A: Well, Al, you have a very common problem that may happen whenever you extend hot water lines in a wall and/or floor. The clicking and ticking sounds are usually a sign of expanding copper water lines going through tight spaces.

When you turn on hot water and it starts to run through the copper water lines, the pipe expands because of the heat, and that can create the clicking noise as it stretches a bit. Plumbers usually install clips and shields along the lines to minimize this effect, but in many cases you can still get some noises.

Have your plumber check out your water heater to make sure it's operating at the manufacturer's safe temperature setting and let the plumber listen to the noise itself for anything out of the ordinary. If everything checks out, just realize that with any plumbing system (including mine) there may be some unavoidable clicking and ticking every now and then.