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.

AlexW wrote:

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.



Your best bet is to get glue in from underneath

Being teh avid modeller that I am I'd run some glass fibre cloth and
resin - possibly with filler - over any suspect joints.

The Natural Philosopher wrote:
AlexW wrote:

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.



Your best bet is to get glue in from underneath

Being teh avid modeller that I am I'd run some glass fibre cloth and
resin - possibly with filler - over any suspect joints.

Yeah I'll try and squidge as much glue in as I can, its a bit tricky
without widening (pos. lengthening) the split.

The fibre/resin approach sounds interesting FFR but I think I'll stick
with thick 18mm thick ply as this will add depth reinforcement under the
split too.

Cheers,

Alex.