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When you ’re short asleep and someone in your family sneaks downstairs for a late - night snack , the tawdry groan of a stair is jarring and plaguey . screaky stairs are triggered by wear and pluck on the wooden stairway constituent that make one wooden section to rub against another ( or against a metal nail ) and are not usually a sign of a serious problem with your home , but boy , they can be bothersome . It ’s best to secure the creak before it gets worse .

Parts of a Staircase

Most reasonably handy folks can harness a squeaking step on their own . Before getting start , however , it ’s authoritative to live the correct language for stairway components ; these terms are pretty standard no issue whattype of stairsyou have .

How to Determine Which Part of Your Stair Is Squeaking

Tried-and-True Advice

“ A tidy sum of the sentence , wooden steps start skreak due to fluctuating humidness stage , which cause the step treads and risers to shrink or flourish . For example , my cellar is a little on the damp side , and this induce my stairs to expand a minute and pop squeaking . To sabotage this , I tote up a dehumidifier to my cellar to keep the moistness down and this has reduced the racket . If your home runs on the dry side , you may want to add a humidifier instead !

align humidity stratum and adding some spare nails to the riser of my staircase has made my stairs a raft less squeaky . But if you ’re still fight with noisy stairs after making repairs , adding carpeting or carpet moon-curser can aid too . Carpet wo n’t get rid of the close shave entirely , but it will muffle the sound , and make your step feel cozier . ”

— Lauren Landers , Contributing Writer

Staircase in an early 20th century Tudor home, with white risers and dark wood treads and handrail.

Photo: Catherine McQueen / Getty Images

How to Quiet Noisy Stairs

1. Use lubricant to quiet the creak.

One of the easiest fashion to muffle a creaking coming from the back or sides of the tread is by filling the crack between the tread and the riser main above it . While this wo n’t in reality block the two wooden pieces from rubbing together , the gunpowder removes clash , thus stopping the noise .

2. Screw down the treads.

If your stair is squeaking at the front , use screws to tighten the fitting between the pace and the riser with a few screw propeller .

3. Nail into the risers.

liken with using a lubricant , this method is a more lasting result to squeaks that are come from the back or side of a pace .

4. Stabilize creaky stairs from underneath.

Many upcountry staircases do n’t allow easy access to the area underneath the stairs , but if yours does , you ’ll get the best results silencing your squeak by border on them from below .

5. Drive screws through the carpet, or remove the carpet altogether.

Are your step carpeted , but still have disturbance ? There are a few effective ways to restrained step that are covered .

One choice is to lift up the carpeting and either crowd it aside to put back into place , if that ’s in your DIY pilothouse , or get rid of it and replace it with new carpet or another flooring textile .

If you ’re permanentlyremoving carpeting from the stairs :

Get to Know the Parts of a Staircase to Solve Creaky Stairs

Photo: iStock

If you destine to put the carpet back in place after you ’ve made the repair to the stair :

This method ask using a drill prick specifically made for this purpose , such as theSqueek No More Kit . employ the kit to drill three screws into the front of the tread where it joins the riser as in method acting 2 , above .

If you do n’t want to murder the carpet or corrupt a outfit , you could aim small - diam screws through the rug .

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Man screws tread into riser with drill in wooden stairs

Photo: iStock

A man installing a carpet on a staircase.

Photo: iStock

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