The Saga of the Squeaky Bed
Our Time in Shreveport was coming to an end. We had sold our home, completed an estate sale and made arrangements to pack and load the remaining items for our new home at Eagles Trace, about twenty miles west of downtown Houston. We had sold or given away all of our bedroom furniture and it was necessary to find a bed, mattress and springs to move to Houston with the furniture we were taking with us. We had decided on a metal bed, but one that was not brass that had to be polished. After visiting several furniture stores we found what we wanted and had it delivered to our home. We also found the mattress and springs we wanted and had them delivered to our home to be moved to Houston.
Our new home is located in a community that is actually within a community. It is in a gated complex that provides all of necessities for living comfortable. Two Doctors are located in the community, a bank, grocery store, transportation provided if necessary, fitness room with several different types of equipments for exercise, any maintenance problems in the apartment turned over to Eagles Trace service department, full dining service in the evening, a cafeteria for casual dining and you can join any group or committee that would further you own education or help others that may need help in other ways.
We were settled in and enjoying living here when one of the managers stopped by to inform us one of our neighbors was complaining about the noise we were making in our apartment. It never crossed our mind that we were making any more noise than a couple of mice in a church. We learned over fifty years ago that if you stay up late, over eat and indulge in to many adult beverages you are going to feel pretty lousy the next day. So the complaint could not have been for throwing wild parties. The manager thought maybe we had wooden floors and this was causing the problem. We had carpets and walked around without our shoes on most of the time. If there was a problem, it was not the floors. The only problem we had with noise wasn’t from our neighbors but bolts of thunder and lightening being thrown our way occasionally.
As the manager left there was no solution to the problem, if there was a problem. She made the comment it might take an acoustic engineer to determine where the noise was originating from.
We were a little aggravated that a complaint had been lodged against us, but thought no more about it until a few days later a couple of engineers with sound detecting equipment showed up at our door. They were equipped to listen for any noise that was make in our apartment and transmitted to the apartment below. After about an hour without any explanation of what they found they left.
Several days’ later two people from the maintenance department arrived at our door and said the noise was being caused by our bed. They proceeded to remove all of the bedding down to the frame of the bed. They mentioned they were going to take the bed apart and put rubber gaskets between each of the parts that rubbed together.
With all of the attention ours bed was getting I noticed it did squeak when we would lay down on it or move around on the bed. This sound was probably being transmitted directly to the frame of the bed and then transmitted to the floor and into the apartment below.
As the body ages the changes requiring the call to nature to be increasing more often and if a diuretic is consumed the frequency of trips to the bathroom increase. The frequency of these trips and the squeaking of the bed was disturbing ours neighbor down below us. One morning about 2 AM as I was getting back in bed there was a thumping sound that I dismissed as air working through the water pipes as Eagles Trace was having water problems at the time. The next night the same thing, it couldn’t be air working through the pipes it had to be someone pounding on the walls or the ceiling.
It was shades of the old Jackie Gleason sit-com where Gleason pounds on the ceiling of his apartment with a mop because the people above him were partying and making to much noise. The pounding continued three more nights. The fifth night the pounding on the wall happened four different times. This was getting to be too much and I decided I would be down in Eagle Trace’s manager’s office at eight AM the next morning to complain about someone poundings on the wall at two AM. This did put a stop to someone pounding on the wall.
Maybe the sound Engineers were correct in picking the bed as the culprit but their solution of placing washers at points the bed was put together was of little help. I decided to visit some furniture stores and see if they had a solution. Their only solution was to sell us a new bed or place some sliders under the bed posts.
I had come to the conclusion it was not the bed frame, but had to be either the box springs or the mattress that were making the noise. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for but found the sliders and some round felt disks one quarter in thickness and one and one-half inch in diameter. I purchased four of the sliders and sixteen of the felt disks. Ruby and I spent the rest of the afternoon tearing the bed down installing the sliders and the disks. We had eliminated the squeak in the bed. However, it lasted only one night. The squeak was back the next night with a vengeance. Nearly all of the felt pads were on the floor under the bed. The question came down to what would hold those pads in place. One of the handiest things to have around the house is duck tape. Dee, our daughter, said she would bring a roll out when she and her son and his wife came out Sunday to have dinner a local Mexican restaurant.
I had purchased an additional twenty four felt pads and now had a total of forty to place around the bed frame. We once again tore the bed up and Zach strategically duck taped the felt pads in place. Since Zach is a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of Texas I am sure he would give me a signed affidavit the pads were placed in the proper position and the duck tape was installed properly.
It has now been about three months and the bed has not let out one squeak. To my knowledge there have been no complaints and I know there has been no pounding on the walls. May this saga of the squeaky bed rest in peace.
-L.D. Todd
