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I'm moving out of an apartment with hardwood floors. There is some damage to the floor that occurred while I was a tenant. I'm not entirely sure how it occurred. I do not own pets.
I'm being charged ~$2500 to have *all* of the hardwood replaced.
Aren't there steps to take before replacing *all* of the hardwood? I know it depends upon the scope of the damage, but the damage was fairly localized. Am I getting screwed or should I just pay? That seems like an awful lot of money for a few damaged floor boards.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Very much depends on the type of material used on floor. Sometimes it is impossible to match previous type / color / grain of wood. so entire floor must be replaced. (will be the case if it is 'vintage'). I would flip out f a tenant damaged a hardwood floor. I have lived under the threat of death since age 3, that if I damaged floor, piano, furniture... someone would be collecting my life insurance policy.
My son has a very small house and spent over $10k fixing the 1930's floor from renter damage. The SAD thing, is now it is no longer vintage, and the value of the home is seriously degraded, especially the enjoyment and value he had after he had restored it last time. (searching for months to find the correct wood).
Replacing the floor is one thing, refinishing the floor is usually the first choice in repairing damage. Unless the floor has been sanded at least 2 times previously, it can be sanded and refinished again. If it is only 4 years, the stain can be matched.
Check for the cost of a refinish for the damaged area. A much more reasonable approach.
If it was just a few boards that got damaged and the hardwood runs into the closets, perhaps some boards from the closet can be used to replace the damaged boards. That way a perfect match in the closet floor might not be necessary.
You may want to explore this as an option when discussing this with your landlord. Just remember that your LL has every reason to be upset that you messed up a floor that was only 4 yrs old. So, look for a reasonable solution that both of you can agree upon.
Depending on the size of the house, 2500 is very cheap to do a full replacement. I was looking at hardwood for my living room, 312 square feet, and it was going to run a little over 2k. They might be replacing a small section (which entails ripping part of the floor up all the way to the wall if it's tongue and groove) or just refinishing.
........I'm being charged ~$2500 to have *all* of the hardwood replaced.............
$2500 would be amazingly cheap to have all the flooring replaced in a house. Maybe you misunderstood and the flooring is being refinished. Price you give is about right for having a rather small house full of wood flooring refinished.
Or maybe by "all of the hardwood" you are talking about the flooring in only one room?
Sorry, but it is often very difficult to do repairs to small areas of hardwood floors. There are problems with matching the wood and with matching the color. Wood is fitted together with a groove system. You can't just lift one board up out of the middle of the room. It's a really big job to do repairs. Once a small repair has been made, it is most likely that all the flooring will then have to be refinished.
If one room is refinished, then probably all rooms will have to be refinished, otherwise, the flooring no longer matches.
I don;t know how much damage you did to floors, but I suspect that you are getting off cheap.
$2500 would be amazingly cheap to have all the flooring replaced in a house. Maybe you misunderstood and the flooring is being refinished. Price you give is about right for having a rather small house full of wood flooring refinished.
It's only 450 sq. feet though, and the hardwood is being replaced. Does that change anything in your analysis?
It's only 450 sq. feet though, and the hardwood is being replaced. Does that change anything in your analysis?
That's a great price for installed (real) hardwood.. makes me wonder if it really is "real" hardwood - some sort of laminate/pergo-y stuff might be going on - if that's the case, replacement makes more sense - they might not be able to get matching "wood" to replace the damaged parts. There are about a thousand different laminate companies and none of their stuff is interchangeable. Seems like the last real oak we had put down was closer to $8 -ish per square foot, and the flooring dude had to buy massive quantities to offer it at that price (installed).
It's only 450 sq. feet though, and the hardwood is being replaced. Does that change anything in your analysis?
The very cheapest hardwood installed by a lower quality installer would be at least $10 a square foot. That would not include removing the damaged floor.
Moderately good hardwood flooring, of a tree species that is not rare or costly, might easily cost $10 a square foot just for the wood and not including the cost of removing the damaged floor and paying for the installer.
Installing wood flooring is hard on both the knees and the back. It is a skilled job. A day laborer picked up in front of Home Depot can't do it. It takes some fairly high cost tools. It is not a cheap project to pay for.
In future, if you rent another house with hardwood flooring, take a bit of care. Keep water off of it, and I seriously suggest floor protectors under all the furniture legs. Don't drag heavy furniture across it.
I love hardwood flooring and it isn't that hard to take care of, but if it is damaged, it is darned expensive to repair the damage.
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