One of my properties is getting ready to become vacant, and I have to make some renovations to put back on the market. In the living area, do you guys prefer wood floors (well, laminate) or carpet?
I've always been partial to carpet everywhere but the kitchen, but I've been thinking about how many mishaps happen in living rooms if you are eating on the couch or especially when lots of people are watching tv and eating. I still see my friend unexplicably knocking 2 Whataburger ketchups down to our floor and the long ketchuppy splash it made. Go with the laminate.
People still use carpet? My wife and I rippped up the carpet in our new house without a second thought. We didn't even have the money to put anything else down. Once we get some money, we'll put some laminate flooring down. Turns out that there was really old tile underneath with a couple tiles missing in the hallway. Plus, we had to rip up the old carpet tack strips, so around the edge of our living room there is bare slab in some parts. The old tile is still dingy, has stains from the old carpet padding adhesive, and has a couple of bumps where the slap is uneven.... ....it's still better than carpet, though!
Dude that's old school. And by old school I mean kind ghetto See it depends. If it's a house I buy and it's new carpet, then I'm rather indifferent. But if you're going to rent it out as an apartment... carpet is almost a deal breaker for me when it comes to apartments. They're usually gross... and wood is very easy to clean.
I have real hardwood floors (not laminate) throughout my house, except in the kitchen and in the bathrooms. It was one of the selling points of the house for me (house was built in 1955). I love 'em.
wood > carpet > laminate. (Unless it's good laminate...or you can be sure your renters won't be scratching it up). How will carpet vs laminate last in a rental unit? Is it a multiplex where the carpet will dampen the noise between units? Good hardwood trumps all (in my opinion) but....man....i've seen some bad laminate!
Wood floors look so much nicer and it's easier to clean. If you have young kids, laying out a rug in the play area is a good idea.
Look man its a rental unit. Put some cheap carpet down because your tenants wont give a damn about how well they keep the wood floor if they are only staying for a couple of years. Put some cheap carpet down and let them go wild. Then change it whenever its time for a new tennant. Now if you want to go with the most cost-effective way then put tile flooring down (not vinyl). Because tile will never go bad, except maybe a couple of pieces crack (unlikely but) because like I said, they dont care about your floor. So keep an extra box or two of the tile stashed somewhere. Beleive me if you want to save money in the long run. Make the whole house ceramic or porcelain tile. It will last you forever and dont worry it goes in every room. Wood gets messed up so will carpet, nothing u can do about it.
Last apartment I was in, they had carpets everywhere except the kitchen. Even in the bathrooms. So, when we built our house, we went nuts on the anti-carpet sentiment. I have tile downstairs and parquet up. Not a stitch of carpet anywhere, which may have been an overreaction. It'd be nice to have carpet somewhere. Coma, how nice is this apartment? If it's class A, I'd definitely do wood; B, you have the option of carpet. If it was class C, you probably wouldn't be asking.
I have Ceramic tile and hardwoods, but damn, its so hard to keep clean...With carpet, you think its clean, but its not...
JV - It's class A-/B+, how's that? Samar - I disagree with your thinking. Just because it's a rental unit doesn't mean that potential tenants don't want something nice. All things being equal, I just don't rent it out to the first renter that asks. As with everything, you need an edge, and for an extra $400-500 over carpet, laminate is doable. bnb - Why do you think carpet is better than laminate? Just personal preference? Sure there's cheap laminate and bad installs, but I have a nice hookup.
I have laminates everywhere but the kitchen and bathroom. There are people who walk into my house (assuming the floors are clean) who think that I just had them installed and they were put in 6 years ago. That is with all my cats too.
Go with the wood or laminate. The tenant is more likely to clean up his spill, timely and properly. The place will look clean, classy and nice. The engineered bamboo floor at $ 2.00 at lumber liquidators looks like a pretty good deal. You have installation on top of that, too, of course. If you go to the store, I think they have some closeout longboard at $ 1.80, too. The problem with inexpensive laminates is you can tear a scratch in the top layer. There is no means of repair. That pretty much ruins a piece, much like laminate furniture. If people are moving a fridge around and the wheel comes off, you'll get scratched laminate. It'd cut a groove in a wood floor, too, of course, but someone can fill with putty and coat over that with poly urethane.
I feel like I must be missing something these days... I don't understand why everyone hates carpet so much. I always thought it was soft and comfortable. Maybe it's just the trends these days...
I think their lazy *ss*s don't want to do carpet shampoo and prefer to shell out more ca$h for the wood material. I am a lie-down-and-have-my-kids-and-wife-wrestle-with-me-until-tired kind of guy. Maybe I will try the laminate or wood floor later... later later, but not right now right now... Just WHAT are the advantages of wooden floors as opposed to carpet?
Now that my kids are grown and not as apt to falling and crawling I prefer wood. It's easier to keep clean, looks better over the long haul and if you use the proper underlayment can be very quite.
