I've learned it's quite a common scenario. We had just moved into our new house, and bushed after a day of unpacking boxes and heaving around furniture, I dived into a well-earned shower, eager to clean up, freshen up and relax.

And just as I was unwinding nicely, I was jolted back to reality by the nerve-jarring sound of noisy plumbing.

Damn, I thought, shutting off the water immediately. Gingerly, I opened the taps one by one, until the hot one started juddering unbelievably. And it seemed to be happening at precisely the point where the water temperature was ideal!

Another job to attend to, I thought.

And another unwanted expense!

Now I’m a fairly handy sort of bloke who likes messing about with tools. So what better opportunity, I thought, to do something useful and save money at the same time.

Problem was, I had never had to solve anything like this before, and wondered where to start.

I tried turning the taps on and off quickly a few times to get an idea of where the noise was coming from. Seemed to be coming from somewhere inside the walls. Hell, how the heck could I fix that?

This called for help, and where better to get it from than experts spread all over the world! This called for some time on the internet.

I started by typing in the words "noisy plumbing" in the space provided on my favourite search engine.

The results came back and the first site I clicked on was Famous Plumbers on the Web. A bloke named Ray had said that when his hot water is on, the pipes bang very loudly as though vibrating against the floor. He wanted to know what he could do about it.

Terry Love, of Love Plumbing & Remodel replied saying that sometimes when the pipes bang while running water, it is caused by a loose faucet washer on a faucet. Narrow down which faucet handle is causing this, he continued, and check the washer.

This sounded promising.

Next I clicked on Man's Country (http://www.mansco.com) (which unfortunately is no longer being maintained) and logged on to a page entitled "Fixing Noisy Pipes".

Water hammer, I was told, occurs when the water flow is abruptly cut off by a valve, causing the pipes to vibrate and bang. This too, sounded familiar. The cure, I read, was to install a shock absorbing air chamber atop the pipes that lead to appliances like dishwashers or washing machines. This, too, made sense as I had noticed a banging in the pipes every time our dishwasher turned off the water supply. I made a mental note to buy such a device.

Another cause of noisy pipes, the site continued, results from a loose pipe banging on a wall stud or a basement beam. This can be cured with a U-shaped strap cushioned with a piece of rubber. I hoped this wasn’t my problem, because that would mean climbing up into the ceiling and looking for where the pipe may have worked loose. Now that may not sound like a big deal, but here in Brisbane, Australia, we have deadly Red Back spiders, and they live up in our ceilings. Not nice.

The next site I checked, the American Homeowners Association, also mentioned this type of cause. I could stop the racket, I was told, by wedging the offending tube off the wall with a block of wood and then clamping it to the wedge with a pipe strap. Now this may be fine for US homes, but Aussie ones have the pipes running in the walls and therefore I couldn't work out how to carry out this repair without getting out a large hammer and opening up the walls. I'd rather call in an expert for a job like this.

Then I clicked onto the AllAboutHome.com site and what I discovered was very enlightening. The types of noise are explained. Noisy pipes fall into three categories: banging pipes, squeaking pipes and water hammer.

Banging is caused by loose pipes, and I hoped this wasn't my problem. Squeaking happens on hot water pipes only and results from the pipes expanding and moving in their straps, causing squeaks. Not likely in my case. Water hammer occurs when you turn off the water at a faucet or appliance quickly. Remedies include the fitting of shock absorbing air chambers, lowering high water pressure by installing a pressure-reducing valve, and anchoring loose pipes.

Armed with this information, I visited my local hardware store and bought a shock absorbing air chamber and enough new anti-hammer faucets to install in all the taps in the house. I then bled the hot water cylinder following the instructions on the plate attached to it. This helped quieten the noise a little, but it was soon back. I then fitted the shock absorbing air chamber to the tap supplying the dishwasher and tried it out. A marked improvement, but still not perfect.

Nothing else left to do but change all the faucets, I decided. Most were past their prime, and some were really borderline. Using the more expensive spring-loaded ones designed to reduce or eliminate water hammer was the answer.

We now take showers in peace and don't get woken up at night when the dishwasher is doing its thing.

And we are better off for it, in more ways than one.