Hi,

To my extreme frustration, my recently cleaned yoga mat has stained my rental apartments hardwood floor (in specific spots). I don't know if this is a result of dampness in the mat or a chemical reaction, but there are two relatively large marks on the floor .

I plan on contacting the landlord to discuss repair options, but would REALLY appreciate having some hardwood floor repair companies on hand, or researched, before I get a hold of him.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated...I'm in Basel.

Maybe if you post some pictures there could be some people on here that could provide advice.

It may initially be worth looking into the recommended approach that is advised before going to the landlord. Not suggesting you hide the fact more that it could be worth having some ideas and recommendations to present rather then confronting them with a problem that could result in a poor reaction that goes against you later. If it is possible to resolve it for minimal cost it may be best to sort it out without involving the landlord since then they will still think you are a model tenant.

If you confess to the landlord, he will order a professional company to repair the floor. You send the bill to your Haftpflicht Versicherung, and then you will have to pay about the first Fr 200 of the bill.

Depending on how much damage the stain causes and how much more time you have before you leave and how long it has been since the flooring was last dealt with you may luck out.

We had random dents and scuffs and marks and stains in our hardwood flooring and we had only lived there for 2 years but the previous tenants had lived there since the apartments opened. The outcome was that we had no financial liability as some wear and tear are considered normal on the flooring and the paintwork. Personally, I was very surprised considering all of the warnings about the window blinds and the plumbing fixtures and how sacrosanct their aesthetics and upkeep supposedly were.

Take a couple of photos with the lights on and from differant angles. could be as simple as taking to it with some sandpaper and then applying a stain.

On the other end it might be easier and save more time to just fess up to the landlord and write it off on the haftpflicht versicherung.

Hard to say though without pics

what you can try is take a scotchbrite cleaing pad, (the one with the rough green fibre surface) and together with a bit of all purpose cleaning fluid spray a bit, wait few minutes and then LIGHTY rub in the same direction as the grain of the wood.

if the stain is surface only then this should remove it.