I had a problem a while back with the treads on my (2 year old) stairs. They have softwood strings & treads and MDF risers ... the nails securing the riser to tread had come loose and the deflection of the tread when in use was causing squeaks. Solution was to quickly nail the nails back in & I made a mental note to replace with screws before I board over the back of the stairs (way down my priority list though as its in a cupboard).
However, the squeaks returned yesterday (11pm - great!) on one step and suddenly too. On inspection of the squeaky tread I found that it had split from upper riser to the centre of the tread along a knot which is at an oblique angle through the tread (knot is 25mmx100mm) to the rear edge.
I don't fancy my chances of being able to get the tread out cleanly to replace as its *very* well glued to the wedges on the strings and blocks on the lower riser etc.
So I was thinking of splinting from below, across the whole width to the depth of the split (I have some 18mm ply in the garage) using a glue and screw approach and then screwing the riser tightly to the back of the split tread.
I was wondering though, has anyone else done tried sort this and was it successful over time? and does anyone have a better idea?
TIA,
Alex.