So all of this is all about the neighbor’s refusal to move the washing machine 2” away from the wall? Could be. If so, what a jerk.

 

Really, there is another solution, if the place is a rental property: The reality is that if the building is being shaken to that extent, structural damage is occurring!! I have first hand experience regarding that!!
another family member moved to a very nice lake-shore house, which had a ground-level laundry room. They also had a washer machine that produced floor vibrations thru-out the house, which caused plaster cracking. They consulted an engineering professional, who verified that the solution was to install pilings to support the washer, as the alternative to continuing additional damage.
SO the TS needs to contact the property manager and complain about the possible structural collapse possibility. THAT concern should provide motivation of those in a position to effect a change. And leave the TS in a safer situation.

 

Really, there is another solution, if the place is a rental property: The reality is that if the building is being shaken to that extent, structural damage is occurring!! I have first hand experience regarding that!!
another family member moved to a very nice lake-shore house, which had a ground-level laundry room. They also had a washer machine that produced floor vibrations thru-out the house, which caused plaster cracking. They consulted an engineering professional, who verified that the solution was to install pilings to support the washer, as the alternative to continuing additional damage.
SO the TS needs to contact the property manager and complain about the possible structural collapse possibility. THAT concern should provide motivation of those in a position to effect a change. And leave the TS in a safer situation.

That's an interesting idea. One side effect is the erosion of the foundation, which although slow to progress, eventually causes some pretty big problems.

 

Of course, if it is a rental, he easy solution is to move.

 

Of course, if it is a rental, he easy solution is to move.

Funny you should mention 'moving'. I just moved recently and I can tell you first hand moving is not easy by any measure. One of the hardest things I have had to do in a long time.
It seems like you are getting everything packed and moved, but then you realize you still have more to pack and move. Stairs are a nightmare unless maybe you are 20 something.
That's after getting help from a neighbor with a truck and also hiring a moving company. I still had things I had to do myself, a lot of things.

 

Certainly, even in the best situations, moving is a very big task. Aside from that, it will almost always result in higher rent payments and other new costs.
But the fact that shaking a building is certain to be causing damage is worth mentioning to those able to do something about it. Very few owners of rental property will be willing to accept damage done by renters.

 

Moving, one of the most stressing activities no matter how much help you get, things you decide to leave behind or how you organize the distribution upon arrival at the new place.

There are things that disapear forever and others that keep showing up in the less reasonable places for no reason.

Been there, many times, more than I would like to recall. My only rule: the less you carry with you is better.

 

Okay, I’m wrong. Moving is obviously not an option. To me, not being able to sleep is worse, but I am not like other people.

Edited: Sayng it was “easy”, I admit, was a bit flippant, depending on how it is interpreted. I did not mean it was easy to do, that depends on the circumstances, I meant it was easy to see as a solution.

 

Last entry by the TS was 6 days ago.

I thank you for your suggestions but not really the info I was looking for.
• • • I am looking at the evidence gathering and best ways to get that evidence i.e circuit types parameters etc

I think we've gone a little off topic. The desired conclusion is how to gather evidence of the vibrations. While there have been some cheap suggestions, another suggestion would be to get some accelerometers and a data logger. How to gather hard data is what the TS is seeking.

 

think we've gone a little off topic

That’s for sure. We went from a vibration that is disturbing someone’s sleep to a vibration that is shaking the building down. A bit of a stretch, if you ask me.

 

That’s for sure. We went from a vibration that is disturbing someone’s sleep to a vibration that is shaking the building down. A bit of a stretch, if you ask me.

It IS NOT a "stretch" to say it is shaking the building to the point of damage.
Take a video of the vibration shaking a glass of water on the floor, with a readable clock also in the picture. THAT will verify both the level of vibration and the time it happens.
If it were my problem it might happen that the offender's power somehow gets switched off and on during the vibration.

 

It IS NOT a "stretch" to say it is shaking the building to the point of damage.

Would agree. However, the TS wants to know a way to be able to document the shaking so that something positive can be done. It's not a stretch to say smoking can cause lung cancer. But the subject in that case would be "Smoking" and not the ill health affects that can come about from it. Yes, the shaking can be problematic for the structure. I live near the Air Force base and when one hot rod jockey flys over my house he's going making as much noise as he can. While I find it darned impressive, I'm sure the sound waves may one day take its toll, as has happened before elsewhere. Just can't think of that example right now. I also live near a railroad freight line and every day there's some bouncing which can be seen in computer monitors as the image reflected in their screens are obviously bouncing up and down. Will that take a toll on my house? Probably. But probably not for a few generations at a minimum. Unless there's some latent unknown damage to my structure. The trick is to be able to prove the vibrations and likely also quantify the amount of shaking. A bouncing mirror would likely prove there IS shaking going on. But how much shaking is going on? And how much and fast is damage being caused? Move? Yeah, that's an option. But that doesn't answer the question.

 

In the house with the shaking wash machine, it quickly produced cracks and nail pops in the plastered walls. THAT happened in just a few weeks. That was patchable damage, but a sure indication that structural joints were being flexed. Constant flexing will eventually lead to the joint failing. It just takes time.

 

Hello again,

These kinds of problems can have some subtle solutions so it could take some careful experimentation.
For example, it's been said that you can speed up the time of Big Ben by some fraction of a second by placing another old-style British penny on the governor, which raises its center of gravity by a tiny amount.

 

It IS NOT a "stretch" to say it is shaking the building to the point of damage.
Take a video of the vibration shaking a glass of water on the floor, with a readable clock also in the picture. THAT will verify both the level of vibration and the time it happens.
If it were my problem it might happen that the offender's power somehow gets switched off and on during the vibration.

If it is vibrating so badly that the building is at risk of being damaged, why can't the TS get any vibration sensors to even detect it? If vibration sensors can't detect it, what is the likelihood that it will shake a glass of water on the floor sufficiently to make a convincing argument?

 

If it is vibrating so badly that the building is at risk of being damaged, why can't the TS get any vibration sensors to even detect it? If vibration sensors can't detect it, what is the likelihood that it will shake a glass of water on the floor sufficiently to make a convincing argument?

Hi,

That's interesting. In the first Jurasic Park movie (movies again ha ha) they had shown the approaching T Rex through vibrations in the water in the jeep (or was it coffee).

In real life, I was able to use a hanging object to show vibrations in the building. A string and some small weight. When the building shakes, the weight starts to swing, and it does not stop swinging right away. WIthout any vibration, there was no swinging at all.
This vibration was from a different source it was from someone climbing up the fire escape that was not supposed to be doing that. The metal is bolted into some of the floor beams on the upper floor, and the only other thing holding the metal stairs up was a long steel pole about 3 inches in diameter and placed near the center span of the stairs. Needless to say, there was vibration and a tiny amount of resonance. It was easy to feel it when the floor shook, and not hard to measure with the hanging object. A long string works pretty well. A video can be made of the weight and string.

The only drawback is there is no quantitative measurement being made. I suppose with some math we can calculate how much the ceiling had to move in order to get the weight to react in that way and with the resulting swing distance and maybe how long it took for it to damp out.

 

If it is vibrating so badly that the building is at risk of being damaged, why can't the TS get any vibration sensors to even detect it? If vibration sensors can't detect it, what is the likelihood that it will shake a glass of water on the floor sufficiently to make a convincing argument?

WE have no hint as to the kind of vibration sensors the TS had access to. There is a huge span of sensitivity ranges among available vibration sensors.

 

Hello,

There are vibration meter apps for android:
https://www.appbrain.com/app/vibration-meter/com.gamma.vibrationmeter
It shows a peak when i tap the table where my phone lies.
There shall likely be some for apple too.

Bertus

 

I was able to use a hanging object to show vibrations in the building. A string and some small weight. When the building shakes, the weight starts to swing, and it does not stop swinging right away. WIthout any vibration, there was no swinging at all.

Two issues with this that I see - the vibration a string could demonstrate would have to be a latitudinal motion whereas a longitudinal motion would need a weight on a spring. The second thing I see is that the length of the string and weight would have to be tuned to the same rate of motion, whether a string or a spring. If you swing a weight back and forth at a faster rate than the weight can move it can be possible to move the hanging point back and forth fast enough that the weight hardly moves. But if you swing it one way slowly then back the other way you can get the weight to swing far more than the motion you put into it.

On a spring & weight, the amount of weight and strength of the spring also need to match the frequency of the vibrations. All of that requires some real numbers. The TS is only looking for a visual proof that shaking is occurring.

 

Understand that the damage done by vibration is seldom instant or even rapid. Nailed joints come apart rather slowly , sometimes taking years to let go.