Basement Stairs Reinforcement
cotto11
| Posted in General Questions on
Anyway I can reinforce these basement stairs without complete removal and reinstall.
36” treads and has only the 2 outer stringers, just seems kinda bouncy when walking down them, especially carrying anything more than my 225lb frame.
suggestions, Thanks!
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Replies
You could add diagonal bracing to the mid-span support wall. And/or bolt the stringer to the wall. You could add additional stringers but I doubt you would need them if you do one of the other things I suggest.
+1 for diagonal bracing on that mid-span support. You could also use plywood here to make it into a sort of miniature shear wall. You could add another support too for additional stiffness to the entire set of stairs, a third stringer in the middle of the of the steps to increase reduce the deflection of the center of each step, and even 2x4's glued and screwed along the inside of the lower edge of the stringers to reduce deflection of the entire set of stairs.
If your "bounce" on those stairs is a side-to-side motion, the bracing or plywood on the mid space support should cure it. I'd make sure that lower support is anchored to the floor too and not just sitting there. If your "bounce" is each step being too flexible, a third stringer in the middle should fix that. If your "bounce" is the entire set of stairs bouncing up and down as you walk down (not just each step individually as you step on it), then additional braces (which is likely easier) or 2x4's glued and screwed along that lower edge should fix that.
You could potentially bolt the stringer near the wall to the wall, but that might result in one stiff and one bouncy side to the set of stairs. What you need to do to solve the problem depends on what type of motion/bounce you are seeing that you wanted to cure.
Bill