OK...so, you know how it is...you take delivery of a new sofa, you ut it down on the floor 'cos it's so bloo*y heavy then you move it so its not in the way of you exiting the room.....and you hear a terrible, heart-stopping scratching noise.
Yes, this was my Friday. Two staples had poked their way through the material and into the parquet flooring leaving an approximate 4" long scratch. It's probably only 2 or 3mm wide but it's deep enough to be very noticeable.
I bought some of this wax stuff you heat up and melt into the hole but colour matching has proved impossible.
Does anyone have any tips or can you name a product for me to try? The flooring is in three different shades..sort of teak through to mahogany. I'm thinking the wax is just making it stand out even more and maybe some form of polish would be better.
Coop DIY stores sell scratch repair "pens" that come in a variety of wood stains. They're specifically designed to make scratches on parquet invisible. They look like felt tip pens. You ink the scratch then rub like hell with a duster for a few seconds. Then you can wax over. I can't remember the name but I think it's a German product. They work really well.
Try the DIY path, but make sure you have private liability because as said above, if they notice it, you'll have to pay a professional to fix it up.
Don't be too stressed about claiming, its such a commonplace occurrence in Switzerland - The insurance companies are used to it. Especially with parquet!!
I would go with Charlie R Soles and not fix it (yourself). Get insurance, live with it for now and claim when you leave. Parquet flooring always gets scratched so it'll probably happen again and the worst thing would be you damaging by trying to fix it which might make the insurance walk away.
I would also go with what Charlie r soles advises, as the exact same thing happenened to my sons floor in his flat, it was a tiny scratch from also just moving a sofa,but the cost of repair was CHF1580... The insurance paid it with no problem, so just make sure you do get insured..
Unless this is a really deep, unsightly gouge, which I doubt, being normal staples, I simply wouldn't worry about it.
It will come under the heading of normal wear and tear when it is your time to leave.
If I was you, I would get the finest sandpaper available, gently go over the scratch to smooth the edges, make a really really strong cup of tea, dab over the sanded area (you can drink the rest of course), let dry.
Now get a small tin of lacquer, in fact clear nail polish would do. It has just the right sort of brush you need for the job.
Paint over the sandpapered area, let dry, do again if you think it's necessary, let dry thoroughly. This will seal it off and prevent it from turning into a nasty dark scar, which is what happens if left untreated.
next, get a throw rug or something to strategically cover it and proceed to forget about it.
The thing is, these things look so much worse in our own eyes, they seem to take on major proportions and if someone else was to look at it they wouldn't see a problem.
This is correct, but maybe landlord sanded floor in between time, who's to say he didn't.....especialy if he was a bit manual and so say did it himself
You can botch it up however you want, it won't come under the heading of "normal wear and tear" and unless the Landlord or his agent wear glasses that resemble beer bottle bottoms, they're going to see it and you're going to be responsible for repairing it When you moved into the flat you had an "etats de lieu" or a paper with the condition of everything written down. What does this say ? Go get yourself some insurance, it's not expensive, maybe Chf 150.-- to 200.-- depending on your coverage and you're parquet floor is paid for, except for the franchise which is probably Chf 200.--. This means you pay first Chf 200.-- of damage, plus the initial premium for the policy makes Chf 350.-- to 400.--. Re sanding and sealing a parquet floor costs a lot more than that, assuming that it can be done as you can only sand parquet so many times before there is nothing left. I hope it is clear to you now, a botch job just isn't going to cut the mustard in Switzerland.
You have damaged something belonging to a third party, therefore providing you can't be accused ofblatent negligence the insurance company will pay. That's what insurance is for after all, to pay in the case you have a liability after an accident and from what was described, this was 100% accident.