Guide to Types of Floor Damage & Defects
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Catalog of types of damage found on residential and light commercial floors and flooring materials
Flooring Application Errors, Carpeting, Tile, Wood Floors
Common causes of Cracked or Damaged Floor Tiles
Sources of Burns on Flooring
Sloped Floors out of Level
Squeaky Noisy Floors
Mechanical Damage & Wear on Floor Finishes
Water Damage or Stains on Floors
Wood flooring stains, damage, mold
Questions & answers about the causes & effects of flooring that is damaged or unsafe due to installation errors, poor maintenance, or other events.

Floor damage catalog: here we provide a catalog of types of damage found to flooring in buildings, such as improper installation, buckling, burns, cracks, loose, sloped, squeaky floors, mechanical damage, wear damage, water damage, and special kinds of damage found on wood floors. We describe various causes of floor damage. We describe the wear and damage problems associated with different types of flooring materials such as carpeting, ceramic tile, vinyl or vinyl asbestos tile, resilient or sheet flooring, wood flooring.

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Floor Damage, Defects & Finish Problems

The following floor and flooring defect descriptions are adapted and expanded from original citations provided courtesy of Carson Dunlop Associates, Home Reference Book, with permission.

Application Errors, Carpeting, Tile, Vinyl Tile, Resilient or Sheet Linoleum or Vinyl or Wood Floors

Some ceramic tiles are intended for wall use only. When used on floors, they will wear quickly.

Ceramic tiles and softer clay or terracotta floor tiles are also broken, forming cut and trip hazards such as this floor (photo at left) we photographed in Barcelona, Spain.

The combination of broken cermaic tile risers and stair treads and a dark hallway are an invitation to a slip trip or fall accident in this building.

Carpet may be loose on stairs, a serious trip and falll hazard, not be laid flat or torn, more trip hazards, or wet, rotted, and moldy, health hazards. See CARPET PADDING ASBESTOS, MOLD, ODORS and CARPET STAIN DIAGNOSIS. Also see CARPET MOLD CONTAMINATION for details.

Wood flooring may not be well secured, buckled, rotted, due to improper installation or lack of maintenance, or failure to act immediately following a spill or leak in the building. See FLOOR WOOD, DAMAGE DIAGNOSIS for examples and details.

Antique sheet flooring Justin Morrill Smith Home (C) Daniel Friedman

Vinyl and vinyl asbestos tile floors and other resilient flooring such as linoleum or sheet vinyl may form trip hazards at tears and bulges or just plain disintegrate; some products contain asbestos and must be handled appropriately. ASBESTOS FLOORING HAZARD REDUCTION

Tile and stone flooring may not be set properly or may be installed over inadequately stiff framing (leading to cracking). Grout may be poor quality or an incorrect type.

A stunning snafu in the installation of tile flooring is described at FLOOR RADIANT HEAT Mistakes to Avoid where the builder failed to randomize the tiles, leading to ugly color blotch rectangles, failed to clean grout, leaving hazed ceramic floor tiles, and worst of all, failed to properly install radiant heating, leading

Buckling Wood or Wood Laminate Flooring

PHOTO of interior floor covering, pre-vinyl, probably linocrusta with burlap fabric backing, Justin Morrill House, Vermont, ca 1845 - 1900

Improper floor installation can conspire with shifts in building moisture (or outright leaks) and temperature to cause severe buckling of wood floors and in some instances laminate flooring products as well.

Also failure to install a properly level and smooth underlayment or subfloor can cause uneven laminate floor surfaces.

See FLOOR WOOD, DAMAGE DIAGNOSIS for details.

Burns on Flooring

Fireplace hearth missing, burned floor (C) D Friedman

Most types of flooring are susceptible to burns, with the exception of stone, terrazzo, ceramic and quarry tile. Common burns on finish flooring that we find include

Burned resilient flooring under an overheating refrigerator compressor (vacuum the dust off of those coils!)
Cigarette burns on wood or resilient flooring.
Fireplace burns from heat or from coals or embers - possibly a fire hazard.

Cracked or Damaged Floor Tiles

The most common problem with brittle floor tiles is cracking. This is usually the result of a floor system that is not stiff enough to support the tile. Tiles can also be cracked by impact damage. Heavy items dropped on the tiles will sometimes crack or break them. Replacing individual tiles is not difficult, although color and grout matching may be a problem.

The sketch at left, showing alternative methods for installing and supporing ceramic tiles on floors is provided courtesy of Carson Dunlop Associates and appears in their Illustrated Home.

A cracked and broken concrete floor may only be a problem if it is not safe to walk across, or if there is moisture coming up through the floor. Since it is not a structural component, replacement of this floor is rarely a priority item.

Loose Flooring & Trip Hazards

Loose or missing sections of flooring should be replaced. These areas may present a trip hazard. Carpet with ridges and buckles can be pulled tight to lie flat again by a carpet installer.

Sloped Floors out of Level

A concrete basement or crawl space floor that does not slope down to a floor drain can lead to water accumulation on the floor and resulting damage. Adding more concrete to an existing slab to improve the drainage slope is difficult, since new concrete does not usually bond well to old concrete. A better solution may be to add another floor drain. This is expensive, because it requires breaking up some of the concrete floor. Replacing a deteriorated floor may be more cost effective than trying to repair or re-slope the floor.

Squeaky Noisy Floors

Squeaky wood floors are a nuisance, not a structural problem. A floor usually squeaks when walked on because the flooring finish or subfloor is not tightly secured. The subfloor may not be well-secured to the joists, or the finished flooring material (e.g. hardwood) may not be tightly fastened to the subfloor.

Flooring that is not tightly secured sits just above the support in some spots. When someone steps on the flooring in this area, it is pushed down onto its support. When the foot is taken off the floor, it springs back up. The squeaking is usually the result of the nails sliding in and out of the nail holes, or adjacent wood surfaces rubbing.

Mechanical Damage & Wear on Floor Finishes

Scratched oak flooring (C) Daniel Friedman

When softwoods such as pine, fir or cedar are used as finish floorings, they can be damaged by high heeled shoes, for example. Furniture marking and denting is another common problem with softwood and resilient floors.

Softer materials, such as resilient flooring and carpet, will eventually wear out in high traffic areas. Sharp objects and furniture dropped or dragged across flooring may also damage the surface.

At FLOOR WOOD, DAMAGE DIAGNOSIS we discuss mechanical damage to flooring.

Water Damage or Stains on Floors

Common sources of water Damage/ damage include leaks from roofs, windows, doors and skylights, plumbing leaks (especially toilets and showers), leaks from hot water heating systems, and condensation. Aquariums, room humidifiers or dehumidifiers, over-watering of plants, melting snow and ice from boots, etc. can all cause water damage.

Wood-based floors may discolor, cup, buckle, warp or rot as a result of exposure to water. Carpet may develop mold. Flooring may be stained by water, food spills, improper cleaning, dirt, sunlight, or other factors.

See STAIN DIAGNOSIS on BUILDING INTERIORS and see STAINS on INDOOR SURFACES: PHOTO GUIDE as well as these specific articles: Black stains from animals

Wood Floor Damage

Details about types of damage to wood flooring are provided at FLOOR WOOD, DAMAGE DIAGNOSIS.

Readers should also see FLOOR TILE HISTORY & INGREDIENTS and see FLOOR, CONCRETE SLAB CHOICES, and SLAB INSULATION, PASSIVE SOLAR for examples of discussion of energy-efficient floor designs and passive solar floor systems.

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FLOOR DAMAGE DIAGNOSIS
  Application Errors, Carpeting, Tile, Wood
  Buckling Wood or Wood Laminate Floor
  Burns on Flooring
  Cracked or Damaged Floor Tiles
  Loose Flooring & Trip Hazards
  Sloped Floors out of Level
  Squeaky Noisy Floors
  Mechanical Damage & Wear on Floors
  Water Damage or Stains on Floors
  Wood Floor Damage

Carson, Dunlop & Associates Ltd., 120 Carlton Street Suite 407, Toronto ON M5A 4K2. (416) 964-9415 1-800-268-7070 info@carsondunlop.com. Thanks to Alan Carson and Bob Dunlop, for permission to use illustrations from their publication, The Illustrated Home which illustrates construction details and building components. Carson Dunlop provides home inspection education including the ASHI-adopted Home Inspection Training Program (home study course), publications such as the Home Reference Book, report writing materials including the Horizon report writer, and home inspection services. Alan Carson is a past president of ASHI, the American Society of Home Inspectors.
Pergo AB, division of Perstorp AB, is a Swedish manufacturer or modern laminate flooring products. Information about the U.S. company can be found at http://www.pergo.com where we obtained historical data used in our discussion of the age of flooring materials in buildings.

Books & Articles on Building & Environmental Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, & Repair

Our recommended books about building & mechanical systems design, inspection, problem diagnosis, and repair, and about indoor environment and IAQ testing, diagnosis, and cleanup are at the InspectAPedia Bookstore. Also see our Book Reviews - InspectAPedia.

The Home Reference Book - the Encyclopedia of Homes, Carson Dunlop & Associates, Toronto, Ontario, 2010, $69.00 U.S., is available from Carson Dunlop, and from the InspectAPedia bookstore. The 2010 edition of the Home Reference Book is a bound volume of more than 450 illustrated pages that assist home inspectors and home owners in the inspection and detection of problems on buildings. The text is intended as a reference guide to help building owners operate and maintain their home effectively. InspectAPedia.com ^®^{author/editor Daniel Friedman is a contributing author. Field inspection worksheets are included at the back of the volume.}

Falls and Related Injuries: Slips, Trips, Missteps, and Their Consequences, Lawyers & Judges Publishing, (June 2002), ISBN-10: 0913875430 ISBN-13: 978-0913875438
"Falls in the home and public places are the second leading cause of unintentional injury deaths in the United States, but are overlooked in most literature. This book is unique in that it is entirely devoted to falls. Of use to primary care physicians, nurses, insurance adjusters, architects, writers of building codes, attorneys, or anyone who cares for the elderly, this book will tell you how, why, and when people will likely fall, what most likely will be injured, and how such injuries come about. "
Humidity: What indoor humidity should we maintain in order to avoid a mold problem?
Lighting, proper use of: proper aiming of a good flashlight can disclose hard to see but toxic light or white mold colonies on walls.
Pergo AB, division of Perstorp AB, is a Swedish manufacturer or modern laminate flooring products. Information about the U.S. company can be found at http://www.pergo.com where we obtained historical data used in our discussion of the age of flooring materials in buildings.
Plank House Construction: weblog from plankhouse.wordpress.com/2009/01/25/plank-house-construction/ and where plank houses were built by native Americans, see
Large 1:6 Scale Plank House Construction / P8094228, Photographer: Mike Meuser
06/12/2007 documented at yurokplankhouse.com where scale model Museum quality Yurok Plank Houses are being sold to raise money for the Blue Creek - Ah Pah Traditional Yurok Village project.
Slips, Trips, Missteps and Their Consequences, Second Edition, Gary M. Bakken, H. Harvey Cohen,A. S. Hyde, Jon R. Abele, ISBN-13: 978-1-933264-01-1 or ISBN 10: 1-933264-01-2, available from the publisher, Lawyers ^ Judges Publishing Company,Inc., www.lawyersandjudges.com sales@lawyersandjudges.com and also from the InspectAPedia Bookstore (Amazon.com)
The Stairway Manufacturers' Association, (877) 500-5759, provides a pictorial guide to the stair and railing portion of the International Residential Code. [copy on file as http://www.stairways.org/pdf/2006%20Stair%20IRC%20SCREEN.pdf ] -
Lighting, proper use of: proper aiming of a good flashlight can disclose hard to see but toxic light or white mold colonies on walls.
Manufactured & Modular Homes: Modular Building Systems Association, MBSA, modularhousing.com, is a trade association promoting and providing links to contact modular builders in North America. Also see the Manufactured Home Owners Association, MHOAA, at www.mhoaa.us. The Manufactured Home Owners Association of America is a National Organization dedicated to the protection of the rights of all people living in Manufactured Housing in the United States.
What Style Is It?: A Guide to American Architecture, Rev., John C. Poppeliers, S. Allen Chambers, Wiley; Rev Sub edition (October 6, 2003), ISBN-10: 0471250368, ISBN-13: 978-0471250364
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Floor Damage, Defects & Finish Problems

Application Errors, Carpeting, Tile, Vinyl Tile, Resilient or Sheet Linoleum or Vinyl or Wood Floors

Buckling Wood or Wood Laminate Flooring

Burns on Flooring

Cracked or Damaged Floor Tiles

Loose Flooring & Trip Hazards

Sloped Floors out of Level

Squeaky Noisy Floors

Mechanical Damage & Wear on Floor Finishes

Water Damage or Stains on Floors

Wood Floor Damage

Questions & Answers regarding this article

Ask a Question or Search InspectAPedia

Technical Reviewers & References

Books & Articles on Building & Environmental Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, & Repair