This is part of the duelling DIY staircase challenge that I am taking part in.
The story of the stairs goes like this: They are only a few years old, they were factory made and assembled on site. However, they were initially installed by our less-than-competent builders, they were not hung correctly. We employed new builders who took out and then re-installed the same staircase, fixing extra wedges to secure everything properly... but it still squeaked really badly.
The staircase is mostly pine, with MDF corner treads and plywood risers.
Before I go on, a few things to take note off when working on stairs
- Work from top to bottom
- Work on the stairs before working under the stairs.
- Knee pads and head protection are highly recommended.
This was my simple solution to stop the squeaks:
• I started by running a bead of no-more-nails type adhesive along the underside of the tread. Using the thinnest bead possible (what I mean is: don't trim the nozzle down at all)
• Next I ran a bead of the adhesive down the sides of the risers...
• and round every edge of the tread. Paying special attention to any gaps or holes. I squeezed in as much adhesive as possible where there was a wee space. - This is a grab/fill adhesive so should both grab and, you guessed it, fill all the creaking joints
• Next, I smoothed everything of and gave it a wipe with white spirit on a paper towel, so I wouldn't leave any big gloops or finger prints
• The biggest gaps were on the newel post at the front of the treads, I pumped these full of adhesive which should hold everything tight.
I did this on every stair, the corner stairs were by far the worst.
I will give it all a quick sand before painting.
Then I moved to the underside:
Some of the wedges and supporting battons had pretty big gaps, so I used a mixture of shims and adhesive.
An assorted bag of these plastic shims cost a few pounds, I don't imagine we'll ever have to buy any more. |
• I jammed the shims in as far as they would go.
• Then I added a bead of adhesive round every wedge and along the bottom of the riser... pretty much anywhere I could squeeze adhesive I did.
Once I was finished I left the whole thing to set for 2 hours. It didn't state any setting or curing time on the adhesive, 2 hours was an educated guess.
Our stairs no longer creak! Which means we don't hear Small sneaking downstairs for a late night kitchen raid... But also means that we don't wake Small when we sneak down for a late night kitchen raid.
Glad your stairs don't squeak... but what about a burglar? you won't hear him...
ReplyDeleteNice cheery thought there... Yikes!
DeleteFollowed your directions and our new stairs are silent! Thanks so much. I found some new Evostick Serious Stuff glue which should mean till last forever.
ReplyDeleteYeah!
DeleteAlmost a year on and one of my stairs (the worst squeaker from before) now makes a bit of a cracking noise sometimes when I walk over it*, so I think I need to revisit that one some day, but apart from that they have stayed much quieter.
Thanks Mark, glad it helped.
*possibly pregnancy related ;-)
We don't have access to the underside of our stairs that creak LOUDLY ... Do you think the adhesive alone would be enough to help the problem?
ReplyDeleteSorry, I'm a bit late in answering....
ReplyDeleteI'd think the adhesive is at least worth a try.
Ann