The rug was put there to protect us, but who protects us from the protector?

March 8, 2007 11:55 AM

Jute rug damaged my floor! My wife and I are moving out of our apartment, and when we rolled up the jute rugs, there seems to be damage to floors underneath as though the actual rug wore into the floor.

We had thin anti-slip rubber mesh underneath. If you can imagine the pattern of the rug weave worn into the floor, that's what it looks like. Murphy's oil soap+elbow grease has made it less horrible looking, but still there. Any ideas? Any floor-reconditioning products you can reccomend? The floors are worn and water-stained anyway, but it's not clear if the landlord was going to redo them soon. I'd prefer not to fund refinishing with my security deposit.

posted by mzurer to Home & Garden (8 answers total)

I used to have wood floors and never had that problem, but I'd guess that buffing them out is a plausible solution. He should be able to rent a buffer from Home Depot.

Goodluck.
posted by packphour at 12:05 PM on March 8, 2007

Consider oiling them. Oil-based furniture products will make them shine. Though they do make your floors slippery until they sink in, though, which is why (I'm guessing) they wouldn't be marketed for floors. I have friends who use plain olive oil for this too.

Also, Johnson still makes a wood floor wax that can help the appearance long enough for you to get your deposit back.
posted by answergrape at 12:07 PM on March 8, 2007

Those anti-slip mats are petro- or latex- based, and may have outgassed and darkened the wood itself.

Sometimes rugs, or the grit under rugs, scratches the floor's finish, and waxing will resolve most of that, and it will look nicer, in any case. Try cleaning with ammonia & water (1 part ammonia, 3 parts water) to strip any wax, then re-wax with pastewax, available at a good hardware store. After it dries, buff by putting towelling down and skating around on it.

If your landlord is reasonable and the floor is (preferably documentably) better than you found it, you'd be okay, but that's a lot of ifs.
posted by theora55 at 12:23 PM on March 8, 2007

Are the marks lighter than the floor or darker? If they're lighter, get some oil-based wood stain the same color as the floor (or a little lighter) and rub it in. Instant newness!
posted by found dog one eye at 12:55 PM on March 8, 2007

Don't use olive oil for architectural woodwork, it'll go rancid.
posted by Mitheral at 1:55 PM on March 8, 2007

When we were looking for rugs, my husband checked with the various floor covering stores (incl Ikea) and discovered that a lot of rugs and anti-slip mesh underlay are not approved for hardwood floors. I don't know how to fix your floor, though.
posted by acoutu at 2:24 PM on March 8, 2007

put the rug back and move out
posted by donkeysuck at 2:31 PM on March 8, 2007

I think your rubber mat adhered to the floor. This happened in our kitchen with the dog's sheepskin. I used Goo-Gone and a putty knife to scrape up the adhesive, which was a huge PITA but worked. Test the Goo-Gone in a corner.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 2:56 PM on March 8, 2007