and on 4th of July it becomes a major fireworks party site - completely illegal, but somehow the police seem to be unable to stop it. I was amazed that there weren’t any this New Year’s eve.
Snowflake aka Mr. Squawkington. That bird never shuts up. No wonder over 75% of the birds at the rescue sanctuary are cockatoos. If you are not hard of hearing, you will be after a couple of months of listening to him. Practically everything sets him off-worst is when we leave the room. OMG.
@Felton10
As you mentioned, 75% of the birds in rescues are cockatoos, AND, that Mr Skwakington starts in when you leave the room.
Is it that ALL cockatoos are just extra loud, OR could it also be anxiety and attention seeking, bad bird behavior?
Maybe investing in those soft comfy foam earplugs and ditching any possible hearing aids is the new way of living in 2023! Lol
@Lynnerizer Squawking when we leave the room is pretty standard for all cockatoos-they want attention and don’t like to be left alone. Ear plugs don’t work-my wife tried them and I leave my hearing aids out to minimize his effect on me.
The anguished laments of eternally trapped souls.
@awk Your first reply was better.
@awk The wild whoops of the recently liberated souls who had been led to believe that they were to be incarcerated for a longer period of time…
The seventh planet on Taco Tuesday.
Girlfriend’s yorkie barking at my cats.
Your kids?? That’s nothing compared to how damn loud MY kids are…
@shahnm Even louder than your batteries when you open your fridge door?
Your kids have a drum set?
@Kidsandliz My batteries are pretty chill.
My kids all play multiple instruments, and one of them does have a drum set. Ironically, that’s in his room and is generally quieter than the saxophones, clarinets, bass clarinet, piano, and sundry other instruments that are in constant rotation…
@shahnm While the carillon I play is not in the house - the sound is in the houses close by. Actually the practice instrument for a carillon is pretty loud. Once at U of MI we stood inside the 12 ton bell while someone played it. Our bones literally vibrated. Although we had our fingers in our ears I would suspect we did not do good things to our hearing.
Toilets. You never realize how loud that flush is until you get a fussy baby to sleep in the room next door.
@LaserEyes The secret to that is to not be quiet while your baby is sleeping. Let them get used to the noise. Otherwise, you’ll be tiptoeing around them for the rest of your lives…
IMO.
The cat’s water fountains.
The cat’s laser toy.
The ice maker.
Things you just hear in the night. What is that sound… Oh right.
By far the loudest right now is the actual cats. Never mind the “kittens”. Like Dartanyan on top of the 8 foot kitchen cabinet at midnight pawing the door open and knocking bags of beans on the floor because he’s trying to get to the bread, a shelf below where he cant reach. I’ve had to hide it because when I left it on top of the fridge, never mind a normal place like the counter. Id find bags of shredded chewed on bread. Asshat
@unksol
@unksol I had a cat who ate bread (and pancake mix - couldn’t tell the difference between that and flour until he had already chewed a hole in the bag). I had to buy a plastic bread tube thing to stash the bread in. Initially he’d knock that to the floor but never did figure out how to break into it. Might try that. Mine looked like this except it had an insert that the bread sat one where you could pull the insert out and so not have to dump out the bread to get at it.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Mainstays-Bread-Keeper-Plastic-Storage-Keeper-Loaf/880598294
Here is the one I have
My current batch of cats leave bread (and actually most human food amazingly - this is a first) alone.
@unksol Actually the slide in goes in the other direction as it keeps the bread from falling over in the back of the container and even if it does you can still easily get it out by pulling out the slider. Mine is made by rubbermaid.
@Kidsandliz I have a bread box. Although it’s not quiet that secure/wasnt meat to be. Might have to plant a roll in it and see what he does I don’t normally go through that much to the point I don’t use my breadmaker much .But if I get any random bread off the “we baked too much” cart poof.
Bread/cornbread left on the counter to cool hegets at. Cornbread at least the way I make it has low flour so. IDK what his fixation with any and all available breads is. But something
@unksol My bread eating cat liked pancake mix but not flour. I have no clue why some cats get fixated on stuff like this and others don’t.
Of course he may initially miss your bait and then when the smell is stronger with fresh bread figure it out. My bread eating cat figured out how to open drawers.
@Kidsandliz there is no way to keep them off the counters. They are too many and they like to go look out the bay window which… That would be fine if that was it but I’m pretty resigned to never leaving food on the counter anymore. I’m sure I’ve caught them drinking dishwasing water never mind me chopping bacon. I just try to keep a spray bottle handy when cooking.
I’ve walked into the kitchen trying to figure out who is making the racket and it was Dartanyan and there were two of the orange ones, one behind me and across so they all can get up there. And may be plotting.
@unksol Of course they are plotting. They are cats. LOL. Of course if you are the only one who feeds them they may think twice about killing and eating you in your sleep.
Yes mine try to drink any water in the sink regardless. You’d think soapy water would taste bad - of course these were all originally strays so may not be as picky due to what they had to drink before I snagged them - and toilet water if I leave the lid up.
If its Chilli day, then its a dis ass tur
The neighbors in the unit next to me are for the most part completely quiet, but they apparently close their front door by going inside and drop kicking it closed after a running start.
@brennyn and you’re sure that’s them? Not the the kids they want to murder just as much? Hmm who could we pin it on…oh… How convenient
@brennyn That made me laugh. Congrats.
Until recently, my death metal rock musician wannabe neighbor of about 20 years was weirdly and phenomenally noisy for hour and hours and hours. Since he moved, the silence is weird, but very welcome.
The chirp of the dying battery in the smoke detector that somehow moves after I’m sure I’ve figured out which one it is.
@Wookee They actually sell prank sound makers that sound like a smoke alarm with a dying battery.
https://smile.amazon.com/s?k=sound+makers+prank&crid=39Y2ZGDSFULVY&sprefix=sound+makers%2Caps%2C89&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_5_12
I don’t know which is worse, that these are made or there is a market for them.
@rtjhnstn @Wookee Ah yes, that brings back very fond ThinkGEEK memories…
The dish washer. The loose shaking and gear grinding sounds are getting louder, and but not as loud as her complaints. (Be honest; you saw that coming a mile away.)
The refrigerator. Not that loud but annoying.
@pooflady Mine too; I’m used to it so usually don’t notice, but my sister was over here once and said “Your refrigerator is haunted! It sounds like it’s talking to me!”
It does make strange noises.
@Kyeh @pooflady I’m glad I’m not the only one, mine makes weird knocking/tapping noises. I think it might be saying, “Help me” in Morse code.
@ircon96 @Kyeh @pooflady Yes! My mother and I each bought new refrigerators in the last couple of years and they make odd noises. The motor is louder than my old one, hers cries and whines.
@callow @Kyeh @pooflady Thanks for sharing that, you make me feel better about being too cheap to buy a new one to replace my geriatric model. If the new one were just as noisy, after spending all that money, I’d be livid!
@ircon96 @Kyeh @pooflady My old one was 27 years old and worked great (and quietly) but I’ve heard horror stories of how long it takes to get a new one delivered so replaced it when my stove died. It did take 7 months to arrive.
@pooflady My new fridge is pretty quiet and shaved @ $20 off my monthly electric bill, but everything in the freezer has a thick coating of frost. I’ve tried all four temp settings and rearranging the contents for better air circulation but no help. I would welcome back the extra 20 bucks and noise at this point. It just sucks.
@detailer @pooflady My experience matches. I bought a new refrigerator in 1985. It is still going strong in a rental house we own.
Meanwhile, we are currently on our third refrigerator (same brand as Ol’ Reliable) since 1998 in our current house. WTF?
@detailer @macromeh @pooflady This behavior might maybe just possibly be intentional. A kid’s introduction to planned obsolescence can be watched in The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars.
UGH the PIPES. There’s one bathroom upstairs where every time someone flushes the toilet you have to pause the TV on the floor below!
@kostia is it just water rushing?
If it’s the pipe “slamming/vibrating” when the toilet stops filling/the valve closes, you could try a water hammer arrestor. This is an example.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/HOMEWERKS-3-8-in-COMP-x-3-8-in-COMP-Lead-Free-Stainless-Steel-Straight-Water-Hammer-Arrestor-526-4-38-38B-Z/304826664
The piston gives the inrush of water some room to move when the toilet valve closes instead of suddenly stopping and vibrating the pipe. It might help.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_hammer
@kostia @unksol If it’s just water rushing, would insulating the pipes help, assuming they’re accessible?
@kostia @lisagd maybe… I mean technically yes and even if you only had access to the bottom of the pipes insulators are slit so you might be able to feed a few up from the bottom. But water should not be that loud.
I mean it could also be the toilet. When they first started making the 1.6 and smaller gallon toilets. And maybe before. They used pressure assist designs. And those things are very loud when flushing. Most efficient toilets these days just use a large 3-4 inch valve in the tank and an efficient trappway to accomplish the same thing.
@kostia @lisagd @unksol When we built our house 24 years ago, I installed 4 pressure assist toilets (after some bad experiences with conventional flush water saving toilets of the time in other locations). At the time, they were top rated by Consumer Reports. In 24 years, even raising 4 kids in the household, none of the toilets has ever plugged/failed to flush. I can recall only a few instances of needing a second flush.
)
Yeah, they sound like airplane toilets, but we got used to it. (Several guests were surprised/commented on it though.
@kostia @lisagd @macromeh they absolutely work well but everyone knows when someone went to the bathroom. Lol.
I the modern stuff senms to do it just as well
@kostia @lisagd @unksol I know! It’s so humiliating for people to learn the horrible truth that you are not exempt from normal human bodily functions.
If/when any of the existing units need replacing, I would likely buy a modern conventional model, but since we are well used to them, I’m not in any hurry to switch.
@unksol You are all so helpful! It’s just water rushing, and it’s a townhouse so the verticality of the place makes it obvious. I’m very very used to it.
@kostia @macromeh @unksol My townhouse is almost 50 years old, so it has the old wide-diameter pipes. I replaced the original toilet 6 years ago with a low-flow. Most of the time it’s fine, but I guess because each flush sends less water through the pipes, there’s not enough pressure to move everything all the way through them, so I get periodic not quite clogs, more like slowdowns. I’ve gotten good at clearing them, but it’s really annoying to have to deal with that. I’d almost be willing to trade the noise of yours for consistently good flushes.
@kostia @lisagd @macromeh they do still make pressure assist toilets which might help… But the water/pressure in the tank is meant to overcome the trap built into the toilet not assist the sewage pipe. That should all be gravity/the sewage pipe is just air. If you have actual issues with the sewage pipe that probably needs looked at. And if you did drains would be backing up/you would smell it.
The style of low flow toilet can also matter. Some are better than others regarding flush valve size/trap design. If you are just not getting a full flush it’s literally just the toilet being… Pardon me… Crappy.
Id replace it if it’s regularly annoying
@kostia @macromeh @unksol Damn, Google led me astray again! That’s where I read about the pipe size. Once I started paying attention to what went on, I was able to find the most efficient way to clear it, so now it’s over in minutes instead of days.
Now that I think about it, it might be something to do with the flushing mechanism. It sounds different on the flushes when the problem starts, and pouring a gallon of water into the bowl as I flush seems to do the trick.
I might have to get the toilet replaced anyway. The grout around the base started breaking up, and then I noticed that one end of some of the tiles has raised up above the rest and it feels like the floor is now sloping down from the toilet. I need to find a reliable and not too pricey contractor to fix it; my old guy is in jail (not related to contracting). I only have one bathroom, so it’s tricky.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Your mom.
Me.
Evidently everything I do is way too noisy because everyone keeps saying turn it down and be quiet.
@rtjhnstn
Ahoy, matey!
@rtjhnstn I just came to describe this sound in my building, we call it “the sound” in the same ominous tone it comes. But “the spirit of a whale” is pretty spot on and I’m almost convinced you and I live in the same building that may also be a submarine. If you ever figure out what causes it let me know. Pipes/ water pressure/new water heater is our current favorite guess.
@rtjhnstn Thanks for the laugh.
My roosters. All day. All night. Crowing.
Coffee grinder
My in laws watching TV.
@rustyh3 oof. Although I can think of some sounds you could make in retaliation.
My old espresso grinder sounded like a jet engine. But it died, and its replacement is much quieter. So now the dogs are the loudest things by far.
My dogs barking at coyotes in the middle of the night. The coyotes are living right behind my fence.
@cichlid There are coyotes in our woods too, but the dog doesn’t notice. Another advantage of a deaf dog…
@charliedoggo. He sounds like Chewbacca
Clothes dryer.
Tinnitus. A cacophony of crickets, birds, and high frequency tones that circulate through my brain 24/7
@accelerator Came here to say this. So many concerts when I was younger…guess “they” were right
. I heard that listening to a cricket soundtrack was supposed to help but I haven’t tried it yet…
/giphy tinnitus
@accelerator @llangley I have been a fanatic about hearing protection my whole life. I always wore earplugs to concerts, and earplugs and/or muffs while mowing, using power tools and equipment, etc.
I once had an extensive hearing test at a specialist and he said my hearing was in the 99th percentile and good enough to be a sonar operator or a tester of high-end audio equipment.
And yet I still wound up with tinnitus. Go figure.
@accelerator @llangley @macromeh One of my earliest memories as a child is going camping and saying “this just makes my ears hurt”. Some people just have it forever no matter what.
@accelerator @llangley @macromeh My hearing tests fine, too, but I have tinnitus literally every waking moment. Add in the earworms, and it’s a wonder I even hear the voices.
@llangley I hear ya
Mine was mostly caused by working on the flight line; B-52s and KC-135A Stratotankers. But, yes, Nazareth, Ted Nugent, and a whole host of others took their toll as well.
@accelerator @llangley @macromeh That is weird. I was 1.5 standard deviations above “normal” with hearing as a kid. I hated store lights, TV’s, etc. as they made such fingernail on blackboard noises. My mother would get so mad when I wouldn’t go in some stores because it hurt my ears (and of course she couldn’t hear what I was hearing). I also have had tinnitus since my early 20’s. I wonder if the two go together more often than usual. Tinnitus is so Irritating at times.
@accelerator @lisagd @llangley @macromeh @Kidsandliz I’ve been dealing with a different kind of tinnitus lately, called “pulsatile.” It’s a loud, rhythmic whooshing/roaring sound, usually in one ear, and in my case it seems to be related to congestion caused by allergies. Fortunately, a combination of antihistamines & guaifenesin finally seem to be keeping it at bay.
My sympathies to anyone with chronic tinnitus, I’ve had temporary bouts of the higher-pitched kind over the years & it really is maddening!
@accelerator @ircon96 @Kidsandliz @lisagd @llangley I experience something similar from time to time in my left ear - it whooshes in sync with my heartbeat so I assume it is blood rushing in/near my ear.
@accelerator @Kidsandliz @lisagd @llangley @macromeh Yep, that’s what it is, an anomaly in a blood vessel in or near the ear, but it can have a lot of different causes, from what i understand. Mine was coming & going, too, but was becoming more frequent & persistent (read: annoying), so i was motivated to find a solution.
@accelerator Re-reading your OP reminded me that I get periodic sounds that are like metallic crickets inside my head. I also get the sound and feeling of when you put a seashell up to your ear, and other times a super high-pitched tone, both of which cover up the usual high-pitched noise. Man, I’m a real mess.
@accelerator @lisagd Wow, that’s quite the smorgasbord of sound… talk about a cacophony!
@accelerator @ircon96 Tell me about it! At least the earworms help distract me.
The last time I saw an ENT doctor, he said there’s basically nothing you can do. That was about 20 years ago. Maybe technology has improved,
so I should probably get re-evaluated. I haven’t had my hearing tested since then, either, so I’m sure I’m due. One more appointment to add to the list of calls I need to make. Sigh.
@accelerator @ircon96 @lisagd Would Ceti Eels be better than earworms, perhaps?
@lisagd Well, you’re not alone. I get those same sensations.
@accelerator @blaineg @ircon96 Uh, no, I’ll stick with the earworms. They’re a lot less painful and icky.
@accelerator I’m glad I’m not the only one. It’s so annoying.
pesky neighbors
My husband eating grapes.
@lisaviolet Only grapes?
@Kyeh that’s the weirdest. When he eats them, they sound like potato chips.
I don’t understand it.
@lisaviolet Hah! That IS odd!
@Kyeh @lisaviolet Those are some crisp grapes!
The train going through my back yard. I don’t notice it when I’m sleeping but when I’m watching tv it bothers the fuck out of me bc it’s so loud. Also the washing machine and dryer, they’re on the main level off the living room. Great for convenience, horrible for watching tv.
@Star2236 Can I live where you live?
@PooltoyWolf @Star2236 I had friends who lived two blocks from the train tracks and loved it; they also had a great model train set-up in their basement.
@Kyeh @Star2236 Heaven!!
@Kyeh @PooltoyWolf @Star2236 Our house is on top of a hill in a heavily wooded area. Google maps says our house is 1.67 miles from the train tracks. Usually it is pretty quiet around here, but if the wind is just right when a train passes, it sounds like it is right in the back yard. Very annoying.
The I5 freeway is over 4 miles away across the river in Washington state, but with the right (wrong) conditions, I can hear the traffic passing.
@Kyeh @macromeh @PooltoyWolf
On the other side of the train tracks us a 5 lane road with lots of traffic and there’s also a small airport (the kind the president, and sports teams fly into) about 4 miles away. It’s definitely noisy.
@Kyeh @macromeh @PooltoyWolf @Star2236 Wow, and here i thought being on the flight path of the nearest airport was annoying. I’ll never complain again! Lol
@ircon96 @Kyeh @macromeh @PooltoyWolf @Star2236 I live under the final approach for the hospital helicopter landing. Sometimes they have their spotlight on at night passing over the apartment building (they land across the street).
Flight path side comment - at U of Rochester (NY) the final approach to the local airport was over the campus. We’d fly kites in the classroom quadrangle. One day in the student paper was an ad that said something along the lines of “keep your kites out of the final approach path for the airport or your craft will be shot down!”. Very humorous but they made their point it was dangerous to the planes.
@Kyeh @macromeh @Star2236 Our house is about equidistant between Orlando International Airport and CSX’s Taft Yard. Personally, I love it…jet engines on one side and train horns on the other! When the weather over the departure lanes is poor, they’ll send the airliners right over the house. The view is amazing! If the wind is just right, you can actually hear the crossing gates and locomotive engines from the house, too.
@Kyeh @macromeh @PooltoyWolf
I’d probably shoot myself if I moved into @pooltoyWolf house and didn’t know how loud it was. Not to mention my residential street is so loud too bc people are constantly cutting down it trying to beat the train or traffic and mind you it has pot holes bigger than me on it that the city never really repairs. I shit you not people will fly down my street doing 50mph (let me remind you this is a residential street with children playing and people trying to pull in and back their cars out of the driveway) I don’t know how their cars survive bc I go like 5-10mph in the man swallowing potholes and I still feel like I’m ruining my car. Thankfully my house is only the 3rd house down from the end of the street and I really don’t have to drive through the pot holes unless theirs a major traffic back up or the trains stopped for some reason.
Actually when we first moved In the train got stopped blocking the entrance by my side for almost an entire day bc some guy was walking on train tracks with headphones and the train ran him over. They ruled it suicide bc if you didn’t feel those vibrations coming there’s really something wrong with you bc I can feel them in my house.
@Kyeh @macromeh @Star2236 The yard and airport are at enough of a distance from my place that the sounds never rise to the level of annoying and/or sleep depriving.
@Kyeh @macromeh @PooltoyWolf
Must be nice for you. It’s almost 8 at night and I can still hear cars passing by on the rd. You do get used to it when you sleep it’s just super annoying when your trying to watch tv quietly bc your partner is sleeping and you have to pause the show and wait for the train/ambulance to go by and their not quick trains. They honk three times at every light since the person got killed and there’s a lot of lights on the tracks. Not to mention the traffic and running ambulance that me we seen to stop.
@Kyeh @macromeh @PooltoyWolf
Bc of my work in psychiatric hospitals my ears trained to pick up background noise incase of fights/and or incidents (it’s something that never goes away) so I always here it more than my boyfriend does. This is actually our second place on a busy road (I don’t know how he finds these places). But the next one is going to be quiet. I love spending the night at my fathers, it’s so quiet in the morning except from the tv blaring bc he’s deaf which wakes my up as soon as he turns it on. But the outside is so serine, I love the mornings lasting to nothing but peace and quite there.
@Kyeh @PooltoyWolf @Star2236 Our previous house is directly under the flight path of a regional airport (second busiest airport in Oregon). It was only a nuisance occasionally with normal air traffic.
However, when they held annual airshows it got more interesting. One time the Blue Angels were practicing ahead of the actual show and 4 jets flew right over our rooftop at pretty low elevation. It literally shook the walls.
We had an old shed that had a honey bee nest in the wall. The bees were quite upset at the noise/vibration and formed a huge swarm in the backyard. It took them about 45 minutes to calm down and return to the nest.
@Kyeh @macromeh @Star2236 That’s pretty crazy!
The rattling of my windows every time a neighbor slams their front door. They act like they live in a barn.
@lisagd Another one is the airplanes coming in for a landing (I’m under a landing path for the airport). It’s especially loud on really overcast and rainy days, when the sound bounces down off the clouds. In the week after 9/11, it was strangely quiet and a little unsettling. It was almost a relief to have the noise back.
@lisagd I’d enjoy living there
@PooltoyWolf You’re an interesting individual.
@lisagd I’ll take that compliment!
Me. Heh.
Other than that, the neighbor kids across the street have an early morning habit of shooting hoops in their driveway before school, and the sound of the ball hitting the pavement tends to wake me up before sunrise.
My neighbor who shoots off fireworks in the backyard. The gun fire we have around here. And when a transformer blows up. At least I mostly don’t hear the train unless they blast their whistle. At one point in my life I lived 3 blocks from train tracks and the first time the train went by my friend from California thought it was an earthquake since the ground vibrated.
@Kidsandliz This past new year’s, the party house (they have a lot of parties with live music - we’re what would be considered a bedroom community at this point with all the kids grown and gone and the parents retired, except for this house) up the street set them off at nine. Then ten. (I fell asleep after this.) And, according to my husband, when it wasn’t yet raining (we were supposed to get a lot overnight, which we did) at midnight, more fireworks.
At which point there were neighbors weighing in on the noise, there was shouting and swearing.
Like so many places around the country, fireworks are illegal here. This was the first time these people set them off. Hopefully it will be the last. They did clean up the mess from the street the next morning.
@Kidsandliz @lisaviolet I live about 3 blocks from a park and on 4th of July it becomes a major fireworks party site - completely illegal, but somehow the police seem to be unable to stop it. I was amazed that there weren’t any this New Year’s eve.
Snowflake aka Mr. Squawkington. That bird never shuts up. No wonder over 75% of the birds at the rescue sanctuary are cockatoos. If you are not hard of hearing, you will be after a couple of months of listening to him. Practically everything sets him off-worst is when we leave the room. OMG.
@Felton10 Bummer!
@Felton10
As you mentioned, 75% of the birds in rescues are cockatoos, AND, that Mr Skwakington starts in when you leave the room.
Is it that ALL cockatoos are just extra loud, OR could it also be anxiety and attention seeking, bad bird behavior?
@Lynnerizer Squawking when we leave the room is pretty standard for all cockatoos-they want attention and don’t like to be left alone. Ear plugs don’t work-my wife tried them and I leave my hearing aids out to minimize his effect on me.
My wife… sneezing!