pops and creeks : (

I'm sure someone's going to come along soon (and know more than I do), but it sounds to me like at least some of this is due to wood expanding and contracting. Where do you live (not specifics, of course - just, Chicago, New Mexico or wherever)? The climate may play a part, e. g. if you live some place where it's foggy in the morning and damp during the day, and then things dry out at night, wood is going to expand and contract.

I agree with Jespah, but along with her, don't know much else, except I know that a house will "settle" on its foundation. Or maybe thats the foundation settling under the house...lol

we live in a brick veneer house in eastern ontario built in 1963(can get pretty cold in the winter, even though the last two weeks it's been quite mild). when we had some really cold winters in the 1970's the rafters in the house would actually BOOM when the temperatures dropped at night. about 20 years ago we had the south and west sides of the house covered with insulation and aluminum siding (the north side has a large sloping carport and the east-side is mainly windows. the BOOMING has decreased greatly (winters are perhaps not quite as cold - but we usually hit minus 20 - 25 celsius at least a few times during the winter). we also put another layer of insulation into our attic (it's now probably about a foot thick). one nice side-benefit has been that our fuel-consumption has dropped by about a third (but we still pay more - scratching my head !). hbg