Matching Hardwood

[speede5]

Pine is soft, there's no way that is pine. It looks a lot like Maple, very white and tight grain, but it is probably Malaysian oak or some other asian wood.

http://www.hardwoodinfo.com/specifyi...udo-species-2/

[flamesrule_kipper34]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Kind of curious how the previous approaches turned out. Any pics?

Sureeee, here's a couple.

[speede5]

Have you asked the landlord if he's even that concerned? Or what he would consider a fair value to deduct from the DD? I'd be tempted to, it's more than wear and tear but if you've been a good tenant and that's the only damage you might be fretting about nothing. If he told you he was taking say a couple hundred off the DD that would make your life easy.

[flamesrule_kipper34]

Originally Posted by speede5

Have you asked the landlord if he's even that concerned? Or what he would consider a fair value to deduct from the DD? I'd be tempted to, it's more than wear and tear but if you've been a good tenant and that's the only damage you might be fretting about nothing. If he told you he was taking say a couple hundred off the DD that would make your life easy.

That's a fair point.

I've shown the landlord the damage and to be honest we've made pretty solid tenants (no other damage).

He made no specific comment as to what he'd consider fair damages, it's illegal for a DD in Ontario so he'd basically he seeking something.

I've just been doing my best to right a wrong since I feel this is clearly above wear and tear. I spent a bit of money on this initially and the estimate for the repair now is at a few hundred ($500).

Of course, if he was willing to just take a couple of hundred and call it even that would be great, I've just been trying to make this as whole as possible for him prior to that if I can.

[Wormius]

Another thought - have you tried doing a google image search on your pictures? It seems to show a few options there. It might help you narrow in on something. If you can just find one board you'd be set. Replacing the board might be the cheapest.

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en-...4tFUJb4tyuGCM:

[flamesrule_kipper34]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Another thought - have you tried doing a google image search on your pictures? It seems to show a few options there. It might help you narrow in on something. If you can just find one board you'd be set. Replacing the board might be the cheapest.

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en-...4tFUJb4tyuGCM:

Never thought of that, that's a pretty neat idea!

I took a look at it looks a heck of a lot like Brazilian Tigerwood- Coral.

I'll contact companies local here but it seems like it would be hard to find.

I found it on this site: http://m.homethangs.com/hardwood-flo...erma-212c.html but not sure if it comes in the 3.5" width, contacted them to see, just waiting.

Saw it here at the 3.5" width: http://www.cabinetfloor.com/product/...er-wood-coral/, not sure if they ship though or what the cost would be but plan to contact them too.

Thanks for that creative suggestion .

[topfiverecords]

It's definitely not tigerwood. You'd know if you had tigerwood. The grain is very active and high contrast.

Even if you find "the wood" and you are able to order just one box and ship it here for an affordable amount. Chances are that the color of that lot is going to be off just enough from your lot to stand out. Your floor having exposure to light has also changed it's colour over time.

Taking a piece out from the back of a closet still seems like the best plan to me and use that out in the room.

Maybe try Bellare Industrial Coatings. They make stains for a lot of local finishers and could probably do a close match. They might only work with trades but you could try. Then find some 3.5" maple, custom stain it to match and put that one in the closet.

Also if you can find a full width board in the absolute back of the closet, you wouldn't necessarily need a 3.5" piece to go back in there. If you can only find maple in a wider width, you could cut it down. Baseboard would hide the cut.

[Shazam]

It's maple. Probably from Manitoba. Stained red.

[flamesrule_kipper34]

So here's my mini update, and looking for some solid advice.

I actually had New Creations come in and restore it today, frankly I was/am pretty happy with the work they did, it was pricey but truly I am happy with it.

The landlords came in and are appalled with it and think it just looks like a hack patch job.

They brought up a couple of options:

1. Sand the entire living area and restain and etc.
2. Is there a way to "cut" the piece out and swap it into a less conspicuous area, basically cut out two pieces in the existing floor and swap them out.

Not sure if option 2 is doable? And taking a piece from a closet like some suggested isn't an option because there is no closet to take a piece from.

Now, I'm about a grand into trying to fix this to the best of my ability and am looking to CP faithful to let me know what options I have here, thoughts?

I'm also thinking expecting me to pay to have the entire floor sanded down and restained is excessive but maybe others disagree? Not sure what happens here, this is my first time being a renter in Ontario. If I end up saying no I'm not agreeing to that then if they have to file a grievance against me or what and I'm curious what housing what consider fair.

Here's an after picture by the way, any thoughts or advice would really be appreciated. I've been stressed out of my mind trying to make his right and seems like nothing I'm doing is to the satisfaction of my landlords.

[Shazam]

Looks fine.

Your landlord is a doof.

[81MC]

Looks like an instance where if your landlord wasn’t aware they’d never notice. Based on those photos, don’t do anything else in my mind. As much as an owner might want to make you liable for a whole floor re-do, that’s just not the case. AFAIK, your liability is beyond normal wear and tear. If you had a dog, and the landlord had approved it, that already limits any repair amounts to that of your damage deposit. Furthermore, if a pet specific deposit was required, expenses for damages caused by pet can not come out of the regular damage deposit. Unless Ontario is weird.

I wouldn’t even feel bad about it. As a landlord, regular wear and tear will occur, and it’s part of the expense they take on when they chose to take on tenants. Marks on the floor that, when presented to a reasonable person would look normal do not, IMO exceed an expected level of wear.

[Wormius]

Hmm. It looks okay to me but, it might be the lighting. Does it not match the rest of the floor? What did the company do? Replace and fix the one board, or sand it and blend it the rest of the area?

Another thought, were they aware of how poor the original install was? Maybe they are blaming you for that. Was that floor installed while you were there? It’s possible they didn’t get a chance to really see it.

[GGG]

I think you have met your requirements. How much is your damage deposit? That is the most you could lose and you likely will have to fight for it back but I wouldn't put anymore of your money into it.

[flamesrule_kipper34]

Originally Posted by 81MC

Looks like an instance where if your landlord wasn’t aware they’d never notice. Based on those photos, don’t do anything else in my mind. As much as an owner might want to make you liable for a whole floor re-do, that’s just not the case. AFAIK, your liability is beyond normal wear and tear. If you had a dog, and the landlord had approved it, that already limits any repair amounts to that of your damage deposit. Furthermore, if a pet specific deposit was required, expenses for damages caused by pet can not come out of the regular damage deposit. Unless Ontario is weird.

I wouldn’t even feel bad about it. As a landlord, regular wear and tear will occur, and it’s part of the expense they take on when they chose to take on tenants. Marks on the floor that, when presented to a reasonable person would look normal do not, IMO exceed an expected level of wear.

Originally Posted by Wormius

Hmm. It looks okay to me but, it might be the lighting. Does it not match the rest of the floor? What did the company do? Replace and fix the one board, or sand it and blend it the rest of the area?

Another thought, were they aware of how poor the original install was? Maybe they are blaming you for that. Was that floor installed while you were there? It’s possible they didn’t get a chance to really see it.

Originally Posted by GGG

I think you have met your requirements. How much is your damage deposit? That is the most you could lose and you likely will have to fight for it back but I wouldn't put anymore of your money into it.

It's a fair comment to say the lighting impacts it, however, here's what they did. They put their faces to the treated wood and turned on their flash and notified the inconsistencies and I was like well yeah we didn't replace the wood of course you'll notice if you're looking at it from that level. The other thing is becuase of the gloss on it, at some angles our can see this sheen on it that looks a bit off but again in every natural angle you would never notice this.

The other thing is there is no damage or pet deposit allowed in Ontario so I've provided no deposit. All I've done now is poured 1k to fix this and it's not to their standards. So at this point I'm thinking what else could I possibly do?

I don't want to pay for an entire floor sanding/restaining. And I'm not sure if this floor plank swap is viable but even then it's like am I crazy? Have I done such a poor job trying to rectify this?

Sorry what's this comment about the original floor being installed poorly, how so?

[Wormius]

Sorry. It’s just those gaps seem really wide along the floor, and there was one earlier photo that looked like there was a huge gap between the floor and the wall, that went past the baseboard.

[Barnes]

Agreed. Looks fine.

If you get it refinished you will be stressing about it for the rest of the time you live there although a good refinishing will probably give you a harder finish then what you have now.

Hardwood sucks. We are listing our house next week and we had ours replaced with vinyl planks a couple of weeks ago. Hardwood or laminate, never again.

Edit to add: I will echo the comments that it looks like they are being extremely picky about a floor that doesn't look like it was installed all that well to begin with.

[Shazam]

I am actually pretty fataing amazed at the repair job. Looks damned good. I have a couple of spots that I should contact them about.

[speede5]

I would be perfectly fine with that. Here's my thoughts.

A. You hired proffesionals to fix it.
B. They did a really good job.
C. The floor has enough wear and tear that any total sanding should be prorated for betterment.
D. The floor looked like it was installed poorly to begin with. If they didn't carre enough about that they can't care enough about this.
E. It's a rental for crying out loud, they need to expect wear and tear and they were lucky you were honest and did your due diligence fixing it.

Take tons of pictures from lots of angles, find every other flaw in the floor, including poor installation and document it all in case they try to take you to court later. They probably won't. Also document the whole house the same way when you move out just so they don't try and find another area to get money out of you.

[OMG!WTF!]

There isn't a judge on the planet that would look at those pictures and say that floor is damaged. You've got receipts for the repair. Walk away and never worry about it again. Your incredibly stupid landlords do not know how good they've got it.

[Flames_Gimp]

Don't spend any more money, looks a lot better than it did, sounds like you've done more than most tenants. If they're going to be that picky, maybe they shouldn't have a rental suite.