The stairs in my 1930's semi have always been a bit odd. I tried to quantify the oddness recently and actual measurements tell me that the stair treads slope forwards a bit.
By a bit I mean more than a centimeter and this gives the staircase user the sensation of 'about to fall forward down the stairs' when heading down. Not good. This is isn't a thing that you want in your house, or indeed, any house. I remember (when I lived in the house) that this feeling was intensified when heading downstairs ti the toilet in the middle of the night, with a hangover.
The house has been rented for the last 10 or so years. Touch wood we have had zero instances of tenants falling forward down the stairs and sewing us. A tenant-less opening has arisen and we have decided to get this issue sorted once and for all!
Get a professional in?
I have spoken to various local carpenters, some of which labelled themselves 'joiners' and some didn't. The general consensus is that the stairs have always been like that. This isn't slippage, or subsidance. If you look closely, the treads are cut tightly into the strings (those wooden bits on either side of the stairs, one of which is usually stuck to the wall). It seems the 1930's builder that put my staircase in was a bit crap.
How?
It soon became clear that there was various options open to me. Removing and re-building was suggested by a few professionals; quotes ranged from 3 to 5 grand. I found a guy on the 'mybuilder' website who said he would remove and replace all the treads for 600 quid. I booked him to come and do the work, but he soon backed out claiming other work commitments. I was told that it may be possible to remove and replace the wooden wedges that had been hammered into the back of the staircase in the 1930's and were holding the whole thing together.
Then I hit upon an idea. Given the treads were reasonably solid and stable, why not use wedged shaped pieces of wood on top of each tread to raise up the front of each? The problem was how would I cut these wedges? I asked a few carpenters but no-one came up with the goods. I found a wood yard with a suitable band-saw, but they didn't have the correct bit. Purchasing said bit would cost be 170 quid.
feather board
where can you get cheap wedge shaped wood? feather board! You know, that stuff they make fences out of! genius! (thanks Peter).
Alright, might seem like a bit of a bodge, but why? The stairs were going to be carpeted, so wood aesthetics didn't matter. feather board isn't the solidest wood, but as long as it holds it's shape I thought it might be a goer.. I needed thicker than normal stuff, but I managed to source 15cm wide lengths, each for the grand total of 1 pound and 50 pence.
The plan was to lay feather board on top of each stair tread, with the thick bit at the front, and in front of that, a length of pine with a curved top ('bullnose'). This pine would take the brunt of the battering from the foot traffic going up and down the stairs.
Then stick it down and cover it in carpet. What could possible go wrong?
more soon...
Update 2017
The stairs are now fixed!
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