Wear and tear

The washing machine flooded the basement due to wear and tear, so Margaret was not eligible for insurance.

The main obstacles to increasing traffic, in fact, are the heavy gradients and sharp curves on the approaches to the Gotthard Tunnel. Wear-and-tear of the track necessitates frequent attention by the civil engineers and possessions are hard to obtain without reducing the throughput of trains.

[…] long john underwear, heavy socks, rubber boots, thick flannel shirts, oilskins — it all wore and tore and sprung holes from the hard use of battling storm and bad weather.