Durock vs Hardiebacker: spelling alert

We have a seven year old wooden-framed home with siding exterior. One exterior wall of our home makes a creaky wood-on-wood sounding noise in high winds. Unfortunately we see very high winds frequently in the winter. This exterior wall belongs to a room with vaulted ceilings (with two sky lights) and then the back portion of this 'grand room' has standard height ceiling. I believe the wall is 12 feet high and the valuation portion. The noise appears to be coming from the vaulted portion of the wall closer (but a couple of feet away) to where the vaulting ends. We have had the siding replaced, and we have gone into the attic over the standard ceiling and have added braces to the joists. The bracing helped some but has not eliminated the problem. We have had insurance companies, and contractors in and no one can seem to pinpoint the problem. Albeit, none have come on extremely windy days when you can hear the noise. I should also add that the ceiling/roof has two sunlight, that we exclusively only hear this noise in high winds, the crown molding has moved away from the wall slightly in this area, the noise seems to be around where the wall meets the ceiling. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Hello everyone, Not sure what ceiling material this is in my garage (old 1920's row home in Philadelphia), but I want to take this down so I can insulate, then install sheetrock. My question is, can you tell what this is? I don't want to run into any problems removing it (hoping it's not a material requiring abatement like asbestos). I thought it could be plaster or some type of concrete or mortar because there are metal rails that makes up this ceiling. Thanks. From in garage: [ATTACH]43503[/ATTACH] Close up: [ATTACH]43504[/ATTACH] Above garage (in between joists): [ATTACH]43505[/ATTACH] With flashlight to highlight: [ATTACH]43506[/ATTACH]