I really hope you are able to help me. We bought our house 2 years ago and for the last 3 winters, when the sun shines on the back and sides of the house it makes TOO much noise. It cracks and creeks so loud that it will wake you up in the morning. It only happens in the winter. I understand that it is the siding contracting in the heat from the sun and the cold from the northern air. Is there anything we can do? It's embarrassing when we have company overnight. I prefer to have people at the house in the summer when there are no extra noises!
Answer:
This probably has something to do with the siding as you point out. If it's vinyl or aluminum siding, some of the fasteners may be driven just a bit too far in and that means that when the product expands and contracts in reaction to temperature, the oblong nailing holes are letting you know that someone was too heavy on the hammer handle. Doing something about it will entail tracing the noise to the precise spot where the offending fastener(s?) is and dealing with it there. If the siding is vinyl, you might be able to get rid of it and then re-install the siding but if its metal, I'd try very hard to get used to it because it is not really recycleable.
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