Dear PoPville – Effects of Living Near a Bus Stop?

Photo by PoPville flickr user elliotmitchell

“Dear PoPville,

We live in an old 1904 row house, end unit. The walls are 18 inch thick brick. There is a bus stop right outside the building. When the bus takes off after picking up passengers the sonic rumble of the diesel engines sends vibrations though the house. If we are in bed you can feel the bed shake (not like an earth quake but like somebody is walking across the floor heavy) or if I am upstairs in the loft which has a steel railing I can feel the sofa shake or the railing shake (again slight vibrations not insane shaking) and the same thing up on the roof deck, big vibrations. It really freaks guests out lol. This can’t be good for construction can it? How can those sonic waves pass through the brick without causing issues with the mortar? Seems like it would cause the sheet rock to vibrate and seams to crack over time, but I have not noticed that issue.

Does anybody else have this issue with a bus stop outside of their home, or know of the effects of the sonic vibrations on brick? It only does it when a bus pulls off from a dead stop (i.e. high torque) not if it passes by without stopping. Same thing for large trash trucks, dump trucks or cement trucks that get stopped in traffic and take off again.”