carpet for rentals

[srob]

For a student apartment in a college town with mostly married couples, would you get the cheapest carpet available, or thicker nicer stuff that will last longer. I generally have clean tenants without pets...

[Landlady]

If your area is smaller than 14 ft (I think) on one end you can buy carpet from a remnants store which will save you a lot of money and you might get a nicer carpet for less than the cheap ones at home depot. Anyway, I'd suggest avoiding berber because if a vacuum catches a loop you could have a tenant pulling a whole string out of the carpet ruining it. There are ways to fix it though with glue, but most tenants won't put the effort in. Also avoid wool and go with a plastic material so it will repel stains and clean easily. DON'T GET WHITE OR CREAM. :)
I'd go with as cheap as possible and if you're worried about the plushness you can always buy the thickest carpet pad since you don't have pets to worry about.

[Another Reader]

Cheap carpet with an above minimum grade pad.  Feels plush without the cost of upgraded carpet.  Carpet generally lasts 5 to 7 years with tenants.

[Papa bear]

I got rid of all the carpet on my campus rentals.  Had to replace too often, and I'd rather pay more up front for something that is less maintenance.   Laminate, hardwood, or vinyl is what I have. 


Edited for typo

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[pbkmaine]

Industrial carpet squares. They wear like iron and can be replaced.

[NoNonsenseLandlord]

Use laminate, not carpet.  You will save a LOT more.

[Bobberth]

Never carpet. I use vinyl planks for properties where I can't refinish the hardwood underneath (St. Louis with lots of old & good housing stock). Laminate and engineered wood has particle board backing which will bow and warp when exposed to moisture such as pets, wet shoes, spills that aren't cleaned up or even humidity. Vinyl is immune to all that. The planks make it look like real hardwood and I get lots of compliments on my hardwood floors. The stuff I use is $1.99/sqft and is routinely on sale for $1.69.

[NoNonsenseLandlord]

Never carpet. I use vinyl planks for properties where I can't refinish the hardwood underneath (St. Louis with lots of old & good housing stock). Laminate and engineered wood has particle board backing which will bow and warp when exposed to moisture such as pets, wet shoes, spills that aren't cleaned up or even humidity. Vinyl is immune to all that. The planks make it look like real hardwood and I get lots of compliments on my hardwood floors. The stuff I use is $1.99/sqft and is routinely on sale for $1.69.

I have considered vinyl planks.  Does the vinyl show any seams and other imperfections in the underlying sub-floor?

[Papa bear]

Never carpet. I use vinyl planks for properties where I can't refinish the hardwood underneath (St. Louis with lots of old & good housing stock). Laminate and engineered wood has particle board backing which will bow and warp when exposed to moisture such as pets, wet shoes, spills that aren't cleaned up or even humidity. Vinyl is immune to all that. The planks make it look like real hardwood and I get lots of compliments on my hardwood floors. The stuff I use is $1.99/sqft and is routinely on sale for $1.69.

The engineered floors I've seen are a plywood base with a hardwood veneer, not a mdf or hdf product. These should be better than solid hardwoods in a higher moisture area.  Plywood should not swell with moisture and temperature "as much as" solid hardwood.  I personally don't like paying for plywood + veneer as you may have problems refinishing in the future. Agree that laminate in high moisture area can be problematic.

I have used lvt (luxury vinyl tile) as well, but the subfloors (wood or concrete basement/slab) need to be close to glass smooth in order to avoid seeing imperfections. 

My rentals: basement - lvt.  Main floor - solid 3/4" hardwood and some ceramic or porcelain tilein kitchens.  Upper floors/bedrooms - laminate.

I have had little to no issues with this set up while carpet was an issue on almost every tenant flip.

Pricing:  hardwood 2.5/sqft.  Laminate 1-2/sqft. Lvt 1-1.5/sqft.  Price does not include install or materials/tools needed for install.


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[srob]

huh you guys have made me reconsider carpeting this place. There is newer sheet vinyl in the kitchen/bath already, so maybe I will try laminate in the living room/bedroom. There is a small set of carpeted stairs though...have you guys put laminate on stairs?

I recently installed LVT as an experiment in another rental. There were some imperfections in the floor but the flooring guy smoothed everything out and filled in the cracks before the install with some kind of black compound. We'll see how it holds up to renters. It looks very nice and the tiles are replaceable, which is a good thing since my son gouged one of them already with a metal sliding door frame and made a white scratch 6 inches long.

[MayDay]

Never carpet. I use vinyl planks for properties where I can't refinish the hardwood underneath (St. Louis with lots of old & good housing stock). Laminate and engineered wood has particle board backing which will bow and warp when exposed to moisture such as pets, wet shoes, spills that aren't cleaned up or even humidity. Vinyl is immune to all that. The planks make it look like real hardwood and I get lots of compliments on my hardwood floors. The stuff I use is $1.99/sqft and is routinely on sale for $1.69.

I have considered vinyl planks.  Does the vinyl show any seams and other imperfections in the underlying sub-floor?

Yes.

The house we are renting has vinyl planks.  Old farmhouse, floors aren't perfectly flat, you can see subfloor imperfections in places.  Its still FAR FAR FAR preferable as a renter to having icky carpet.  Give me vinyl planks any day. 

Our stairs are painted wood.  They are imperfect.  Who cares.  Better than carpet.

[Papa bear]

huh you guys have made me reconsider carpeting this place. There is newer sheet vinyl in the kitchen/bath already, so maybe I will try laminate in the living room/bedroom. There is a small set of carpeted stairs though...have you guys put laminate on stairs?

I recently installed LVT as an experiment in another rental. There were some imperfections in the floor but the flooring guy smoothed everything out and filled in the cracks before the install with some kind of black compound. We'll see how it holds up to renters. It looks very nice and the tiles are replaceable, which is a good thing since my son gouged one of them already with a metal sliding door frame and made a white scratch 6 inches long.

Changed from carpeted stairs to painted wood.  Dark brown stair tread, white risers.  Looks pretty good.  The white risers need cleaned / repainted fairly often though.   Stair tread paint has held up nicely.


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[yddeyma]

I have use vinyl planks.  They are working awesome so far (been about 1.5 years).  As with any floor, you are supposed to prep the surface first and make sure its smooth/flat.  Big bows in the floor, like a house that's settled, will not be a problem, but little dents (like glue from old carpet, or missing subfloor) will stick out.

For my next house, I plan on taking out the carpet and staining the concrete.  Or at least getting it priced.  They have to put a finish coat of concrete over the top, so I'm not sure how much it'll be.

One of my friends painted the old hardwood floors in his house and it looks awesome.  Way better than carpet, and it still has some of the look of hardwood.  He did one house medium brown and one house dark gray and both look good to me.  But we are talking lower end/student rentals.

A lot has to do with who you're renting to.  If its fancy people, they may not like some of those options and it'll be harder to rent.

[LiveLean]

It seems like carpeting is becoming hopelessly outdated in any form, especially now that more people are cognizant of allergies, air quality, etc.

We bought a weekly beach rental two years ago and were thrilled that it was all hardwood floor, tile, and laminate. When we bought our primary residence in 1999, it was 85 percent carpeted -- even the master bath (yuck). As I write this, we're having our sons' bedrooms tiled (we live in FL) in part because our youngest hasn't slept in his room (preferring the couch) for a year because of his allergies, which he believes (probably correctly) are impacted by old carpeting.

By the end of the week, our home will be 90 percent tile or hardwood. Just one room to go.

Carpeting sucks. If you've ever pulled up carpeting yourself and seen what's underneath, you'll never re-carpet.

[marble_faun]

Speaking as a renter, I *far* prefer places without carpeting.  With wood or a wood-like material I can give it a good clean and at least feel like I've scoured out the filthy ghosts of tenants past.

[Dicey]

Sheet vinyl (Yuck!) will reflect imperfections in the subfloor. The newer vinyl plank floors (Yes!) come with a backing, which is more forgiving (some even have cork, but they're spendier). Much more durable than carpet, so cheaper in the long run. Chose the color and style wisely, as it's more likely to ugly out than wear out.

[MayDay]

Sheet vinyl (Yuck!) will reflect imperfections in the subfloor. The newer vinyl plank floors (Yes!) come with a backing, which is more forgiving (some even have cork, but they're spendier). Much more durable than carpet, so cheaper in the long run. Chose the color and style wisely, as it's more likely to ugly out than wear out.

Why don't you like sheet vinyl? I love that stuff in a kitchen or bathroom.

I'm clearly not high class, lol.

[bpleshek]

I will clean the carpet if possible or replace as necessary.  I've started to think that a hardwood upgrade might be more economical over the long run.  If you start replacing carpet with every tenant(once a year or worse), then it may be better to invest in a better floor that will not be destroyed every time.