Oxidative Damage & Cleaning Costs - CA

[lostson]

Sonoma County, CA

We were month to month, lived in our 2 bedroom house for 14 months until our landlords gave us a 60-day notice saying they would be doing renovations that required us to move out. We have since moved.

It is a house built in the 40s or 60s I believe, with the original hardwood floor. When we moved in, the landlords asked us to place protectors on all our furniture and take care of the floor. So we did, we placed felt cushions on everything, got large carpets for the floors and made sure to vacuum every other day. I believe we washed the floor with vinegar 4 times in the 14 months we were there, since we don't wear shoes in the house, or whenever there was a spill or extra dirt.

The landlord is now saying that the floor where there was no carpet is evidently damaged, there are several scratches (there were several scratches before we moved in), scuffs, and most importantly, there is visible oxidation around the nails that are holding the floor boards down. He said this is way beyond normal wear and tear.

My questions are:

what is normal wear and tear of a hardwood floor?
are we really responsible for the oxidation of the nails in floor? This seems ridiculous as I'm sure it has been caused with time over the last 60+ years, but maybe I'm misinformed.

Landlord was also saying the windows are dirty on the outside. I don't remember them being that clean when we moved in. Are we responsible for this as well? What is a reasonable cost to deduct from our deposit for cleaning the outside of windows? We have 2 children under 4 and my wife works 60 hrs per week, so it's not worth our time to clean the outside of the windows and would rather just pay what is reasonable.

Thanks in advance

 

[lostson]

does depreciation come into play for the hardwood floor?

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

The nails have a lot of white oxidation due to acidic affect of your vinegar cleaning. This can be chemically altered, one nail at a time, but will cause additional damage to the flooring. The vinegar did not ruin the entire nail head. Many old floors especially darker colored ones, can use a periodic touch ups with close matching stain for scratches. Wear is hard to determine as real wood flooring can be treated differently. It appears your was natural finish and never had the original shellac or varnish recoated and was not waxed. This means it will suffer wear marks as a normal part of aging and was not prepped for long term traffic. Then you must sometimes account for the effect of aging in changing the finish color.

In summation, the original wood flooring does not appear to have been redone since it was new. The only way to neutralize the effect of the vinegar without additional chemical damage to the wood is sanding. The floors needed sanding and refinishing originally. Your adding the nail head damage does not appear to have significantly added to the underlying finish problem as it will go away when the floors are properly done. Your additional scratches/scuffs do not appear abnormal in the absence of the flooring being sanded and refinished in an update as it should be. I would sue for return of my deposit on the basis there is no additional expense quantifiable as they are due to or do not add to the expense of the floor repairs already needed.

My experience is based on ownership of a home built in the late 50's with one floor almost entirely wooded floors, trim and walls. In addition to my FIL owning a home from 1865 that has all wooden floors, walls and trim throughout the original portions of the home.

 

[lostson]

The nails have ....

Thanks OHRoadwarrior, that was very helpful.

If I sue them, can I ask for compensation of legal fees, lawyer and lost wages?

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

Not in small claims court. You would likely be expected to represent yourself. You will want the statement of a wood treatment expert. There are companies that specialize in repairing and refinishing old wood flooring.

Thanks OHRoadwarrior, that was very helpful.

If I sue them, can I ask for compensation of legal fees, lawyer and lost wages?