# What the HECK is the gal upstairs using? (tool, device, etc) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 17, 2010, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-gal-upstairs-using-tool-device-etc/536462 "2010-04-17T16:28:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-gal-upstairs-using-tool-device-etc/536462/1 "2010-04-17T16:28:55Z")
4-5 times per week we hear this through the ceiling: [Some Power Tool?](http://home.earthlink.net/~ah3files/Stuff/NeighborDevice.mp3) The fidelity on that recording isn’t great, but you should be able to hear how it has very-fast-oscillation pulses of some sort, and then superimposed on that, it speeds up and slows down as if it were encountering resistance. I’ve heard that general kind of sound from… • Electrical drills and electrical screwdrivers, when set to slow speed. (But if she were constructing bookshelves or drilling holes in the wall, one would expect her to be at it for a couple hours on one day then BE DONE with it instead of 30 secs +/-, no more than once a day, every few days in perpetuity… ?) • Electrical can openers, of the sort where you’d lift the bar, insert the can which gets pinched when you lower the bar, and it spins the can around… but those things don’t take 30 seconds to open a can of ANYTHING. And it sounds a bit too industrial for that, actually. • Home dental tools, electric toothbrushes, water piks, etc. (But not this loud, not this industrial. Those generally sound more treble-pitched and raspier, chatterier, less ‘motorish’. Besides, it’s coming from the opposite end of the apartment from bathroom and kitchen; there would be no water supply close to where she runs this thing). • My annoyed girlfriend says: “vibrator”. Naah. Those don’t sound like drills either, we aren’t under the gal’s bed (unless she sleeps in the entrance foyer of the apartment), the sounds are unaccompanied by gasps moans or etc. •Floor polisher. Except it doesn’t travel around the apartment, there’s none of those gruff grumbly sounds you’d get when you buff up to the floorboard, it doesn’t last long enough, and there’s no sound of things rolling overhead. Whatever this is, it’s stationary. •VHS tape rewinder. Not quite industrial enough EITHER (those are usually lower in pitch and not as loud), and who the heck still has VHS tape rewinding machines? ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-gal-upstairs-using-tool-device-etc/536462/2 "2010-04-17T16:36:50Z")
To me, it sounds like a vacuum cleaner with a beater bar. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-gal-upstairs-using-tool-device-etc/536462/3 "2010-04-17T16:54:23Z")
Yes, sounds very much like a vacuum cleaner as she moves it around the flat. ---
**Author:** ![wolf-alice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9e8a1a/32.png) [@wolf-alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf-alice)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-gal-upstairs-using-tool-device-etc/536462/4 "2010-04-17T16:59:21Z")
Blender? ---
**Author:** ![Juggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/juggler/32/3194_2.png) [@Juggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juggler)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-gal-upstairs-using-tool-device-etc/536462/5 "2010-04-17T17:41:14Z")
I think it sounds like a paper shredder. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-gal-upstairs-using-tool-device-etc/536462/6 "2010-04-17T18:12:07Z")
She HAS a vacuum cleaner. This isn’t it. The vacuum cleaner goes kaBANG kaBANG into the floorboards as she does the corners, you can hear her walking (stomping actually, she’s seriously into high heeled footwear) as she moved around with it, and you can hear it roll. This is something else. Blender: it’s not coming from the kitchen. And to come through the floorboards like that she’d have to have it sitting on the floor. Hmm, hadn’t thought of a paper shredder. That does sort of make sense. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-gal-upstairs-using-tool-device-etc/536462/7 "2010-04-17T18:22:15Z")
It isn’t what I thought of first but now that it’s been mentioned paper shredder sounds about right. What I though of after listening was an electric pencil sharpener but it would be weird to have one of those on the floor. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-gal-upstairs-using-tool-device-etc/536462/8 "2010-04-17T18:31:02Z")
My vote is a Sybian (very marginally NSFW … [Sybian - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sybian)) ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-gal-upstairs-using-tool-device-etc/536462/9 "2010-04-17T18:44:48Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > My vote is a Sybian (very marginally NSFW … [Sybian - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sybian)) Yeah, that’s my guess, as well. ---
**Author:** ![QuercusMax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/8baadc/32.png) [@QuercusMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuercusMax)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-gal-upstairs-using-tool-device-etc/536462/10 "2010-04-17T19:14:55Z")
Sewing machine? They often will have a foot pedal to vary the speed. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-gal-upstairs-using-tool-device-etc/536462/11 "2010-04-17T20:35:17Z")
> [@](#): > > Sybian 😃 I don’t think so. No vocalizations accompanying the machine-sounds. > [@](#): > > sewing machine For approx 30 seconds once a day only? She sews one seam per day? Naah. Seems (sorry) unlikely. ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-gal-upstairs-using-tool-device-etc/536462/12 "2010-04-17T20:36:26Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > Yeah, that’s my guess, as well. Well, I’m glad I’m not the only one. ETA: Sewing machine might be true too. ---
**Author:** ![booklover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@booklover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/booklover)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-gal-upstairs-using-tool-device-etc/536462/13 "2010-04-17T20:59:17Z")
Electric coffee grinder? Makes sense if the once a day is every morning (or every evening if she puts into a coffee maker with timer). ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-gal-upstairs-using-tool-device-etc/536462/14 "2010-04-17T21:42:34Z")
Every so often, the people above my mom in her condo would drop something on the floor which sounded like marbles. “DINK…Dink…dinkdinkdink.” Never did figure out WTF it was. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-gal-upstairs-using-tool-device-etc/536462/15 "2010-04-17T21:52:02Z")
Espresso machine? Mine’s a little noisy, and I’d worry about bothering the neighbors when I use it at 5:30 a.m., only they’re the noisiest people in the neighborhood so I don’t give a damn. Or maybe, as suggested upthread, a coffee grinder. I have one of those, too, and it makes a drilly grindy noise. Or a blender. Maybe she makes smoothies a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Girl\_From\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Girl\_From\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_From_Mars)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-gal-upstairs-using-tool-device-etc/536462/16 "2010-04-17T22:08:23Z")
Does it happen in the morning? Sounds perhaps like a juicer to me. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-gal-upstairs-using-tool-device-etc/536462/17 "2010-04-17T22:44:00Z")
Drills and reciprocating saws are oft fitted with dildos and such. Also known as ‘sex machines’ or ‘fucking machines’, they are now offered for home use, or regular tools can be modified for home use. I’ve seen KitchenAid stand mixers modified to provide pumping and thrusting of various attachments for personal pleasure. NSFW: [noparse][http://www.fuckingmachines.com/site/shoots.jsp[/noparse]](http://www.fuckingmachines.com/site/shoots.jsp%5B/noparse%5D) ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-gal-upstairs-using-tool-device-etc/536462/18 "2010-04-17T23:48:23Z")
> [@Philster](#): > > Drills and reciprocating saws are oft fitted with dildos and such. “Oft”? ---
**Author:** ![Caveat\_lector\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@Caveat\_lector\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caveat_lector_1)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-gal-upstairs-using-tool-device-etc/536462/19 "2010-04-18T00:01:53Z")
I’m going to go with paper shredder ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-gal-upstairs-using-tool-device-etc/536462/20 "2010-04-18T04:18:18Z")
I like blender with things being added as the blending proceeds. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-gal-upstairs-using-tool-device-etc/536462.md?page=2)