diff --git a/src/boundary_writer.cc b/src/boundary_writer.cc
index 8649f3d85173c53dc534fcb29a7b0f88bae5fb35..82d5e2fbbdd33f0fa53f809f9d00f98dd56f58d0 100644
--- a/src/boundary_writer.cc
+++ b/src/boundary_writer.cc
@@ -19,13 +19,6 @@ BoundaryWriter<ScalarVector, Vector>::BoundaryWriter(
   for (size_t i = 0; i < boundaryNodes.size(); ++i)
     if (toBool(boundaryNodes[i]))
       vertexCoordinateWriter << vertexCoordinates[i] << std::endl;
-  vertexCoordinateWriter.close();
-}
-
-template <class ScalarVector, class Vector>
-BoundaryWriter<ScalarVector, Vector>::~BoundaryWriter() {
-  displacementWriter.close();
-  velocityWriter.close();
 }
 
 template <class ScalarVector, class Vector>
diff --git a/src/boundary_writer.hh b/src/boundary_writer.hh
index 32033a7c9629b2b7430cdce23f8cc1a2a1f3c65c..9f0680f3905d343d612724d44355c4f5a146fe34 100644
--- a/src/boundary_writer.hh
+++ b/src/boundary_writer.hh
@@ -15,8 +15,6 @@ template <class ScalarVector, class Vector> class BoundaryWriter {
                  Dune::BitSetVector<1> const &_boundaryNodes,
                  std::string prefix, Projector projector);
 
-  virtual ~BoundaryWriter();
-
   void writeKinetics(Vector const &u, Vector const &v);
 
 protected:
diff --git a/src/friction_writer.cc b/src/friction_writer.cc
index cc24c2e4ea739d00ba2862b1aa3ee530b82924fc..ce71828dd4a2fd5117e21476baa0a927ddb94596 100644
--- a/src/friction_writer.cc
+++ b/src/friction_writer.cc
@@ -14,12 +14,6 @@ FrictionWriter<ScalarVector, Vector>::FrictionWriter(
       coefficientWriter(prefix + "Coefficients", std::fstream::out),
       stateWriter(prefix + "Alpha", std::fstream::out) {}
 
-template <class ScalarVector, class Vector>
-FrictionWriter<ScalarVector, Vector>::~FrictionWriter() {
-  stateWriter.close();
-  coefficientWriter.close();
-}
-
 template <class ScalarVector, class Vector>
 void FrictionWriter<ScalarVector, Vector>::writeOther(
     ScalarVector const &coefficient, ScalarVector const &alpha) {
diff --git a/src/friction_writer.hh b/src/friction_writer.hh
index e884d4d696a1328faf72f00f2eb7bedd08db1158..957f5f9f3757d7c60792576cfd1456508088ff43 100644
--- a/src/friction_writer.hh
+++ b/src/friction_writer.hh
@@ -17,8 +17,6 @@ class FrictionWriter : public BoundaryWriter<ScalarVector, Vector> {
                  Dune::BitSetVector<1> const &_boundaryNodes,
                  std::string prefix, typename BW::Projector projector);
 
-  ~FrictionWriter();
-
   void writeOther(ScalarVector const &coefficient, ScalarVector const &alpha);
 
 private:
diff --git a/src/sand-wedge.cc b/src/sand-wedge.cc
index 481e17ebc8ec9b48c84ac7879b9b9e621dcf0c36..c5559c6dcfcce7197ac19150707201a108473685 100644
--- a/src/sand-wedge.cc
+++ b/src/sand-wedge.cc
@@ -336,7 +336,6 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
 
       report();
     }
-    timeStepWriter.close();
     Python::stop();
   } catch (Dune::Exception &e) {
     Dune::derr << "Dune reported error: " << e << std::endl;