[natedog7700]

I'm doing a small renovation on my first rental property and I'm having a hard time deciding what to do for the floors. It's a 3 bedroom 1
5 bath side by side. I'm thinking laminate tiles throughout the downstairs and upstairs. Myvsexind option would be laminate down stairs and carpet upstairs or maybe laminate through the hallway upstairs and carpet in the bedrooms. Any ideas?

[grocerylist]

My dad always does the cheap manufactured hardwood. It's a little more expensive than laminate but supposedly lasts longer.

He hates carpet because you always have to replace it anytime you have a new renter.

[UncleWede]

Originally Posted by grocerylist

He hates carpet because you always have to replace it anytime you have a new renter.

^this. Unless you have a son who can do the ceramic (me), NO CARPET.

[King Rudi]

Laminate. End of story. Carpet will be destroyed by tenants. Period.

[UncleWede]

You THINK that bathroom things will occur in the bathroom. But you have no idea what furniture will be on the carpet in the bedroom.

Then you end up with this sticky depression in front of a square where the bureau was placed, with a mirror, and the lady used a shit-ton (I measured it when we pulled the carpet!) of hair spray, probably while dancing to ensure the matting of said carpet.

[Kelse92]

Luxury vinyl plank, looks better in professional photos for advertising the rental, and will hold up better than laminate to scratching and water stains. Ceramic tile everywhere else you can. Carpet only if you have to.
(Experience level - I consult on flip/rentals for a living)

[phoenx]

I have a flooring business and what we've seen as the better combination is some sort of hard surface on everything but the bedrooms. Most people end up getting carpet in the bedrooms and doing laminate everywhere else. Laminate scratches easy though. SPC Flooring is really popular too since its hard, durable and waterproof but it is a little bit more expensive then laminate. SPC flooring has been a favorite of mine because of the easiness of installation and its durability.

Carpet tends to be cheapest alternative but it has its obvious downsides. I've seen renters mess up all types of flooring from laminate, carpet, engineered floors, LVT, hardwood etc. I'd say go for the SPC flooring on everything if your budget allows it. If not, go for SPC where possible and carpet the rest.

[King Rudi]

Hot lava. This will force your tenants to stay off the floor entirely and use the furniture to walk on, to navigate around the home. Hey, it worked for me when I was 3 years old, it'll work for them too.

[BS_CS]

Originally Posted by grocerylist

My dad always does the cheap manufactured hardwood. It's a little more expensive than laminate but supposedly lasts longer.

He hates carpet because you always have to replace it anytime you have a new renter.

This 100%. Every single time I've had a new tenant I've had to replace the carpet in the bedrooms which are thankfully the only room it's carpeted.

I'd go with hardwood to avoid the issue of replacement tenant after tenant even despite the higher cost up front.

[DETRoadster]

Originally Posted by Kelse92

Luxury vinyl plank, looks better in professional photos for advertising the rental, and will hold up better than laminate to scratching and water stains. Ceramic tile everywhere else you can. Carpet only if you have to.
(Experience level - I consult on flip/rentals for a living)

This!!! ^^^

Put that stuff down in our kitchen and love it. The original 1965 linoleum in there is asbestos backed so I wasn't going to touch it. Someone in the 90s put down cheap nasty linoleum and where they saved on the linoleum they paid extra for the world's strongest adhesive. Long story short we couldn't rip it out without creating a massive project for ourselves and couldn't do tile or hardwood over the top. That left high grade vinyl plank. Went down super easy in just a couple hours. Darn near bulletproof and actually looks OK. Love it.

Before:


After:

[bimmerfrk]

Cement--> skim coat--> epoxy covering. They could shit on the floors you wouldn't care

[upstatedoc]

Originally Posted by bimmerfrk

Cement--> skim coat--> epoxy covering. They could shit on the floors you wouldn't care

easy clean up

please tell me you got rid of that X50

[RickFLM4]

Originally Posted by Kelse92

Luxury vinyl plank, looks better in professional photos for advertising the rental, and will hold up better than laminate to scratching and water stains. Ceramic tile everywhere else you can. Carpet only if you have to.
(Experience level - I consult on flip/rentals for a living)

This and don't break the bank on anything you choose. It needs to look nice in pictures but expect to replace any surface far sooner than if you were living in the place yourself.

[Kelse92]

Originally Posted by RickFLM4

This and don't break the bank on anything you choose. It needs to look nice in pictures but expect to replace any surface far sooner than if you were living in the place yourself.

Oh yeah, cheaper the better, I usually raid overstock/backstock at stores to see if there's any deals. if its not a ton of sqft theres usually good open-box deals to be found if you can subcontract the labor yourself or get the store to install if you measured already.

[1MOREMOD]

Dirt

[MKSixer]

Originally Posted by 1MOREMOD

Dirt

With straw for taking a dump anywhere you want.

[natedog7700]

Originally Posted by RickFLM4

This and don't break the bank on anything you choose. It needs to look nice in pictures but expect to replace any surface far sooner than if you were living in the place yourself.

Im getting a killer deal at 1.19 sq ft on a 2+$ floor so i can check that box off!

[Colodano]

I also vote for an engineered hardwood or such wherever you can. Even in bedrooms, if they want it soft they can supply their own rugs and such.
Last year I had to replace the old carpet in the basement of my rental, and went with carpet tiles, just so that it supplied a bit more insulation and sound dampening. Plus side is, they are relatively cost effective, and can be replaced one by one if damaged, instead of a whole room. The carpet was probably 35-40 years old, so it looked ages better as well.
A bit of advice as well, make sure that you have some extra of whatever material you choose, in case you have to replace a section, maybe a dishwasher leaks, toilet overflows, etc.

[Maestro]

^ good idea for carpet, if you feel you need carpet to make it rentable, go with carpet squares with a light adhesive if you need to replace any in the future. As with any flooring get extra for future replacement. The same is true for wall to wall rug. I always order extra and keep around and a few times I had section cut out due to damage and had piece spliced in.

I would stay away from engineer hardware for any place near water like kitchens or bathrooms. They say they are water resistance, but they still can be damaged by water. I just had to replace engineer hardware in my basement office due to an overhead leak that left an inch of water on the floor, the vapor barrier on the underside was no help.

I would go with the new vinyl snapped together floating floors. They are completely water resistant from the top or bottom and come in all kinds of styles and patterns these days. I just put this in my basement office, and got a great deal at Lowes. The fact they snapped together will allow you pull up and replace any which may have been damage with someone dropping something heavy on it with sharp corner. As it was pointed out tenants are capability of damaging any floor.

[positiveions]

I would recommend putting ceramic tiles downstairs and laminate upstairs. Don’t go overboard with ceramic tiles; find something around a $1.50 to $2.00 a sqft

[eluded]

Concrete. Renters can't ruin concrete or so one would think…

[rothwem]

I think an important consideration is the market you're going to be renting to. My rental property has the original 1951 hardwoods in it and I was expecting to need to replace them after the first tenant turn, but they look great still. I bought the place in 2014 and did the first refinishing in 2018, they still look awesome. Part of this is related to the tenants I pick. My place is small (720 in each unit) and so there's no families, and its in a nice A+ neighborhood, so I don't really tend to get slobs in there.

With that said, if you're renting it to a family of 7 in a low-income spot, I'd probably go for something more durable. I looked at a place in a crappy part of Durham once, and the landlord had put down VCT tile and sealed it with acrylic wax, he said it was completely bulletproof.

I think the middle ground is LVP. I'm not wild about engineered hardwood--it looks nice, but you can't refinish it and it has most of the downsides of regular hardwoods. Its easier to install though since you don't have to sand it. We have engineered hardwoods in our primary and its been incredibly disappointing, durability-wise. LVP, though, seems to be easy to install, fairly durable and not overly expensive. I think regular hardwoods look better, but LVP does photograph well for ads.

Anyways, just my 2c from a fellow landlord.