Best Type Of Flooring For Rental
I deal mostly in lower end rental properties. I own three right now that are in various states of disrepair. I will installing new flooring soon and am wondering what's best for long term hold-up. I am not into replacing carpet frequently. I am leaning toward vinyl tile in most of the house perhaps even in the bedrooms. What are your thoughts on this. I think its easy to install and will hold up in the long term. And easy to repair since if you buy and save extras you can cut out a few bad squares and easily slap down new ones. Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.
We've used some ceramic tile (what you can get on specials) for some of our units. Vinylt tile can tear and seems to shift easily with rough tenants. We have used some of the old 1960's style tile (the name escapes me at the moment) which lacks in aesthetics, but is sturdy. I have also had recommended to me by another landlord wood laminate flooring.
Good Luck!
In lower rent units, a hard flooring surface in all rooms helps to keep things cleaner. I've learned that several of my tenants do not have vacum cleaners, so carpets are never clean. A broom can be bought at the $.99 store.
Some of the laminate tile contains a liftime warrenty even for light commercial use. The tile cost doesn't compare to the labor of installing, leaving the warrently with little value. But it makes me believe that it will hold up well.
I would never put vinyl throughout any property. I would go wtih tile or pergo like floors it looks nicer and holds up better. Think when you go to rent it or sell it who is going to get excited about vinyl floors.
I wouldn't spend the money on Pergo for a lower end rental. If you can find a good installer for a reasonable price (or do it yourself) ceramic holds up well. Other than that, I don't think anything beats the vinyl tile (as long as you have a good surface underneath and they don't get too wet). Cheap, easy, easily replaceable.
You'll have to decide how picky you think tenants would be in a lower end rental. Might put some large area rugs in the bedrooms?
I've installed both Vinyl tile and ceramic tile in my rentals.
RO
Vinyl vs. Ceramic vs. Carpet
Vinyl: PRO
-Easy to install (Glue, Trowel, Blowdryer, Carpenters Knife)
-Hides nicks and scratchs (the pattern is all the way through)
-Easy to repair (blowdryer and new piece)
-Cheaper (unless you can install carpet yourself)
CON
-Looks dull, reminds me of my highschool floor.
-Roughly 2 days to install and set
-Floor has to be exactly level
Ceramic: PRO
-Looks ritzy/fancy
-Lasts forever
-Easy to clean
-Gives the house value / pinache
CON
-Hard and expensive to install
-Hard to replace/remove
-Requires lots of tools
-Can take 3 days to finish
-Floor has to be level
Carpet
-Quick to install (4 hours for my whole rental)
-Looks great
-Floor can be uneven
-Really cheap if you can install
CON
-I have to pay to install
-Easy to ruin/Must replace often
-Holds pet smells
That's about it. For a "do it yourselfer" I prefer the vinyl tile on any house I'm not planning on selling anytime soon.
[addsig]
Hey,
I think the IDEA of having a vinyl/tile floored house is great from the landlords view, but I think the reality from the tenant's view would be very different. I think the tenant is going to see an ugly, strange flooring. I have yet to walk in to a house, in my area, and see a flooring other than wood or carpet.
Obiviously, in kitchens, bathrooms and laundry rooms vinyl/tile flooring is fine.
My houses are all around $800 per month, which I consider low-middle class housing. Maybe different price ranges would view things differently.
Jason,
for lower end rentals there is NO comparison.
carpet carpet carpet !!!
Buy the cheapest carpet you can possibly buy and dont even think about padding or tackless. Simply cut the carpet into the room and staple down. Chances are each tenant is going to destroy the floors, so putting something more expensive in so it holds up, is not going to work. Of course the bathrooms and kitchen will get vinyl. Whoever tells you to put Pergo in a low income rental is not going to be in business very long.
concrete covered with "rhino liner" is what i'd like to use.......but i use carpet. its. me best for me..........km
I might start using the Rhino Liner on the walls to. ~ But there are tenants that can find a way to mess even that up.
I might start using the Rhino Liner on the walls to. ~ But there are tenants that can find a way to mess even that up.
For low end Section 8 rentals we use Armstrong "Elite" commercial grade tile. It's about $.50 each at Home Depot and is extremely tough stuff. In the Living room and Bedrooms we use a cheap but decent looking Indoor / Outdoor carpet stapled to the floor with no pad underneath. If a tile somehow chips it's easy to replace. When the tenant moves out the carpet is pretty much assured to be trashed and the cost to replace it in 4 rooms is only a few hundred bucks. I agree that putting Pergo in a low end unit is nuts.
Thank you for all the information. I think I will go with the commercial grade vinyl tile and the cheapest carpet available. I do have one more question about the padding. The unit I have in mind has some uneven flooring. I had to replace some rotten floor boards that were 3/4 inch toung and groove. The plywood I put down was only 22/32 or a tad smaller than the true 3/4 boards so there is a drop off where the two meet. I was hoping the padding would hide this. What do you think... will it ride without padding. I expect this unit to rent for $350-400.
Hey,
I must be missing it...why would you NOT use padding?
The stuff is cheap and makes the carpet nicer. Also, many times I have been able to leave the pad and only replace the carpet.[ Edited by Bruce on Date 11/12/2004 ]
I guess I'm one of the nutty landlords. My lower end rentals have brought in an additional $270/month and they are staying long term, they are so excited to get a place they can afford that has things they actually like in their home. We taught ourselves to lay tile, can always find a deal 69-79 cents/sqft, and after the first room we can do 1000 sq ft in two days, (allowing for drying time before grout. I found laminated wood flooring by the box at Costco, have seen it other places as well since then, and it has been through two yrs unscathed so far, I have a extra box tucked away, should we ever need to replace a section. My tenants prefer hard floors, bring their own area rugs. It's easier for them to keep up, and less of an allergen issue, also kid proof. Sign me Crazy like a fox. PamM
don't go to cheap on carpet. if you do its so thin it will not last. i would use at least 35 to 40 weight.....km
a mid-grade is about the best, low cost and lasts a good while.......km
We've used sheet vinyl in our rentals for the kitchen/bath/laundry areas. In our lowest-income rental, we put down commercial grade indoor-outdoor carpet and just glued it right to the floor. It's held up very well through a couple of very rough tenants who (surprisingly enough) never vacuumed. So we just rent a steam cleaner and the carpet looks great again.
One of our rentals is in a decent area, we just got cheap plush carpet and a halfway decent pad - replace the carpet if it looks too bad later.
If we had poured concrete floors in any of our rentals, I know we would lay tile. It's pretty durable so long as nobody drops a hammer on the tiles, and you can get ceramic cheaply if you find a discontinued tile.
Bumping this for more ideas. We are redoing the smaller of our two rental houses. 1 bdrm 675 sqft
lino in the kitchen laundry rm is shot.
These are our first props and we have been owners all of 2 weeks so any help is deeply appreciated!
thanks
Mal
Glad you bumped. Worked.
I am trying to decide what to put in a decent SFH on the lower level. Will remove all of the original small tiles down to concrete. Every blue moon a spot gets wet in a heavy rain if the gutters are clogged, so I am worried what to put that will be ok if it gets wet. Thoughts?
The only carpet I use these days is a darker, commerical glue down, no pad. Pads hold smells and they cost money. Now the first time you put down a glue down, it costs a bit because they have to remove the tack strips.
But I try to put tile in all my rentals - three broken pipes later. For wood floors (plywood) I use the peal and stick.
Brenda