Refusing HOA Repairs

There is a 3rd option. It's a lot less money and can be done yourself if you want. Saw it on an episode of "Ask This Old House". This person had a creaking floor that kept waking their baby. They also had carpeting too. The fix is simple and involves special break away screws. The screws come with a special attachment connecting to your drill to install perfect depth through carpet.

It's pretty simple. You just run a few string lines across the floor 16 inches apart to match up with support boards. They should be 16 inch to center on most builds per code. Just have to know which way the run. You then just insert the screws into the drill and insert into the special attachment. The screws then break off and disappear under the carpet.

You can put down as many as you want anywhere that a board needs to be tightened. A much cheaper solution than ripping up the floor to do basically the same thing.

Hi Tim,

Part if the issue is my downstairs neighbor is the board president. She violates rules constantly with no consequences.

Not relevant in working out a compromise with the Board (i.e. the entire Board).

Ask for a meeting.

She has a definite conflict of interest, I would contact your local ombudsman's office and file an immediate complaint. depending on
how time sensitive this is, they can on your behalf file a motion to halt any proceedings until an amicable solution can be worked out.

I wouldn't allow that in my house. The screws can grab a thread of carpet and pad and make a mess. Also, it is difficult to find the joists under existing carpeted floors.

Evidently the 'subfloor' is considered a structural element for which the association is responsible.

Any carpet or other flooring installed UPON the subfloor would be the owner's responsibility.

Hello Kerry,

There are guidelines, the carpets are the same carpets from the last 12 years.

Not sure which questions you are referring to,
How many directors on on the board, Tristen? The prez should not have voted on this solution as she has a conflict of interest. What does she mean "noise sensitive," and if so, why should that be your personal problem?

-I'm not sure how many people are on the board, she's the longest sitting board member. She sleeps with her bathroom fan on as white noise, I hear it but have never complained. You bring up a good point, if it's not a structural issue then why is the HOA paying for it.

Are you saying the board wants you to pay for this "solution?" Did you put in this floor that's making this extra noise? Or is it an original floor? How old is your condo? How many unit?

-the association will be paying for the repairs. Per the contractor the floorboards need to be re-secured. The carpeting is 12 years old. The condo itself was built in 85 bit was a condo conversion in 2005. Not sure if they did anything to the floors. In my building I'm on the top and she's on the bottom, only other neighbors are on one side.

I'm in a high rise condo and on the Board. We have a similar case coming up next week. Just got my board packet so don't know the details yet.

So, the contractor wants to start ASAP. I'm going to try and hold them off as much as I can. I am also going to suggest theyvinsulate her ceiling since she is the "noise sensitive" one.

Typically, squeaky subfloors don't need a complete "rebuild" but that would be the only way to ensure the problem doesn't re-occur. If they are going to "rebuild" the floor they are going to pull up your subfloor and, if they're doing it right, glue the subfloor to the floor joists as well as screwing it all down. A few screws would probably suffice, but if they're going to this extent they will (or should) insulate your downstair's neighbors ceiling at the same time (the space above her ceiling is the same space below your creaky boards). It's a lot less expensive to insulate from above than it is to tear out someone's entire ceiling, reinstall a new ceiling, reinstall all the light fixtures/fans, and then paint it.

Your carpet can be reused without any negative consequences. The contractor will simply re-stretch the carpet and re-attach it to the tack strips. The padding underneath it would need to be re-used. Re-stretching carpet, fixing squeaky floorboards, re-using carpet in the same room, etc. are all common issues and it will be difficult you deserve/need a new carpet for this issue.

I suggest figuring out what you want to accomplish here and focusing your efforts on the things you can't negotiate on. That is, it's been a month since you started this thread and presumably you're already in your new job. How strongly do you feel you need to watch construction for two days? If you don't know how to repair floors or lay carpet, then you won't know what you're watching anyway. Unless this is simply an issue of trusting strangers in your home then address that concern--securing your valuables, for example.

You need new padding after this job, not new carpet. The carpet can be re-stretched without consequence but the padding is going to be either glued or stapled down and will need to be torn out. Given the inconvenience to you, this is a good leverage point to ask for upgraded padding (which is also going to have a better impact on the comfort and longevity of your carpet than a new carpet assuming the carpet you have is already a good quality one).

You need a place to sleep, not necessarily your home for a day or two. This seems like a good leveraging point to request hotel accommodations. It does seem unreasonable to ask you to move your furniture into another room and then set it all up again so that you can sleep there.

Your downstairs neighbor is noise sensitive. There's no guarantee she won't hear something else through your floor after this work. This would be another good reason to request they install sound barrier while they have the airspace open between the floors. If they glue the floorboards down then they won't be able to get them up again and they'll have to go through a very expensive process of tearing through her ceiling. If they aren't going to glue the floorboards down, then they don't need to rebuild the floor. If the bid consists of tearing up the floor and screwing down new sub-flooring, the issue is going to reoccur. Chances are your board doesn't have flooring experience and they may be relying on the contractor's opinion. Point out these concerns and common sense should dictate even without specific expertise.

By way of example, I've recently resolved a decade long issue of our park's grass not having full sprinkler coverage. For at least the past ten years the issue was claimed that our sprinkler head layout was wrong and that it'd take a complete re-trenching and re-installation. The previous president refused to approve the expenditure. Instead, he walked around with a hose and sprinkler each morning and covered the dead spots. I decided to start at the obvious point--the sprinkler heads hadn't been replaced or configured properly in at least as long as the issue. I had a different contractor come out to replace and setup the sprinkler heads. While they were pulling the heads, they discovered that nearly all of the old sprinklers were broken, thereby reducing the water pressure, and that alone accounted for why they were only throwing halfway across the area they needed to be. Anyway, the fix from one expert's opinion isn't always the best or the right way to do things. If you want to bolster your opinion about any of this you can request a flooring company to come out and give you a bid and show that to the board.

MichaelB44, thanks for the info and insight. I was not requesting new carpet but the information on the padding is useful.
I know this contractor, he worked last year on our trellis and left wood pieces, loose used nails and paint spills all over my stairs. It was a long process to get him to clean the paint off my stairs. He claimed it was environmental elements not paint. I know the difference between white paint drops and dirt. I don't trust him or his workers. I also heard, that two of his workers were caught urinating in the bushes. Another issue, is he is planning on moving my bedroom furniture into my living room. I know it won't fit and if it comes down to it, I will send photos of my place to the HOA.

I have sent an email to the community manager, mentioning that my neighbor identified herself as noise sensitive when we first met. I requested that the board (sans her) reevaluate the options. Since she is noise sensitive it would make sense to prevent further issues with noise to insulate her ceiling. I asked if the creaking from the floor is a disruptive as the bathroom fan I hear her running all night for white noise. After all, we live in a multi-family dwelling, there will be noise. I have put up with the fan noise for over 6 years. The creaking is from my bedroom floor, I'm not in my bedroom running around or jumping up and down. I walk to my bed, to the bathroom and in the mornings, I walk around more when I'm getting ready for work.

It's all just frustrating to me, that I have to be inconvenienced for the sake of a little noise. The contractor has me running around my bedroom so he can hear the noise. It probably isn't worth their battle but I will continue on.

THANKS for hearing me vent. (reading me vent).

If the Association is willing to pay for you to have better floors and new flooring ... I would tell them Make My Day! However, if it will take more than one day you need to provide me with a hotel room while work is completed .