Tapping sound from loft at night...

sarahwilson_189

Help! There’s something alive in my attic at night! Over the last few weeks I’ve heard a tapping/knocking sound in the ceiling above my bed that starts at around 10pm-midnight and continues on and off until 4-6am. It’ll be a few continuous knocks, then silence for a few minutes, then it’ll start again. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly where the sound comes from - sometimes seems more like the top of one of the walls than the ceiling. Sometimes a few hours (or even days) can go by without me hearing it but when it does happen it’s always the same sort of sound. I don’t really hear scampering or rustling, or any vocals. Sometimes there’s a bit of scraping as if whatever it is is dragging something through the attic - but that was only once or twice. It keeps me wide awake at night as the knocking is very loud in the silence of night time (I live on a very quiet residential road). So I’ve been sleeping terribly recently. I feel like mice and rats don’t really knock, a bird I would expect to make a flapping/vocal sound, and squirrels aren’t active at night I don’t think? I don’t know though. I’m not sure what other animals are common in lofts/walls in the UK, especially in this boiling hot summer. Thanks for any suggestions! I’ve recorded the sound below:

1- http://imgur.com/lp7TnV0 (you'll need to flick sound on in the corner)

2- http://clyp.it/ntj40pmb

3- http://clyp.it/hcmzwuee

stuart45

In old buildings with oak rafters the Deathwatch beetle can sometimes be heard making a knocking noise at night, but it probably isn't the case with yours. 

Paula_Smith

Stick a wildlife camera up there - you can get one for less than £20 - the quality isn't great but you might get to see what is making the noise.

FreeBear

stuart45 said:

In old buildings with oak rafters the Deathwatch beetle can sometimes be heard making a knocking noise at night, but it probably isn't the case with yours. 

Deathwatch beetle was going to be my suggestion until I heard the recording, but the sound is quite a bit different... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZvYHqj2NTs

Got a neighbour nailing up wallpaper ?

Have one that likes to do "something" with a hammer late at night <grrr>...

sgun

It sounds just like the mice we had. The tapping noise was when they ran over a loose pipe and it knocked against the rafters or another pipe. Exactly the same times of night as well. They were coming in through a small gap near a gutter on the ground, up the cavity wall, along the attic and starting to build a nest at the most difficult and awkward place that we couldn't  get to. That's what the dragging noise could be. We never heard scampering from the bedrooms but you could hear them running around in the attic during the day when we went up and banged around a bit. We got pest control as we have a weird attic with a chimney that you cant get past. He had them trapped on the first night (also, he was able to get the traps right down into the eaves where we couldn't reach). If you have a normal attic I'd just put traps along the eaves, sort of next to the gutter as they run along the edge. We baited with Mars bar on squirrel traps as the mice were more likely to take the bait off a large trap. 

sgun

Oh, and check all round your house for holes
 Mice can get through airbricksized holes and they tend to only go through gaps at ground level rather than climbing. Squirrels are very active at night btw but unless you have trees overhanging the roof its unlikely to be them.

Jonesya

Have you got any climbing plants growing up to the roof, or any thing else that mice or rats could climb up?

neilmcl

I've heard similar on many a ghost movie, don't go into the attic on your own 😂

Mistral001

neilmcl said:

I've heard similar on many a ghost movie, don't go into the attic on your own 😂

I saw all those Hammer films as well.  Could it be a bat?

whizzywoo

Woodpecker?  We have one sounds like that in the large tree at the end of our garden but I don't know if it would be making the noise at night?  Are woodpeckers nocturnal?

Rosa_Damascena

Mistral001 said:

neilmcl said:

I've heard similar on many a ghost movie, don't go into the attic on your own 😂

I saw all those Hammer films as well.  Could it be a bat?

In which case it's a RSPCA job. I would want to have all the facts to hand before calling anyone out though as bats are a protected species. I don't know if they have squatters rights if they make a home in your loft.