Totally agree on giving pipes a bit of breathing room. Padding can help, sure, but I've seen setups where folks clamp everything down super tight thinking it'll stop the noise, and it actually makes things worse. Pipes expand and contract more than most people realize, especially with heating systems. Also worth checking your water pressure—sometimes high pressure can amplify rattling or knocking sounds. Glad you got yours sorted though...noisy pipes can drive you nuts after a while.
Good points there. Couple extra things I've noticed over the years:
- Plastic pipe hangers can help dampen noise better than metal ones.
- Don't underestimate the benefit of adding a few air chambers—sometimes that's all it takes.
- And yeah, high pressure is sneaky...had mine dialed way too high once and it sounded like a marching band in the walls.
Good call on the plastic hangers—I swapped mine out last spring and noticed a definite improvement. A couple things I'd add from my own experience:
- Insulating the pipes with foam sleeves made a noticeable difference, especially in colder months.
- Had to play around with securing points; too tight and vibrations traveled more, too loose and pipes knocked around.
And yeah, learned the hard way about pressure settings myself... thought the house was haunted till I dialed it back down.
Nicely done tackling that—noisy pipes can seriously drive you nuts. Had a similar issue in an older place I lived in a few years back. Like you, I messed around with securing points and insulation sleeves, which definitely helped. But what finally got things really quiet was tracking down a sneaky section of pipe that was rubbing against a floor joist. Took forever to pinpoint it, but once I slipped some padding between the pipe and the wood, it was like magic.
Funny you mention the haunted house thing... I spent weeks convinced there was an animal trapped somewhere in the walls because of all the knocking and pinging. Even set up one of those trail cams hoping to catch whatever critter had moved in. Felt pretty silly when it turned out to be just plumbing pressure and loose fittings.
Anyway, sounds like you've got it pretty much sorted now. It's always satisfying figuring these things out yourself—it’s like solving a mystery no one else even notices.
"Funny you mention the haunted house thing... I spent weeks convinced there was an animal trapped somewhere in the walls because of all the knocking and pinging."
Haha, glad I'm not the only one who went down the "critter in the walls" rabbit hole. I once spent an entire weekend convinced squirrels had invaded my attic—turned out it was just loose ductwork rattling around. Anyway, good job sorting out your pipes. If you ever want to take it a step further, insulating your hot water pipes can save energy too... quieter AND eco-friendly, win-win.
