Any ideas on how to fix creaky pre-fab stairs without demo? These are the prefab sort, glued and wedged to routed stringers on each side, covered on one side by drywall and other side by carpet. My first thought was trim head screws diagonally down the sides of each tread. The risers are just thin OSB I believe, so I think that rules out screwing down in the center of the tread to the riser. No center stringer either.
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If it's def. the stair tread riding in the routed pocket, t.h. screws or 10d galvy finish would probly be my first try. Least intrusive. I'd try to do a little diagnostic work first, though. Is that def. what's squeaking? Could it be the tread riding against the riser due to lack of glue/ attachment in center of tread? Could it be where the housed stringer attaches to the rough frame?(unlikely but possible). With the second two scenarios, I think some drywall removal would be necessary.
Stan Foster is the resident stair maestro here iirc, and might have some suggestions other than mine, not through fixin his own, mind you, but possibly through service work over the years. :)
Bing
Dang it, this is a legit question, and not a duplicate one. Here and I wanted to be flippant and suggest that I'd love to prefab the squeak into the stairs. That way you could end the callbackswith sign at top & bottom newels "Stairs Squeak."
Edit to add: Look for where the stair unit abuts anything nearby (wall framing) which might be squeaking, instead. Might be missing a shim at top or bottom, too; so that it racks just a hair in use, and squeaks from that torsion (which would not have been very obvious during construction, either).
Edited 4/14/2008 11:47 pm by CapnMac
squirt some talcum powder in the offending joints. Might need a can of compressed air to push it in
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Thanks. I've tried to isolate the squeaks- but I think it may be from all of the possible locations- where treads meet risers, treads meet the stringers, where stairs attached to supports. I'll give the talcum powder a try.
It's rare to have that much sqeakum from the whole thing. sounds like maybe it is extremely dry in your house and the parts have all shrunk?
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I don't think it is any more dry than usual east coast weather. I'm going to crawl under the exposed underside of one lower section this weekend and see if the glue is separating or if there is some other defect. They don't *feel* solid either- they feel like old rickety stairs although they were installed in '04.
If it feels that bad, might be worth removing the sheetrock from bottom side so you can inject glue, tighten the shims, maybe run in a couple pocket screws here and there, and then close it back up when you are sure it is right.
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