NSW Advice on water damage by tenant

Hi everyone, this is my first post and i am looking for some advice on our current situation. sorry for the long post!

We lease out a granny flat in the Sutherland Shire and the tenants have been there just over a year. They have made multiple maintinence request during this time (repainting, decks stained, new air con and dishwasher to name a few) but the most concerning to me is water damage to the floorboards outside the bathroom.

The bathroom has floorboards in it- not ideal for a wet area but they are being left with puddles of water on them for extended periods of time. Today i attended the regular inspection with a builder and there were puddles of water all over the bathroom and she said no one had even showered today yet! 12-24 hours where puddles of water sat there!

My builder thinks the cause of the damage to the timber floors is constant and large amounts of water left sitting on the floor and seeping into the grain (some of the boards have started cupping) and the room not being ventilated (they have a humidifyer running all the time in the bathroom).

I am not sure what to do next. i have resealed and regrouted the shower and have a plumber coming to check the pipes for leaks again next week. At what point is the tenant responsible? i dont want to spend too much on this property as we have submitted a DA for a major extension on the house.

My property manager just sends all the requests through for me to approve or decline and are absolutely no help.

 

Give them a mop and tell them to mop the floor and use floor mats. Basic stuff.

What bright spark put timber flooring in a bathroom rather than tiles?

Is there sufficient fall on the bathroom floor?

 

The original architect.
yes - the bathroom floor has the correct fall. i am considering removing the floorboards and putting in tiles. Might be the best solution.

 

Tell the architect that they specified an unsuitable product and they should wear (or share) the replacement cost. The builder should've known better as well (unless they were overruled by you).

 

House is 15 years old (not built by us) - i dont think we have any recourse with the architect or builder. Although we have no issues in 3 other bathrooms and a laundry with timber floors.

Floors in the granny flat/studio have only been damaged since the tenants moved in.

 

It sounds to me as though the tenants are somewhat annoying (irrelevant point) and that the floor is of a bad design/construct, although with extra care it wouldn't necessarily be a problem.

It therefore sounds like the design/construct is not suited to a rental property where minimal care would be the norm.
They could certainly help avoid the problem, but I doubt they could be held accountable for it.
Goodluck.

 

Sounds like a design fault.
Can you install a drain to the bathroom floor?

 

Just put down sheet vinyl, over the correct underlay.

 

The design is not ideal but there is already a drain on the floor. I’m leaning towards replacing the timber with tiles so we don’t have any more issues.

 

I haven’t thought of vinyl, I’ll do some research into it. Thanks

 

Loose lay sheet vinyl may even go down over floorboards but needs a flat surface to stop wear on high spots - so you may need to sand the cupped boards.

Best practice is to install over a ceramic vinyl underlay (slightly thinner than a tile underlay). But I wouldn’t bother if you are going to reno in future.

 

If there was still water on the floor after 24 hours of not being used then I dare say the fall isn’t sufficient

 

that does sound logical, i will check with my builder again. The shower is fully enclosed though so there seems to be an exessive amount of water getting out anyway.

 

A tenant will have a defence that timber in a wet area is your problem. Thats like a carpetted garage and complaining about oil stains. Flooring doesnt meet present "code"
https://www.atfa.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/72_Wet-area-floors.pdf
You cant go back aftre 15 years to the licensed builder if you purchased it after the build even if it wasnt to code.

Unless that timber can be epoxy sealed it should be replaced. How did they waterproof ? Is it waterproofed under and will that be impacted ?

 

I don't know if this can help you much, but I have read this topic with much interest. Have you considered to rip out the timber floor boards and replace such floor boards with something like HardiePanel (Compressed Fibre Cement) sheets? Have a read up on them. Maybe talk to a builder about this option. Depending how bad the existing timber floor boards are they may need to be replaced.

 

The floor boards are through the entire home so I’m reluctant to rip them out as the damage is from the bathroom up the hallway.
I’ve had some semi good news though, the repairs will be covered by our insurance.

 

Except the insurer will require any non-compliant design and construct is rectified before they will pay for consequential damage. ie They may cover the flooring damage to hallways etc but not the bathroom and will require it be rectified with waterproofing and drainage.