Roof Vibration Noise Diagnosis.

Hi everyone.
About a year ago we completed a reno / extension to an old terrace in Melbourne. There is a roof vibration noise when the wind blows from the south above 10kmh (it sounds as though someone is operating a power sander and can be quite loud). It is confounding (and annoying) me. It occurs in the South East corner area, so it could be downpipe or gutter related. I've recorded the noise (and posted it here).

We have a skillion / Flat, Klip Lok roof at a @6 degree angle falling south to a gutter that overhangs. It covers a first level extension. There is a possibility that it could be cladding related. The upper extension's cladding is corrugated zincalume. Does anyone know what it might be? The roofer has returned several times to no avail.

The wind is creating microphone distortion, but the noise in question can be clearly heard.

Link to the vid;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lR996Kc ... e=youtu.be

I didn't see a roofing section, so I hope it is ok to post my question here.
Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Zxath.

For the roof/gutter/wall cladding to make that noise when the wind blows suggests to me that there is something loose like a downpipe bracket, section of cladding etc. Has all the cladding and roofing been installed with Tek screws using a neoprene washer ? The washer will allow some expansion and contraction movement while still holding the sheeting firm in place. Or maybe some of the screws just need tightening up a little more.

Stewie

Hi Zxath
Sounds like cyclic vibration
Unfortunately more information is required
to determine the natural frequency, stiffness, stress, environmental conditions, corrosion,long term degradation etc, etc
(Apart from the irritating noise factor, in the long term it can lead to material fracture and then failure).
Post/PM some more info..
Thanks

wouldnt it be sarking. The noise is like holding a piece of paper tight and taut and blowing into it.

Possible..but low pitch skillion roofs/walls should be sealed..no openings AS1170.2
wind load design. The clue for me is low speed & machinery vibration noise?
The funny thing is that years ago when They introduced light framed steeltruss with opened eaves to perth..they insulated the ceilings and left the eaves opened/exposed/ no sarking?
20 Years on, couple it with salt corrosion, thermal expansion, metal fatigue and the problem becomes critical.

Thanks for the replies.

Stewie D: The Roofer did a check and found some loose gutter brackets and an unsecured section of corner flashing, which were then tightened and fixed. However, the noise continues. Tek screws (and rivets) have been used for all cladding / roofing / flashing installation. No neoprene washers that I can see though.

B STAR : The sarking could be the offender. From where I can inspect, there is exposed sarking beneath the corner flashing, but I cannot see what the situation is on the roof /gutter section. The lightness of the sarking would explain the high frequency vibration, and how such a phenomena could occur at low wind speeds (+10kmh). I would think that unsecured brackets or cladding sheet sections would require quite strong gusts to achieve a high frequency staccato. I agree the noise sounds like taut or flapping paper going like a bat out of hell.

StructuralBIMGuy: In my limited analysis ability, I'm not sure what other information I could provide. The problem has always been there, it only occurs when wind drives from the south, at above @10kph. The stronger the wind the more frequent and louder the noise. The noise has no regular patterns, but appears quite random. As it is a new build, I don't think degradation or corrosion has contributed to starting the problem (It could well be getting worse though). As I have not been able to personally inspect the gutter area in question, I cannot vouch that it has been sealed properly.

I have attached a (blurry)pic that shows the SE corner flashing detail, exposed sarking (blue) and tek screw.



Thanks again.
Zxath.

Hi Zxath
It may well be the corner flashing and fixings (are they concealed?) but unfortunately it is difficult to determine anything from the photos/ info you have provided
Do you have the details or information pertaining to:
Number and distance of fixings, Corner flashing size, stiffness, guage of steel, unsupported flashing overhang? etc,etc
Long shot....It could require vibration test equipment (MEMS sensors) and data logging at different locations/times/conditions.....sorry, I know thats an overkill.

Thanks StructuralBIMGuy.

By posting the previous picture, I'm not saying the problem ****** with the corner flashing. I just wanted to show an example of the exposed sarking.

I've attached a picture of the top level extension, SE roof corner/downpipe area where the sound is definitely coming from. I'm now wondering if the wind is somehow getting under the roof and stressing the sarking there.

I'll give the builder a link to this thread and see what he thinks. Maybe he can provide some of the technical details. All I know is the Corner flashings are 100mm. Your right, we may have to get some kind of sensors to monitor the area.

I had posted hoping someone was familiar with the sound, because the roofers seem to be none the wiser after having listened to the recording.

Thanks again.
Zxath.

I too have asked a manufacturers tech rep to cast an eye on this post.HTH

Thanks StructuralBIMGuy I really appreciate it.
Regards, Zxath.

Not the best sound recording to compare noises with, but my first thought was sarking.
I have seen and heard it vibrate before.

Not sure how accessible it is but you could try running an air blower over parts of it.

You could also try putting so of the ribbed corrugated foam down a couple of the sides.

Your corner flashings would likely all have squash folds which would stiffen them from any sort of low wind vibration.

My money is on sarking

Thanks 33amc.
I like the blower idea. It would be easy to isolate the problem if the roofers visited on a south driven windy day. The blower could provide a good approximation of the conditions that leads to the noise. The only problem that I can see is that blowers generally seem to be extremely loud. It might drown out the vibration noise and make it difficult to isolate.

I'll mention the ribbed foam inserts idea to the roofer.

I hope the source of the noise is with the sarking, otherwise the whole area may have to be machine gunned with rivets

The worst thing about the noise is that it is not of a regular pattern or volume. So it is not something that I can get use to or ignore.

Cheers,
Zxath.

LOL..let me guess you were going for the clean "screwless" architectural "WOW" look
Well now its "wow" whats vibrating those sheets.

On second thoughts you could always disguise the rivets as bullet holes....a talking point

I was thinking an air blower on an air hose from a compressor

Of course, for some reason my rattled brain went to a 'leaf blower'

@StructuralBIMGuy Without Oz's gun laws in place , It's quite possible I would've emptied a few magazines into the area by now!

Hi all - I realise that this thread is quite old, but we've just completed a new house build by Simonds Homes, and we have exactly this same problem (noise vibration in front corner - sounds like a jackhammer etc). We moved in 4 months ago, and notified this to Simonds as part of our 3 month maintenance review.
Ours is a colourbond roof, and we had Simonds initially come out and they mentioned loose sarking. They then supposedly 'fixed it' by adding a few more screws into the roof, and then it happpend again almost straight away. Now they're saying that it's not anything that they've done wrong - they're now saying that it's the eaves vibrating, and that it's occurring because we live in a windy area. They have however promised to come and look at it, but I'm just wondering if this is a build issue (ie according to Standards), or if it's something that we need to get looked at (outside the Simonds 3 month maintenance process). If it is outside the Simonds Build process, does anyone have any recommendations on which type of tradesperson we should engage for this?

Hi Damian.
We have recently built a new house with colorbond roof and we have se issue as yours. Sae your post from one year ago now and reaching you with a hope you might have found a solution by now. Could you please let me know what the problem is and how you got it fixed. My builder and roofers have come for like 5 times now and they are unable to pinpoint to tha problem.
Thankyou
Reddy

Hello Reddee
Your question is very timely, because the roof vibration problem was only fixed last Thursday (a year and a half after we notified Simonds about it). Like you, we had Simonds come out several times - at first, the guys that came out did genuinely try to fix it, i had audio recordings of the sound and they tried blowers to replicate the problem - when they were here, they were able to see and hear it themselves. That was approx Oct 2021, so a few weeks ago I put in a formal complaint to Simonds about the time it was taking for them to respond (12 months since their last attempt to fix it). I told them how it was affecting my family's health (not being able to sleep), and their response to the complaint was that it was not actually their problem - as the building code supposedly requires there to be a gap between gutter and fascia. I responded that the building code wouldn't allow a jackhammer noise in this scenario, so they decided to come out again..
This time, our original Simonds supervisor came over with another supervisor and they added blobs of silicone 6-9 inches apart between the gutter and the fascia, right along the whole length and side of the gutter (the sides that were facing where the winds come from) - and everything is now fixed. Apparently it was the gutter vibrating against the fascia in strong winds, even though there were plenty of brackets in-place.
My suggestion is to keep going back to your builder, they'll try to say that they've done everything they can (ask them how far the brackets are from each other - not sure, but I think that they should be not more than 1.2m apart), then ask them to do the silicone between the gutter and the fascia. It should fix the issue. In our case, we had a really really windy weekend a couple of days after they added the silicone (so it was a really good test scenario), and we didn't get any rattles then, and haven't had any rattles since. Hopefully it stays that way

Hi Damian
Thanks a lot for your reply. It is indeed a timely one. I will ask my builder to do the same. Hopefully my problem will also be solved with this.
Thanks once again
Reddy

Hello. It is with interest that I read these posts about the roof noise. My roof is full of all angles - skillion colourbond roof. In the front section of the house, I have had a noise emitting from the roof, not evident when outside, in strong winds.The roofer came numerous times to fix to no avail. Now I have been told it is not structural so not covered by the building authority. The vertical cladding near this roof section has been re-inforced and I thought that this may have fixed it, but no.
So, from above I have gathered that it could be the sisilation noise.It is good to be aware that other people have this problem, and you are not alone. So it could be that I try the silicone at intervals along the area between the fascia and gutter. Fingers crossed. This is a very important way of sharing experiences as otherwise I could have thought I was the only one with this roof noise.