Vibrations throughout the house.Any Ideas how to fix it? (2023 Update)

[AlexM]

Ok, people, I have a problem that drives me and my family CRAZY. Around 9 months ago, my mother started to complain that her bed is shaking and she is not able to sleep in the night.I asked her to show me what is bothering her and after few days she woke me up in the night and asked me to stand next to her bed.I felt very small vibrations under my feet.I must tell you that I used to be a good sleeper , but my mother is very sensitive to all kinds of noises.Situation started to become worse and worse, because she was not able to go to sleep till

4-6 am almost every night.Vibrations were really bothering her.All that stress and lack of sleep started to build up and her blood pressure started to go up. We went to the Emergency Room 2 times in the past 9 months, we visited several doctors and all of them told us that she is super stressed and needs more sleep, but she can't go to sleep, because of vibrations. I'm really worried that something awful will happen to her. I'm trying each and every possible way to deal with those vibrations, but so far, I didn't fix the issue. We live in a townhome complex, I've asked our HOA manager for help numerous times, but they are moving with a snail speed and very reluctant to help. So here are my ideas, I really hope anyone will help me! Please, I need this to stop, because my mom can be awake till 6 am and this is happening for 9 months already ! HELP, please!!! 1)Last May City had a water project in our complex (this was exactly 9 months ago). They've changed connections between city water pipe and places where we have out water meters. Engineer who was responsible for the project claims there was no change in pressure between the pipes, so nothing can cause vibration in my unit. I called City water technician today and he confirmed that info. 2)There is an irrigation system around my house. HOA manager doesn't know if irrigation pipe is running under my house. However, I called a general contractor (a person who works for HOA)few weeks ago. He came with a structural engineer and they told me, this must be a water pipes under my house. They went and tested irrigation system (which was off the whole winter, but we still felt vibrations regardless), right after they put irrigation system "on" we started to feel the floor vibrating in my house. General contractor said that he doesn't feel anything, but WE DID FEEL IT. So, he left and vibrations became harder, longer and every night, before that we felt them 3-5 days a week. It is really difficult to say what days they were on, because we didn't keep a track, but they were mostly in the night (sometimes during the day too). But as I said, after General Contractor tested irrigation system, vibrations became stronger.However, a week after his visit, one of the sprinklers in front of my house got broken in the night. I woke up in the middle of the night, because I've heard a noise of a running tap outside. We had problem with that particular sprinkler before (leaking, lots of water around), but this time it was like a mini explosion. Lots of grass was torn off the ground, lots of water, etc.So I called my HOA and they sent someone to fix the sprinkler. Vibrations became SOFTER, but they are still "on" in the middle of the night. 3) I went under the house through the crawl space and was not able to locate any loose pipes, unfortunately. 4) I went through several websites, searching info about vibration in water pipes, but nothing sounds like my situation. I DON'T HAVE NOISE! My vibrations are SILENT. They are just very annoying and my mom can't take them any longer. We don't use any water in the night, vibrations can last 2-5 hours starting from 10 pm, sometimes later in the night. Sometimes they are intense, sometimes they are softer.There is no specific day or time when they are on. I'm running out the ideas. The City tells me they didn't do anything to create vibrations, HOA tells me that irrigation system is old, but they have a valid point that during the Winter system was off but we still had vibrations in my house. They were lighter and softer, but still we had them. One of my neighbors had a commercial ice making machine next door, but I asked him to turn it off and he did, so I don't think vibrations are coming from his side. I live far enough from the freeway, so freeway is out of question. We've been living in this house for 4 years and only last year we started to feel those nasty vibrations. Once again, there is NO NOISE, but we can feel them and not able to sleep for hours. Can anyone help me please? Thank you for your time and responses!

[catalpa]

"AlexM" wrote in message news:ST2mC.39779$ [e-mail]...

You can't fix the problem.

Simple logic says time to sell your townhome and move elsewhere.

[hrhofmann]

Could it be a treadmill or weight-losing machine causing the vibrations? If it is water-pipe related, when you feel the vibrations, have you tried turning on all your faucets or turning on the sprinklers???

[Retired]

Consider placing vibration dampers under the legs of her bed, like these:

[gregz]

Could also be from the air. Infrasonic sound you can't redly hear below 20 Hz. You can use. Sound level meter or a sound frequency app on phone. If the ground is shaking a device will measure that too. If it's just the floor, isolators will help. I get a sound myself but it just shakes door. I can also sense it when it strong.

Greg

[CRNG]

On Fri, 02 Mar 2018 02:44:02 GMT, AlexM wrote in

Maybe Elon MuskBoi is drilling a tunnel under her house?

[trader_4]

Have you heard of the Taos Hum? It goes by many different names, but that is one of them. It's a mysterious hum that people describe as sounding somewhat like an idling diesel engine way off in the distance. It's been heard in Taos, NM which is where that name comes from. But it's also been heard in many other areas around the world. The source has never been found. Researchers have been through all the obvious possibilities, including any kind of construction even many miles away, etc. Generally it's heard indoors more than outside, late at night more than during the day. I heard it here in NJ years ago. When I first heard it, I thought it had to be coming from the house, but it wasn't. I heard it pretty regularly back then, never enough to annoy or bother me, but it was weird. It went on for a couple years or so. Then I guess it went away, because one day I realized it wasn't there anymore and I haven't heard it again since. AFAIK form what I learned about it back then it was only a sound issue, not actual vibrations that could be felt, but you could check it out. Another factor was that only some people could hear it, not necessarily everyone, leading to speculation that it may be perceived as a hum, but the mechanism may involve other pathways that somehow stimulate the body, eg electromagnetic radiation.

May not have anything to do with your case, but I think it's worth taking a look.

[trader_4]

Here's another story about it:

The descriptions are consistent with what I heard, ie sounds similar to a large diesel engine idling somewhere way off in the distance. I haven't heard it here anymore for many years now. I think if you google for audio sound files you may be able to find sounds people have posted that are similar to what they hear, though back years ago AFAIK no one had actually been able to record the real sound itself.

[Tekkie®]

AlexM posted for all of us...

Tell her to turn her vibrator off.

[Dean Hoffman]

Cut rest due to aioe restrictions.

Would something like an air mattress or water bed help? That won't fix the cause but might cure the problem with her sleeping. A hammock?

[J.Albert]

See if you can locate a seismograph somewhere. Place it in the room and see if it records anything out of the ordinary...

[mkolber1]

That's a good idea, use a pitcher of water. You can see the vibrations in the water and video For evidence. Or anything that will move due to vibration. Could it be due to wind? Can you move the bed to another position or orientation? Resonances can cause movement with a very small push. Or convince her to like it. Babies like to be rocked to sleep. M

[My 2 Cents]

On 3/1/2018 8:44 PM, AlexM wrote: snip, snip and more snip, Proof... it ain't easy being American ... 1st world problems!

[Clare Snyder]

The air handling system in our local library resonates so badly sometimes it feels like an earthquake.

I'd try turning off the HVAC system completely to attempt to rule that out.

Being a town home complicates things as the sourse could be in another unit entirely.

[Mike_Duffy]

This is an excellent idea! Borrow/rent a high speed camera, and see if you can get a high-speed laser scanner to 'track' the wave crests.

Then you can perform a Fourier analysis to tell you the direction of the vibration source. Set up your equipment in different places and you use triangulation to deduce if the source is lateral (within the house oa at a neighbour) or vertical (subterranean pipes, fracking, etc.)

[George and Kathleen Lutzm]

This video might have some ideas.->

[Chrissy]

Yikes I’m having the same issue. However I know it’s coming from my neighbor’s hydraulic bed. Unfortunately we share a foundation as we are in townhomes.

[micky]

You need an exorcist. PM me.

[micky]

You've had 10 minutes. If the exorcist was going to fix it, he's had enough time, so for future readers with the same problem, try an automotive stethoscope. Especially if you're willing to check the crawl space, etc. A cheap one is probably good enough, like from Harbor Freight. It will take some time.

[Retirednoguilt]

Your neighbor's water bed? Sounds like fun!