My box fan white noise plan woke up the whole block
I was dealing with late night garbage trucks, so I dug out my loudest fan and pointed it at the window. The hum was perfect, but the fan shook so hard it made my blinds rattle like maracas. Next thing I know, the guy downstairs is texting me asking if I'm running a generator at 2 AM. I fixed it by putting the fan on a towel, but now I just use a free sound app on my tablet.
What makes you so sure a fan can't shake things up? My old box fan used to rattle the window frame so bad it sounded like a drum solo. If a fan can make blinds dance, why couldn't it loosen a shelf over time? Some of those motors have a shake that travels through floors and walls. The neighbor texting about drilling shows it felt like more than just noise.
Honestly, I have to push back here, @henry_morgan. I don't think a white noise machine could shake a bookshelf loose. Those things are for sound, not real vibration. It's more likely the shelf was not put together right or the wall is weak. The neighbor texting about drilling just shows how loud it was, but not from shaking. Tbh, this story seems a bit off to me.