Ceiling joists making loud cracking sounds above stove

"I think I'll try the low hanging fruit first: Kettle on the stove for some moisture (I used to do that but got rid of the grungy kettle and never replaced it). If that doesn't help..."

Do a search for threads on humidifiers, kettles, etc. You'll find that they make no useful difference (not enough moisture put into the air in a short enough time). They smell good if you put potpourri in, though...

Lopside- keep in mind that the only thing not constantly moving/expanding/contracting in your house is the foundation- and even that's not always the case.
I used to lie awake in bed on summer nights and listen to the pops in the attic and wonder if somebody was chucking rocks at my house.
If something moved enough to be worried about, you'd see cracks at the drywall joints.

The real problem is that you might sit in the attic for days trying to locate the source. Second problem is that when you do find it, this is more of a problem for an engineer than a normal contractor. All the contractors I know would attack it with a bunch of screws and charge a lot. An engineer will tell you how to fix it and charge a whole lot more. Just my opinion.

None of us are in your house to hear the sounds so our advice is free and worth just that. It seems half the posts see this as fairly normal, half see this as serious. I think your plan to add a ceiling fan and monitor the temperatures in the area is a good start. If you are adding humidity to the air, make sure you monitor the % as you can have serious adverse effects if you get humidity too high and mold growth inside your walls. Mold inside walls is like CO, both deadly and invisible until it's too late! Mold problems compared to your popping sounds are entering a horrible world you do not want to go near. Not saying that you should not use a kettle, just don't get the humidity % too high in the winter.

El Finko said:

If something moved enough to be worried about, you'd see cracks at the drywall joints.

Click to expand...

Exactly.

I was told by a contractor, "if it didn't move a little, it would break"

They soak up humidity in the summer and dry out in the winter.