Ah, the joys of living in a row house. I remember the first house I bought (townhouse) and how proud I was until it turned out that the neighbor next door was a drummer, of all things, and practiced in the basement.

The ticking is quite common when radiators heat up. Usually, radiators are on the outside walls, not the common walls. I don't know if you are going to get anywhere threatening to sue, etc. If they were blasting their stereo, maybe, but they have a right to have heat.

Maybe the ticking will bother them enough when they move in that they will do something about it.

Why don't you offer to pay/split the cost of a HVAC guy to evaluate the trouble? Did they make changes to the heating system, or has it always been this way, even before it was renovated? Maybe a small change could help you. Maybe they could put some sound insulation behind the radiator or something like that.

This post was edited by Dovetonsils on Wed, Dec 17, 14 at 16:09

I would find out what city office is the domain of such a thing. There seems to be a city office for everything, lol.

I have no idea if it's normal or not, but not normal isn't the same thing as dangerous. I could just be annoying, but harmless to you- in which case there might not be anything you can do about it.

Dovetonsils - thanks for your response! The contractor next door says he can "barely hear it" from his side - so, either his hearing isn't as sensitive as mine, he's lying, or there's something about it that makes it louder on my side of the wall. Granted, he's probably listening to it during the day, with his crew banging away at other parts of the house & city daytime noises all around. I'm hearing it at night when I'm trying to sleep.

The contractor has said that his HVAC guy came out & said that all was normal and as it should be. It is a brand new heating system. They're saying that there's nothing they can do, which I don't think I believe.

BeesNeeds - I've called a bunch of city offices, some more than once, and all say they don't handle such things. After quite a few calls to different city offices, I called my City Councilman's office. The man I spoke to said he'd make a few calls and get back to me. I called to follow up & he said "oh, sorry, I couldn't get through to anyone...."

If I had someone knowledgeable tell me for sure if it is normal to hear these sounds, and nothing can/should be done, I'd give in. But several people have listened to my recording & told me it's NOT normal, so I don't even know.

And if it is true that it can barely be heard on their side of the wall, but is fairly loud on my side, isn't that an indication of not normal? I wish I knew.

And the interruption of my sleep is making me really cranky.

Carrieb - I wonder if the problem is that they have the heat turned down just to keep the pipes from freezing and they problem won't exist when they move in and keep it at normal temp. Maybe the rads are cooling off too much between cycles and when the hot water hits them you get a lot of metal expansion. You can ask them if they are keeping it low and to try keeping it at a more room temp.

Dovetonsils - interesting question about maybe them keeping it low making the noise worse/more frequent. I'll ask what temp they're keeping it at next time I talk to them.

They're planning to either sell the house or rent it out, but I don't know when they hope that will happen. The house has been vacant for so many years 6? 8? now.

An update: The contractor next door came over today to listen to the noise. I played my iPhone recording for him & he said that he definitely did NOT hear that noise next door. Eventually, he heard the actual noise on my side - he did not know what it was/where it was coming from.

He told me that his HVAC guy was stopping over, & asked if he could bring him over as well. The HVAC guy game over & the noise started up - heavily & as if on cue. The HVAC guy didn't know what the noise was, either. They asked where my heat vents were, and I showed them that they were all on the opposite side of the house.

The plot thickens.

Any updates?!? The clicking I’m hearing in my house is driving us nuts. It’s an exterior wall with no piping or anything going through it.

By any chance, did you recently have new floors installed?

I've only heard of it a few times in recent years but what is being described was at one time a union worker stunt in automobile manufacturing and home building. Auto workers would toss loose nuts and bolts inside doors of new cars as they came down the line. When the new car owner accelerated or stopped hard,the loose bolts would rattle forward and aft. Construction workers would install what they called " crickets" on roofs where they were difficult to locate. True to their nickname,crickets click and chirp while occupants below go insane trying to figure where the endless noise is coming from. When the pranks were revealed and law suits filed,the problem ceased. Sound's like the prank has resurfaced.