Renovating a creaky staircase: silence it yourself

Let's start with reassurance: a creaky staircase is almost never a dangerous staircase. The noise comes from a tiny amount of play between two parts. Over the years (and above all with the heating, which dries the wood out and makes it shrink, as I explain in why wood moves), the joints loosen: the tread moves half a millimetre under your foot, rubs against the riserRiser: the vertical board that closes the space between two treads, known as the contremarche in French. It is often the rubbing between it and the tread that sings at every step. or against the stringerStringer: the sloping piece of wood, along the wall or on the open edge, that carries the treads, known as the limon in French. If it splits or comes out of its housing, we are no longer talking about creaking: you call., and it is that rubbing that sings. Sometimes it is an original wedge that has come unglued, or a nail sliding in its hole. None of that threatens the structure, and all of it can be repaired.

The gold-underlined words are explained on hover. All definitions are in the joinery glossary.

Before opening the toolbox, one minute of diagnosis. Climb slowly, barefoot, and load each tread at the front, at the back, on the sides: pinpoint exactly which one sings, and where. And if the underside of the staircase is visible (open stairwell, cupboard), have someone climb while you watch from below: you often spot the culprit with the naked eye. A riser coming away, a wedge dangling.

From below first, if you can get to it

It is the royal road: everything you do there is invisible and lasting.

• 1. Tighten and reglue what is there. Visible screws to tighten, and above all the original wedges or blocks that have come unglued: remove them, coat them with wood glue, put them back in place without hammering like a brute: they must tighten the joint, not lift the tread.
• 2. Add a batten in the tread-riser angle. One batten across the width, or two or three brackets, glued then screwed: first against the riser, then under the tread. Pilot holes are compulsory, and screws short enough never to come out on top: measure the thickness of the tread before choosing.
• 3. Replace tired nails with screws. Where the joint was nailed and has taken on play, a nail sliding in its hole makes a very recognisable noise: a screw takes back what the nail has let go.

From above, when the underside is closed

• 1. Screw the tread into the riser. Locate the line of the back riser, drill three countersunk pilot holes spread across the width, screw while pulling the tread downwards, then hide the heads with tinted wood filler or with glued wooden plugs trimmed flush. Done well, it is barely visible; work calmly, the only risk here is aesthetic.
• 2. Fill a visible gap. If a crack has opened between the tread and the riser, slide in a very thin glued wedge, driven home without forcing, then trim it flush with a chisel once the glue is dry.

Talc: the honest stopgap

Yes, talc works. Sprinkle it into the joints of the noisy tread, work it in by moving the tread (a few firm trips up and down), then sweep away the excess. The wood slides instead of singing, and the noise goes quiet for a few weeks, sometimes a few months. Let's be clear about what this is: a silencer, not a repair. The play is still there, the noise will come back. But to get through the winter before works, or to protect the nap of a baby whose bedroom opens onto the stairwell, it is a perfectly honest stopgap. Graphite powder does the same thing but messier: stick to talc.

When it is no longer a how-to

Three situations fall outside Saturday DIY. A stringer that is split or coming out of its housing: that is the load-bearing part, you do not treat it with talc. A tread split along its full length, bending under the foot. And a staircase that moves as a whole when you come down at a determined pace: there, it is no longer one tread singing, it is the whole work detaching itself from the wall or the floor. In those three cases, have it looked at before carrying on using it as if nothing were wrong.

My honest opinion: start from below if you can: it is invisible, reversible, and you will not break anything. And beware of the reflex 'it creaks, so it needs replacing', gladly kept alive by those who sell new staircases: a creak has never made anyone fall. What should alert you is not the noise, it is the movement.

If you would rather delegate, the job stays modest: most often half a day to a day of a joiner's time, in the region of €200 to €550; the trade's rates are broken down in what a day of an artisan's work costs. And if the staircase is tired beyond the noise (hollowed treads, dead finish), renovation stays very reasonable: €20 to €30 per step for sanding and varnishing, €95 to €250 per step for a complete recladding, to compare with the €4,000 to €12,000 of a new staircase fitted. It is also the chance to rethink the wood of the treads: I wrote which wood for a staircase for that. And if you are leaning towards a new one, the staircases I have fitted will give you some ideas.