Carpet vs. Wood Flooring for Your Rental – A Landlord’s Guide to the Best Choice

Decorating rental properties can be a bit of a headache sometimes. There are lots of things you need to take into consideration when choosing your flooring. The biggest issue is which option wins in the carpet vs. wood flooring battle. You want to make sure that your tenants are comfortable, but you also don’t want to put in anything that will be easily damaged. To make the best decision, you have to think about the type of tenants you want to attract. For families, you will want something cosy. However, if your rental property is in an area with lots of students or young people, you will want something more durable. Take a look at our landlord’s guide to the best choice for rental properties.

Important Factors When Choosing Rental Flooring

Before we begin, we want to underline the main factors you should keep in mind when choosing flooring for your rental:

1. Cost – of course, one of the most important things to consider is cost. As a landlord, your aim is to make money. Making the right decision is a crucial part of making sure you do just that. You want to go for something that is attractive so as to rent your property out as soon as possible. However, you don’t want to go and buy luxurious flooring as it can be extremely expensive to replace if damaged.
2. Durability – another vital factor. If you go and buy the cheapest flooring you can find, it is highly likely that you will need to replace it within the year. You want something that is quality material that will withstand a lot of wear and tear. Durable materials are essential to avoiding the constant replacement of your flooring.
3. The function of the room – the type of flooring you choose also depends on the area you are dealing with. You don’t want to go carpeting the bathroom, for instance. It’s not the best option for eating and cooking areas either. Rooms that have a lot of humidity are going to need hard flooring as well, as moisture damages carpets.
4. Keeping it neutral – your rental property needs to be neutral. You don’t want to go designing it to your taste as not everyone is going to like what you like. That’s why you should stick to neutral colours and materials that will appeal to most people.

Carpet vs. Wood Flooring for Your Rental Property

Now that we have gotten those important factors out of the way, it is time to get to the main point. Here, we will walk you through the pros and cons of each option. We will also take a look at the best choice to make while taking the room type and target tenants into consideration.

1. Carpet Flooring for Your Rental Property

Carpets bring a cosy feel to a home. This may be more attractive to some tenants, such as families. It is always nice to have a soft, warm rug under your feet when you are walking. However, there are many things you need to take into consideration before choosing a carpet:

• If your rental is going to be let out to families, you might want to choose carpets for only some of the rooms. For instance, the living room and master bedroom. This will provide a nice, homey feel to the property.
• Putting carpet in children’s bedrooms, kitchens, bathrooms, and damp areas is a definite no.
• When choosing carpet, make sure to get something stain resistant that is easy to clean. Short pile or loop pile wool carpets are a good option.
• Before your tenants move in, you will want to stain protect them.
• Another must – inform the tenants that they are not to tackle any stains or spillages on their own, not under any circumstance. They must inform you immediately so can deal with the stain removal.
• Carpets in bedrooms can help rent out a property quicker and allow you to ask for a higher monthly rent.
• Carpets in your rental will likely have a lifespan of between 2-5 years. They will rarely last longer than that. That is why you don’t want to get anything too expensive. You don’t want to go too cheap either, however, because then you will be likely to get only 1-2 years out of them.
• Another important point is that you will more than likely have to conduct professional carpet cleaning between each tenant. This is so as the property stays looking fresh, new, and attractive to potential renters.

2. Wood Flooring for Your Rental

Now let us take a look at wood flooring in comparison to carpets. If you are uncertain of the type of tenants you will be welcoming into your rental, this is definitely the wiser choice. Here are a few things to consider when going for this option:

• If you want to go for something that looks great, is easy to replace, and isn’t over your budget, you should go for commercial grade laminate flooring. It will also be much easier for your tenants to maintain than carpet.
• We definitely suggest going for this type of flooring if you are uncertain about the tenants you will be accomodating.
• If you will be housing students, young adults, or allowing people with pets, this is your best choice. As we all know, the young ‘uns have other priorities and won’t really be thinking about cleaning and maintenance.
• Another thing is that a lot of people like to give their house a more homely feeling. If you have laminate flooring in your rental, tenants can bring their own rugs or carpets that suit their own taste.

Carpet vs. Wood Flooring – Summary

Now that we have gone over the important points of choosing flooring for your rental, let’s just quickly summarise. Although carpets can give a place a cosy feel, they aren’t so easy to maintain. They can increase the rent, however, you need to think about whether that increase will cover the maintenance costs. When you go for wood flooring, you know it is the safer option. This way you won’t have to arrange both end of tenancy cleaning and carpet cleaning between tenants. Make sure you make the right choice and don’t end up emptying your wallet for careless mistakes.