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Are Your Sparks Residents Damaging your Rental’s Surface Areas?

Sparks Tenant Trying to Fix Floors in a Rental PropertyEffort and regular maintenance are needed in caring for a rental home. A good quality tenant sees this and would help the property owners in keeping their Sparks rental homes clean, maintained, and in good repair. But there are tenants, who mean well, yet unintentionally cause damage to a home’s interior surfaces.

Sometimes tenants would cause unintentional damage simply because they were unaware that their effort to help would actually do the opposite. Other times, the damage is caused by accidents or as the result of a tenant’s poor decision. The knowledge of the most common ways a rental home’s interior surfaces can sustain inadvertent damage is a tool that property owners shouldn’t be without. This would allow them to keep their tenants informed and maintain the condition of their rental homes.

When surface damage goes beyond basic wear and tear, tenant negligence is usually the source. Countertops, floors, and even sinks and bathtubs are being used every day and can last for many years, even under such heavy use. But some tenants don’t know the correct methods of care and protection for that these surfaces require.

As a case in point, kitchen and bathroom countertops can generally take daily cleanings, food preparation activities, and a few spills without a problem. However, countertops can be damaged by harsh cleaning products, mainly those containing bleach or ammonia. The variety of cleaning product to use depends largely on the kind of countertops you have in your rental home. This should be chosen with care.

There are other ways countertops can be damaged. These include placing too much weight on a countertop, like an unusually heavy appliance or even a person standing on it.  Some countertops may be damaged by placing hot pans or appliances on them, such as a toaster oven or a slow cooker.

Even a curling iron can cause burn marks on a bathroom countertop and can be difficult to remove. Cutting and chopping directly on a countertop may also damage the surface, making small indentations that can grow into bigger issues in the future.

Floors are another interior surface that tenants often accidentally damage. There are a lot of things that could go unnoticed even under a watchful tenant’s radar. Small leaks under a refrigerator or a drip under the cabinet from a sink water supply line could go on unnoticed, and these could, over time, create permanent water damage in a kitchen floor.

Moving furniture is one of the biggest culprits of unintentional floor damage. Dragging things, especially heavy items, across a laminate or wood floor can cause scratches, gouging, and tears. This is mainly the way most carpets get torn. Putting heavy furniture in the wrong spot can crack or chip tile floors, also dropping heavy items, such as exercise weights or even books. Just like countertops, applying the wrong cleaning products can permanently damage a floor, stripping off finishes and creating unsightly stains or bleach spots.

Bathtubs can also sustain accidental damage from harsh cleaning products. On the other hand, not cleaning often enough is also a common mistake. Mineral deposits from tap water build up to the point where they are almost impossible to remove and end up allowing mildew to form. Just like tile, when you put something that is too heavy in a bathtub, it can cause cracks. Using a bathtub for things it was not designed for can result in a variety of problems. These problems can range from unfixable scratches in a solid-surface unit to rust or coloring dye stains.

The most useful way to help tenants avoid unintentionally damaging your rental home’s interior surfaces is by giving them all the necessary information. Show them how to properly clean countertops, move heavy furniture, and so on. This education can greatly help in preventing expensive repairs. At Real Property Management Corazon, we interact with both tenants and property owners to make certain that all the people involved would take care of the rental home with more than just wanting to be helpful, but with the proper know-how as well.

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