Lino v Carpet

[itinerantotter]

I have just purchased a house in Rockingham, south of Perth, and it needs a bit of TLC.

The owner occupier is a heavy smoker, so I'm planning to dump the carpets which are totally impregnated with smoke, as well as being in delightful brown and orange, 70s style.

The kitchen/dining has a rather nice creamy tile-look linoleum (I would say the squares are approx 10 inch).

I'd like some feedback about my idea of putting the same lino through the living areas, hallway and study - and possibly the bedrooms as well. I dislike carpet anyway. The lino would be a good quality product. I just don't want it to look tacky.

Apart from that, the house just needs a damn good clean and a garden tidy-up.

I welcome your opinions.

Cheers

 

[ani]

Lino is still going to look like lino, IMO

Are there floor boards under the carpet? If there are I'd go for polished boards.

 

[Maree]

Many lino / vinyls these days look a lot like tiles / wood ..........but, if you are going to rent the place have a 2nd thought about this type of floor covering. If one small section is damaged I believe it is almost impossible to repair - out with the lot & start again.
Just a thought.

 

[geoffw]

I prefer carpets myself- but tenants around Canberra prefer a harder floor around the living areas- and carpet in bedrooms.

Speak to your local agents, and see what people would prefer.

As Maree says, lino wood look is very good- however, they do make that in strips, so it is easy to remove one strip and replace it.

I've just put in a floating floor (wood laminate) to replace carpet in living areas and cork tiles in kitchen. It looks great (except for the buts where I made boo boos).

We had carpet in our place in the family food area. A huge mistake- it was just too hard to keep clean.

 

[itinerantotter]

Ani, Maree, geoffw - thank you all for your help.

"Are there floor boards under the carpet? If there are I'd go for polished boards."

The floors are concrete, so no go. Polished boards are always my first choice too.

"If one small section is damaged I believe it is almost impossible to repair - out with the lot & start again."

One of the reasons for using tile-look lino is that one can cut out a damaged "tile" and replace it.

I'll check out the wood-look lino. But right now my instincts are telling me that lino throughout WOULD look tacky - and I should stick to a neutral durable carpet.

I need a quick-fix, and I haven't the time/budget for floating floors or polished concrete.

Cheers!

 

[phm]

Hi Itinerant Otter (Love that name!!)

A good person to ask for a second opinion would be your property manager. They are the ones that have the most dealings with what tenants ask for.

Our IP is 11 years old and will need carpet replacing in the next few years. I asked our PM and she said that tenants (in our area) still like carpet in the bedrooms and she suggested perhaps tiles in the rest of the areas, but not smooth ones.

Just another suggestion.

 

[itinerantotter]

phm - Glad you like my name - it has a ring to it, doesn't it??

Thanks for your input. Didn't really want to go the whole hog and put down tiles - I was looking for a quick-fix. The carpet in the bedrooms is not too bad, and not as smokey as the living areas, so I've decided that it's staying. I'll definitely involve my PM in the final decision.

Cheers!

 

[geoffw]

Originally posted by itinerantotter
I need a quick-fix, and I haven't the time/budget for floating floors or polished concrete.

Sorry, I was going to say something about this earlier.

If you don't have time, not a question- floating floors is not an option.

But for budget- the floating floor came way ahead of the rest for me- for a floor with some quality, and it gave a HUGE impact to the property.

I had 32 sqm of living areas. Wood look vinyl or the like would have cost around $2400 installed. But the floating floor (installed myself) cost $1400, and it took about three days (without any previous experience) for me to install it myself (with a circular saw, without a lot of time available from MrsW). Plus another day stuffing around trying to remove foam backed glued carpet- including the 3 1/2 hours it took using a floor stripping machine (Additional cost for having it done was $10 psm). I'd be able to be more efficient next time.

It had a real Wow factor.

Like my 9yo daughter said (after carpet put into bedrooms as well, and curtains added)- "Dad, this looks like a real house now".

 

[plainsong]

Hello everyone,

Just trying to figure out the cheapest way to renovate a wooden floor with carpet glued on top-=the carpet and the rubber backing are parting company, so i called a floor sander. the thing about floor sanding that i cant cope with is the dust-one floor sander advertised himself as" no dust "but on speaking to him
it turns out he meant minimal dust,(he cleans it up later) which isnt the same thing,

I read Geoff W's comment about the floor stripper and Im wondering if that produces dust? I guess theres nothing i can put over the rubber left on the floor, really it should be removed
i guess..
Or is there a floor sander in brisbane who is really no dust?

I had a really bad experience with a floor sander and dust years ago with a flat I was renovating, - I never want to go there again! any suggestions would be greatly appreciated,

Cheers,

 

[geoffw]

Plainsong,

The floor stripper does not produce much dust (probably less than removing it yourself with a chisel of flat bladed spade).

However, I'd check the level of gluing before calling in the havy equipment.

Some carpet (mine) was glued fairly thoroughly. Other carpet is glued with, say, 20% cover- just a wavy pattern of glue. If it's lightly glued, the manual methods may do.

The floor stripper, if you do need it, comes with a blade (which you buy when you hire the equipment) which recommends that you use it one way around for a concrete floor, the other way for a wood floor.

Becasuse it's acting essentially as a large power driven chisel between the floor and floor covering, the dust is minimal.

HOWEVER, that only removes the foam. It doesn't polish the floorboards. That still needs to be done, and the polisher's comments still apply.

Or you can put something over the top. A floting floor is probably more tolerant of imperfections than vinyl, (it has an underlay), but not as tolerant as carpet.

If the smell of some of the bits of my foam carpet backing are any guide, it's probably worth while to remove all that foam.

 

[plainsong]

Thanks very much Geoff for the info..

sounds to me like the floor stripper might be the way to go,
The rubber bits are probably quite stinky, thanks ,I hadnt thought of that !
(Now I just have to come up with a cunning plan for the floor
once it's stripped..)

Appreciate your help;

 

[Bulldog]

Otter,

Where in R'ham have you bought? I have just bought in Rockingham Beach. I have been blessed with Jarrah floorboards though - luckily. I didnt know the place had floorboards until after i gained posession!! A gamble that paid off. Probably because I registered interest with tHE AGENT 30 minutes after the sign went in the ground and had to fight off freakin' developers galore who wanted to flatten it!!

Also the lino was only "just" glued down - once again - kissed by the fairies.

Wouldn't mind comparing notes.

Bully.

 

[itinerantotter]

Sounds like you lucked in, Bulldog! As well as being quick off the mark and determined! I'm envious of your floorboards and also the position of your IP.

Ours is in Hillman, which is a vastly underrated area IMHO. And there's no doubt that I have concrete floors covered with revolting smoke-impregnated carpet! Having said that, a little bit of TLC will bring this place up to the standard of the rest of the street. Great fun!

Will you have to do much to yours?

Otter

 

[Bulldog]

Just about finished - will post some photos in the very near future. Had the floors polished last wednesday and Thursday - Oh my god what a difference. I was very very impressed with the professional job that was done so if anyone in Perth needs the name of an excellent floor sander?!

Just have to now reattach the doors to the Kitchen cupboards , paint the courtyard fence and rent it out. I am having an agent meet me there on Tuesday.

Although one thing I found after the job was completed there are a couple of boards in the kitchen that may need replacing again soon. Does anyone know if this is a huge problem noting that the floor may have to be recoated??

 

[geoffw]

Bulldog,

Sounds good. I'll look forward to the pictures.

Out of interest, what sort of rates does a floor polisher charge per square metre please?

Thanks

 

[itinerantotter]

Look forward to seeing your pics, Bulldog! Are the boards jarrah or baltic or what?

And yes, I'd like the name of a good floor guy please. As soon as I find a good one, he burns out. The last excellent one became a jackeroo!! The last floor man I used sanded round the one doorstop that I forgot to remove!!

Cheers

 

[Bulldog]

Blakes Flooring in Safety Bay - ph 0416 205 384. He has this new machine from Germany that leaves absolutely no dust !! I was amazed because I had heard horror stories of people taking a few days to clean up all their newly painted walls!! He also did all the splay beadings for a flat $6 per linear metre . Not many do this. He charged $23 per sq m.

I was impressed with Blake as he also did any floor board repairs needed (most would not touch these!) and also the Jarrah Steps at the back and front of the property which are a pain to do.

Bully.

 

[itinerantotter]

Sounds great, Bully - thanks. It's a big plus that he will do the repairs as well - something I always look for. How far does his 'patch' extend? Fremantle?

Cheers