Stair noise

[John T Barker]

I just visited my in-laws where we stayed for two weeks, something my wife and I have done many times. The stairs in the house make an annoying, loud noise as we climb them, a particular problem since there were babies sleeping in the house. I went in the crawl space under the stairs and saw that the way they were constructed the tread butted the riser in front of it and I guessed that when weight was on the tread it moved and rubbed on the riser, making the noise we heard. I tried to think of a repair and thought that either screws or dowels with glue driven in through the riser into the tread might stop the movement. My concern was that multiple screws or dowels might allow the tread to eventually crack.

Any thoughts and/or experience along these lines?

[Art Mann]

Are the treads the typical 1" or 1-1/8" thick? If so, then you can easily drill pilot holes and install beefy deck screws in the middle of the edges without fear of splitting.

[John T Barker]

Are the treads the typical 1" or 1-1/8" thick? If so, then you can easily drill pilot holes and install beefy deck screws in the middle of the edges without fear of splitting.

I'd have to say they were 7/8". This is old European construction and I was surprised to see it was this thin. The grain looked to be ribbon striped mahogany.

[Tom M King]

The squeak is usually wood sliding on a nail. Find the nail, and either glue a wedge in to stop the two pieces moving relative to each other, get the nail out and replace it, or cut the nail. If it's a tread going up and down on a nail, a glue block to both the offending tread, and the riser should solve the problem. There are many possible fixes depending on the cause of the racket.

[Dan Hunkele]

Screw and glue some plywood strips to the riser under the the tread to keep the tread from moving when stepped on or get some metal angle brackets to screw in place.

[Greg Hines, MD]

If you can get underneath them, use a pocket hole jig to screw them together from below.

Doc

[John T Barker]

296011I should have mentioned that six of the stairs make the noise. They have brads about very 8" or so. Odd thing is that six stairs make noise (first flight) and six don"t. I thought angle iron might just flew with the weight. We can get underneath, I thought gluing to the surface would be tough since the surface is so dirty.

[Lee Schierer]

296011I should have mentioned that six of the stairs make the noise. They have brads about very 8" or so. Odd thing is that six stairs make noise (first flight) and six don"t. I thought angle iron might just flew with the weight. We can get underneath, I thought gluing to the surface would be tough since the surface is so dirty.

Wipe off as much dirt and dust as you can. Add a 3-4" wide strip of 1/2-3/4" plywood under the tread as shown in the sketch below. The strip should run the full length of the tread or at least as much as you can reach. Apply a heavy layer of woodworkers glue to the strip and then attach it to the underside of the treads with wood screws up into the bottom of the riser. Space your screws about every 6". Let the glue set up as long as possible without anyone walking on the stairs. This should end your squeaking problem.296020

[Keith Mathewson]

Housed stair construction or carriage?