Creaking stairs

[hellway homes]

I moved into a new build house in September last year. After a couple of months (and after the carpet had been fitted) the stairs have started creaking quite bad when walking up and down them.

The issue was added to the (long!) snagging list and the builder attempted to rectify without success, they now say that as the carpet gripper rods were nailed on the risers rather than glued or screwed as they specificied they are not liable. The stairs did have a sticker on stating the following:

Warning!
Please ensure all grippers are screwed on not nailed.
Bellway will not be responsible for any damage caused to stairs by carpet fitters.

At the time of ordering we told Carpetright this and they said no problem they would either screw or glue the grippers on and wrote this on the order (which I have a copy of).

When the carpet fitters arrived I mentioned this to them and they said no, we never screw or glue on grippers - builders put that on to cover themselves. I said I had been told by Carpetright that it would be done. The carpet fitter said he would do one stair to check it was ok but said he had never had a problem nailing grippers on new stairs. He came back to me and said it was fine and wouldn't causes any issues.

Any suggestions how I can resolve this, I would have thought that a staircase should easily be able to withstand the size of nails used on carpet gripper rods. Is there any guidance on this?

[nem39esis]

Im not sure that there is much guidence on this, however if there was a clear notice stating that grippers should be screwed or glued and that the carpet fitters ignored this, then the carpet fitters a liable to rectify the problem if it is this that is causing the squeeks. The squeeks may well be due to the nails moving in the wood which screws would not do hence why they state to use them as the house will be subject to movement and shrinkage. Id write to the carpet fitters and ask why it was nailed and not screwed as per the form. State the reasons why it is important (bellways note) and ask what they intend to do to rectify the problem.

Good luck

[prelude]

I had the same problem! when the nhbc inspector came he said it was down to the stair all being made from mdf ! even the sides that should be timber .
Told Bellway and they replaced the whole stair with a timber one,,,

[Buddie]

I also had the exact same problem. We are the second owners of our house and the previous owner hadn't bothered to fix the creaking stairs.

If you have no joy with the builder and have to repair them yourself it is quite straightforward. I couldnt get access under the stairs and I tried screwing down the treads but it didn't work. I eventually bought small L shaped brackets and screwed two onto each tread and attached it to the riser. This pulls the tread and riser together and stops the wood or nails squeaking.

It worked perfectly on our stairs and we have zero squeakage! Handy for creaping up the stairs after coming in late from the pub.

Good Luck anyway.

[cadlife]

Another quick way round this is to buy gripfill in a tube and run a bead between the tred and riser and let it go off before you walk on the stairs, this can fix alot of problems. If the stairs are making excessive noise, have a look for water damage on the stairs, if there is most likely the joints have come apart as they are only pinned and glued, and yes as previous posts, most new build stairs are mdf now so if they get damp they will suffer more than traditional staircases.

[NewHomeExpert]

First of all it is not the whole staircase that is made in MDF just the treads (the bit you walk on) and sometimes the risers. (The bit at the back). The strings are always in timber. In the better staircases the string is made of Pirana Pine (a hardwood) on the cheaper stairs whitewood (a softwood)

Problems with stairs arise when the blocks on the back adding strength and joining the treads to the risers fall off. This is mostly because carpet fitters nail gripper rods.

But is can be caused by the staircase getting wet, loosening the glue.
Most offten, the creaking stairs are the parts that are assembled on site by the carpenter. The half landings, the bull-nosed first tread or the kite winder treads. The fixing blocks should be screwed but most are only nailed and sometimes the tread to riser screws are left out too!

Bellway are right to refuse this as they had a disclaimer. The carpet contractor is lialble in this instance in my opinion.