Carpet or laminate?

zebulon

therealdelboy wrote: »

I'd agree that laminate looks a bit tatty, and is a bit out of fashion now.

And carpet are not ??? :eek:


Here's my point of view (as tenant): No Blxxdy (beige) carpets everywhere, it's a nightmare.
The only good thing is that it's warmer.

If you do put carpets, please provide a VERY good hoover to your tenants.

Debt_Free_Chick

I also think that laminate has "had its day" and will soon be considered to be naff & out of fashion.

Having said that, I have never liked it. Can't see the attraction in a photograph of a plank of pine, photocopied onto strips of plastic

robwend

dosnt have to be laminate. ive real wood floor, looks fantastic

Jorgan_2

There is no right or wrong answer, especially if you are trying to second guess what the tenant may prefer. From a rental point of view I would use carpet in the living room & bedrooms and cushion backed flooring in the bathroom and kitchen. If you need to replace a flooring which is going to be the easiest to replace?

Personally I have laminate in the kitchen/breakfast room, cushion backed flooring for the bathrooms & carpet in the rest of the house.

Doozergirl

I hate laminate floor, but as a tenant, it was a breath of fresh air really.

Laminate can be cleaned more easily and quality laminate doesn't look half bad. You need to pick a more modern and darker colour than that crappy old beech stuff circa 1999 and you'll be fine. You don't want to see dirt between bad joins on cheap laminate.

It meant that I didn't have to worry about what the kids did to the carpet because I could clean the laminate easily. I also didn't have to worry about other people's germs and dead skin in the carpet (shudders). I didn't have to worry about losing my deposit over the state of the carpet either. I put down my rugs which suited my own colour schemes, didn't have to worry about the landlord's taste in colour. When we moved out, that laminate was four years old and looked 300% better than the same aged fraying, marked, trampled carpet on the stairs.

As a landlord, I'm putting in laminate throughout the house except the stairs. Once one person has lived in the house, you get indentations in carpet from their furniture, you get wear where they've walked around furniture items and if they spill something then it's often there for all to see.
If they've only stayed for six months and you're trying to re-let then the carpet is already imperfect. Give the laminate a good wash and it's as good as new.

Given the choice (of which you don't get a great deal as a tenant - anything clean and modern you have to grab with both hands) I would choose laminate that I can clean over someone else's grotty carpet any day!

I've found some laminate which is the good, green backed aqua stuff, which should last well, reduced from a regular price of about £15 a metre down to £6.75. http://www.ukflooringdirect.co.uk/Clearance_%252526_Sale_Items/Lamiante_Flooring_Sale/Krono_Original_Harvest_Oak_Laminate_Flooring.html They do a darker one as well. It has grooves to make it more wood like and a slightly bevelled edge iirc, so it feels better underfoot and shouldn't peel at the edges like the cheap tat because the edges don't get wear.

gabyjane

Well our first house so couldn't wait to put laminate down! We did spend extra and get a decent one which looks very like oak and is really nice, the comments we get are very good!

we have had the lounge done as it leads straight outside to the garden, with a cat as well and muddy feet in the winter it has been a godsend already..we did the hall in the same and the 2 bedrooms..the hallways are cream carpet which are gorgeous but a nightmare! I said to df maybe we should have done the bedrooms in the carpet but the amount of dust i gather is yuck and hate to think how much sits in carpet! I am quite anal at cleaning too!

So laminate for me with nice rugs down..have loved it so far!

lilac_lady

If you're renting out the house I'd put laminate downstairs and carpet upstairs, apart from the bathroom. Ifyou were living in the house I'd have either carpets or real wood flooring downstairs.

ginvzt

You can get water-resistant laminate, so spillages would be fine, as long as they are wiped up.

When we moved in our hose we put engineered wood downstairs, oak (got it cheap from B&Q!!!). It is nicer than laminate in my opinion, and warmer, and quieter. But, a good laminate is just as good. We are looking top move, and I definately don't want carpets!!!! All the smells, dirt, etc in there are locked forever!!

The family that lived in our hosue before had a small buy, I can just imagine what the carpet had to survive. We still haven't managed to get all the stains out upstairs, even with a proper rug cleaner twice!!!

Get laminate or wood, put vynil (?how to spell?) in bathrooms and it will be clean and fresh when your tenants move. If people want, they can always put rugs - and these are much easier to clean than laid carpets!

sugarwalsh

I put a solid oak floor right thru the downstairs of our house. I found a cheaper supplier and paid an arm and a leg to get it fitted. That was 5 years ago and I haven't looked back since. It is fantastic. Could do with a new coat of varnish, but not essential. We have 3 boys and my other half is a builder so it is very tough wearing. Maybe more expensive to start with, but worth it when you come to sell as you will not need to replace it. We stripped and painted the floorboards upstairs, so all the house is a case of sweeping and mopping, very easy to make it look spectacular.
Laminate is cheap, nasty and past it's sell by date I think. Polished concrete appears to be very fashionable.....

ginvzt

sugarwalsh wrote: »

Polished concrete appears to be very fashionable.....

That sounds interesting :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: