Someone died in ds flat - marks on floor. See pics.

[Hishome]

Ds has just moved into his council home
And found out a man died in there last August he was found about 3 weeks after he died . He was decomposed because of the hot weather. Ds has shown me pictures of the floor boards he thinks theres marks from the decomposition. If there is should the council do something. I have included 2 pictures one looks more like wood stain to me. I'm not sure about the other one though. Surely its just general marks the house is old council would have replaced floorboards?

There are 2 pics because ds thinks one of them are from the person dying . But i actually think one is just wood stain

I wouldn't have thought that staining would be a priority for cleaning. They will surely have cleaned thoroughly to remove anything infectious or with the potential to cause odours. That is enough.

EDIT: And in any case there is zero reason to think these might be marks from the body. I think your son is perhaps just feeling freaked out by the knowledge of the death.

How did he get up and finish dying in a different room

Sorry I have edited to make it clearer. I meant one pf the marks could be nor both.

If people read the op properly she’s saying that ONE of the stains in the pics could be where the person decomposed not that both of them definitely are.

Just tell him to chuck the flooring down and forget about it.

The poor man's been dead nearly a year, nothing is going to harm your son.

And I genuinely hope the poor man's family don't stumble across this public thread, as it would be very upsetting I'm sure.

Oh so they don't need to replace floor boards?

I don't know I'm on the fence the man wasn't found for 3 weels in August last year.

Surely if your son is going to put flooring down the marks won't be visible?'fwiw i think the left hand one is old varnish.

The chances are he died in bed or in a chair. Less likely (though possible) he collapsed dramatically on the floor and died there.

I don't think either of the stains look like they are from a body.

If there were any marks on the floorboards the council would have replaced them. And if they hadn't, you'd be able to smell it!

I think either way when you move into a premises you’d rather not meet huge floor stains. Depressing that they didn’t do more than that to have it ready for a new tenant. Hope it gets sorted op or your dp gets to make it more homely

If they're genuine wood board it would be madness to replace them. What they do need is sanding and refinishing, independently of the cause. Probably quickest to rent the equipment from your nearest DIY store, it's entirely doable for laypeople. Maybe post on the Property/DIY board as well?

I'm not sure when he will get flooring. But yeah I think that one is wood stain to.

Take up any carpet from a wooden floor that’s been laid for years and you will find all sorts of stains there.

@Hishome could he get some cheap rugs for now?

Yes, thank you, this is how I feel, but I couldn't articulate it. His death, and not being found for three weeks, was an awful tragedy. Any visible sign of it is sad for him, and of no consequence for the new inhabitants.

Do think so after a year? But yeah I think they would replaced floor boards as well. Its quite a small job to replace floor boards.

Neither look like scenes of a death to me - we’ve renovated many old houses and there’s always patches on floorboards. The second photos had the floor boards replaced, and whatever caused that to be necessary probably the cause of the stain.
The first photo, unless the deceased was a very large person it’s too big to be a body mark even sprawled out flat. Most likely to have died in bed/chair I’d guess too.
Get some carpet down and forget about it - a house of some age will have seen many deaths, and of course births!

edited to add - look at the width of those floor boards, this is an older property, you don’t get them in a modern Bovis Lego house - would be very unusual for old floorboards not to have stains.

Its not mine its ds and its social housing. Its quite normal and the place is in good condition overall

If that was human fluid then it would smell really bad. I’m assuming it doesn’t smell. Looks like varnish for wood. I don’t think he has anything to worry about as the council sub contract deep cleaning to specialist firms. They tend to do a good job as it’s hazardous waste.

I said that to ds. The houses are over 100 years old. If he hadn't been told he wouldn't have known any different.

I do hope that the deceased gentleman’s family don’t hear you and your son discussing the manner of his death, it’s incredibly disrespectful and you’re being almost ghoulish with your speculation and photos.

Would a leaky, decomposing body leave such a neat outline? I think it would be more haphazard.

That is a body stain. It's large because in the first stage of decomp, you bloat and liquidise, sorry to be so blunt. You can see where they have intentionally ripped up the laminate floor over it and not bothered to replace. Body matter can seep through several layers so it's gone through the laminate onto the wood floor and up the walls, but that's been painted over. He could cover it with a piece of furniture or rug but ideally it needs ripping up.

Honestly, having been the police officer going into houses and finding similar state bodies, he'd know if those were decomposition marks because the smell would still be there.

A PP is correct about fluids on death and so on, but if that were what he thinks is it the residual smell would be very apparent even after a year. It would be an oily, cloying kind of scent.

He's very lucky he got a floor at all tbh, most people I know who've had council homes have had to get their own laid. Absolutely everything's ripped out when someone dies/leaves and all that's provided for the newcomer are a few kitchen cabinets and a very basic bathroom.