Bad vibration

Clodhopper · Post by **Clodhopper** » Sat Jun 24, 2017 4:18 am

I have a vibration problem.

It's been going on for almost 3 years now and is costing me sleep by the ...gallon? ...ton? ...sheepload? Almost no-one else is affected at all, but at its worst I was getting no sleep or less than 4 hours every night and is a large part of why I wasn't posting here at all. Too zonked to even think of it.

I've had Environmental Health in and they found "nothing they could use". To be fair they are more about constantly barking dogs than mysterious vibrations. The kids they sent round seemed genuinely concerned and did their best but seemed totally flummoxed. Their end advice was to get my hearing tested and be checked for tinnitus since there is also a deep booming noise associated with the vibration which no-one apart from me seems able to hear.

I did both and had an MRI scan of my brain which was about having a minor cancer removed along with my right saliva gland but useful in this case as well because it could be used to check I didn't have a tumour that might have caused auditory hallucinations. All fine.

Since February this year it got 50% better and I've been getting 4-6 hours sleep regularly, which is enough to function on. I took my house off the market although I am regularly wandering the streets at 4 am trying to find the remaining cause (I believe there were 2 or 3 things which began around the same time). All but 1 I think I have identified and have stopped so it's nothing like as bad as it has been. I also began posting here again.

Or it wasn't as bad.... The last couple of days the vibration has - to me - become more intense. It could be coming from the neighbour with the attached wall (he was the cause of most of the problems, I believe) but there's a significant chance it's to do with the blocks of low rise flats just over the road. These flats run 100m along the street and are 4 storeys high. The block at the end of the street, opposite the 4 house terrace I'm part of, has a void ground floor. It's an empty space used for bike storage and such and is open at the front, with just a decorative metal grill instead of brick. It may well be acting as a sound box. I can certainly feel the vibration through my feet all round the area.

Does anyone know of vibration detection machines I could rent or buy? Or firms that do this sort of work? I've tried the internet, but don't know enough to know what sort of machine or detector I need firstly to prove there IS a vibration at all and second to have a professionally acceptable reading I can wave at officials to prove it.

Do any of our engineering types have relevant information that might help? I've tried calling acoustic engineers but they are more about making business compliant with noise regs. It seems they COULD come but have no guarantee they could find the cause and it could easily get very expensive for no return. In one case where a whole town was bothered by vibration, the eventual cause was found to be a steelworks 40 miles away and took years to track down. My problem isn't on that scale but the issue is much the same: I could spend a lot of money for nothing.

I'm stumped. Any ideas?

edit: I should add I've lived here for nearly 30 years now and only in the last 3 years has there been any problem at all.

edit: Of the last 6 lodgers, who cover the period, only one could feel and hear it and it only cost him a few hours here and there. He only moved out when I said I had to sell the place.

Bruv · Post by **Bruv** » Sat Jun 24, 2017 6:28 am

I have no suggestions to help unfortunately, I can only offer my sympathies for your situation.

I have some questions though, sorry if you have been asked before.

Could it be you are super sensitive to whatever it is ?

Could it be an undiscovered medical condition ?

Why was only one of your lodgers affected ? Could he have been suggestible ?

Have you canvassed your neighbours to ask if they are affected ?

Clodhopper · Post by **Clodhopper** » Sat Jun 24, 2017 7:23 am

Could it be you are super sensitive to whatever it is ?

Yes. That seems likely in fact. It's also possible that I've become more sensitive to vibration through constant exposure - training, in effect. But whatever it is has a cause.

Could it be an undiscovered medical condition ?

Possible but unlikely statistically. It doesn't seem to be an already discovered condition either: I've been checked for tinnitus and had a hearing test and an MRI scan. None of them showed anything that would explain it. That's a relief. If it's external I can do something about it. If it's internal that's a lot trickier. And frightening.

Why was only one of your lodgers affected ? Could he have been suggestible ?

It takes some suggestion to wake you in the middle of the night on several occasions. Especially when you are a chef in a posh chippie and come in shattered every night. More than that he was convinced it was from next door - he was specific about what he heard and felt and where it was from.

That's not the most bizarre one, either. Another friend had been (she confessed) saying that while she was sure it was real to me, she wasn't convinced it was real for anyone else. Then one night she was sitting in my kitchen and felt it. She's never felt it on any other occasion. Don't understand that one at all.

Have you canvassed your neighbours to ask if they are affected ?

Yes. It was 2 years ago now and I'm considering doing it again. The couple in the downstairs flat at the other end of my terrace of 4 houses said they could, and worse than me (it actually rattled their windows in the frames, they said). They were the only ones. They are also closer to the block of low rise flats with the void space below them I have mentioned.

In the last 6 months or so on a few occasions other people have heard the booming noise that comes with the vibration - I've seen people stop and look puzzled and people I've been with who haven't been able to feel or hear the vibration at other times have heard it. It appears to be in between my 4 terrace bit and the block of flats. I've wondered if the vibration is causing the void space to resonate and produce the booming noise. There's enough evidence to make me reasonably confident that it isn't a hallucination, it's a real thing other people can perceive. It seems just like any other sense: some have less good eyesight, some have better. In this case I'm cursed with better vibration sense and I'm not the only one. I do seem the worst affected though. I'm actually getting some counselling to help with the side effects which have been pretty devastating if the wider consequences are taken into account. I do wonder if I was totally sane at times. At the worst, for 18 months or 2 years or so, I was getting sleep in minutes for 2 nights, then would pass out for about 4 hours the third, always being woken or kept awake by vibration (edit: in hindsight I do wonder if that was actually physically possible. It's certainly how it felt, though). It has affected me mentally, emotionally and physically.

I was within a couple of weeks of putting the boards up to sell the place back in February (all paperwork ready, estate agents being talked to, posting on internet one ready to go, house redecorated) when the situation improved a lot. I can't prove it but strong circumstantial evidence suggests my neighbour's computer was producing a lot of vibration at night for some reason (he worked very late a lot). There was a thumping and bumping of furniture one day from him and the problem halved. The other problem or perhaps two problems is that my problems started when he changed his boiler for a bigger one... Unfortunately he can't feel a thing and refuses to accept it could be him. I can't prove it is, even though the symptoms exactly match a boiler with too small a gas intake pipe that I found in internet discussions (vibration and booming that can be heard by the neighbour but not by the owner)

So it could be the boiler, or it could be the flats. It could even be he's moved his computer again. Either way I have to start by proving it is real. That means as far as I can see some sort of vibration detector that produces numbers an expert will accept. And that's where I need help, because looking on the internet I don't know enough to tell what sort of thing I need. If I'm lucky, someone will know.

And thanks for the sympathy. At least I am getting just enough sleep even when it's bad. Not like it was. (shudder).

Bruv · Post by **Bruv** » Sat Jun 24, 2017 7:40 am

Still no solutions from me, but a couple of suggestions.

Do you know of any mobile masts locally that may have been installed or upgraded during that time ?

Could it be wind 'playing' the empty void ?

Could you have a sonic chimney ?

Best advice.................move.

Clodhopper · Post by **Clodhopper** » Sat Jun 24, 2017 8:05 am

Yeah. Came very close back in Jan. I make my money from renting a couple of rooms. It doesn't make much but I don't need much, however it IS my source of money and I need to be sure I can rent rooms. Effectively I'm not just moving my home, I'm moving my business. When things improved, I stopped looking because I love my little home. I extended it and have got it just about right for me and for renting and I can't find anything else as good in the area for the money. Which means something isn't right. And the housing market has gone flat since the brexit vote - I don't mind that - I'm swapping property for property not for cash so the market state doesn't matter from that point of view. It does matter though in the sense there don't seem to be that many properties coming onto the market and a high proportion of those are there are unrealistically priced or a bit of digging around finds the sewage farm (matters when you MUST rent rooms)/subsidence/whatever. Currently I'm considering renting out the whole property and moving out of London and renting somewhere tiny. Devon looks possible. Or Scotland...

edit: not aware of any mobile masts being changed or upgraded recently. There is definitely a motor involved in this somewhere.

Post by **Betty Boop** » Sat Jun 24, 2017 2:12 pm

I'm guessing you feel the vibration rather than actually hear it so a suggestion of sleeping with music playing through noise cancelling headphones isn't going to help really.

Renting out the property and spending a few weeks in Cornwall

would sort out whether it's where you live or not surely and is less drastic than selling up.

magentaflame · Post by **magentaflame** » Sat Jun 24, 2017 3:26 pm

I've only known one other incidence of this kind of thing happening.

A pipe under a persons house. It wasn't the pipe that was the problem really . It was the railway track that the pipe ran along until it was diverted to residential areas. The movement of the trains made the pipe vibrate .......straight under this persons house. Nothing could be done and the house was eventually knocked down for a small park/pathway.

Sorry Clod no help at all.....sell up and move.

Patsy Warnick · Post by **Patsy Warnick** » Sat Jun 24, 2017 7:28 pm

Clod

Not much help from me either as far on who to contact exactly or what machine would detect the vibration.

I believe you feel the vibration - I believe you hear the vibration

I have sensitive hearing - I can hear most foot steps outside around my house before one rings my door bell - or my hubby was taking the garbage out.

Good luck

Patsy

Mark Aspam · Post by **Mark Aspam** » Sat Jun 24, 2017 8:57 pm

Betty Boop;1510495 wrote: I'm guessing you feel the vibration rather than actually hear it so a suggestion of sleeping with music playing through noise cancelling headphones isn't going to help really.Maybe if he kept playing the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations".

FourPart · Post by **FourPart** » Tue Jun 27, 2017 1:02 pm

Back in the 70s I used to work as a projectionist in a dump of a Community Cinema (later converted into a Wine Bar). Some way beneath this cinema was a local network railway tunnel. This had the inevitable consequence that about every 20 mins or so there would be a rumbling / vibration throughout the building - it was quite comical at the time when Earthquake was released, as that was released in "Sensorama", which emitted low frequency sounds that were meant to resonate with the furniture. We had it without the fancy equipment.

Perhaps your place has an Underground Railway deep beneath you?

Post by **Betty Boop** » Sat Jul 15, 2017 6:11 am

Did you get to the bottom of this yet?

Is it still ongoing?

Post by **spot** » Sat Jul 15, 2017 8:24 am

The Bristol Hum has been notorious over the years and I was definitely aware of it on occasion. If this is similar then it's geographically located. On the downside the general feeling in Bristol is that it relates to architectural geometry and it's never been mended. If you lived on a coast there's examples of it coming from shoals of fish near beaches.

I expect you've seen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum - does any of that resonate with your experience?

Clodhopper · Post by **Clodhopper** » Sat Jul 15, 2017 10:07 am

Yeah, I have and it does. But in addition there is a physical shaking that I experience which is actually the worse part of the problem (the humming or booming goes with the vibration). I've found leaving my extractor fan on overnight drowns the Hum part but the vibration is unpleasant, going through the body, shaking the head on the pillow and making the bedclothes tickle just where they stop touching the body. At its worst the vibration causes muscles in my limbs to feel as though they are on the edge of cramping.

It's better than it was. Friday nights seem bad for some reason.

edit: My best guess is that this is to do with the refurbishment work going on in the housing estate across the road. The neighbour problems appear to have been solved.

Post by **spot** » Sat Jul 15, 2017 11:43 am

I can think of two forms of vibration, electromagnetic being one. Sound through any medium is the other. Both are a way of describing the transfer of energy across a distance.

If any other vibrations exist I'm not sure they're known to science but I may be failing to remember. The mystic community no doubt knows at least a dozen more and Scientologists can even measure one of these with a box.

What I'll do is look up detectors for electromagnetism and detectors for sound, and report back. The reason for this post is to see whether you think that's the right area to explore.

I'll start with the unfortunately-named EMFUK company, shall I?

Clodhopper · Post by **Clodhopper** » Sat Jul 15, 2017 4:19 pm

I think it's sound vibration. Shrug. I could be wrong. My suspicion is that the open ground floor of the block of low rise flats over the road has somehow become a sound box for some piece of machinery but where that machinery is I have no idea. It could be half a mile away where there is some big building work going on with 3 huge cranes on site.

But thank you for looking.

Clodhopper · Post by **Clodhopper** » Sun Jul 16, 2017 4:04 am

FourPart;1510550 wrote: Back in the 70s I used to work as a projectionist in a dump of a Community Cinema (later converted into a Wine Bar). Some way beneath this cinema was a local network railway tunnel. This had the inevitable consequence that about every 20 mins or so there would be a rumbling / vibration throughout the building - it was quite comical at the time when Earthquake was released, as that was released in "Sensorama", which emitted low frequency sounds that were meant to resonate with the furniture. We had it without the fancy equipment.

Perhaps your place has an Underground Railway deep beneath you?

No tube near Kingston owing to Victorian snobbery. Stops at Wimbledon. I'd swear there is a motor involved somewhere: It's got that throbbing generator type feel to it. The other thing about it is that although pretty much always there, it changes steadily: I've mentioned the motor, well, at first it was a slowish thump thump thump, then it became a quicker brrrrrrrrrrrrrr, now it's a whine so fast you can barely pick out the individual rotations.

In a way it's not so serious now as I can usually get a fair night's sleep. I'm hoping it's something to do with all the building work that's been going on. If so, when that stops, so should the vibration. Touch wood...

minks · Post by **minks** » Tue Jul 18, 2017 1:13 pm

This is a long shot, could it be a gamer near by with super sonic gaming equipment. I am not a gamer expert, but I know you can get some pretty fancy systems that literally can rock your house to bits with noise and vibration??

Might I suggest some ear plugs and some good cannabis with a high THC level. Block the sound and relax the body and have a better sleep.

Clodhopper · Post by **Clodhopper** » Tue Jul 18, 2017 5:17 pm

My neighbour is a music internet bloke in some way. My understanding is that HIS system is necessarily pretty big. Back in February there was some thumping and bumping of furniture moving from next door and the problem halved. It's the difference between getting less than 4 hours a night and 4-6 hours, which I've more or less adjusted to.

So I think his computer system was part of the problem. Unfortunately, not the whole of the problem.

minks · Post by **minks** » Thu Jul 20, 2017 9:53 am

frustrating indeed and I completely get the aggravation of having ones sleep disrupted and things being beyond our control.

A few years ago, our neighbor was in a bad relationship and alcohol and abuse and loud music created a lot of late night noise for my daughter and I in our home (we are in stand alone homes, so there is 10 feet between their outside wall and our outside wall). It became so bad we were house hunting and looking to move. Fortunately the man has moved away and times are much better now.

Clodhopper · Post by **Clodhopper** » Tue Aug 07, 2018 2:20 am

A few posts about this ended up on another thread. Long story short my neighbour now has his house on sale and because he's been taking his family away for long weekends they are in and out. The vibration problem has (as far as I can tell) exactly matched their presence: They go away the vibration and booming drops to near nothing and I get to sleep in my bed; they come back and I'm driven downstairs to the place that seems least affected by the vibration which is the sofa downstairs, and from where the sound of the kitchen fan is enough to drown the Hum.

So IF he sells that could mean the end of my problems. Unfortunately the market in London is still stagnant and there's no guarantee he WILL sell.

I'm told that doing the sort of job I believe he is doing he will have a computer tower to do the rendering. I've been told these things are notorious for causing vibration and booming and there is NO WAY he was unaware of that as a professional. SO in other words if that is correct (not guaranteed) he knew perfectly well what he was doing to me and just didn't give a damn. Hoped to drive me away.

The overall effect of these developments - plus the fact I can't quite make the money add up - means that plans to move to the Borders are currently shelved. I've realised that if I move there I have to sell up completely down here to do it and I have very little income at that point and no clear idea how to get one. Besides, if things really are going to hell then I think I want to stay near my friends.

Post by **Bryn Mawr** » Sat Aug 11, 2018 3:03 pm

At least you've isolated the source of the problem - always the first step in resolving it.

Next job is working out how to wreck his tower without it being provable

Clodhopper · Post by **Clodhopper** » Mon Aug 13, 2018 2:57 am

It's not the only problem - I'm still getting woken at 7:45 am by a serious hum but I am getting 6 or 7 solid hours by that time which is a definite improvement. I think I know what it is (an office block half a mile away that went to 24 hr operation at the right time about 4 years ago now) but proof is as usual the issue and I could be wrong: there's been a lot of building round here in the last decade. Either way, it's liveable-with. It's going on now and while mildly unpleasant as soon as I concentrate I'm unaware of it. Until there are a significant number of other people showing an awareness of this vibration and/or hum there isn't much I can do. It's as if there are two problems and when both are going they don't add to eachother, they multiply, or more. Removing one makes a big difference.

There is a For Sale sign up on their property (though given the current state of the market that's no guarantee it will sell). I was not a good neighbour when things were at their worst and I was getting next to no sleep. I'm genuinely not sure I'd have qualified as sane at times. There was no violence or anything like that but I was stomping up and down swearing for long periods in the middle of the night and he was awake to hear it much of the time - working partly but a habit of falling asleep on the couch as well and there is only 9 inch brick between the downstairs rooms. He ended up calling the Police but they seem to have ended up believing me. The improvements in the situation have also removed one of the reasons for moving which has helped tilt the balance against the Scottish Borders plan. For now, at least.