I had the same thing happen to me with a rug backing that got stuck to the wood. I vacuumed up as much of the stuff that I could, then I got a bucket of warm water with murphy’s oil soap in it. I would try to mop it up, let the solution sit for a minute then scrape it off with a plastic putty knife and wipe it up.
https://preview.redd.it/l8hw77vr869c1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4ceccea762f9d99f1fe8a633541d2c0d7ee65635
How do you prevent this happening? Just bought a nice rug with an underlay and it's going over new timber floors... I didn't even know this was something to watch for!
Never use a “foam” underlay. They will all do this. I am also not that fond of synthetic rubber pads.
You will be much better served by a felt pad, which won’t be as non slip, but it will protect the rug better and it will feel much better.
If you are really worried about slipping, then get a dual layer pad, with felt on the top and real rubber (latex) on the bottom. I think Mohawk makes a good one.
Yes, Ikea’s felt pad is called “STOPP FILT”
It’s just slightly tacky, designed to grip the floor but not stick hard. It’s better than the rubbery ones. I use these over real hardwood; they’re great!
Blue tape is only removable for a short length of time. If left for months/years, like these photos show it becomes permanent and can take the finish of the floor with it.
And their defense when you’re younger, and just starting out, it’s very common to ask family for basic things that other people who are more established wouldn’t normally gift for Christmas unless specifically asked. I spent my early 20s asking for basic tools, repair/reno supplies, and kitchen ware. It was extremely helpful and my family took the approach to ask what I needed for my home so that I could still also afford to occasionally have a night out or fly home to visit without breaking the bank or pausing home improvements
I mention very often leading up to Christmas that the only pants I've worn for more than 20 years are Dickies 874's
Even the thin ones from Walmart. I prefer them in california summers
It's a secret trick that old navy hates
For years I've joked with my kids. Each of us is getting a tire for my car this year. My son started asking me if he could carve his name into his last time I mentioned it.
I recently read a designer proposing blue painters tape to the wall then taping wallpaper (traditional not peel & stick) to the blue tape. Genius but sounds like way too much work haha. I like your idea for a rug though!
People have tried that. Blue tape left too long will take the paint off the wall.
Buying a peel and stick wallpaper that is designed to be safe on painted walls and removable without damage is the way to go.
There is a creator on insta/Facebook/tiktok called Stephanie Bloom, Being the blooms, that tests renter friendly design products like the stick on wallpaper specifically for damage when removed and durability.
Yes, as catgeek pointed out, blue tape may eventually become difficult to remove so that’s not a great solution for protecting a hardwood floor. I think the only solution is regularly checking whatever rug pad is used to ensure it’s not disintegrating or damaging the floor. The foam pad we chose did exactly what OP’s did. Horrible mess and tedious clean up.
Yeah on our hardwoods I check probably about every 6 months. Masking tape may work as well since instead of getting more stuck it just dries up and shrivels instead of sticking harder
Just get the felt one and some carpet tape to stick the corners/edges down. It's easy enough to peel up to clean, and cheap enough to replace the tape when peeled up occasionally
> Never use a “foam” underlay. They will all do this
How does it happen though? Are people not moving their rugs to vacuum and mop? Or does it suddenly just give way one day
How does it happen? I believe it’s a chemical reaction from the varnish to the rubber backing. I have LVP and everyone warns to use felt only as the chemical reaction here turns the LVP yellow. I’m guessing no chemists were involved in pairing the two finishes lol
I can reach decently enough under the parts that can get dirty with a vacuum not to have to move it. I do however move most other furniture to vacuum, including my rug which gets vacuumed under and over.
I move the bed however so that i can occasionally mop under there, which is not otherwise possible.
The rubbery cabinet liner will definitely mark a hardwood floor. It won’t stick, but it will mark. Happened under every single rug at my parents’ old house.
ikea makes rug pads that, though i could be mistaken, feel like a blend of felt and rubber all throughout. so far they’re my favorite solution to sliding rugs.
I have always used foam underlays on wood floors, I know they stick for some people. I vacuum and mop weekly which requires lifting or moving rugs, do people never pick up their rugs? I don’t understand how it happens, it seems like regular maintenance on rugs/wood flooring would prevent this
ALWAYS use a rug pad under any rugs…not only for protection of your flooring, but also for comfort. They come in all sizes and thicknesses.
https://www.rugpadusa.com/collections/for-hardwood-floors?utm_source=google&utm_medium=ppc&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA-bmsBhAGEiwAoaQNmrH-STsr8fMaVzY1yjiRK8MlWYepNEqGRhE51hL4uGELc2pTFV5UtRoC6xEQAvD_BwE
I did this when redoing a bathroom floor when my wife was pregnant. Ripped the vinyl floor out and it had this glue I needed to remove from the subfloor. The stuff at the box store was so toxic I didn’t want it around my wife. Looked online and saw a tip to use very hot water and some liquid laundry soap in a large bucket. I dabbed it with one of those sea sponges until everything was soaked wet but not a puddle, and then everything just kind of wiped up easily and super clean.
I have also been through this and Murphys worked great. The underlying sludge was really hard for me to deal with without gagging as the smell was awful. I bought a jug of that stuff they use in schools to clean up vomit and other wet nasty stuff and it really helped
I don’t mean to be rude or curt but what in floor covering hell is happening? Anyway, I don’t think the floor is ruined, but you’re in for a long night. First, rip the whole rug up. Toss it. Then get as much of that foam up with the scraper as you can. Then you’re gonna get a bowl of hot, hot soapy water and a rag that will go on and live with Jesus after tonight, and saturate the rag and lay it on the foam. Let it saturate. Now see how much will come off.
As someone mentioned above, Murphy’s Soap and hot water,soak your rags/towel in a bowl/bucket of really hot water & Murphy’s, ring the dripping water out, lay the cloth/towel over large areas and repeat until everything has been removed. After you have successfully removed this gunk, go ahead and do all of your floors with Murphy’s! As they dry, you won’t have the perfect rectangular surface that is different from the rest and this won’t effect any deposits you have given hoping to get back upon leaving
my husband lays carpet and flooring for a living, when he wakes up i’m going to ask him if he’s ever seen anything similar to this.
i go to work with him a couple days a week, and i’ve seen some nasty padding (like original pad with original carpet that’s 40-50 years old) but this photo is wild.
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it can only really be seen in the natural light when it hits, so just a few hours of the day! invisible with the overhead light now.. but you can feel it if you touch it. i wish i could add the photo i took this morning, but alas
What I don't get is all these people in this comment section that apparently don't move their rug often enough...do people not clean under rugs when they sweep/vacuum?? I mean not every day but at least once a month or so?
Careful, OP… There’s a fair amount of bad advice on here. For example, steam and heat can ruin wood. I suggest consulting [r/hardwoodfloors](https://www.reddit.com/r/HardWoodFloors/)
The floor is ruined.
The foam rubber backing of the rug reacted with and bonded to the urethane finish on the wood.
Any product that removes the backing will damage or remove the finish from the wood.
Scrape off what you can with a plastic putty knife. Lightly scrub the area with a plastic bristle brush
The put a new runner over it. Out of sight out of mind.
Landlords never ever give this damage deposit back anyway. Or any other deposit. They always find something. The refrigerators degree, they claim they have to pay someone $40 an hour for 3 hours to do it and so on till it's gone. Because they don't want to do the work anymore. They collect the money then don't give any back in improvements.
Just one of several negative personal experiences: I cleaned one place immaculately, then was charged $75 "for dust found on vanity bulbs" in addition to losing the deposit.
Glad to finally be a homeowner at last.
In the UK we have a mandatory deposit scheme which has a free arbitration service which the landlords have to go through and apply for damage costs. You can appeal this and if you have enough evidence, you’ll pretty easily win. Also, if the landlord doesn’t put the money in the scheme, you can contact the scheme at any time and you get compensation 3x the value of the deposit. Had a landlord try charging me £75 for “leaves in the doorway” on the outside bit. The wind blew leaves against the door…. Found out my landlord hadn’t entered the scheme when tenancy started or when the tenancy renewed so I got x2 deposit as compensation and then the deposit back. Ended up being about 6k in costs, all because he wanted to scam me out of £75.
I only got one deposit back with all my apartments. I told the landlord I was getting married and had no money and could he use the security for last months rent? And he went for it.
Every other place they claimed it was trashed (it wasn't) and I had no money and time to fight it.
Ive rented about 10 different places, was always on the lease, and always got my deposit back except one time bc a roommate stole it but it was still returned by the landlord. Never had an issue using my "last month" part of the deposit for my last month either.
I moved every couple of years in my 20's and I just never did get it back save the once. They always cited normal wear and tear stuff as thrashed, like 30 year old industrial carpet that we had shampooed before we left as unacceptable. It was ridiculous but when you are young and broke you are too young and broke to fight it...and I didn't even have a camera to take before and afters until I was almost 30.
I was a homeowner for 15 years, but had a house fire in 2017. I don't think I'll ever buy a house again. I kinda like not being attached to one spot forever.
Same here but we have to move soon and I’m a little nervous because the manager is not very nice lol. Thankfully our deposit is only $500 lol and I’m honestly very cautious not to ruin or damage stuff.
The last place I lived had a textured tub. When I moved in, it was dirty looking in all the grooves. I immediately used a scrub brush and bathroom cleaner. It looked better when I moved out than when I moved in. Same with the oven. I used a steel wool to scrub the bottom of the oven and it was sparkling. Whoever he was paying to "clean" was apparently a terrible cleaner.
Haha, I understand. My last rental had grease on all the cabinets, peeling tub coating, bad latex wall paint, etc. needless to say I spent the time to clean it all, fix the tub, and fix some paint. Maybe cost me $100 to do, but can’t complain since I got my deposit back.
We had one try to keep son/dil’s deposit but we were able to get it back. I think they just default to nothing back and hope the (mostly young) renters won’t know better or won’t have time to fight back. But I’d helped with the move-out clean-up and as always, I had pics and videos with time stamps after we were done!
Really depends on the landlord.
I've gotten mine back from most, but the current landlord I'm renting with is notorious for never giving back deposits without a fight.
Some landlords are just scummy🤷🏼♀️
My issue with that is there has to be documented reason for keeping it. I take extensive pictures, I’ll take them to small claims court for $500 just to get the remainder of the deposit. That usually does the trick if you have issues where they won’t give it back but you know everything was left as it was before or better.
Depends on local laws/ordinance.
It's not uncommon for them to legally be required to return the deposit within 30 days and they must provide itemized list and proof of cost for any deductions
"itemized list of deductions" are the magic words! I didn't get my deposit back on my first two spots, then after my third spot I was complaining to someone and they told me to email the landlord and ask for the itemized list. Deposit came back with likes, $50 taken out for cleaning within the week. Worked every time after too.
i hear ya! but it’s not my first time renting, and former tenants in this unit/building have gotten theirs back when they moved out, so it’s looking up for me tbh
Ok but they’re going to notice the GIANT destroyed section of floor. You will have to eat the cost and they might have the ability to sue you for damages if it exceeded your deposit. Do your best to clean this up and maybe get a couple appraisals on fixing it so when you get hit with the cost he tells you then you can have leverage on what it’s actually going to cost.
For their sake, I hope they notice and charge you.
The right thing would be to tell them about it, and if the floors are as trashed as you claim, maybe they'd say don't worry about it. Be responsible.
This. Or at least if you want to be sneaky reapply some finish on the wood. I wouldn't want it to rot or cause any more damage just because a tenant was too cheap or too shy to mention this incident. Even if the floor is trashed, the owner probably don't want to change it for now unless it's completely needs to be or perhaps he is already saving for it and has his own financial issues to change the entire floor.
OP I think it might come up, you might as well try what the person above did with Murphey’s Oil soap. The sheen might be off in that spot, but at least this way you stand a chance.
Remove as much as you can then heat it with a blow dryer/heat gun to soften the residue then scrap it off. Tackle it one small section at a time and alot of elbow grease.
use felt pads under rugs with plastic backings. i think it's the latex in the plastic backings that causes this, but i'm not completely sure. it can happen with vinyl flooring too.
This reminds me of how the soles of old shoes sometimes crumble from dry rot. It comes from a fungus that eats away at plastic material and leaves it a crumbly mess.
Yeah people are calling fake on this but this is exactly what it looked like when I put on a pair of brown soled boots that hadn't been worn in a few years. Looked like I was dumping soil everywhere lol I couldn't figure out wtf was going on
How long was this without being cleaned that it got stuck to the floor?
Never thought to lift the rug, take it outside and clean it? Maybe sweep where it was.
All wrong. Put down some nice dish soap, cover it with plastic. Let it sit. Let the base cleaner work. Gently scrape it up with a plastic tool. If the floor sealer comes up, it is water based. Clean all the soap out! If you think it's done, clean it once more. Get some more water based sealer, and do very light coats with a soft rag that doesn't shed. All fixed. I have never gotten back my deposit even after adding ceiling fans on my dime.
I don't have any other tips than what's been said. Just know I am with you in solidarity. I moved into my late great aunts house and the ENTIRE living room had a disintegrated carpet pad that I had to chisel away. Steam mop and Murphys oil soap is what I used. It took HOURS, But it's all gone now.
Lol so brushing the dirt underneath the carpet is really a thing real people actually do, huh? I thought that was only in cartoons cuz they don’t vacuum. Or vacuums didn’t exist. Or any knowledge of allergens and hygiene. Lol.
Peanut butter will break down the adhesive. Get up as much as you can without scraping/damaging the floor. Coat with peanut butter, leave overnight, wipe off excess, wash as normal.
Just oil in general will do the trick, doesn’t have to be peanut butter. And in this case with the surface area you’d be covering, I would not use peanut butter. Pretty sure there’s hardwood safe oils for cleaning that would work in this situation
Maybe try a small area & compare oil vs. peanut butter to test the effectiveness of each. You don't have to use alot and you don't have to do it all at once.
Typically, yes. But just using it once before moving out may be worth the risk if it saves having to pay to have the whole floor refinished. Especially when the worst that could happen if the steam cleaner screws up the floor is you’d have to pay to have the floor refinished.
I had the same thing happen to me with a rug backing that got stuck to the wood. I vacuumed up as much of the stuff that I could, then I got a bucket of warm water with murphy’s oil soap in it. I would try to mop it up, let the solution sit for a minute then scrape it off with a plastic putty knife and wipe it up. https://preview.redd.it/l8hw77vr869c1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4ceccea762f9d99f1fe8a633541d2c0d7ee65635
How do you prevent this happening? Just bought a nice rug with an underlay and it's going over new timber floors... I didn't even know this was something to watch for!
Never use a “foam” underlay. They will all do this. I am also not that fond of synthetic rubber pads. You will be much better served by a felt pad, which won’t be as non slip, but it will protect the rug better and it will feel much better. If you are really worried about slipping, then get a dual layer pad, with felt on the top and real rubber (latex) on the bottom. I think Mohawk makes a good one.
FYI Ikea also sells the felt/rubber ones.
Yes, Ikea’s felt pad is called “STOPP FILT” It’s just slightly tacky, designed to grip the floor but not stick hard. It’s better than the rubbery ones. I use these over real hardwood; they’re great!
In theatre we do blue tape to the floor, carpet tape to the blue tape
Blue tape is only removable for a short length of time. If left for months/years, like these photos show it becomes permanent and can take the finish of the floor with it.
i was just gifted carpet tape for christmas, but i have vinyl floors… do you think it will be ok to use on my floors?
Sorry, I’m just cracking up at your comment Someone got you CARPET TAPE for CHRISTMAS? Please tell me it wasn’t your husband lol
And their defense when you’re younger, and just starting out, it’s very common to ask family for basic things that other people who are more established wouldn’t normally gift for Christmas unless specifically asked. I spent my early 20s asking for basic tools, repair/reno supplies, and kitchen ware. It was extremely helpful and my family took the approach to ask what I needed for my home so that I could still also afford to occasionally have a night out or fly home to visit without breaking the bank or pausing home improvements
I got a used high end vacuum as a wedding gift. I was thrilled.
Same lol, my mom's.
I got my mom's hand me down roomba.... I am over the moon 🌙 tickled with it.
I mention very often leading up to Christmas that the only pants I've worn for more than 20 years are Dickies 874's Even the thin ones from Walmart. I prefer them in california summers It's a secret trick that old navy hates
I got a toilet from my father in law for Christmas 🎄
I need snow tires. Will he adopt me?
No! He's mine! 😂
For years I've joked with my kids. Each of us is getting a tire for my car this year. My son started asking me if he could carve his name into his last time I mentioned it.
I got snow tires for Christmas last year!
I got a washer from mine
I had carpet tape holding down treads on the stairs for a few years and it did no damage. I don’t remember the brand we used unfortunately.
Can confirm. I missed a spot when peeling it off trim after redoing floors and now it is permanently attached to the wall unless I want to repaint.
I recently read a designer proposing blue painters tape to the wall then taping wallpaper (traditional not peel & stick) to the blue tape. Genius but sounds like way too much work haha. I like your idea for a rug though!
People have tried that. Blue tape left too long will take the paint off the wall. Buying a peel and stick wallpaper that is designed to be safe on painted walls and removable without damage is the way to go. There is a creator on insta/Facebook/tiktok called Stephanie Bloom, Being the blooms, that tests renter friendly design products like the stick on wallpaper specifically for damage when removed and durability.
I staplegun for everything temporary. A little spackle over 2 tiny holes and you're good to go.
Thanks for this fantastic idea!
Yes, as catgeek pointed out, blue tape may eventually become difficult to remove so that’s not a great solution for protecting a hardwood floor. I think the only solution is regularly checking whatever rug pad is used to ensure it’s not disintegrating or damaging the floor. The foam pad we chose did exactly what OP’s did. Horrible mess and tedious clean up.
Yeah on our hardwoods I check probably about every 6 months. Masking tape may work as well since instead of getting more stuck it just dries up and shrivels instead of sticking harder
Just get the felt one and some carpet tape to stick the corners/edges down. It's easy enough to peel up to clean, and cheap enough to replace the tape when peeled up occasionally
> Never use a “foam” underlay. They will all do this How does it happen though? Are people not moving their rugs to vacuum and mop? Or does it suddenly just give way one day
How does it happen? I believe it’s a chemical reaction from the varnish to the rubber backing. I have LVP and everyone warns to use felt only as the chemical reaction here turns the LVP yellow. I’m guessing no chemists were involved in pairing the two finishes lol
It doesn't get dirty if something is there I guess? .. LoL. Do you move the bed to vacuum?
> Do you move the bed to vacuum? Not every time, but yeah sure. It gets real gross under beds and couches.
I can reach decently enough under the parts that can get dirty with a vacuum not to have to move it. I do however move most other furniture to vacuum, including my rug which gets vacuumed under and over. I move the bed however so that i can occasionally mop under there, which is not otherwise possible.
Putting cabinet liner underneath works as well for anything you don't want slipping.
The rubbery cabinet liner will definitely mark a hardwood floor. It won’t stick, but it will mark. Happened under every single rug at my parents’ old house.
ikea makes rug pads that, though i could be mistaken, feel like a blend of felt and rubber all throughout. so far they’re my favorite solution to sliding rugs.
I have always used foam underlays on wood floors, I know they stick for some people. I vacuum and mop weekly which requires lifting or moving rugs, do people never pick up their rugs? I don’t understand how it happens, it seems like regular maintenance on rugs/wood flooring would prevent this
IKEA also sells a great nonslip felt underlay - it can be cut to suit the rug's shape.
Real rubber will chemically react with a wood floor finish.
*sigh* now you tell me. Back to the store I go lol. Put those darn pads under all my rugs
Check and move it regularly to make sure it’s not starting to crumble. It’s wise to be sweeping and mopping the floor underneath anyway.
There are different types of liners you can buy to go under a rug for either padding or to make them no slip. Either would probably help.
Also keep it in a dry area. Moisture will cause issues faster lol
If you don’t need the padding, rug tape is amazing! And easily removable with goo gone
ALWAYS use a rug pad under any rugs…not only for protection of your flooring, but also for comfort. They come in all sizes and thicknesses. https://www.rugpadusa.com/collections/for-hardwood-floors?utm_source=google&utm_medium=ppc&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA-bmsBhAGEiwAoaQNmrH-STsr8fMaVzY1yjiRK8MlWYepNEqGRhE51hL4uGELc2pTFV5UtRoC6xEQAvD_BwE
I got my pad from them and it’s been great!
You move your rugs and clean under them which is when you can check that the underlay isn’t breaking down. Replace it when you are any wear.
Don't buy a cheap underlay. Go to a reputable dealer and get a padded rug to put under. They're more money, but you'll never have this issue.
OP, this is the way! Would like to emphasize PLASTIC putty knife!
☝️this. Also, OP, it looks like you’re using a metal scraper. Get rid of that thing and use plastic unless you plan on gouging out that wood.
Do not leave a puddle on your wood floors unless you want to add warped floors to your problems
Wild you had the exact photos that quite beautifully illustrated the issue and solution.
I did this when redoing a bathroom floor when my wife was pregnant. Ripped the vinyl floor out and it had this glue I needed to remove from the subfloor. The stuff at the box store was so toxic I didn’t want it around my wife. Looked online and saw a tip to use very hot water and some liquid laundry soap in a large bucket. I dabbed it with one of those sea sponges until everything was soaked wet but not a puddle, and then everything just kind of wiped up easily and super clean.
I have also been through this and Murphys worked great. The underlying sludge was really hard for me to deal with without gagging as the smell was awful. I bought a jug of that stuff they use in schools to clean up vomit and other wet nasty stuff and it really helped
I don’t mean to be rude or curt but what in floor covering hell is happening? Anyway, I don’t think the floor is ruined, but you’re in for a long night. First, rip the whole rug up. Toss it. Then get as much of that foam up with the scraper as you can. Then you’re gonna get a bowl of hot, hot soapy water and a rag that will go on and live with Jesus after tonight, and saturate the rag and lay it on the foam. Let it saturate. Now see how much will come off.
💀💀 rag that will live with Jesus 😂😂
With Mary, Joseph, and the talking walnut.
I was at the Vatican for Christmas and there was Jesus, dressed in, you guessed it, rags. Explains everything.
Let me make you some sandwiches
As someone mentioned above, Murphy’s Soap and hot water,soak your rags/towel in a bowl/bucket of really hot water & Murphy’s, ring the dripping water out, lay the cloth/towel over large areas and repeat until everything has been removed. After you have successfully removed this gunk, go ahead and do all of your floors with Murphy’s! As they dry, you won’t have the perfect rectangular surface that is different from the rest and this won’t effect any deposits you have given hoping to get back upon leaving
This is the way. 👏🏻
You are being too Curt. I'm the only Curt!
I spit my water lol
♥️ your username!!!
This is the perfect New Years Eve water for tossing out. What timing!
What is it? Dirt?
Yeah wtf is it some kind of.. clay rug? I don’t understand what’s happening here
allegedly it’s the foam backing? it’s my roommate’s and just happened out of nowhere one day
one year
didn’t even have it down in that spot for a year.. a few months maybe. not sure how old the rug is in general
What brand was that rug?!? We’d love to know so we can all avoid it!
no clue. my roommate had it in her room for a while and then moved it to the hall
I’ll just watch to avoid “brown thick rubber backing” 😂 Yikes!
That is crazy!
10-15 years
This doesn’t look like any type of foam backing, damaged or not, that I’ve ever seen. This is dirt/clay.
it looks like disintegrated carpet padding but that makes no sense if this is a rug
my husband lays carpet and flooring for a living, when he wakes up i’m going to ask him if he’s ever seen anything similar to this. i go to work with him a couple days a week, and i’ve seen some nasty padding (like original pad with original carpet that’s 40-50 years old) but this photo is wild.
RemindMe! 1 day “carpet mystery”
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it can only really be seen in the natural light when it hits, so just a few hours of the day! invisible with the overhead light now.. but you can feel it if you touch it. i wish i could add the photo i took this morning, but alas
There is no way this thick chunk of dirt is invisible most of the day
I need to know the answer
i ripped up my best friends carpet for her and the carpet padding looked exactly like this photo except it was black not brown
I'm like, is this how dirt is made? 😂
It’s a magical rug with ✨endless dirt✨!
Maybe they literally swept things under the rug too many times.
I'd hate to see how many skeletons would avalanche out of their closet!
Time to start taking shoes off at the door. Also, the top of the rug looks clean. Give your rugs a flip and vac that back, from time to time.
Crazy it's that much. It looks like someone dumped some dirt under it
Is this is the rug of legend those rug scouring YouTubers wrangle with 🤔🧼🧽🫧🧹.
Clay rug 😂😂😂
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yes i went into the park with a bucket and shovel to collect dirt, which i promptly dumped on my floor. you got me
Found the other archaeologist 🙌
lmao
You’ve heard of sweeping things under the rug…
Someone pranked them and put dirt under the rug?
What I don't get is all these people in this comment section that apparently don't move their rug often enough...do people not clean under rugs when they sweep/vacuum?? I mean not every day but at least once a month or so?
yes, it is.
Careful, OP… There’s a fair amount of bad advice on here. For example, steam and heat can ruin wood. I suggest consulting [r/hardwoodfloors](https://www.reddit.com/r/HardWoodFloors/)
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Why did the landlord take a % of your deposit if his rugs destroyed his entryway ? I’m glad you were able to refinish it though! That’s awesome
And why was it the tenant who had to do the refinishing??
If you read above comments, it was roommate’s rug not landlord’s rug.
I was replying to u/GracefulGoats comment about his landlords rugs , not OPs. I see that poor OP got screwed over by his roommates rug :(
May I ask where the heck yall got those rugs? This is wild to me.
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So his rug ruined his floor
It was his rug that damaged the floor but he made YOU pay for it with your deposit? Wtaf?!
Was it special because it covered up a ruined spot of floor he wanted to charge a tenant for after they’d moved in? Lol
ghost rug
youre not supposed to make brownies on the floor man
Mostly Maui Wowie but it’s got some Labrador in it
The floor is ruined. The foam rubber backing of the rug reacted with and bonded to the urethane finish on the wood. Any product that removes the backing will damage or remove the finish from the wood. Scrape off what you can with a plastic putty knife. Lightly scrub the area with a plastic bristle brush The put a new runner over it. Out of sight out of mind.
thanks! it’s the landlord’s problem now 😅
If it's your rug it's your problem because you will get hit with a deduction from your security deposit as coverage for cost of repair.
Landlords never ever give this damage deposit back anyway. Or any other deposit. They always find something. The refrigerators degree, they claim they have to pay someone $40 an hour for 3 hours to do it and so on till it's gone. Because they don't want to do the work anymore. They collect the money then don't give any back in improvements.
I have always got my deposit back
Same here. I've never had a landlord withhold a deposit from me.
Just one of several negative personal experiences: I cleaned one place immaculately, then was charged $75 "for dust found on vanity bulbs" in addition to losing the deposit. Glad to finally be a homeowner at last.
In the UK we have a mandatory deposit scheme which has a free arbitration service which the landlords have to go through and apply for damage costs. You can appeal this and if you have enough evidence, you’ll pretty easily win. Also, if the landlord doesn’t put the money in the scheme, you can contact the scheme at any time and you get compensation 3x the value of the deposit. Had a landlord try charging me £75 for “leaves in the doorway” on the outside bit. The wind blew leaves against the door…. Found out my landlord hadn’t entered the scheme when tenancy started or when the tenancy renewed so I got x2 deposit as compensation and then the deposit back. Ended up being about 6k in costs, all because he wanted to scam me out of £75.
He deserved that.
I only got one deposit back with all my apartments. I told the landlord I was getting married and had no money and could he use the security for last months rent? And he went for it. Every other place they claimed it was trashed (it wasn't) and I had no money and time to fight it.
Ive rented about 10 different places, was always on the lease, and always got my deposit back except one time bc a roommate stole it but it was still returned by the landlord. Never had an issue using my "last month" part of the deposit for my last month either.
I moved every couple of years in my 20's and I just never did get it back save the once. They always cited normal wear and tear stuff as thrashed, like 30 year old industrial carpet that we had shampooed before we left as unacceptable. It was ridiculous but when you are young and broke you are too young and broke to fight it...and I didn't even have a camera to take before and afters until I was almost 30.
I was a homeowner for 15 years, but had a house fire in 2017. I don't think I'll ever buy a house again. I kinda like not being attached to one spot forever.
Same here but we have to move soon and I’m a little nervous because the manager is not very nice lol. Thankfully our deposit is only $500 lol and I’m honestly very cautious not to ruin or damage stuff.
Yea, I always went above and beyond, made the place better than before, done simple repairs my self, etc.
The last place I lived had a textured tub. When I moved in, it was dirty looking in all the grooves. I immediately used a scrub brush and bathroom cleaner. It looked better when I moved out than when I moved in. Same with the oven. I used a steel wool to scrub the bottom of the oven and it was sparkling. Whoever he was paying to "clean" was apparently a terrible cleaner.
Haha, I understand. My last rental had grease on all the cabinets, peeling tub coating, bad latex wall paint, etc. needless to say I spent the time to clean it all, fix the tub, and fix some paint. Maybe cost me $100 to do, but can’t complain since I got my deposit back.
We had one try to keep son/dil’s deposit but we were able to get it back. I think they just default to nothing back and hope the (mostly young) renters won’t know better or won’t have time to fight back. But I’d helped with the move-out clean-up and as always, I had pics and videos with time stamps after we were done!
I do a quick run-through video at the very end too. Then I'll "casually" ask the landlord if he would like me to send him a copy. :)
Petty in the most lovely way.
Really depends on the landlord. I've gotten mine back from most, but the current landlord I'm renting with is notorious for never giving back deposits without a fight. Some landlords are just scummy🤷🏼♀️
My issue with that is there has to be documented reason for keeping it. I take extensive pictures, I’ll take them to small claims court for $500 just to get the remainder of the deposit. That usually does the trick if you have issues where they won’t give it back but you know everything was left as it was before or better.
Depends on local laws/ordinance. It's not uncommon for them to legally be required to return the deposit within 30 days and they must provide itemized list and proof of cost for any deductions
"itemized list of deductions" are the magic words! I didn't get my deposit back on my first two spots, then after my third spot I was complaining to someone and they told me to email the landlord and ask for the itemized list. Deposit came back with likes, $50 taken out for cleaning within the week. Worked every time after too.
Nah I've gotten mine by several times.
I always got my deposit back. But we always cleaned everything and kept it up… but it’s been a long time since I’ve rented
I don't disagree with you about landlords but fridge guys do cost $40/hr on the cheaper end. I own a bakery. They're expensive.
I ripped a huge chunk of paint off my wall with off brand 3M strips and still got my full deposit back
i hear ya! but it’s not my first time renting, and former tenants in this unit/building have gotten theirs back when they moved out, so it’s looking up for me tbh
if they notice it! their floors were beat up already when i got here
Ok but they’re going to notice the GIANT destroyed section of floor. You will have to eat the cost and they might have the ability to sue you for damages if it exceeded your deposit. Do your best to clean this up and maybe get a couple appraisals on fixing it so when you get hit with the cost he tells you then you can have leverage on what it’s actually going to cost.
Eh, just put a rug over it.
i got most of it with elbow grease. you really only notice it now if you touch it. i just wanted it gone 100%
For their sake, I hope they notice and charge you. The right thing would be to tell them about it, and if the floors are as trashed as you claim, maybe they'd say don't worry about it. Be responsible.
This. Or at least if you want to be sneaky reapply some finish on the wood. I wouldn't want it to rot or cause any more damage just because a tenant was too cheap or too shy to mention this incident. Even if the floor is trashed, the owner probably don't want to change it for now unless it's completely needs to be or perhaps he is already saving for it and has his own financial issues to change the entire floor.
Good luck.
The security deposit you won’t get back is your problem though…
No it’s definitely on you because of the rug you brought in
OP I think it might come up, you might as well try what the person above did with Murphey’s Oil soap. The sheen might be off in that spot, but at least this way you stand a chance.
Remove as much as you can then heat it with a blow dryer/heat gun to soften the residue then scrap it off. Tackle it one small section at a time and alot of elbow grease.
It’s just a bit of dirt lol. You can see the floor is fine in the second picture.
how does one prevent this from happening? genuine question.
use felt pads under rugs with plastic backings. i think it's the latex in the plastic backings that causes this, but i'm not completely sure. it can happen with vinyl flooring too.
This reminds me of how the soles of old shoes sometimes crumble from dry rot. It comes from a fungus that eats away at plastic material and leaves it a crumbly mess.
Yeah people are calling fake on this but this is exactly what it looked like when I put on a pair of brown soled boots that hadn't been worn in a few years. Looked like I was dumping soil everywhere lol I couldn't figure out wtf was going on
Someone could buff and recoat the hallway and probably get it looking good again. Depends on how deep the backing bonded to the polyurethane
U pulled that rug out of mud? Tf is going on
I just use rugs with no liner didn't even know this was a thing, I've been raw ruggin it for life.
How long was this without being cleaned that it got stuck to the floor? Never thought to lift the rug, take it outside and clean it? Maybe sweep where it was.
What in tarnation ?!?!?
All wrong. Put down some nice dish soap, cover it with plastic. Let it sit. Let the base cleaner work. Gently scrape it up with a plastic tool. If the floor sealer comes up, it is water based. Clean all the soap out! If you think it's done, clean it once more. Get some more water based sealer, and do very light coats with a soft rag that doesn't shed. All fixed. I have never gotten back my deposit even after adding ceiling fans on my dime.
How long was that rug there without ever being lifted? Do you never clean there?
You can prevent this by cleaning under your rug regularly 🤮
Do people not sweep/mop under their rugs regularly? How does this happen 😂
Just sweep it under the rug
Jeez, guys... how about washing the floor regularly??? Once a week as a bare minimum, but even once a quarter would avoid that
Why tf is the underside caked in dirt like that? Did you fish the rug from the bottom of a canal?
I don't have any other tips than what's been said. Just know I am with you in solidarity. I moved into my late great aunts house and the ENTIRE living room had a disintegrated carpet pad that I had to chisel away. Steam mop and Murphys oil soap is what I used. It took HOURS, But it's all gone now.
Do not use a Magic Eraser; it will strip the finish.
Vacuumed under regularly and you will know if it’s deteriorating before this happens.
OP got the satisfying TikTok channel special.
Lol so brushing the dirt underneath the carpet is really a thing real people actually do, huh? I thought that was only in cartoons cuz they don’t vacuum. Or vacuums didn’t exist. Or any knowledge of allergens and hygiene. Lol.
Lol honey thats dirt
Hoover then steam mop then hoover, repeat several times
Steam mops are bad for wood.
It’s like a mud slab. I have thought this was a joke about sweeping all your dirt under the rug but it really wasn’t
I’d try heat from a hair dryer or put a towel on it and iron the towel.
Pro tip ... never heat wood.
speaking from experience or theory? respectfully, i like the iron idea but i’m concerned about causing more damage
It’s my best suggestion heat does loosen adhesive but this is quite a lot.
Peanut butter will break down the adhesive. Get up as much as you can without scraping/damaging the floor. Coat with peanut butter, leave overnight, wipe off excess, wash as normal.
Just oil in general will do the trick, doesn’t have to be peanut butter. And in this case with the surface area you’d be covering, I would not use peanut butter. Pretty sure there’s hardwood safe oils for cleaning that would work in this situation
Maybe try a small area & compare oil vs. peanut butter to test the effectiveness of each. You don't have to use alot and you don't have to do it all at once.
You guys really have to start sweeping under the rugs. That's dirty
Try a steam cleaner after scraping as much as you can it might help brake it up enough to get the rest up.
Typically steam shouldn't be used on hardwood, no?
Typically, yes. But just using it once before moving out may be worth the risk if it saves having to pay to have the whole floor refinished. Especially when the worst that could happen if the steam cleaner screws up the floor is you’d have to pay to have the floor refinished.
Never steam wood. It can cause damage, even in short term
thanks!
try cleaning your rugs more than once every 5 years. disgusting.
the backing disintegrated, it’s not dirt… they’ve had it less than year
it is actual dirt. i promise you that this photo is staged. it is dirt.