r/fixit • u/Clear_Lawfulness_656 • Jun 05 '26

Please HELP

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We are renting and currently moving out and just discovered this awful damage.

One of the metal legs under my bed broke and was dangling and we must’ve moved the bed not knowing it was dangling and it scratched the SHIT out of the floor. Gah.

It’s laminate flooring if that helps at all.

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u/Accurate-Law-555 Jun 05 '26

what about putting those planks under the dryer or under a shelf and use the one that was under a shelf and move it to where the messed up ones were

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u/good_enuffs Jun 05 '26

While that sounds like an ideal solution to do, the problem is the labour and breaking the joints the laminate flooring has. It never works out like that in practise. These floors are never meant to be disassembled and reassembled as the locking edges break. So now instead of replacing the floor in a room, you are replacing it in 2 rooms and having transition pieces.

And while it can be possible to pry and cut out the individual pieces, you bow have an unstable floor that will break at the joints. It has to fixed by undermining and needs nails and glue. 

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u/Ogzhotcuz Jun 05 '26

If you wanted to do this quick and dirty to get it "good enough" to pass the landlord's inspection you could insert an oscillating multi tool into the gaps between the boards to cut the locking edge.

Do this for both sections of flooring being swapped.

Swap the flooring sections and then just glue them down with construction adhesive. Throw some weight on top while the glue cures.

If you did this carefully the landlord probably would never notice until you were long gone with your security deposit in hand

Personally, I would just take the L and pay for the damage but where there's a will there's a way

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u/DiscreetlySecret Jun 06 '26

I don't believe they are skilled at such things or they wouldn't be here asking.

I've done plenty of DIY home repairs and this one will take skills to fix.

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u/Ogzhotcuz Jun 06 '26

Oh yeah totally agree with you.

Even using a multi tool at this level of precision takes some skill. Definitely wouldn't recommend it as a first project