Tarmac from pavement all over living room carpet
Discussion
My partner's mother returned home from a shopping trip with a friend recently to find that once in the house, her carpet was covered in tar (or whatever it is that they use to cover pavements).
It turns out that a team had been working on her street while she was out. Unfortunately, she lives in one of those terraces where your first step off the street takes you straight into the front room.
She always takes her shoes off but her friend had wiped her feet and walked in.
I don't know what happens normally here but she is pretty upset that this has happened and feels that something should have been done to warn the residents that this was happening. Maybe a leaflet on the door or a sticker on your door handle.
If you have dogs or toddlers there's always the chance that dirty feet will get past your mat but 99% of the time this would be something cleanable and if it was chewing gum it would be localised and not cover the entire floor.
The taxi had dropped her right outside her house so there was hardly any time to realise the pavement was different either in look or feel.
Once she realised what had happened she went outside and found the team round the corner. The foreman couldn't care less and to rub salt into the wounds he actually said that it would be worse than when they do the roads as they don't need to use glue on the footpaths.
Finally, she isn't insured but should she be having to make a claim here anyway?
After chasing the council for a couple of days, they promised they would send something to clean the carpet with. What they actually sent was a photocopy of a product leaflet for a tool cleaner.
This has annoyed her somewhat and she still isn't getting anywhere.
I'll probably knock her up a compliant letter if she continues to get no joy but can anyone offer any advice as to the likelihood of getting anywhere with this, particular departments to contact or previous similar outcomes?
Thanks a lot.
It turns out that a team had been working on her street while she was out. Unfortunately, she lives in one of those terraces where your first step off the street takes you straight into the front room.
She always takes her shoes off but her friend had wiped her feet and walked in.
I don't know what happens normally here but she is pretty upset that this has happened and feels that something should have been done to warn the residents that this was happening. Maybe a leaflet on the door or a sticker on your door handle.
If you have dogs or toddlers there's always the chance that dirty feet will get past your mat but 99% of the time this would be something cleanable and if it was chewing gum it would be localised and not cover the entire floor.
The taxi had dropped her right outside her house so there was hardly any time to realise the pavement was different either in look or feel.
Once she realised what had happened she went outside and found the team round the corner. The foreman couldn't care less and to rub salt into the wounds he actually said that it would be worse than when they do the roads as they don't need to use glue on the footpaths.
Finally, she isn't insured but should she be having to make a claim here anyway?
After chasing the council for a couple of days, they promised they would send something to clean the carpet with. What they actually sent was a photocopy of a product leaflet for a tool cleaner.
This has annoyed her somewhat and she still isn't getting anywhere.
I'll probably knock her up a compliant letter if she continues to get no joy but can anyone offer any advice as to the likelihood of getting anywhere with this, particular departments to contact or previous similar outcomes?
Thanks a lot.
t into your carpet, do you go looking for dog owners to sue?McGraw said:
She always takes her shoes off but her friend had wiped her feet and walked in.
McGraw said:
Finally, she isn't insured
And now she knows why accidental damage contents insurance is worth having.McGraw said:
but should she be having to make a claim here anyway?
Depends how highly she values the friendship. It certainly isn't the council's fault that this friend has no manners and is unobservant.I sympathise and I agree with BV that it's not really a situation worth getting formal over.
It might be worth letting the council dept responsible know what happened and asking/suggesting that prior leaflets and/or signage at time of the works might have prevented it from happening.
Taking a constructive tone is more likely to yield a positive reaction from local authorities.
It might be worth letting the council dept responsible know what happened and asking/suggesting that prior leaflets and/or signage at time of the works might have prevented it from happening.
Taking a constructive tone is more likely to yield a positive reaction from local authorities.
swerni said:
McGraw said:
Her friend has Alzheimer's. Do you feel so superior now?
That's relevant because ?
Seriously OP it is unfortunate that this has happened but, as above, it is in the same group of life events as walking fresh dog eggs into the carpet. Annoying, but that is life and why you might consider it worthwhile spending a little more each year on accidental insurance as well as the bare minimum.
McGraw said:
After chasing the council for a couple of days, they promised they would send something to clean the carpet with....
I'll probably knock her up a compliant letter if she continues to get no joy but can anyone offer any advice as to the likelihood of getting anywhere with this, particular departments to contact or previous similar outcomes?
Don't forget, the problem here is the carpet.I'll probably knock her up a compliant letter if she continues to get no joy but can anyone offer any advice as to the likelihood of getting anywhere with this, particular departments to contact or previous similar outcomes?
You'd be surprised what a professional cleaner will do with the right detergents or solvents and professional steam cleaning equipment.
If I were you?
Don't waste time trying to get some fool in the council send you any old pot of liquid. As they will. If you are lucky.
Invest that time getting the carpet cleaned professionally. Then invest the time you would have done on attempting getting them to pay the bill on the basis they promised to send cleaning fluid but didn't.
Same thing happened to me last week . The LA tarmaced our road and my son and dog tramped tar into the house all over our carpet
Lakeland sell this tar remover and it did the job nicely
http://www.lakeland.co.uk/8976/Sticky-Stuff-Remove...
Lakeland sell this tar remover and it did the job nicely
http://www.lakeland.co.uk/8976/Sticky-Stuff-Remove...
allergictocheese said:
Maybe the person in the OP should ask the council if they'll tarmac the living room. Hey presto! No more staining problems.
It's possible the carpet and underlay are laid over bitumen (it was in one old terraced house I lived in).If this is the case... Take carpet, underlay and all fixings up and voila!
Thanks for the sensible replies.
She never asked me to post this, I just heard the story second hand and thought I'd see if there was any guidelines the council work to in terms of notifications and complaints.
Just to explain properly, you are straight off the pavement into her front room. Not even a step.
Unless you balance on the sill, you have no choice but to set foot in the house unless you take your shoes off one at a time as you step in.
So if you have a nice inlaid mat, that's getting messed up unless you're aware and can get some newspaper down.
The council should be making residents of houses with front doors that open straight onto the pavement aware that they've doing it.
She never asked me to post this, I just heard the story second hand and thought I'd see if there was any guidelines the council work to in terms of notifications and complaints.
Just to explain properly, you are straight off the pavement into her front room. Not even a step.
Unless you balance on the sill, you have no choice but to set foot in the house unless you take your shoes off one at a time as you step in.
So if you have a nice inlaid mat, that's getting messed up unless you're aware and can get some newspaper down.
The council should be making residents of houses with front doors that open straight onto the pavement aware that they've doing it.
McGraw said:
The council should be making residents of houses with front doors that open straight onto the pavement aware that they've doing it.
You should write to the council and suggest they do just that next time.I got letters from the council when they done it outside my house, but if they didn't i'd have still known by looking at the pavement.
Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff