Polished Floorboards - Bad idea?

After hours of discussions and arguements with my partner, we still haven't come to a conclusion of whether polished floorboards are a good idea in a rental property.

My partner thinks that since we are painting the house, doing up the kitchen and bathroom that floorboards with go with the property nicely and would also increase the rent.

My thinking is that the property needs doing up, but floorboards are a unnecessary cost. At 3k to do the whole house, we are better leaving the carpet in and let renters ruin that stuff! Plus we get tax depreciation on the carpet too don't we?

I am interested in other peoples thoughts on the matter!

Thanks,
Andrew.
 
i did the floor boards in the first and second as i did them it was cheaper than carpet, i went with gloss for the first , not good , but the second i used satin finnish much better, the next was tiled but i bought a few boxes extra, this was well recieved as they dont scratch , it can also be depreciated , The carpet i layed in the third was trashed after a year by the drugo's that lived there, so i suspect it realy depends on your "TIME" your "INCOME" and your "TENNENTS" and i would also consider your climate, ;)
 
We have floating floorboards in our PPOR & they are difficult. In a rental, I would only ever provide carpet, lino or tiles. Floorboards can be ruined far too easily.

Above Average
 
I would have thought polished boards was a good idea, and they look good. Lots of wow! factor.

We have polished boards in our PPoR, and after 13 years of the previous owners, then us, and tenants, they still look pretty good - even though they need a re-polish now.

They are hard to stain or tear or wear out, and are very waterproof for spills.

The shine goes off them after a few years, but you can re-sand and polish.

Tiles are even better - virtually bullet proof, but too many looks a bit tacky and feel cold. Good idea in hotter climates of course. Not in Melb.

Carpet can stain, burn and wear in a matter of 1 year. Dark colours are the best for rentals for stains.

For me, a combo of boards in living areas, tiles in wet areas and carpet in bedrooms is all you need.
 
We have floating floorboards in our PPOR & they are difficult. Floorboards can be ruined far too easily.

I agree - we did one of our first IPs with floating timber laminate floor boards - they swell up with water spills and have also shrunk so we have large gaps.

For polished timber floor boards however, that is a different story. If you can rip up the carpets and polish the floorboards underneath I'd so go for it. Very hard wearing and heaps of wow factor as another poster has mentioned.
 
Andrew you mentioned the option of leaving the carpet in.

If the carpet is acceptable I'd just leave it. Why spend money when you don't need to.

It's a different story to HAVING to replace it. WHEN the carpet needs replacing decide then.

I like polished floorboards, hubby doesn't.

Or latest purchase we decided on carpet as it gets cold there. Mind you I am worried about the carpet getting wrecked. I've never put new carpet in a rental.

If it's in a warmer climate I think floorboards are nice. But I'd still want carpet in the bedrooms.
 
If the carpet is acceptable I'd just leave it. Why spend money when you don't need to.

It's a different story to HAVING to replace it. WHEN the carpet needs replacing decide then.

I think the same, however, don't forget that when it comes time to rip up the carpet and have the floors polished, you need to firstly find a floor sander who can fit you in at short notice (quite hard in my experience) - with your tenants possibly only giving you two weeks' notice that they are moving. Secondly, it means a loss of a week's rent while the floors are sanded and coated numerous times.

So if the carpets are crook now, and you have time to book a sander, I would get them done, get the "wow" now, especially if you don't lose a whole week that could be a week of rent coming in.
 
Thanks for the reply everyone. Definitly still in two minds about what to do, I must admit...there is a wow factor when you walk into a house with floorboards! Might have to keep the boss happy this time around...!

Thanks travelbug, I think I might see about getting the main areas polished while keeping the carpet in the rooms to keep the heat in the rooms. The carpet is still in quite good condition and there is really no need to replace it at this current time. The Lino in the kitchen and dining room on the other hand, disgusting!
 
I scraped up the lino tiles in our place which took a few hours (ugly grey squares). It would have been impossible without the heat gun.

We replaced them with lino strips that have a timber look. Looks great.
 
After hours of discussions and arguements with my partner, .......

You like being miserable huh???

There is no point in having an argument with your female partner .. even if you win on the logic you will loose in the relationship


My partner thinks .........

Yes .. this is highly relevant .. just do what she wants.. if you get your way she will make your life miserable .. it will forever be bought up

My thinking is ..........

Totally irrelevant ... see above


I am interested in other peoples thoughts on the matter!

Thanks,
Andrew.

Happy Wife, Happy Life

You are right with your logic .. but wrong in the context of your relationship ..

Learn to smile, nod, praise her for her good thinking, do the work and accept all the blame.

I trust this has helped.

cheers

RightValue


PS: The above cost me $100's of $1,000's to learn ...
 
Our PM suggested that nearly any damage to carpet is "wear and tear", so recommended polished floors were the way to go. And they generally give the "WOW".

Doesn't matter what you like or don't like... what will rent and what will minimise maintenance.

Also put carpet in bedrooms (due to climate) as another poster suggested, with lino in wet areas.
 
You like being miserable huh???

There is no point in having an argument with your female partner .. even if you win on the logic you will loose in the relationship




Yes .. this is highly relevant .. just do what she wants.. if you get your way she will make your life miserable .. it will forever be bought up



Totally irrelevant ... see above




Happy Wife, Happy Life

You are right with your logic .. but wrong in the context of your relationship ..

Learn to smile, nod, praise her for her good thinking, do the work and accept all the blame.

I trust this has helped.

cheers

RightValue


PS: The above cost me $100's of $1,000's to learn ...

Thanks for your words. I must say, it wasn't a serious argument - more just a heated discussion about what we should be doing.


Our PM suggested that nearly any damage to carpet is "wear and tear", so recommended polished floors were the way to go. And they generally give the "WOW".

Doesn't matter what you like or don't like... what will rent and what will minimise maintenance.

Also put carpet in bedrooms (due to climate) as another poster suggested, with lino in wet areas.

Exactly, I am trying to look at it from a renting point of view! Thanks
 
AndrewT without doubt in my mind floorboards do add the WOW factor. But who are yu trying to WOW? I really doubt they would get you more rent.

I renovate for the valuer ( I know a completly different strategy to most) so for the WOW for that person I do floorboards. However as soon as we finish this current Syd reno and move out to rent it out ( and us rent elsewhere) I am definitely slapping on the carpet.

I reno I just finished in Melb had floorboards just in the downstairs areas, old one redone in the bedrooms and the new kitchen living area got a whole new floating floor. The valuer obviously liked it and the proeprty valued up - however after the first reno in 2001 was was devestated to find that the tenants were doing the weights on the floor in front of the TV at night - the damage was horrible, OK they lost their bond but still.

Work out who you want to WOW and the long term cost is my words of wisdom.

Hope this helps
Jane
 
Very helpful post. Thanks. You are right, at the moment we are trying to make the tenants happy while keeping potential costs/damages low....in the future, we will want to Wow the valuer. That's probably years away though.
 
Why don't you just leave the carpets in until they need replacing..?

That way you'd be paying out money either way, personally i'd go floorboards, look better, easier to clean, more resistant to wear and tear, and doesn't date, unlike ugly shagpile carpet for instance.
 
i did the floor boards in the first and second as i did them it was cheaper than carpet, i went with gloss for the first , not good , but the second i used satin finnish much better, the next was tiled but i bought a few boxes extra, this was well recieved as they dont scratch , it can also be depreciated , The carpet i layed in the third was trashed after a year by the drugo's that lived there, so i suspect it realy depends on your "TIME" your "INCOME" and your "TENNENTS" and i would also consider your climate, ;)

Hiya Craig,

Couldn't agree more.

Floor boards are great for wear and tear but then so is carpet.

In conclusion: I would be looking at costs.

Regards JO
 
Cork tile...? I'm seeing it heaps lately

I put cork down in our old house because we were also renting out a 2BR unit under.

Now that stuff is durable. Doesn't scratch, hard to stain.

I had it in the kitchen instead of floorboards.

Regards JO
 
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