cracked treads on stairway...help!!!!!

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peter the naive?
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cracked treads on stairway...help!!!!!

Post by peter the naive? »

just in the process of re carpeting our internal stairway.some of the treads have creaked for awhile (the house is 20 yrs old) so i've checked the treads and found 4 where the tread is cracked along their length about 1inch from the front or back. What to do! -i cannot get access to the understairs. is it possible to repair in situ? i had thought of fastening (glue & screwing) quarter ply to every step to increase rigidity
help would be appreciated
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big-all
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Post by big-all »

if you have small gaps [around 1 to 2mm]normal good quality wood glue should fill and hold so try that first

on the cracks near the front drill a 3.5 mm hole and countersink into the nose of the step around 5mm
use a no8 screw 1"longer than the crack from the front
Last edited by big-all on Fri May 16, 2008 10:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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peter the naive?
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thanks so far

Post by peter the naive? »

the cracks are very tight- not sure if any glue would get into the wood to any depth to do any good.
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Post by chippymike »

screw the joints as Bigall said but with out the glue if theres no chance of getting glue in the crack
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Re: thanks so far

Post by big-all »

peter the naive? wrote:the cracks are very tight- not sure if any glue would get into the wood to any depth to do any good.



if the crack is less than 1mm its probably only part thickness so not adding to the creaking

but anyway leave your glue in the sun to reduce viscosity[thickness]but no hotter than 30 degrees
pour along the split/crack rub in with finger along and accross the split then screw up if glue dos'nt ooze out its only a surface crack :wink:
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peter the naive?
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Post by peter the naive? »

many thanks for your suggestions......will do exactly as you say. i am assuming my idea of adding a glued ply topping is a non starter as no one has commented!
again thanks.
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Post by dirtydeeds »

peter

the glued ply topping has a HUGE BUT

it alters the height of the steps this is much more of a hazard than you might imagine

the word dangerous is more correct
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Post by uncle buck »

After trying a few different methods to cure the creaking on the stairs in my last house I finally cured it by gluing & screwing a plywood strip along the full width of the riser that butted up tight to the nose of the tread.
I packed the ply strip up tight to the underside of the riser until the glue dried.

Obviously this is only an acceptable way of fixing creaking stairs if they are going to be carpeted so as to hide the ply strip.

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