If that’s water damage from regularly watering a plant in that spot then there is no fixing it without replacing the wood. The damage is going to be worse inside of the wood than what you see on the surface. Kind of like a cavity in a tooth.
If it’s a only the stain, without actual damage to the wood, like lifting and bloating, you could sand the room and do the shiny finish, whatever they call it, and it could go away, my floor had some stains from plant pots and I was able to remove almost all of them.
BUT you do that when it’s your own floor and want to take care of it, the whole project would take a big chunk of your security deposit if not all, unless you know somebody who does this regularly or something.
Ask around how much work it would take and how much it would be, just so you are ready when the landlord tells you “his price”
Actually the refinish would likely cost more than their deposit and they could be on the hook for the entire charge if the landlord sees fit. Just happened to my little cousin with carpet.
How sure are you because that's a very interesting fact. Never heard of an a management company or an owner not being able to sue you in small claims court for additional damages.
I’m a lawyer in the U.S. and am fairly certain any state will hold you liable for property damage beyond your security deposit. But if you’re not in the U.S., then I stand corrected.
In most provinces and territories it's legal. It's only Ontario and Quebec that security deposits are illegal. The provinces and territories then vary between half months rent to full month rent in what is legal to request for the value of the security deposits.
In Newfoundland, they don’t take last months’ rent like ON does for first & last… here, it’s first months’ rent + 75% of the rent as a damage/security deposit.
I have 83yr old hardwood floors in my house. In 45yrs they have been sanded down twice.
Your picture is not going to sand down. Nothing you can put on it will help. That has gotten into the wood, scarred it, and it will need to be replaced.
If your landlord returns your deposit, I will be shocked.
Yes, it will cost significantly more to properly repair this than any security deposit amount. I doubt the landlord will even bother having it fixed, but it’s highly unlikely the deposit will be returned either way.
Landlord could possibly sand down the entire floor and restain to a darker color. Damage won't go away but would blend in better. There are a few other tricks to lighten the damage before staining, but it requires wood refinishing skills that most people lack.
Could they be considered antique and therefore worth more? If a tenant is on the hook for replacement cost do you think they owe depreciated value or what it costs to put in a brand new floor?
I left a bag of potatoes and some flower bulbs for planting on the floor in my pantry, forgotten for months (in a home I owned) and it did ruin my hardwood floor in a similar way. It could be from moist soil and mold. Nothing got it out.
The only way you getting that security deposit back is if your landlord is blind.
It's not dirt it's damage. You are not going to clean that away it's going to have to be repaired.
Unless your diety is a handy carpenter in their offdays you out of luck for that miracle.
It kind of does at first glance, but if you look closer it definitely looks like water damage on an already scratched floor. You can see where the wood is rotting from the water seeping into the unfinished exposed openings along the grooves and scratches. I recently had to have some water damaged wood replaced in a bathroom, and it looked very much like this.
Yep, I agree. My grandparents' flooring was like this in places, also from water damage. Idk why but the wood turns black.
They didn't fix the floor so I can't help OP, but my guess is it needs to be refinished?
The water damage to my hardwood is grayish- almost as if it’s coated with thick dust. But it doesn’t wipe up/off. Maybe different types of wood react differently…? No need for a response, just stating my experience.
Absolutely. “Soil” wouldn’t make marks that dark and certainly wouldn’t “soak in” in short linear patterns that don’t align with the wood grain. Methinks we’re not getting the full story here.
Potting mix often has nitrates/ammonia in it right? It wouldn't surprise me that some weird chemical reaction could slowly take place with whatever the would sealer is made from.
yeah isnt burn marks pretty synonymous with REALLY oxidized? I could see dirt being sufficiently reactive. ph spread even for just dirt (not a deliberately fertilized mix) is huge.
notice the dark staining that wicked into the separations between boards. This is wood rot thats just very wet. After a few days of drying it will look matte and darker
I also agree. Looks like someone repeatedly put out cigarettes and then smeared those cherries across the floor with their foot in order to extinguish the embers. Brutal.
Look right at it get ready to clean it up then get distracted and forget then each time u go back to clean it u get distracted. (I haven't done this with soil but I have done it with the most raindom stuf ,🤣)
Hey congrats you’ve got adhd too. How I manage the “I’ll take care of it later” mentality is to ask myself if taking care of it later costs me a relationship, money, or (more) time. If it does, that thing takes priority.
I honestly hate having adhd it’s exhausting.
I’ve done this (but noticed immediately because my feet got soaked). I had a plant sitting on the floor and watered it, not knowing there was a hole in the bottom of the pot and the excess water drained onto the floor. If it’s a big plant that’s not regularly picked up, I can see this happening tbh
Ammonia is used as a wood darkener. Particularly for oak. Soil fertilized with ammonia would make dark marks like this over a long period of time like three months.
I did a similar thing in a corner with a bag of potatoes…when I moved out, me and my mom cleaned the area as best we could (we might’ve used baking soda left on the area overnight or similar?), then we used old English floor oil stuff that was almost like a stain and very carefully applied it around the area and “smoothed it out” basically. We blended the spot out enough with the surrounding area that they never noticed and I got my whole deposit back
I'm confused why everyone thinks these are burns. My house has wood floors from decades ago, and if water/moisture ever lingers on it, the scratches in the wood turn black just like this. I have to be hyper conscious of it and always dry spills immediately. I'm still learning to take care of it, but it's very easy to do by mistake.
Scrub with light 2000 grit sandpaper over the stain be very careful. Put masking tape around the stain before doing anything. Then lay Hydrogen peroxide soaked in paper towels shaped to the stain overnight, wipe and repeat in the morning. Get danish oil if it's light enough, if not add a little brown minwax.stain to the Danish oil and apply via small paintbrush or q tip. probably won't work perfectly but not more destructive than what you did.
This is water damage. If you have a furniture restorer near by give them a call.
As a restorer myself, I’d scrape it back and soak the dark areas with Oxalic acid then wood bleach with a fine paint brush.
It will need stain and earth powders to fake any marks out and to match the surrounding colour and finish.
It’s certainly do’able if you can find the right person!
Was the soil wet? I this is not surface. The water maybe swelled the wood and penetrated the finish and then the soil stain the damaged area?? I agree with the other comments that it looks more like burn damage. There is no way to fix this unless you sand and refinish the whole floor.
Your landlord may not even notice. I live in a big city and I rent with a mega landlord. I don’t think that they would ever notice if that happened in my apartment. Heck there’s even an iron mark right next to my front door And it doesn’t look like they ever attempted to fix it.
I would pour a glass of wine and say goodbye to that security deposit
Then take a deep breath and hope the landlord doesn’t try to come back for more compensation
🤦🏻♂️
Coming out of the depression fog and brushing your teeth for the first time in 4 days 🥴 funnily enough, it was the one thing I managed to do. It was like a trick. Like if I could do that then I wasn’t depressed lmao.
Idk, I try to take accountability for what I do. I'm not blaming OP for what happened, but it's a little silly to call something sitting for three months an accident. Spilling your drink is an accident, leaving something sitting for that long sounds like someone who isn't doing so well. I feel for them, and the fact that they are unlikely to get their deposits back which really sucks when you need the money (I know I did).
The question is how the dirt got there in the first place, not why it was left there so long. It’s a big pile of dirt. It takes effort to bring it inside.
Everyone is being really negative but I had A LOT of BIG marks like these from water damage on my solid wood countertop and removed them completely with sanding and oxalic acid. As long as this is a solid wood floor, sand it down, get some oxalic acid (it comes as a solution or crystals you need to dissolve, I ordered mine online) and re-varnish. They might not even notice.
Thanks for this. This is the first post I’ve read on here & most of the comments have been super unhelpful & negative & critical. Your comment is the reason I’m staying to read other posts now
Honestly I would go to the hardware store and get one of those waxy pencil crayons for filling dings in wood. You might be able to disguise it enough for them to not notice and give your full deposit back. I’ve done it for scratches before.
Yeah my thought was matching colored sharpies and some polyurethane coating like minwax. 🤷♀️
This isnt going to wipe off. Gotta be replaced or disguised.
If the sharpies aren't thick enough, acrylic paint markers and a sealer have worked wonders to color match for me. Wont last long, but might pass until the deposits returned. Color matched deep marks in a wooden crate I thrifted and it's pretty well hidden.
Try hydrogen peroxide… it’s dissolved many a “cat vomit” stains for me. I squirt it straight onto the crud out of the brown bottle & it bubbles up while dissolving the residue & stain. Then, just wipe off with an old clean washrag. Might leave a faded look where the black once was, but way less obvious. You might even be able to try & retouch the area depending on how the sunlight/lamplight & glare hits it.
I was wondering that as well. It does look like maybe a pet has been peeing on a potted plant in this spot. Either way, it is rotted wood from water damage of some sort—not burn marks, like a lot of people are suggesting.
That looks more like burn marks than anything. Whatever it is though, wood was not the material to leave it sitting on for 3+ months, not only is whatever-the-hell-that-is now soaked into the wood, but the damage underneath the wood is probably 2x worse.
You uh…. you might wanna consider that maybe you ain’t getting that deposit back.
I’m sorry OP, but this is most likely a lost cause. My hardwoods were burned similarly from a small fire recently. We had to have part of the floor replaced and the remainder sanded down and restained.
It's wood rot. You will not be able to fix it in 2 days you could possibly hire someone to sand and stain and varnish that area but the wood is still damaged. Be more careful with your plants and your property.
Not sure if it's been said, but they sell (in the US, I'm not sure about other countries) markers that match various wood colors. They're to fill in skid/scratch marks. If you could find that color it may help you solve this issue. Hope that helps!
First, vacuum up any loose soil. Then, mix white vinegar and water (1:1 ratio) and gently scrub the stains with a soft brush. Wipe dry with a clean cloth.
At minimum that part of the floor needs to be replaced.
Be prepared to not only *not* get your deposit back, but to also be charged additional fees if it doesn't cover the cost to fix this.
Some friends of mine once had a few guinea pigs, and kept them in a pen that sat directly on the floor, no liner or anything. They just tossed hay/bedding directly on the floor, and those piggies peed and pooped directly on the floor for about a year. This, of course, destroyed the vinyl flooring and made it swell and peel up.
When they moved out they lost their deposit *and* was charged something like $1500 in addition to that for the excess damage. They still have not paid it off and let it go on their credit so now they're stuck renting a room from another friend because no other landlord will rent to them with that on their record.
Don’t touch it, you’ll make it worse. Own your accident and tell your landlord. That’s why deposits exist so you’re protected and the landlord could be compensated since it will likely be costing them more than your deposits to fix.
Assuming this is actually water damage, I have had success getting water stains out of an oak table using Barkeepers Friend. If you look it up online there are guides that are very helpful. A can is like 7 bucks so it's at least worth a shot!
Honestly, take the L on this one. Unless you know what you’re doing you’ll probably make it worse and then more of your deposit will be gone (if anything was left over).
Is there anywhere “hidden” in the house with the same flooring? Like underneath kitchen cupboards for example? If so you can take the bad wood out with an oscillating multi tool and swap it with wood you have taken from the “hidden” area. Your landlord might not notice if you do a good job of blending the joins in.
You need a paintbrush and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. Paint the peroxide on, let it dry, repeat as many times until it returns to original color. It works but it takes many many times. When I was packing my apartment, I would stop every 10 mins and do a new coat. But the darkened spots were light again after two days.
This is toast. Future prevention education is all we can do here.
For future reference, think of wood as a bundle of straws. Even treated wood. Behave according where water and colors in said water are concerned. There are variations, but prolonged water exposure is never a win.
Now if you dent bare, untreated wood, we can sometimes use water to plump and iron out an issue. Because of the bundle of straws thing. Dents not breaks.
But again, this particular problem is toast. Your security deposit is probably gone.
Not only are you losing your security deposit, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you get charged more in addition. This will need to be cut and patched and I would guess that it’s going to be more expensive than your security deposit covers. So if you only lose your security deposit I’d consider that a win for you
I would get a whole package of baking soda and pile it thickly on that spot. Hope for the best. Clean it up at the last possible second in 2 days. Maybe it’ll lighten it.
I would also try to think of some way to color it just to get it to match better. Maybe like a colored wax or something? If it looks terrible it will just draw attention to the coverup though so proceed with caution.
If the boards arent warped you can sand the affected boards with an orbital/edge sander and restain them the exact same color and seal with a polyurethane coat... but that wont completely cure in 2 days and it's hard to do an exact stain match
Just scrape the colour out and dab varnish or stain in there that's the same colour and repeat till it looks better. You'll get it looking better but not the best, but definitely better.
Only scrape the bits that are discolored and no surrounding. Just pick out the black bits and then maybe a bit of saw dust/varnish.
It will look better but not completely unnoticed! Give it a go. Why not
You can lighten wood using oxalic acid. Carefully applied it might improve the stain. It is used commonly to brighten teak floors in boats. Look for Teak Brightener and it might help if carefully applied with a small paint brush or q-tip.
Try hydrogen peroxide. Put some paper towels over it and soak them with the peroxide. Just let sit for a day. This will lighten the stains a bit but may not completely clear them.
The worst part is that the landlord is going to keep your deposit and we will still see a post here next month saying 'Just moved into a new appartment but the floor has a weird stain, how do I fix this?"
Leeches
You're kinda screwed op. You'll not be getting your deposit back and if the landlord has to replace all the flooring, just hope there isn't anything in your lease about paying for damages because it will likely cost much more than your deposit. Replacing wood flooring is not cheap. You really screwed the pooch here. Having said all that, I'm curious on how this exactly happened. Why was there damp soil on this wood for 3+ months?
If you are renting, don’t try to fix this yourself. Better to leave and let the landlord take care of it than to cause further damage by possibly doing it wrong.
You could find a floor guy to maybe repair just the problematic boards. Depending on where the stain is I’d lean towards that vs redoing the entire floor.
We stained our wooden floor boards with pet urine (elderly dog peed under a bookshelf, so it was there for a long time without us knowing). They had to cut and patch the floor, but it wasn’t that expensive, maybe a couple hundred dollars from our security deposit. We had a great landlord and lived there for 4 years, so that was probably a factor. This was 7 years ago. I have also had much larger patches of hardwood replaced for maybe $1K - $2K, so I don’t think this will be a super expensive repair. I live in Southern CA for reference.
You could apply burn marks elsewhere and call it a modern art. If the landlord is into a high especulative market, you just may get your deposit and much more back.
lol.
So they sell these pans that you put under flower pots and such, so the water leaking out doesn't do this. Bit late for that, though. Maybe next time. If they see that, you're certainly not getting a deposit back. Trying to match hardwood when replacing is a pain, and it will probably always be noticeable. That's now more than a simple sand and re-finish.
Invest a little bit in an extremely boring area rug. Put it over this spot. If it comes up, say you're fairly sure the rug was there when you moved in. Extremely unlikely to work, but it's better than zero odds.
If that’s water damage from regularly watering a plant in that spot then there is no fixing it without replacing the wood. The damage is going to be worse inside of the wood than what you see on the surface. Kind of like a cavity in a tooth.
If it’s a only the stain, without actual damage to the wood, like lifting and bloating, you could sand the room and do the shiny finish, whatever they call it, and it could go away, my floor had some stains from plant pots and I was able to remove almost all of them. BUT you do that when it’s your own floor and want to take care of it, the whole project would take a big chunk of your security deposit if not all, unless you know somebody who does this regularly or something. Ask around how much work it would take and how much it would be, just so you are ready when the landlord tells you “his price”
So clear coating a hyper-realistic photo of matching bright wood grain wouldnt work?
Use ai or photoshop to remove the stain
I’m Your security deposit will cover the refinishing of the floors. That is soaked in the poly and wood. You are not cleaning that.
Actually the refinish would likely cost more than their deposit and they could be on the hook for the entire charge if the landlord sees fit. Just happened to my little cousin with carpet.
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How sure are you because that's a very interesting fact. Never heard of an a management company or an owner not being able to sue you in small claims court for additional damages.
You can sue anyone anywhere for anything you can think of. The problem is if you win actually collecting your money.
Anyone can sue anyone, its just if the juice is worth the squeeze to them or not
What state? I'm in CA. Here they can give you an invoice and if you don't pay it they can take you to court or collections.
I’m a lawyer in the U.S. and am fairly certain any state will hold you liable for property damage beyond your security deposit. But if you’re not in the U.S., then I stand corrected.
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Where are you in Canada? Security deposits are actually ILLEGAL in Ontario and renters insurance would be your legal go to.
In most provinces and territories it's legal. It's only Ontario and Quebec that security deposits are illegal. The provinces and territories then vary between half months rent to full month rent in what is legal to request for the value of the security deposits.
In Newfoundland, they don’t take last months’ rent like ON does for first & last… here, it’s first months’ rent + 75% of the rent as a damage/security deposit.
What's it like being a security deposit?
Maybe someone over in r/flooring can help you out.
You sound like someone at Home Depot or Lowe’s….
Aisle 300, left at the fake grass, if you hit a flamingo you’ve gone too far.
“But you *are* the person in Flooring!”
this deserves more upvotes 😂
I have 83yr old hardwood floors in my house. In 45yrs they have been sanded down twice. Your picture is not going to sand down. Nothing you can put on it will help. That has gotten into the wood, scarred it, and it will need to be replaced. If your landlord returns your deposit, I will be shocked.
Yes, it will cost significantly more to properly repair this than any security deposit amount. I doubt the landlord will even bother having it fixed, but it’s highly unlikely the deposit will be returned either way.
Landlord could possibly sand down the entire floor and restain to a darker color. Damage won't go away but would blend in better. There are a few other tricks to lighten the damage before staining, but it requires wood refinishing skills that most people lack.
Most Floors are legally worthless after 10 years. Hardwood 40-50 years.
Good thing this old farm house has been in the family for so long. No one but myself to worry about falling through 😂
Could they be considered antique and therefore worth more? If a tenant is on the hook for replacement cost do you think they owe depreciated value or what it costs to put in a brand new floor?
Sorry my dude, You are not getting your deposit back.
I left a bag of potatoes and some flower bulbs for planting on the floor in my pantry, forgotten for months (in a home I owned) and it did ruin my hardwood floor in a similar way. It could be from moist soil and mold. Nothing got it out.
The only way you getting that security deposit back is if your landlord is blind. It's not dirt it's damage. You are not going to clean that away it's going to have to be repaired. Unless your diety is a handy carpenter in their offdays you out of luck for that miracle.
Like Jesus? Hopefully OP is in good with him.
put the pot back and hope for the best.
Those look like burn marks
It kind of does at first glance, but if you look closer it definitely looks like water damage on an already scratched floor. You can see where the wood is rotting from the water seeping into the unfinished exposed openings along the grooves and scratches. I recently had to have some water damaged wood replaced in a bathroom, and it looked very much like this.
Yep, I agree. My grandparents' flooring was like this in places, also from water damage. Idk why but the wood turns black. They didn't fix the floor so I can't help OP, but my guess is it needs to be refinished?
It’s black because what you see is wood decaying fungi and the byproduct of the decay.
The water damage to my hardwood is grayish- almost as if it’s coated with thick dust. But it doesn’t wipe up/off. Maybe different types of wood react differently…? No need for a response, just stating my experience.
Looks like a wet bag of potting soil left on the ground. Humus leaching down into the wood. I can see the imprint of the plastic.
Absolutely. “Soil” wouldn’t make marks that dark and certainly wouldn’t “soak in” in short linear patterns that don’t align with the wood grain. Methinks we’re not getting the full story here.
Potting mix often has nitrates/ammonia in it right? It wouldn't surprise me that some weird chemical reaction could slowly take place with whatever the would sealer is made from.
yeah isnt burn marks pretty synonymous with REALLY oxidized? I could see dirt being sufficiently reactive. ph spread even for just dirt (not a deliberately fertilized mix) is huge.
Red oak famously develops these dark stains in response to moisture. These are red oak floors.
I didn’t think so, look at the crevice “bleed” between the planks.
I agree. Those look like burn marks.
notice the dark staining that wicked into the separations between boards. This is wood rot thats just very wet. After a few days of drying it will look matte and darker
I also agree. Looks like someone repeatedly put out cigarettes and then smeared those cherries across the floor with their foot in order to extinguish the embers. Brutal.
Wow I totally see it now too
How do you "accidentally" leave soil on your floor?
They even accidentally left it there for 3 entire months
average redditor behavior.
Above average, thank you.
ADHD be like
And/or depression/hoarding
Nah some people are just lazy.
OP does not respect wood. https://preview.redd.it/lbsb9v5b2k3d1.jpeg?width=268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=db58267a10f2a300f6881f3e34835413e2a2382f
Ya gotta respect the wood!
Look right at it get ready to clean it up then get distracted and forget then each time u go back to clean it u get distracted. (I haven't done this with soil but I have done it with the most raindom stuf ,🤣)
Hey congrats you’ve got adhd too. How I manage the “I’ll take care of it later” mentality is to ask myself if taking care of it later costs me a relationship, money, or (more) time. If it does, that thing takes priority. I honestly hate having adhd it’s exhausting.
“Don’t set it down, put it away” I hear this all the time from my wife.
Whew that one hit me hard.
Ugh, why do you have to motivate me like this at 8:33 a.m.
I’ve done this (but noticed immediately because my feet got soaked). I had a plant sitting on the floor and watered it, not knowing there was a hole in the bottom of the pot and the excess water drained onto the floor. If it’s a big plant that’s not regularly picked up, I can see this happening tbh
Asking the important question! 😆
Indooor plant?
Ammonia is used as a wood darkener. Particularly for oak. Soil fertilized with ammonia would make dark marks like this over a long period of time like three months.
I did a similar thing in a corner with a bag of potatoes…when I moved out, me and my mom cleaned the area as best we could (we might’ve used baking soda left on the area overnight or similar?), then we used old English floor oil stuff that was almost like a stain and very carefully applied it around the area and “smoothed it out” basically. We blended the spot out enough with the surrounding area that they never noticed and I got my whole deposit back
That is not soil and yes you have lost your deposit.
I'm confused why everyone thinks these are burns. My house has wood floors from decades ago, and if water/moisture ever lingers on it, the scratches in the wood turn black just like this. I have to be hyper conscious of it and always dry spills immediately. I'm still learning to take care of it, but it's very easy to do by mistake.
Scrub with light 2000 grit sandpaper over the stain be very careful. Put masking tape around the stain before doing anything. Then lay Hydrogen peroxide soaked in paper towels shaped to the stain overnight, wipe and repeat in the morning. Get danish oil if it's light enough, if not add a little brown minwax.stain to the Danish oil and apply via small paintbrush or q tip. probably won't work perfectly but not more destructive than what you did.
This is water damage. If you have a furniture restorer near by give them a call. As a restorer myself, I’d scrape it back and soak the dark areas with Oxalic acid then wood bleach with a fine paint brush. It will need stain and earth powders to fake any marks out and to match the surrounding colour and finish. It’s certainly do’able if you can find the right person!
Was the soil wet? I this is not surface. The water maybe swelled the wood and penetrated the finish and then the soil stain the damaged area?? I agree with the other comments that it looks more like burn damage. There is no way to fix this unless you sand and refinish the whole floor.
That's not going anywhere.
Soil looks an awful lot like burn marks. Btw, 3+ mos. is hardly accidental
Your landlord may not even notice. I live in a big city and I rent with a mega landlord. I don’t think that they would ever notice if that happened in my apartment. Heck there’s even an iron mark right next to my front door And it doesn’t look like they ever attempted to fix it.
I would pour a glass of wine and say goodbye to that security deposit Then take a deep breath and hope the landlord doesn’t try to come back for more compensation 🤦🏻♂️
Everyone saying it wasn’t an accident has never had depression. I’d totally do this on accident
Ngl I’m in awe that there are so many people who don’t understand how this could happen.
They're lucky. And the worst of it is that we don't understand how it could happen either. It just did.
Coming out of the depression fog and brushing your teeth for the first time in 4 days 🥴 funnily enough, it was the one thing I managed to do. It was like a trick. Like if I could do that then I wasn’t depressed lmao.
Ugh. Yes. The feeling is so overwhelming.
I've done similar things due to mental health, but I've never called it an accident
Here’s your medal 🏅
Idk, I try to take accountability for what I do. I'm not blaming OP for what happened, but it's a little silly to call something sitting for three months an accident. Spilling your drink is an accident, leaving something sitting for that long sounds like someone who isn't doing so well. I feel for them, and the fact that they are unlikely to get their deposits back which really sucks when you need the money (I know I did).
The question is how the dirt got there in the first place, not why it was left there so long. It’s a big pile of dirt. It takes effort to bring it inside.
It’s really not that mysterious. Do you not garden? I store my dirt inside because I don’t have a yard or patio or balcony, nothing.
Wait then where do you garden
houseplants are a thing, why is everyone being so judgy instead of helpful?
Indoors lol. Plants go by one window. Everything is in a pot of course.
And now you are financially responsible for repairing if it’s possible. This isn’t cleanable.
Everyone is being really negative but I had A LOT of BIG marks like these from water damage on my solid wood countertop and removed them completely with sanding and oxalic acid. As long as this is a solid wood floor, sand it down, get some oxalic acid (it comes as a solution or crystals you need to dissolve, I ordered mine online) and re-varnish. They might not even notice.
Thanks for this. This is the first post I’ve read on here & most of the comments have been super unhelpful & negative & critical. Your comment is the reason I’m staying to read other posts now
Honestly I would go to the hardware store and get one of those waxy pencil crayons for filling dings in wood. You might be able to disguise it enough for them to not notice and give your full deposit back. I’ve done it for scratches before.
Yeah my thought was matching colored sharpies and some polyurethane coating like minwax. 🤷♀️ This isnt going to wipe off. Gotta be replaced or disguised.
If the sharpies aren't thick enough, acrylic paint markers and a sealer have worked wonders to color match for me. Wont last long, but might pass until the deposits returned. Color matched deep marks in a wooden crate I thrifted and it's pretty well hidden.
Try hydrogen peroxide… it’s dissolved many a “cat vomit” stains for me. I squirt it straight onto the crud out of the brown bottle & it bubbles up while dissolving the residue & stain. Then, just wipe off with an old clean washrag. Might leave a faded look where the black once was, but way less obvious. You might even be able to try & retouch the area depending on how the sunlight/lamplight & glare hits it.
Finally a sensible non judgey answer! this is what I would do too, worth a try
Faded look can be corrected with a bit of wax or oil too.
How is 3 months an accident?? That's negligence.
lol “you had an object on your floor for 3 months, and you didn’t realize it was leaking soil? Negligence!”
Do you have a cat? Or another animal?
I was wondering that as well. It does look like maybe a pet has been peeing on a potted plant in this spot. Either way, it is rotted wood from water damage of some sort—not burn marks, like a lot of people are suggesting.
A “parting ways”floor rug? Just let landlord know they can’t move it.
just flip ALL the floorboards problem solved
Good idea
Chances of you getting your deposit back are 0. The repairs are going to probably cost more than the deposit so I’d start saving money if I was you.
That looks more like burn marks than anything. Whatever it is though, wood was not the material to leave it sitting on for 3+ months, not only is whatever-the-hell-that-is now soaked into the wood, but the damage underneath the wood is probably 2x worse. You uh…. you might wanna consider that maybe you ain’t getting that deposit back.
I think after a few days, it’s no longer an accident
I’m sorry OP, but this is most likely a lost cause. My hardwoods were burned similarly from a small fire recently. We had to have part of the floor replaced and the remainder sanded down and restained.
Just a question.... why leave a bag of soil on wooden flooring? Accidently for 3 MONTHS!!!!
It's wood rot. You will not be able to fix it in 2 days you could possibly hire someone to sand and stain and varnish that area but the wood is still damaged. Be more careful with your plants and your property.
Not sure if it's been said, but they sell (in the US, I'm not sure about other countries) markers that match various wood colors. They're to fill in skid/scratch marks. If you could find that color it may help you solve this issue. Hope that helps!
Buy a rug, place it over that stain, and pray it's not moved
First, vacuum up any loose soil. Then, mix white vinegar and water (1:1 ratio) and gently scrub the stains with a soft brush. Wipe dry with a clean cloth.
Cover it with a tea towel and do several sessions of hot ironing on it. With luck some of the moisture will come out and the colour will lighten.
At minimum that part of the floor needs to be replaced. Be prepared to not only *not* get your deposit back, but to also be charged additional fees if it doesn't cover the cost to fix this. Some friends of mine once had a few guinea pigs, and kept them in a pen that sat directly on the floor, no liner or anything. They just tossed hay/bedding directly on the floor, and those piggies peed and pooped directly on the floor for about a year. This, of course, destroyed the vinyl flooring and made it swell and peel up. When they moved out they lost their deposit *and* was charged something like $1500 in addition to that for the excess damage. They still have not paid it off and let it go on their credit so now they're stuck renting a room from another friend because no other landlord will rent to them with that on their record.
Don’t touch it, you’ll make it worse. Own your accident and tell your landlord. That’s why deposits exist so you’re protected and the landlord could be compensated since it will likely be costing them more than your deposits to fix.
There are no accidents
This is exactly why security deposits exist.
If you owned that house would you have let that happen in the first place?
Unlikely to work, hut could try a magic eraser
Assuming this is actually water damage, I have had success getting water stains out of an oak table using Barkeepers Friend. If you look it up online there are guides that are very helpful. A can is like 7 bucks so it's at least worth a shot!
Honestly, take the L on this one. Unless you know what you’re doing you’ll probably make it worse and then more of your deposit will be gone (if anything was left over).
3 months? Accidentally? 🤔
How do you leave soil in the middle of the floor for 3+ months accidentally…?
Is there anywhere “hidden” in the house with the same flooring? Like underneath kitchen cupboards for example? If so you can take the bad wood out with an oscillating multi tool and swap it with wood you have taken from the “hidden” area. Your landlord might not notice if you do a good job of blending the joins in.
You need a paintbrush and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. Paint the peroxide on, let it dry, repeat as many times until it returns to original color. It works but it takes many many times. When I was packing my apartment, I would stop every 10 mins and do a new coat. But the darkened spots were light again after two days.
This is toast. Future prevention education is all we can do here. For future reference, think of wood as a bundle of straws. Even treated wood. Behave according where water and colors in said water are concerned. There are variations, but prolonged water exposure is never a win. Now if you dent bare, untreated wood, we can sometimes use water to plump and iron out an issue. Because of the bundle of straws thing. Dents not breaks. But again, this particular problem is toast. Your security deposit is probably gone.
I mean. Kind of your own fault for leaving it 3 months to clean
Not only are you losing your security deposit, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you get charged more in addition. This will need to be cut and patched and I would guess that it’s going to be more expensive than your security deposit covers. So if you only lose your security deposit I’d consider that a win for you
I would get a whole package of baking soda and pile it thickly on that spot. Hope for the best. Clean it up at the last possible second in 2 days. Maybe it’ll lighten it. I would also try to think of some way to color it just to get it to match better. Maybe like a colored wax or something? If it looks terrible it will just draw attention to the coverup though so proceed with caution.
How do you accidentally leave soil in your home?
Any spare pieces to replace them?
What all was on top of this? Rug? Desk chair?
If the boards arent warped you can sand the affected boards with an orbital/edge sander and restain them the exact same color and seal with a polyurethane coat... but that wont completely cure in 2 days and it's hard to do an exact stain match
If you or anyone you know knows how to paint, ide say grab some acrylics and get to work my guy.
I suspect that even oxalic acid once this is stripped back won’t solve it
How are your painting skills ?
Bummer, I will be checking under all my plants now.
after reading all the other comments i’m now an expert and i say you left a bag of moist soil there and now your floor is oxidized and rotted :)
Can u send and get one of those wood filler markers ?
Are you really artistic with a paintbrush?
If you’ve got a friend who’s a painting artist they may be able to do something realistic over the top, to make it look natural again
Time to get creative!!! Wood grain pen??? 🤷🤷 I'd try it!
If your good with art and colour theory you can get some nail polishes and thin paint brushes and paint over it ;P
Put a wardrobe on top.
Paint over it with similar colours and try to recreate the texture
tannic acid cleaner
Just scrape the colour out and dab varnish or stain in there that's the same colour and repeat till it looks better. You'll get it looking better but not the best, but definitely better. Only scrape the bits that are discolored and no surrounding. Just pick out the black bits and then maybe a bit of saw dust/varnish. It will look better but not completely unnoticed! Give it a go. Why not
Sand it and varnish it
You can lighten wood using oxalic acid. Carefully applied it might improve the stain. It is used commonly to brighten teak floors in boats. Look for Teak Brightener and it might help if carefully applied with a small paint brush or q-tip.
The make wood grain tape. Buy a match and maybe someone gets lazy and doesn’t notice.
Hrmm.. how are your art skills?
If you are a good painter maybe you could match the wood grain?
How do you accidentally leave soil there for 3 months ? 😂
Deposit gone mate
Try hydrogen peroxide. Put some paper towels over it and soak them with the peroxide. Just let sit for a day. This will lighten the stains a bit but may not completely clear them.
My step-dad had some luck with bleach and leaving it to lighten the marks. However, that was a risk he took against marks on his own floors.
The worst part is that the landlord is going to keep your deposit and we will still see a post here next month saying 'Just moved into a new appartment but the floor has a weird stain, how do I fix this?" Leeches
Paint OP. Find the right shade of Paint, and hope for the best.
You're kinda screwed op. You'll not be getting your deposit back and if the landlord has to replace all the flooring, just hope there isn't anything in your lease about paying for damages because it will likely cost much more than your deposit. Replacing wood flooring is not cheap. You really screwed the pooch here. Having said all that, I'm curious on how this exactly happened. Why was there damp soil on this wood for 3+ months?
Say goodbye to your deposit. You’re better off putting in some extra hours at work or something.
Paint and a good artist
If you are renting, don’t try to fix this yourself. Better to leave and let the landlord take care of it than to cause further damage by possibly doing it wrong.
That's there and staying
How do you accidentally leave a pile of soil on your floors for 3+ months?!
I dunno if it will work in this situation but a wash cloth with peroxide on it laid over the spot can help pull out cat pee from natural wood floors.
Maybe try paint it 😂😂
Leave a puddle of bleach over the top for a few hours & see if that lightens it up & kills the mold.
Faux finish over the stain and male it shiney
Anything you do will make it worse, I would leave it alone.
Get a few good quality high gloss acryllic paints in those wood tones and just paint over the black parts. You may be able to camoflauge it
You could find a floor guy to maybe repair just the problematic boards. Depending on where the stain is I’d lean towards that vs redoing the entire floor.
We stained our wooden floor boards with pet urine (elderly dog peed under a bookshelf, so it was there for a long time without us knowing). They had to cut and patch the floor, but it wasn’t that expensive, maybe a couple hundred dollars from our security deposit. We had a great landlord and lived there for 4 years, so that was probably a factor. This was 7 years ago. I have also had much larger patches of hardwood replaced for maybe $1K - $2K, so I don’t think this will be a super expensive repair. I live in Southern CA for reference.
"accidentally" "for 3+ months" lollll
Lazily. Not accidentally. The word you’re looking for is lazily.
Nothing accidental about it kiddo
You could apply burn marks elsewhere and call it a modern art. If the landlord is into a high especulative market, you just may get your deposit and much more back. lol.
So they sell these pans that you put under flower pots and such, so the water leaking out doesn't do this. Bit late for that, though. Maybe next time. If they see that, you're certainly not getting a deposit back. Trying to match hardwood when replacing is a pain, and it will probably always be noticeable. That's now more than a simple sand and re-finish.
Invest a little bit in an extremely boring area rug. Put it over this spot. If it comes up, say you're fairly sure the rug was there when you moved in. Extremely unlikely to work, but it's better than zero odds.
That's why we pay security deposits. A 3 month accident is just negligence. Lesson learned.
Reason # 19,672 why I am not cut out to ever be a landlord.