Floor experts?
 

Ok, I don't know if this qualifies for the Egg Head section but here goes:

My house has hardwood floors(original from the late 50s) that seem sound when walked, jumped, skipped, and thundered upon by My Wife, Son, his friends and myself.........but when our little 16 pound Basset/Dashund mix simply trots upon certain sections of the floor it's like a California Earthquake; dishes rattle, drinks slosh, and basically he can make a whole room shake???

We just don't get it.....how can such a little amount of weight make the house shake so much when far greater weights cause no vibrations whatsoever:confused:

It's the magic of the Basset/Dashund mix.

vibration frequency? his wee lil legs (not to mention having twice as many)cause more waves per second than the std human footsteps? also might be hitting certain loose floorboards individually than most humans would tend to miss or spread their weight more evenly.

/shug

The dog just roxors! :)

I don't know. Our cats cause no more shaking to the house on the hardwood floors than Chris or I. We are on a raised foundation with lathe and plaster walls built in the late 20's. It could just be the building style.

Thanks Jack, that's probably it.

Lisa; We have a cat that causes no vibrations either....then again most cats I know do tend to tread softly;)

Mine sound like a thundering herd when they are chasing one another! ;)

That said, there are some creaky floor boards just outside the kitchen, make not a sound when I hit them, when the cats walk over them, treading softly, the boards squeak loudly.

You could perhaps test this one out by wandering about your house in a pair of appropriately pointy high heels?

I love the scientific method

Of course, we'll need photographic documentation. Purely for scientific reasons, of course.