I didn't burn down the house, but...

January 12, 2009 10:40 AM

So I burned a sizable patch of our living room carpet, and now the landlord is coming up for a visit.

There was a fondue mishap that resulted in a long, thin (about 12x2 inches) strip of burned carpet that has gone from light brown to black. Because it is burned and not stained, I don't think even a professional cleaner will help or work. (Am I wrong?)
It seems I have one of three options - hide it until I move out and hope that the landlord won't notice (he didn't do a move-out inspection for the person whose room I took), try to repair it myself with carpet from the closets, or fess up to it now. My questions are:

- The landlord has been making some improvements around the house, which is old and in need of a lot of repairs. If he sees this, I'm afraid he will use it as an excuse to re-carpet the entire house. Can he charge me for the full cost of this? The total deposit for the house was $2750, divided three ways - can he take my roommates' deposits as well, even if I tell him it was my fault?

- How would I go about fixing it myself, if that's the best option? Should I cut out a strip that is the exact size of the burnt patch or a bigger rectangle? What tools do I need and where can I find them?

- What are the odds that he won't notice? He lives in Southern California, the house is in Northern California and he doesn't come up often. When he does, he's usually in and out in a few minutes. I know this is entirely speculation on your part, but if you have been in a similar situation, I would love to hear how it turned out.

posted by easy_being_green to Home & Garden (13 answers total)

I would talk to a carpet professional and get an estimate as to if and how it could be professionally repaired. If it can, take the estimate and call the landlord. Explain what happened and that you got an estimate on repairs and that it should cost such-and-such and offer to pay it.

1. The landlord will have a hard time whacking you for the costs of a total re-carpet, because you have an estimate on the partial repair and you know it's not necessary.

2. You will have acted ethically.

3. Your landlord will appreciate your honesty and may say "I was planning to re-carpet anyway, don't sweat it."

On the other hand, if you try to hide it and get caught, you will almost certainly make the situation worse.
posted by DWRoelands at 10:53 AM on January 12, 2009

I would follow DWR's advice, sucks to have to pay up but that's life.
posted by LunaticFringe at 11:08 AM on January 12, 2009

i have done something like this. we went the repair it yourself route with some carpet scraps that had been left in the closet. we were not professional carpet installers (and were probably either drunk or hungover while performing the task) and it did not blend in. the "seams" were quite obvious.

i personally would hide it under a bookcase or throw rug or whatever until you move out and worry about it then when i comes out of your securit deposit. but then again, i wouldn't have the money to pay for it right now.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 11:12 AM on January 12, 2009

I assume you paid a deposit when you moved in. This sort of thing is usually covered in the deposit... And hold out hope that your landlord is planning to recarpet when you move out anyways.
posted by sadiehawkinstein at 11:39 AM on January 12, 2009

I will preface by saying that I don't know the exact terms of your lease, however it will most likely hold true that:

The deposit is for the house, and will be used in full if needed. It is unlikely, and unfair to the landlord to split the deposit three ways - say if the deposit was $3,000 - giving $1,000 to each tenant and only taking out $1,000 from you even though (hypotehtically) you caused $2,000 in damage. If it costs $2,000 to repair your damages, that's what will be taken out of the deposit.

In the immediate future I would cover it up and try and hide it so you can deal with it before you move out. I think DWR had really good advice. The landlord will look for any reason to prevent giving the deposit back to you, so getting estimates and repairing the damage ASAP will most likely save you a lot of money in the long run.

In a related story: My roomate, in a drunken stuper, jokingly pushed me full force into a wall (I am 6'0", 240) and caused my entire body to punch a "hole" into the drywall. Fortunately, not long after (before the landlord had time to see the damage) our house was broken into and vandalized, so we were able to blame the damage on the robber. Maybe you can blame the damage on a fondue bandit or something. Har dee har har.
posted by Brettus at 11:42 AM on January 12, 2009

If the landlord has some scraps lying around (which I would wager he does, as they tend to buy the stuff in bulk and do all of their places with the same style), then it's an easy repair job for someone who knows what they're doing.

The basic procedure, as you intuited, is to simply (ha) cut out the old piece, cut a new piece to fit the hole, and glue it in with carpet adhesive. The trick, though (cf. misanthropicsarah's comment above), is making sure the nap of the patch goes the same way as the existing carpet, or the seams will be very, very obvious.

Which way does the nap go? Take a piece of paper and set it on the carpet. Put a pencil on top of it. Roll the pencil back and forth vigorously with the palm of your hand. Which way does the paper move? That's the direction of the nap.

If I were you, I wouldn't try this myself; if your landlord has a scrap of carpet that can be used for it, you're probably looking at under $100 to have someone come in and repair it.
posted by Doofus Magoo at 11:43 AM on January 12, 2009

Depending on how deep the carpet is, it can be patched. Most carpet installers work for themselves. Ask a local carpet store to recommend someone to repair it.
posted by lee at 11:46 AM on January 12, 2009

This professional invisible repair was done in my mother's house. It wasn't very expensive - $100 for a square foot or so comes to mind - and the results were not detactable. It required seam tape, a funky iron and a sharp utlity knife.
posted by fixedgear at 11:47 AM on January 12, 2009

#1. Long term, call a flooring installer and they would prolly do it for 60.00-100.00

#2. Short term (emergency scenario)
Swap out the bad piece with a good piece from a closet or something like that. Pay attention to the "lay" of the carpet. All carpets have a direction to them that the fibers run. THe best way to tell is to run your hands over the surface and check for direction. Do the same on the closet pc you intend to use. Lay the other piece in and after your landlord leaves call a flooring installer to do the actual seaming of the two pieces.

#3. Also....if you only burned the top of the piling, you could always trim it down a bit to "cut-away" the burned tops of the piles. There may be a small idfference in height but, you could always feather-edge it to the surrounding area.

#4. If this is a "Berber" style carpet...go to #1 above.

Good luck,
posted by winks007 at 1:11 PM on January 12, 2009

Don't hide it. Landlords are people, too, and you can't treat them unethically just because you pay them money you'd rather keep.
posted by rikschell at 1:15 PM on January 12, 2009

"Don't hide it. Landlords are people, too, and you can't treat them unethically just because you pay them money you'd rather keep." - rikschell

I can appreciate this advice and the want to do the right thing and be honest. However, landlords, in my experience are pricks who don't like fixing things and look for any excuse to not give you back your deposit. Certainly there are justified reasons for keeping some of the deposit, but to keep a $2,500+ deposit for this is a bit unreasonable.

So - if your landlord IS a total prick that you think would try and take advantage of this situation and keep your deposit, then HIDE it from him and FIX it so he will never know it ever happened.

Now you are both happy, and you still get your deposit.
posted by Brettus at 2:39 PM on January 12, 2009

Just wanted to weigh in on the "your landlord may not be a complete asshole so do the right thing and get an estimate and accept responsibility for your actions" side of the argument.

I've only had one landlord, so I don't have as many anecdotes as some of you, but he's a straightforward guy and isn't out to screw me, or at least hasn't tried to in the two years I've lived here.
posted by Brian Puccio at 3:51 PM on January 12, 2009

Since you're in California, you're protected under the 'useful life' rule of normal wear and tear to rental properties. Worst case scenario, you'd only be liable for the prorated cost of the carpet's life that could reasonably be expected. If the carpet is shabby and old anyway, you might not owe anything at all.

"For example, suppose a tenant has damaged beyond repair an eight-year-old carpet that had a life expectancy of ten years, and that a replacement carpet of similar quality would cost $1,000. The landlord could properly charge only $200 for the two years' worth of life (use) that would have remained if the tenant had not damaged the carpet."
posted by oceanmorning at 9:37 PM on January 12, 2009