What can I do about timber floor splinters as a tenant

It's definitely not normal to have so many splinters come from a wooden floor in one go but it's not uncommon to get 1 or 2 every now and then, it also depends on how old the floor is or how well it's been looked after in it's life time. You can clearly see in one of those photo's that something has been dropped on the floor and cut across the grain of the timber and if you rub your hand over it of coarse it will lift a splinter. I not implying that it's from the current tenant but something abnormal has happened there at one time or another.

 

This comes to mind in relation to first world problems (detailed in another thread)...



however, given your plans, I hope your good neighbours don't have any future issues vis a vis

Noisy upstairs neighbour (flooring) - NSW Strata Application Process

 

Antoni0: Are you sure you aren't just seeing the gap between boards?

OP: I get splinters in my unpolished floor - it's best not to pull on the splinter because small splinters become very long.

If it is really bad you (or preferably a handyman/ woman) could use a narrow very sharp chisel and cut the splinter off near the 'snag' (tip of the splinter) without damaging the board, and while 'smoothing' the snag so it forms a smooth surface. There's a technique.

Otherwise you are going to have a floor covered in gouges where you have pulled on splinters, making them 20 x longer than the initial 'snag'.

 

I'd suggest that the floor is coated with tung oil however no maintenance has ever been undertaken ie a coat of Gemini applied occasionally to recondition the surface. Splintering is more common in very dry timber and suitable refinishing may improve the situation (at lessor's cost of course).

 

Best not to touch it and report it to the PM, I'm sure most decent landlords will address the issue.

This is not really looking like the join, a splinter will lift more or less parallel with the join unless there is a knot where the grain direction will change.

 

The arrow is pointing to the very long 'pulled out' splinter, which has come from the edge of the board, by the looks of things.

 

those days of renting- we had one floor section with some splints so we rubbed/filled the surface with cheap wax (candle)- it worked for a little while...

 

Sounds and look like very poorly laid flooring to me. It might have gotten wet by a previous tenant which made it swell and warp at the edges of the boards.
Definitely report it to the PM as it is an issue.
When cleaning floorboards a mixture of metho and water and only slightly damp mop is best if there is gaps between the boards.

 

Thanks. Sounds like the most sensible thing to do is let the PM know to see if anything can be done and also ensure I don't get blamed.

The apartment's older than I thought at ~40 years. I'm not sure how old the timber floors are but they haven't been maintained well. Some of the boards aren't level so if you were to drag something heavy along then it would get caught and possibly splinter. There's uneven flooring in the kitchen and corridors as well. Not sure what's caused them. Perhaps they got soaked?

Anyway thanks for the tips and suggestions.

 

It's called 'cupping' when the board curves at the edges.

It is very common for natural wood boards to do that over time. It can be related to getting wet, or it can just be moisture in the air. Lots of boards in my 50 year old house have some cupping.

It is usually sanded out when floors are polished, but there is only so many times you can resand a floor.

 

Corpses?

 

What you don't see doesn't hurt you, I will never own a rental with an exposed timber floor. Friends had some timber laminate put down and the first tenants dragged a babies cot along the floor from the bedroom to the kitchen.

Silly people, they should've drank that tank water.

 

It'll be the backwood splinters which will give the game away at the autopsy (but it may help when burning the body).

 

I was just being sarcastic.
It's best you don't see what tenants do in homes and you're not going to stop them. The best thing to do is put measures in place to reduce damage and insure against it if you can. By seeing a lot of posts on here, it really makes me wonder how many long term investors there is. I do a lot of the handyman repairs myself and have done so for many years, I'm still dumbfounded about some of the things I see and find. In the end it's not worth stressing about as you will end up in the hospital with a heart attack sooner or later.

Annnd just for the record, best one I've see was a full babies pool in the kitchen and tenants jumping off the kitchen bench top into it. I normally don't tell the tenants that I'm the owner when I turn up for repairs.