anyone know anything about replacing linoleum floors?

[nadine_mn]

We rent a shit-house (seriously, when we got the place 16 yrs ago, lots of siding was off - black tar paper flowing away in the wind, leaky roof, and random additions had been built on it - poorly)

Neighbors have complained about the condition of the exterior, prompting the city to make them bring the property to code. I refuse to complain unless it's a last resort. They don't need to rent this property, and I don't want to make it seem like we are more of a hassle. I have a HUGE fear of being kicked out.

But finally, the linoleum on our bathroom was turning black underneath and I called to get them to replace it. The linoleum has been ripped up, and I got a look at the floor. Dear god - it was more mold than floor - black nasty shit. Floor (from what I could see) was wood. The bathroom was an addition the previous owners 3/4 finished.

Don't they have to treat the mold or something before putting new stuff on? I heard the guy spreading some stuff around and he is now laying the new linoleum.

They started a little after 8:30 and brought the new flooring into the bathroom about 2 hrs later.

I know nothing about flooring or repairs.

[ret5hd]

1. Are you sure the black stuf wasn't the old adhesive?

I wish you could send a pic.

[sharp_stick]

3. That's my guess

mold would have a difficult time growing well under a lino floor I think.

[nadine_mn]

5. The floor was constantly wet (leak in the wall)

and it spread from just a few spots this summer to a large area - I could see it through the linoleum.

I ask the guy before he left - he said yeah, it was really nasty. I asked about the mold and he said it should be fine.

[OriginalGeek]

2. If you've got black mold and there aren't mold removal specialist trucks parked out front

you're getting screwed.

I'm facing a similar problem but it's my own damn house. Found out contractors failed to properly line a new shower they installed some years ago and now there's mold in there. We'll probably have to tear the whole bathroom out and either start over or just go back to having one bathroom.

Or burn it all down and go live with grandpa.


(Note to arson investigators - jut kidding. I mean, it was an accident.)

[nadine_mn]

7. I think the landlord operates on a "what will cost the least and pass code"

mentality.

But in 16 yrs, our rent has never been raised (which is nice) and we have a roof over our head that only sometimes leaks.

I have low standards when it comes to housing - I just want a place for me and my husband and pets. Our credit is shit, I haven't worked in a long time, home ownership ain't in our future with my massive student loan debt.

[hunter]

9. Too many mold removal specialist are grifters.

If you call them, they WILL find a serious mold problem, and the remedies they propose will be directly related to the amount they think they can get out of you.

I say this as someone with severe asthma that's frequently triggered by mold, and as someone who has at times been taking steroids that depress my immune system.

[OriginalGeek]

11. I'm sure that's true

but they can't be worse than the grifter that ruined my bathroom installation.

[hunter]

12. My little brother is a contractor who has built bathrooms that will last centuries...

... bathrooms that could survive a nearby nuclear blast; all reinforced masonry, cast iron fixtures, ceramic tile, stone, and mosaics, working with artists and architects...

But these bathrooms are obscenely expensive.

I think my brother witnessed some of the suffering his older siblings have experienced for our altruistic ways and decided maybe it was a good idea to learn the languages and perverse customs of very wealthy people. When my wife and I married and moved to another state for academic pursuits I left him my tools and he ran with it.

I'll bet Trump's bathrooms are crap in comparison. Underneath the gilded facade lay rot and decay. Tiles pasted onto greenboard, veneer on particleboard, brass plated die-cast fixtures polished and lacquered to look like gold, even the toilet he tweets from, all fake.

[OriginalGeek]

13. I wish I knew your brother back then lol

For what we'll end up paying we probably could have flown him out here and had it done right the first time.

I'll be paying for this mistake a good while longer.

Check references people! (the thing is, the guy we hired had my wife's mother as a reference - he did an outstanding job on her roof. But we let him convince us he was more than just a roofer. He said he could handle the sub-contracting and permits and we believed him to our detriment. Nothing wrong with being just roofer - roofing is a fine trade and good roofers are worth the money they get. Probably more. But when roofers decide they are contractors and we don't check to see if they really are, well, trouble begins.)

[hunter]

4. Years ago the glue they used to install linoleum was some black nasty shit.

What you saw may have been a mixture of old glue and mold.

If the floor is structurally sound and moisture problems have been properly dealt with (proper sealing around the tub and toilet, etc.) then I wouldn't worry much, even if it's not the more expensive way I'd fix it.

For a time while I was in college I worked for a student housing slum lord and I greatly suffered his demands to do the cheapest work possible. Be nice to whoever is doing the work.

The guy I worked for was so bad he'd have us painting over blood stains on the walls with Kilz, the old fashioned kind that smells like an accident at a chemical plant, and leaving it like that. All the walls and ceilings of his apartments were painted more or less the same color as Kilz for that very reason.

My wife and I once had a landlord who insisted on doing all the work himself, even when he didn't know how. It was so painful for me to watch him working that we quit calling him about small stuff. He once spent about four hours in our house replacing a bathroom faucet that I could have replaced in fifteen minutes, and he wasn't cheerful about it.

[nadine_mn]

8. oh that makes more sense

by the tub there was a leaky wall and it was crumbling apart. So I can see it part mold and part adhesive

[doc03]

6. Oh yes I took a home remodeling class.

After completing the class I came to the conclusion I am not going to get involed
any more than painting myself.

[haele]

10. If it is mold, they have to rip up the subfloor.

Is this a licensed contractor/property manager doing the work, or just someone's nephew or uncle who has a truck coming in with a couple of Home Depot panhandlers? If it's someone with a license, they should have checked and at a minimum, they should be wearing masks.
If it is mold, you should be able to check with a $10 kit from any hardware store.

Old linoleum adhesive from the 60's/70's will age to a greyish-black/brown color and often seeps through to the linoleum if it's a tile floor. (don't know about later adhesives; every place I've ever owned or rented has been at least 40 years old...) If it's a solid wood (wood plank or plywood) subfloor, it will generally look like a light, smeared coating of tar when you pull the linoleum up.
However, on an MDF or particle board subfloor, the adhesive wicks in, and it can look like a layer of mold when you pull it up, especially if water has gotten past the linoleum and damaged the subfloor.

Another warning - if the floor is from any time up to the early 70's, it probably has asbestos in the adhesive and/or the tiles, so they should be using respirators when they take it up.
Cleaning the subfloor and putting down a layer of "Kilz" or some other water barrier primer on the subfloor should be done prior to re-laying any linoleum.

At any rate, they should have tested for mold before they started, even if it is someone's nephew or uncle doing the work. You can always check with the city to see what the requirements are for property managers if you're that worried.

Haele

[nadine_mn]

14. Thanks for the great info

Wish I had asked sooner. They replaced the floor - no respirators. This is a super old house but the bathroom addition is newer, so no idea. When the previous owners did the floor, they didn't put the do-hickeys (baseboard? floor board?) along the wall where the wall meets the floor. So there was a 1/2 inch gap from floor to wall (most of that gap filled by dog hair over the years).

When I say this is a shit-house, that is a compliment. The previous owner just did random remodels. The current landlord is a developer of property (just really buys, develops and sells large pieces of land. We are the exception to their business) so most of the people he sends are "his" people.

I am sure they have to provide info to the city code person who is rechecking in a few weeks.

[hunter]

15. Most of the U.S.A. is less regulated than that, and city or county inspectors are overwhelmed...

... with horrors far worse than residential bathrooms.

Ideally I'd go with scraping to bare sound wood, filling with two-part epoxy wood fillers and/or replacement of the floor as necessary, and crazy expensive RedGard.

Life and available money are rarely ideal.