Hello!
Ever since we moved into the house in 2015, the ongoing saga of "getting the stairs quiet" has been going on!
Today, however, there was a step forward, and I am now almost completely sure that it's the stringers under the treads that are creaking! The stairs have been open since the beginning, but the previous owner made them "closed" by attaching beadboard panels (6mm particleboard) to the stringers and the back of the treads. These were then caulked and painted!
At first, I was sure that it was the joints around the risers that were creaking, but after cutting away the joints, removing excess paint, loosening the fastening at the bottom of the risers, and then trying to do the opposite and only fastening at the bottom, moving the risers down 2-3 mm at the top from the treads, etc., without progress, I finally tried tackling the stringers, and that made a difference! They are installed according to the rules, but when the previous owner painted the stairs, a lot of paint was also applied to these, so the gap between the treads and stringer was filled with paint, which caused the creaking!
But now to my question, once the stringers have been scraped clean of excess paint and become "creak-free," I want to freshen up the stairs a bit; there are lots of screw holes, etc., in the risers. Can I caulk the gaps around the risers again, or will this make them creak as well? I don't know if that was also a source of the creaking since I removed them first...
