BiggerPockets

Ok, I've just finished tearing out yet another piece of perfectly good carpet that was completely destroyed by an idiot tenant for no reason whatsoever. I'm giving painting these wood floors a shot to see if I can rent these things with painted wood floors instead of carpeting. The units go for about $475 a month for a 1 bed apartment. I'll have this thing ready before the weekend. If I can re-rent this thing in 2 weeks then I don't think I'll ever buy a roll of carpet again.

I'll let you know how it goes. I have a house I'm working on that goes for about 600 a month that I'm going to try this in 2 rooms as well. Again, will let you know.

No. Floor paint. They make paint specifically for floors.

I'm going to put in my ad that it's "European Style Wood Floors". People have no friggin' clue what "European style" means but it sounds good.

Tim,

I've used it on my $950 houses, and they love it. When you put a fresh coat on it's nice and shiny.

one thing I learned...that oil based paint takes a while to fully cure. Dries to the touch in about 8 hours, but takes 30 days or so to fully cure. It scratches really easy during that time.

-Rich

Try rustoleum in grey or green. I use it in hallways.

Sounds like you rent to neanderthals.
Why do you suspect it is so easy for them to mistreat their carpets?

Low income does not have to mean filthy pigs, does it? Is this section 8?

-Maybe it is what I am accustomed to but I haven't seen rentals with exposed subfloors even in my low-income neighborhoods ($500/mo).

Exactly Tim! You can't rely on these people to change the battery in their smoke detectors, let alone keep a carpet clean. Too much headache. Pull the carpet, pull tack strip and freaking staples and if you can, wax the hardwood several times, if it's too far gone, paint the sucker. Let them buy floor rugs, if they don't like the wood floors. Keep in mind, I also allow small pets, cats and dogs. You can get a lot more in rent and sometimes better tenants if you allow pets.

I haven't laughed that hard all week. European Style Wood Floors. I love it.

I'm assuming you are talking about wood floors (like hardwood) not plywood or OSB? Or would you paint them too? I can't imagine particle board looking good painted.

Yeah all my houses were built before the invention of plywood so it's some combination of hard and soft wood floors.

They look great Tim! I might have to try that when my college kids move out this month.

I'll look into that Tom. The color I went with was "thecheapest". Found another cheaper floor paint at Walmart last night. 14 bucks a gallon. Will try that on another unit.