Can anyone recommend a solution for squeaky stairs? The staircase is wooden and turns 180 degrees on itself (no landing), it is the treads on the turn which are the noisiest. There is no access to underneath the stairs, well not without ripping off some plasterboard. Any advice greatly appreciated, as always.
AFAIK you need to get under them - sorry!
Squeeky stairs are good for letting you know you have company during the night. :-(
Linseed oil worked in over time.
-- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite
What for?
-- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite
The only fix I know of that works is to screw blocks of wood into the corner between step and riser from underneath. It looks as though you need to choose between the plasterboard and the squeak.
Colin Bignell
If you can't get underneath the stairs to screw blocks in to stop the treads and risers "rubbing" against each other then the edges need to be lubricated, so that the rubbing doesn't cause noise via "sticktion" (i.e. the squeeking) , maybe talcum powder (non smelly) will lubricate the junction in question.
In message , Sid writes
I fixed some very squeaky stair treads in a similar inaccessible location my old house by screwing through the treads into the tops of the riser. I suspect it's not such a good fix as the 'proper' way but it worked fine for the last 3 years until we moved
If they are not of histrorical interest, you mighttry stripping back to bare wood, and simly layering epoxy resisn (use a heat gun to make it a little more 'fluid' )into all the cracks..
Thats should lock it all together.
With a floor problem I drilled deep enough to go through the chipboard and injected wood glue. Could this work on stairs?
I can't see why not, basically what you are trying to do is stop the tread and riser moving in relation to each other (or to stop the "sticktion" if the movement cannot be stopped) clamping the boards and stopping them moving whilst the glue sets and the glued join being strong enough to handle repeated loading are the only problems I can forsee. Perhaps you could fix the treads to the risers externally but in such a way (maybe making this a feature c.f. hiding in plain sight) as to not be too intrusive, of course if the stairway is carpeted then all your problens disappear angle screwed to tread and riser then carpet over the top (mm just thought when you come to sell the house you would need to leave stair carpet or remove carpet and angle and stay scthoom about the squeak and hope the buyers didn't notice it.). Sorry this post is full of so many perhapses and maybes but each and every situation is different. Of course "the access underneath, screwed blocks" approach is still the best but if said access is imposible...
If you cant get to the underside then the best way, and i've done thi many times, is to glue and pin lengths of quadrant to the underside o the tread nosing where it joins the riser. If you use a 10mm quadran and cut it to fit the full width of the tread it will be barel noticable. Give the tread and riser a bit of a sand down, put plenty of glue o the quadrant and push it tight into the corner and pin it with some 1 panel pins. You will need to stay off the stairs until the glue sets.
If you could get to the underside you would need to screw the bottom o the riser into the back edge of the tread, it will already be screwed i but invariably they will have worked loose
-- Nick H
Talcum powder blown down the gaps worked for me, at least on standard floorboards and joists.
-- JJ
To tighten the wedges that hold the treads and risers in place.
I was wondering when someone would get round to replying.
A couple of nails driven into treads securing the riser will suffice, but a better solution is screwed. ;-)
-- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite
Yeah of course you could just whack a couple of nails in, no skill o sublety required and who gives a s**t if you split the treads an risers.
The PROPER way is to glue and pin quadrant. This is a tried and teste method used by professional carpenters for years.
The choice is yours
-- Nick H
Thanks all for your replies. I think I will try talcum powder to begin with (if i can source some unscented) and then if need be screw the treads to risers (what screws should I use for this?).
Thats good, try the talc first (funny how you never see a chippy wit talc in his toolbag), when that doesn't work you can try screwing dow through the treads into the riser, now remember that the risers will b made of thin timber possibly 9mm ply, so make sure you get really thi screws and make sure you drill really accurately so that you dont spe out through the face of the riser. When you eventually realise that was a c**p idea as well you can ge yourself some quadrant and do it properly
-- Nick H
If you split the treads then I suggest you take up knitting instead of DIY.
Back or front?
-- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite
Scotia looks as good or better than quadrant IME. If it is going under carpet then 2x1" would do!
This solution does assume that there was no supporting bead fixed under the nosings when the stairs were built of course - otherwise removing regluing and fixing may help.
Another possibility to consider is that the treads themselves may have split along their length. This is not uncomon when the wedges work loose. Gluing a thin sheet of ply over the whole surface of the tread can help with this.
What your suggesting is a temp repair and will eventually make these quadrent beads loosen with constant trafficking up'n'down the stairs.
Try putting this in google...
creaking stairs
-- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite
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