Wood floor - finish flaking - any concerns or tips?

Hello,

I've just moved into a new apartment, and the "nice" wood floors are flaking in spots. The previous finishers were never very good about prepping the floor beforehand, and though the finish is new, there are some tiny glittery flakes.

Now, there's little or no chance we can move...so other than some area rugs and vacuuming, does anyone have any tips?

Any idea of if (or how) toxic this might be?

I'm concerned about the cats picking up flakes on their paws and then ingesting them as they clean. We can be good about cleaning the floors, but I fear the cats getting some flakes on them is unavoidable.

Thanks!

I would be concerned as well. Can you get them to come out and put another layer of varnish over it? Either that, or sand the floor both of them would be inconvienent though. Your best bet would probably be rugs. perhaps you can buy a really large one for the flaky-est rooms? I had a rug once that covered almost my whole room, maybe something like that? I don't think the flakes would be good for the kitties, even if they were'nt toxic.

Insist that the landlord fix this defect, even if you didn't have cats they should fix it, and escrow or otherwise withhold a portion of your rent until uits fixed.

Sadly, the landlord option isn't a very good one...our landlord is basically off-site, only accessible via a P.O. box. The on-site super gets along with us, but takes forever to do anything (and I mean forever). It's like trying to push a mountain and would likely backfire to try to push things through.

I think I'll have to sand and vacuum...maybe use a scraper in the bad parts...ugh.

Ironically, the floor was nicely re-done -- it's just obvious that they never prepped the floor underneath to begin with. Everything is done half-arse...

Ok well if you start witholding rent you may find its easier to contact the landlord as they will certainly contact you! Good luck.