I have an older L-shaped staircase that has been sagging on the lower steps since I moved into the house. It's high time to do something about it, as one tread has broken and others seem to be at risk.
The treads consist of several pieces, and the front piece is supported at the front edge by the underlying riser (and the back piece seems to be nailed to the riser behind it, so it does get some support from there).
However, the pieces "fold" against each other (like a gutter, exaggerated, see red marking below), and a wedge-shaped piece has partially cracked (orange marking):
I want to reinforce this. The space under the stairs is a small cupboard used for storage, so aesthetics from underneath are not a priority...
Could one think of wedging something between the stringer and the tread? Or adding an extra support beam to the stringer to provide tread reinforcement?
Is it an idea to place a whole board under each tread (and have a beam in the stringer beneath this) to even out the pressure when stepping in the middle of the step?
Glue doesn't seem encouraged when I read other stair threads, due to the risk of future creaking (even though it already creaks). But how then do I best connect the treads to such a board from below? Is it better to screw the board from below into the treads? I also don’t want there to be a small gap causing the step to slam against the board.
Angle brackets to attach the board to the risers in front and behind?
It turned into a game of pick-up sticks with 15 mm plywood as reinforcement for both risers and treads, with various studs screwed into, among other things, the stringers to support the new boards. Turned out quite okay. Bouncing is gone, less or no creaking, so we'll see how it holds up over time.
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