Noisy house

There is nothing I can definitely point to and say this or that occurred. But the house has been noisy for the past few days. I suppose it could have to do with the weather. We had a week or so of rather chilly weather, especially at night. But the past few days the temperature has gone up to above average. For example it hit 70 today. It did not drop out of the 50s last night. So perhaps this ancient brick structure is just noisily reacting to the fluctuations in temperature, The noises were not walking sounds or any other sounds that could be pointed out. They are just cracks and bangs and thuds. Loud enough to get the dogs going at times. My schnauzers are my doorbell. Anyone rings the front doorbell and the dogs go nuts. Because of the solid structure of this place (walls three and more bricks thick) we often don't hear the door bell; but our dogs do. Our house was noisy enough that the dogs reacted like they heard the doorbell and there is no shutting them up until you go to the door and prove no one is there. I had three occasions this past week when this occurred. Why do old houses react so strangely? Expansion and contraction, I suppose. Other noises that I report here are not the same as I am hearing at present. The walking like boots on hardwood floors (we have mostly carpet) the opening and slamming of doors, the mumbling and the harpsichord music are not the same as this weeks sounds. So far the more familiar noises haven't occurred recently. But racket coming from someplace in your house can be quite disconcerting when you have no idea of the origin.