posted
Does anyone have any quick-fix suggestions for creaky stairs?
The Situation: we adopted a malamute rescue this past weekend, and he isn't very familiar with houses (previous owner had him and his sister tied in a field with grass so high they couldn't see out of it for most of his 2-yr life ). We have oatmeal/white carpeted stairs, and the landing at the top of the stairs creaks. I'm pretty sure he's never seen stairs before, and he's terrified to walk on the part that creaks. I have a feeling the creaking, combined with the white color, is hitting an instinctual fear of weak ice.
We just need a quick fix (for now, anyways) that'll stop or muffle the creaking until he can get used to the stairs. Maybe a rug? Right now we have to carry him up & down the stairs/landing, which is really not fun when you have a fully-grown, scared malamute.
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quote:Originally posted by Jhai: Right now we have to carry him up & down the stairs/landing, which is really not fun when you have a fully-grown, scared malamute.
But it does conjure up an entertaining mental image.
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posted
Creaking is often due to the joints of the wood and supports loosening just a bit. Is there access under the stairs? I know in some old houses there is. If you can get under the landing and tighten the supports that might help.
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What kind of floor do you have under the rug? Sometimes hardwood floors creak because of individual boards coming a little loose and rubbing against each other. The same can happen where plywood or constructed board (the 4x 8 sheets) join. Both can be fixed, at least temporarily, by tightening the join between the flooring and the subflooring. Specific techniques will vary (and I don't know them).
Sometimes, it's motion in the joists/supporting structure. That can be harder to fix.
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After tightening any screws (or adding ones of your own) you can try a little talcum powder in any of the 'cracks' you see. The creak is caused by the wood rubbing so you should be able to 'lubricate' the wood with the talcum powder. You can also try taking the dog for a nice long walk, bring him home and have him keep walking right past the creaky spot. Don't stop, don't hesitate, just keep going and he should respond well. I've dealt with this type of thing a few times with different owners and usually the dog is nervous about the noise and the owners inadvertenly make the nervous dog worse by coddling the dog too much. A positive mental attitude and being confident and secure when leading the dog should work wonders.
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Dag, I have no idea what sort of floor we have under the rug - probably just your basic baseboards that would have been installed in a run-of-the-mill townhouse from the mid-80's to be covered with carpeting. We don't have easy access to the bottom of the stairs.
Sigh. I was hoping for a temp fix that was really simple, but I guess there isn't one. I suspect socializing and training the Mal will take up any free time in the coming couple of weeks, leaving no time for home improvement jobs (not that we're really adapt at those sorts of things, anyways).
Edit: DarkKnight, thanks for your advice, but we've been dog owners forever, and this isn't our first rescue dog. The poor pup is pretty jittery right now, since he hasn't seen much of the world, and just isn't willing to move quickly around the house on or off-lead (walks outside are a different story). And with a Malamute you can't just make them walk wherever you want them to. If he decides to stop moving, nothing short of abuse will get him moving again. "Luckily" he's so underfed that we can both still pick him up when it's absolutely necessary.
I guess the best approach will be working with the dog, rather than the floor - he'll be getting his meals closer and closer to the landing. And hopefully he'll be trusting us soon enough to follow where we lead.
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The typical solution is to get under the stairs and use thin wooden wedges to shim up the stairs where they are supported by the risers. The key, of course is that you need access to the underside of the stairs. What's blocking the access to the underside of the stairs?
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The drywall & ceiling of the living room. It's a staircase directly over another staircase, and the underneath of the stairs is right in sight of the dining and living areas (open floor plan on the main floor). If we went through the bottom there'd be a big hole visible while we were working on it, and, knowing our home improvement skills, a nice patch spot afterward.
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Jhai, The food idea is a great one. Whatever motivates the dog can work wonders I like the food idea and I did miss that you said Malamute. We've used food as a motivator with large dogs when they decide to 'drop the anchor'
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I've just gotten a report from my husband (who is on vacation this week so that the Mal has an easier time adjusting to our household) that the morning standoff at the top of the stairs ended when he decided that he was hungry enough to brave the creaking at 11 am. So it looks like we can go back to ignoring the creaking.
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That is very good news Jhai! Thank you for adopting a rescue dog and being responsible owners! I hope you receive lots of great karma Oh, and when I saw "Mal has an easier time adjusting to our household" I had a total Firefly geek moment.
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I just noticed that the "he" in my previous post could be misinterpreted. Just to be clear - my husband is perfectly capable of going down the stairs when he's even just a little bit hungry. Now, cooking an actual meal from what's in the fridge (rather than heating up a frozen meal or grilling a slab of meat or staring at me complaining that there's no food in the house) may be beyond him...
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![[Mad]](mad.gif)
). We have oatmeal/white carpeted stairs, and the landing at the top of the stairs creaks. I'm pretty sure he's never seen stairs before, and he's terrified to walk on the part that creaks. I have a feeling the creaking, combined with the white color, is hitting an instinctual fear of weak ice.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
