A clothes washer rarely changes all at once. The first sign is often a sound on the spin cycle, a thump that comes and goes with the load. Treat it as a note to check, not as a verdict on the machine.

What the early sound usually means

A thump on spin usually points to the load sitting unevenly in the drum. A single heavy item, such as a bath mat or a comforter, can pull the drum out of balance and make the cabinet walk across the floor. Check the load first. Spread the items out, add a small item to even the weight and run the spin again.

Check the cabinet and the feet

Set a level on the top of the cabinet and adjust the feet until the machine sits flat on every corner. Tighten the lock nuts once the level is right. Many thumps that begin after a move trace back to a machine that is not level on its floor.

Look for anything loose or trapped

Open the drum and check for coins, buttons, hair ties or small shoes that have dropped into the space between the tub and the outer shell. Check the door gasket for a piece of clothing caught in the seal. A foreign object is one of the common reasons for a noise that seems to come from deep inside the machine.

Watch for the sign that keeps coming back

If the thump continues across different loads, or the machine moves more each time it spins, the usual causes are the internal supports or shock absorbers that hold the drum in place. Those parts wear with use, and their wear is a normal part of a machine's service life. Write down the sound, the load, the setting and when you first heard it, so a technician has the record in hand.

Compare the age with the plan

Age is a planning input, not a sign of failure. Take the year the machine was installed, find the service life figure on the clothes washer page and read the planning date that follows. A machine early in its planning window can often be checked and adjusted without much concern. A machine nearing the end of that window gives you a reason to plan the next purchase while the house is still easy to manage.

See the clothes washer page for the service life figure and planning date, and the ranked list of major appliances for the wider set.