Fix squeaking staircase

stairs

I am in the process of adding more storage area underneath a straight staircase. There was a single wall below the staircase that I removed to get more storage.

After removing the studs for the wall, it appears the staircase is squeaky. I can also see the stringers flex/move under load.

I'm not sure if it squeaked before or if I'm just being hyper sensitive. Nevertheless, this is a good opportunity to fix the squeak. The squeak is the worst when I'm on the 4th step from the bottom, but it's present from steps 3-8.

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Best Answer

OK you have something that probably has a good deal of weight on it with no proper header or support over too far of a range.

In my horrible picture below you need 2-3 vertical 2x4s and bottom plate in blue. Maybe you could space these out with the right size header - like framing an exterior door. But that may carry the vertical load better but it may not satisfy the horizontal load - someone on the stairs. So while you can try putting a header on there, it could still creak...

Also in black you could easily add cross bracing and over time this will keep screw and nails from loosening, making a quieter set of stairs.

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