Pot fell off stove, burn ring on wood floor.
April 21, 2011 9:04 AM Subscribe
Hot pot fell of stove onto wood floor. Burn ring! Help!
I was cooking last night, and as I went to pick up the lid off a cooking pot, it slipped out of my hand and knocked the pot off the stove and onto the floor. I quickly grabbed the pot off the floor, but not before a lovely ring was burned into the floor.
It's kind of a new floor, medium-dark color. I rent the apartment. Wondering if I should try to fix this on my own, call the landlord now and fess up (not that there's really any 'fessing to do, honest accident), or wait until I move out and just let security deposit take care of this. I feel bad about this, and would rather just take care of it.
If I were to fix this on my own, how would I go about this. I'm relatively handy, so am not against doing this myself, if it's possible.
Side question, I have renters insurance, would that be any help in this instance. I'm thinking probably not, but doesn't hurt to ask.
Also, let me know if pictures would help.
Thanks!
I was cooking last night, and as I went to pick up the lid off a cooking pot, it slipped out of my hand and knocked the pot off the stove and onto the floor. I quickly grabbed the pot off the floor, but not before a lovely ring was burned into the floor.
It's kind of a new floor, medium-dark color. I rent the apartment. Wondering if I should try to fix this on my own, call the landlord now and fess up (not that there's really any 'fessing to do, honest accident), or wait until I move out and just let security deposit take care of this. I feel bad about this, and would rather just take care of it.
If I were to fix this on my own, how would I go about this. I'm relatively handy, so am not against doing this myself, if it's possible.
Side question, I have renters insurance, would that be any help in this instance. I'm thinking probably not, but doesn't hurt to ask.
Also, let me know if pictures would help.
Thanks!
How deep down did the burn mark go? My husband and I also rent an apartment with wood floors - and once I had the un-used portion of bottled hair dye leak out of the trashbag and onto the floor. A nice, deep plum-purply red blob on the wood floor! After wiping it up I just sanded it lightly and it removed the dye. Now all I have to do is get around to rubbing some stain on the area and it should be complete! If the burn mark isn't super-deep maybe something similar would work for you?
posted by sleepykitties at 9:21 AM on April 21, 2011
posted by sleepykitties at 9:21 AM on April 21, 2011
Pix always help.
And, how deep the burn looks to be.
If pretty deep, you'd have to sand down a few square feet to clear wood and refinish. You could do that with a power sander and a can of poly or whatever finish is on there.
If it's pretty superficial, you might be better off with a minimalist approach: just scrape the black stuff out, don't go any deeper or wider than necessary, and touch up the area with scratch filler from the hardware store. This might not hide the whole ring, but if the result doesn't look good, you can always proceed to the sanding method/
posted by beagle at 9:33 AM on April 21, 2011
And, how deep the burn looks to be.
If pretty deep, you'd have to sand down a few square feet to clear wood and refinish. You could do that with a power sander and a can of poly or whatever finish is on there.
If it's pretty superficial, you might be better off with a minimalist approach: just scrape the black stuff out, don't go any deeper or wider than necessary, and touch up the area with scratch filler from the hardware store. This might not hide the whole ring, but if the result doesn't look good, you can always proceed to the sanding method/
posted by beagle at 9:33 AM on April 21, 2011
Alternate perspective:
I don't know how pristine your place is but my experience of hardwood floors is that, over time, they all tend to end up showing a scar or three. It's in their nature and, for me at least, makes them more interesting. For every scar, there's a story ...
As for renter's insurance, if yours is anything like the policy I once had, you're covered assuming the cost of repair exceeds your deductible.
posted by philip-random at 9:38 AM on April 21, 2011
I don't know how pristine your place is but my experience of hardwood floors is that, over time, they all tend to end up showing a scar or three. It's in their nature and, for me at least, makes them more interesting. For every scar, there's a story ...
As for renter's insurance, if yours is anything like the policy I once had, you're covered assuming the cost of repair exceeds your deductible.
posted by philip-random at 9:38 AM on April 21, 2011
Post photos.
Also, do you know what type and how thick the flooring is? And how handy are you with a sander?
posted by MiggySawdust at 4:14 PM on April 21, 2011
Also, do you know what type and how thick the flooring is? And how handy are you with a sander?
posted by MiggySawdust at 4:14 PM on April 21, 2011
We had a weird almost-similar problem. My partner left a pot on the stove and the bottom of it became molten. As he grabbed it off the stove, the molten metal flew all over the place and burned little holes in the floor tiles. Black, horrible holes. White floor tiles!
I got down on the floor with some steel wool and scrubbed the black out (I had no idea that would happen, either, I just got lucky), then we touched it up with some paint and sealer. Looks fine, although up close it might be a bit noticeable. So far so good.
So what everyone is saying about the light sanding and the staining and the sealing? Should be easy enough and should work fine. Do the sanding first, that should get the black ring up. Try it with just some sandpaper first. Don't worry about a sander until you see how the sandpaper does. It does depend how deep it is. Wood floors take a lot of abuse, anyway. Many landlords sand and refinish before the next tenants move in, especially if you're there a long time.
And until you get the chance to fix it, throw down a kitchen mat for any landlord visits.
posted by clone boulevard at 8:35 PM on April 21, 2011
I got down on the floor with some steel wool and scrubbed the black out (I had no idea that would happen, either, I just got lucky), then we touched it up with some paint and sealer. Looks fine, although up close it might be a bit noticeable. So far so good.
So what everyone is saying about the light sanding and the staining and the sealing? Should be easy enough and should work fine. Do the sanding first, that should get the black ring up. Try it with just some sandpaper first. Don't worry about a sander until you see how the sandpaper does. It does depend how deep it is. Wood floors take a lot of abuse, anyway. Many landlords sand and refinish before the next tenants move in, especially if you're there a long time.
And until you get the chance to fix it, throw down a kitchen mat for any landlord visits.
posted by clone boulevard at 8:35 PM on April 21, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
Why not call your insurance company and ask? That's what they're there for. Worst case is they say no.
As for the ease of repair: depends on whether it only hurt the finish or the underlying wood, and then it depends on how much damage was done to the wood. It's possible it can simply be refinished, but if the damage is extensive the boards will have to be replaced and finished to match. How many boards were affected? You could call a hardwood floor refinishing company or two and get estimates. Probably not a bad idea to do that anyway in case the landlord tries to take an unreasonable amount out of the security deposit.
posted by jedicus at 9:10 AM on April 21, 2011