Wooden flooring or carpets??

fuzzzy

Hi, I am buying a 3-bed property in Wilts to redecorate and sell up quickly. I plan to put in medium-quality wooden laminate flooring for the downstairs areas (hallway, living room and dining) and new carpets in the bedrooms upstairs. I want some advice on whether this is better or worse than carpets throughout the house, from the buyer's viewpoint.

The costs work out to the same because, while I will have to pay to have the carpet fitted, I can fit the floor in myself. I like the "modern" feel of wooden flooring, and the comfort-factor of carpets in winter, but what would most buyers want?

Opinions welcome!

wendyl1967

Personally I prefer carpets in most rooms due to comfort.


Laminate in kitchen, conservatory, bathroom and hallway.

littlereddevil

Younger people prefer wooden floors I think

annie-c

If there are floorboards in the house, then they could be sanded and varnished fairly cheaply. Much nicer than laminate, in my opinion, but others may well think differently! Good luck!

fuzzzy

annie-c wrote:

If there are floorboards in the house, then they could be sanded and varnished fairly cheaply. Much nicer than laminate, in my opinion, but others may well think differently! Good luck!

How cheap is "fairly cheap"? (I tried googling for quotes, but haven't hit anything relevant yet.) Besides, it is a period property, so I don't know what shape the floorboards might be in when we rip up the carpets! But I do love the period-feel that exposed floorboards lend to an old house Just unsure whether potential buyers will be put off if I don't have carpets in the frequent-use areas (hallway+living+dining).

Dora_the_Explorer_5

Laminate floors are very popular right now, so should help the sale, but it would be worth considering if they will 'fit' with the style of the property. In any case if it's a refurb project intended to make a profit Sarah Beeney usually suggests chose cheap stuff, most people will change it anyway.

annie-c

Re: the floorboards

How cheaply depends on whether you do it yourself or not. If you hire equipment and buy varnish etc, then between £100-200 per room should cover everything depending how quickly you work (and so how long you hire equipment for) and how high quality varnish, etc you buy.

In period properties, laminate can be off-putting to some buyers, though they are popular in newer style houses. but you won't know whether your boards are worth restoing til you get in and rip up the carpets.

Bun

Many of the properties up for sale in our area have laminate wooden floors. In my experience this is far more practical than carpet but I am part of a family with pets and young children, so this works for me. Laminate flooring (as long as it is well finished off) is a good start, as the buyers can put carpets down over them if wanted, but in the mean time they will match all furniture/future decor. Our flat was done up neutrally to sell, which was great apart from the beige carpets in the bedrooms which were ruined just by the removal men moving us in. They have been a pain ever since.This is on the ground floor though, so possibly laminate on the ground floor and carpets upstairs is best.

Contradicting myself a bit however, we were going to have central heating put in but due to the design of the flat it would have had to have underfloor piping and all the flooring would have to be taken up and replaced, so if you don't have this, carpets may be better.

economiser

We have two reception rooms, one with carpet the other with wooden flooring. As far a as the practicalities are concerned we find the carpeted room easier to keep clean, it just needs vacuuming. The wooden floor needs vacuuming and/or mopping (cat with muddy paws) and sometimes polishing. The wooden floor is also of course more noisy and we use rugs on the main foot traffic areas.

Howerver we prefer the appearance of the wooden floor.

I think wood, or laminate, is probably more popular with buyers at the moment.

Joto_2

Why don't you ask your local estate agent? He will know from feed back what buyers in your area and type of property are looking for?
Although you can bet whoever buys the propery will prefer the opposite to whatever you do!

stevall973

I prefer wooden floors,and they're ok to keep clean,as they don't show so may marks we found.Having said that,they can be a bit noisy,can scuff,and if you've got them on the ground floor,can make the room a bit chillier.I'd reccommend a sander who collects the dust as he goes to save stress,even although it may be a bit more dear.