A tenant's text: wood flooring

[Jem J.]

Hello BP ,

Herewith is a copy of my tenant's text. She is renting one of our rentals which is on a high end complex. (High ceilings with exposed beams, 2BR 2.5 Ba, all granite counters, all hardwood....and at least 20 or so steps to go up the second floor. This is her text:

"Hi Jem, the floor near the upstairs closets is starting to rise. It is now harder to shut the door to the utility closet with the ac heating unit as well as the storage closet. Could be because of something with the downstairs shower and the moisture rising? I am not too sure. Also - I tried your solution with the vinegar in a bag but it is very difficult to do with this shower head. I don't feel comfortable with 64 oz of vinegar hanging from it. Doesn't seem sturdy enough to me."

  More info on my prop...The first floor shower has a   wrap around tile including the ceiling. I think it is Quite impossible for this to create moisture to " lift the hardwood flooring" ON the second floor,  to include the rooms a distance  away from the ist floor shower. 

AND ..  The shower head ( huge shower head suspended from the ceiling tray.... I suggested a MIXTURE of vinegar and water to clean,  when she complained that it has " mold" looking stain in the shower head. Sent her a google link to read on her own on how to maintain and to keep it clean from hard water/ mineral  deposits. 

My biggest concern is the hard wood flooring. My plan is to go there to assess the damage and primarily take pictures.  Anything else i should be mindful of and take caution in this case? I was planning to go there this Sat. but changed my mind to sooner than later. Landlords... any take on this one? This is my first " big" complain so far. To note, laundry is on the second floor. 

Thanks.

Jem 

[Account Closed]

@Jem J. Yes, you'll have to go see what's up with the floor.  This is the kind of thing you want a tenant to tell you about, so the fact that she did is a good thing.

Another thing to look at besides what's been mentioned, is the hot water heater.  I had one leak in a way that was not visible to the eye, but was leaking under the linoleum in a kitchen where it was located.  The tenant felt the floor squishing when she walked.  Fortunately, it was just linoleum on a concrete slab, so it was easy to fix.  We just had the linoleum ripped up, dried out the floor and put down new linoleum.  But, check the water heater to see if it's leaking in a way to get under the flooring.

I think she must be confused about your idea with the vinegar.  Why would she think she had to suspend a huge bottle of vinegar from the shower head?  There's a miscommunication there, I"m assuming.

But, the units I rented also had hard water deposits from hell.  The shower heads would get really clogged up.  We just replaced them.  It might be the easiest thing to do with this tenant.  It really is hard to clean hard water deposits off of shower heads.  So, I really don't think this complaint is all that big of a deal, especially from a high end unit.  

If the shower head is super expensive, maybe buy a replacement, and take the old one home to clean yourself to put in the next time she complains.  Just recycle them.