carpet or linoleum?

Question

Hey everyone,

what do you use in your rentals? Carpet which would need to be replaced each time? Or linoleum or pergo which would sustain several renters?

Thanks!

Michael Rossi · Answer

I use carpet throughout the house. Tenants will destroy linoleum almost every time. All they have to do is drag one heavy thing across it and it is ruined. You can get cheap berber carpet at Lowes 55 cents per square foot that is easy to clean and will usually last 2-4 tenants. Pergo, wood, linoleum, and tlle are all losers in my experience. Of course, if you have higher income tenants, like NYC, then act accordingly.

Mike

Don Mack · Answer

Do you mean vinyl? :goofy:

Larry T. · Answer

Thank you all for the responses, so much to think about!  In my case, I should have mentioned, it is a low end rental, that requires the most  very basic of materials and that said, I would want durability. I am considering that commercial vinyl tile!  If not then CHEAP carpet. I did not know that linoleum could get ruined so easily.

Thank you!!

Rich Schroeder · Answer

all my houses are around 100 years old. They have thick wood floors and I just paint them with an oil based floor paint (thank you to Mike OH for the suggestion). It looks great and my renters love it, which are lower-middle class. It costs just a few cents per square foot to do!

-Rich

Mitch Kronowit · Answer

My condo had carpet in the bedrooms and living room, wood floors in the kitchen and hall, and linoleum/vinyl in the bathrooms when I put it into rental service about 12 years ago.

Since then, I've replaced the carpet at least once in all the rooms. The wood floor suffered some damage under the refrigerator, but I repaired it easily. I will probably refinish the entire wood floor between tenants. I believe the wood floor is an attractive selling point (it's also the first thing you see entering the unit). I've also replaced the bathroom floors with ceramic tile. I even extended the ceramic tile into the bedrooms all the way to the door (a very high traffic area that was just killing the carpet there).

Each type of floor covering has it's merits and I don't plan on changing anything in the condo.

My rental house has carpet in all the bedrooms and hallway. Linoleum/vinyl in the kitchen and bathrooms, and Mexican pavers in the living room and family room. I'm happy with everything except the pavers. I find them dark and ugly. My plan is to change them for wooden floors (probably an inexpensive laminate product) that I can lay myself next year or so.

Keep the great advice coming everyone!

Brian Lunsford · Answer

I have used pergo (off brand at lowe's about 85-90 cents sq. ft.) I use an upgraded pad so it doesn't have that hollow sound.

People in my price point are blown away with how much cleaner and nicer it looks over carpet (always dingy looking).

Too soon to know how it holds up, but so far so good.

Connie Brzowski · Answer

For our low-end rentals, we like peel and stick vinyl tiles for several reasons:

1. Cost-- we buy the most expensive available which runs about $1 each
2. Durability--The better tiles hold up very well and if you prep the floor right beforehand, they don't peel up the way they used to back in the day :mrgreen: 
3. Ease of repair-- if one (or 2 or 3) get scratched, they're easy to replace. We keep an extra box on hand. Replacing is as easy as (a)heating with a blow dryer, (b) lift the old tile off, (c) stick the new tile down... gotta love it  8) 
4. For repairs, we charge $10/tile to replace damaged tile... reasonable (the tenant doesn't get charged for the entire floor) and also gives a nice profit margin as it takes about 60 seconds to fix  :D 
5. Looks-- the newer peel and stick looks fantastic... nothing like the old, cheap thin stuff. Our tenants love it. We're going to experiment with the wood grain planks on our next place which look *very* nice at the same cost as the high end squares.

Jim Gordon · Answer

I think mike may be thinking of residential vinal tiles. Those are just printed on the top and get ruined fairly easy. Linoleum tile that is solid color is hard to ruin and I have it in 3 of my rentals and it survives.

Account Closed · Answer

As you can see from the responses the correct answer varies based on the economic level and the type or location. Condos in a high rise, high end rentals, beach property, older home with hardwood floors already there, subdivisions where there is underlayment but no finish so carpets were always assumed.

Note that in some markets the best flooring for wear and tear is not going to attract the tenants. When in the higher end people expect wood with area rugs and will largely grab those units first compared to average grade carpets everywhere. The carpet might be easier for the landlord but will attract fewer tenants.

John Corey

Richard F. · Answer

D) None of the above.

For average and low end rentals, my preferred floorcovering is commercial vinyl tile. Properly installed (which isn't that difficult) it will last 20 years. Tenants really can't do anything to it that renting a power buffer won't cure in short order. Just be sure to use the proper wax.

carpet or linoleum?

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