I live in a 100 year old cottage which I am renting. Certain areas of the hardwood floor in the kitchen seems to be spreading. (The kitchen is probably 25 square feet guesstimate) There are about 8 gaps that I am noticing now, the largest being about 1/4 of an inch between wood slats. And also, I can tell that the elevation of the floor is subtly more uneven than before. It almost feels like there is a bubble under the floor.
A friend said that since that is a very old house, that humidity plays a big role in this, and something like this can happen as the weather gets colder. Another possibility, is that right off the kitchen there is a porch, which had joists repaired earlier this summer, and I was thinking that maybe if a measurement was off by a little bit, it would cause the beams under the floor to settle. And it is an old beat-up kind of place. That is part of the charm to it, like a cabin in the woods..
I was also told by the landlord that the last person who lived in this place caused some water damage, when he allowed the pipes to freeze and burst last winter.
All of this combined, I am not sure what I am looking at here. Is this going to result in a major floor repair? Should I inform my landlord about this?
thanks
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there could be dead bodies under the floor boards and their slowly coming out. whatupp haunting in Connecticut!
You do nothing. There will not be a "major" floor repair. Your landlord is already aware of it.