Creaky stairs

make_life_easier

Hi all
I hope someone can give me some suggestions on how to mend creaky stairs. is it just as simple as taking up the carpet and putting a few nails in to secure it down? This has been driving me mad for ages now and I feel I need to have it sorted :mad: :mad:

Andrea x

Sarahsaver

i have heard that some talc between the boards will sort it out. I quite like the bits that creak in my house, they are unique to my home;) I would not like to live in a house where nothing creaked at all.

make_life_easier

Oh Sarahsaver you should live in our house, we get woken up all the time with creaks from the whole house, it's just that the stairs have gone really bad lately. I do agree it can come in useful sometimes as when I'm on the computer I can hear the stairs creak so I am not startled when OH or son comes into the room.

robowen

To do this properly you need access to the underside of the stair treads.

Have a look at this site How to stop squeaking stairs.
It'll save me typing it out for yah !

rob

SnapFish_2

Sarahsaver wrote:

i have heard that some talc between the boards will sort it out.

I've heard this before as well..possibly a short term solution, but I've found it's not between the boards which squeak but rather the nails in the boards have worked themselves loose of the floorboard itself, but remain solid in the joist, the solution is simply to screw the boards down. Not sure if you can apply this to your stairs as they're not really nailed down, but rather slotted into the main beams which run up the sides - and sometimes nailed from the sides. You could try screwing the tread to the riser board from under the stairs if you have access.

hope this helps.

uncle_buck_3

As I didn’t have access to the underside of our stairs I cured our creaks by doing the following :

I got some 9mm plywood & cut strips about 4 inches deep & as wide as the stair.
I then made a few pairs of folding wedges.
These are just 2 wedge shaped pieces of wood that you can slide over each other …the more they are slide over each other the bigger the gap they wedge.

I then glued the plywood strips to the riser.
I used polyurethane wood glue for speed & strength….it’s not the cheapest glue on the market but it’s very very strong when it sets & I didn’t want to have to the job twice!
This is the type of glue: http://www.diynot.com/shop/PU_WOOD_ADHESIVE_LIQUID_750_GRAMME/7597

I then used the folding wedges to force the plywood up tight against the stair tread whilst the glue set (in some cases the plywood actually slightly lifted the stair tread up a little bit)
I put a couple of screws through the plywood to help hold it to the tread, not that you would need these with the strength of the glue.

Result ......No more creaky stairs.


HTH.

Good Luck.

calmgirl

SnapFish wrote:

You do not say how old your stairs are. With modern satirs the steps and risers are glued into a routed mould onto the stretchers either side of the stair case. older stairs are pretty much just nailed togther with a few supports as time goes buy and and the wodd dries out especially if double glazing and central heating have been fitted the wood shrinks. If they are not carpeted i know this sounds wierd but mop them the water will make them swell and fit back together again when the creaking stops then put an oil based varnish on them to hold the moisture in, this should then cure any minor non structuall creaks