Why do old houses creak?
Answers:
The nails holding the frame together loosen their grip over a long period of time giving a very small bit of leigh-way for the boards to move. The creaking noise comes from the loose wood rubbing against the nails.
Other answers:
cuz they are scary... :|
cuz they are scary... :|
it normally means your houses foundation is settling
Wind erodes the wood and the rain and water gets into the crack of the house damping the wood and rusting the nails. The nails rust and peels some of the wood. This process makes the wood hollow and loose creating the creaking sound
cause they are old and weard out by people steping on them
The floors need nailed down better.
Because there are old for one and the others is wood.
wood shrinks as it ages and the settling of the foundation
It is just air. During the day building contact, at night they don't, the air is released. The reasonw e hear it more during the night is because it is so quite.
Support beams are lose
The materials age with time. The nails that hold flooring down tend to wiggle back and forth with all the pressure and as the holes get larger, the boards move more. When they do, you hear the creaking noises. Also, as temperature changes, the materials in buildings expand and conract which adds to the noise level. :)
A house creaking does not mean it is haunted. The frame and all the other wood and different materials used in building a house get lose over time. It is a very natural thing, every older house does it. Don't be scared.
building materials break down over time and the shifting causes creaking. and its haunted by scary evil blood sucking ghosts that want you to join them.
i think its because the latches and all the other stuff are all rusty and old. the wood used to make the floor boards might've died so they can't take as much weight as the others
Its due to the warping of the wood. Over time wood absorbs and looses moister. Moister changes the size of the wood and allows room for movement. The sound you are hearing is wood rubbing wood.
crying out for new renovation
If, like me, you have an old house, you'll hear the floorboards creaking and occasionally popping loudly. I believe this is because the wood expands and contracts depending on the weather/humidity.
First answer is valid,,, all construction ages, settles, rises, flexes, twists, tilts, sags, becomes stressed.
Consider this as an analogy.
You are required to hold, above your head, a board, say 8 ft long. You are required to do that, for a lifetime. Notice even after a short time, no matter the weight you hold, how you feel a "burn" in your muscles.
A house/ buliding, has similar issues, not less than the one about nails loosening.
In that experiment, I suspect you may relax one arm, or side of your body, to releive the burn. That causes additional stress on the other arm, trying to maintain the integrity of the structure.
Rev. Steven