Rentals: Carpet versus Tile
Posted on May 19, 2008 - Filed Under Business |
The carpet in the back house looks like someone has been practicing aircraft carrier landings on it. Deep, deep paths are worn into it, nearly showing the bare threads underneath.
Never, ever have I seen carpet worn this bad.
The skid marks scare me.
This is not upsetting. It is expected. It is naive to think carpet, especially the cheapest rental carpet, will last forever. Carpet is made of fibers and fibers wear out. Three years has passed since it was installed. Since this tenant shows no signs of moving out it will probably be another year at least before the carpet will be replaced.
Back in the exciting days of yesterday Project #1 Back House had the cheapest, blandest, most neutral color installed. Even being the cheapest, the carpet bill came to $800. Thanks to the Home Depot super-fast carpet installation, the replacement carpet will probably be 2/3 of that price at least.
With the Project #2 “back house”, the floor was not carpeted but tiled. It was more of an experiment, than some kind of business decision. My curiosity wanted to know how tile would fair against carpet. It’s probably not a fair experiment, for I recognize this is still my residence and I’m a fairly neat individual.
Tenants may be able to destroy carpet but somehow destroying tile doesn’t seem feasible. Granted, some tenant may attack the floor with a hammer and chisel in some meth-induced frenzy. But this is Southern California. People don’t do meth here.
For Project #1, installing the carpet twice will cost roughly $1400.
For Project #2, installing the tile was $1200.
For my numbers, it seems that 5 years is the break even point if tile is used instead of carpet.
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5 Responses to “Rentals: Carpet versus Tile”
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Tile ia better than carpet, but it does have some problems. Grout is porous and it will get dirty quickly. It absorbs grease and oil and it is impossible to clean completely. Sealing the grout helps, but it must be maintained. Use light grout if you are selling a house and dark grout if it is a rental.
Tile will also chip and crack. Keep a couple of boxes of extra tile and a bag of grout for repairs. Don’t leave them at the house, though. The tenants will break, discard, or take the extra tile. Keep them in your garage or s storage unit.
Go tile!!
So much easier to clean, and there is no funky after-the-tenants-move-out smell.
You are very right with the never fall in love with a house — there is an area right outside of New Haven where the numbers work well. Today’s post
Alisons last blog post..Coming into Light
My first thought when you mentioned skid marks on the carpet were whether the tenant had a dog or not… Sorry I gave you all that image…
I agree with both of the other comments. I also agree with the grout color recommendations. They do get dirty rather quickly even after being sealed. Dark for a rental would be best.
We put in our kitchen/dining/all tile less than a year ago. The tile looks great, the grout, not so much… Kids=(juice + food) Dogs = (dirt + drool) Kids + Dogs = VERY DIRTY GROUT! (Our dogs don’t skid… Thank God…)
It’s time for us to do a thorough cleaning and reseal ours… Boy, I can’t wait…
Dirty grout can be cleaned for a fraction of what carpet costs to replace. Thank goodness!
I know this isn’t what most landlords want to hear…. But, I’ve discovered that carpet only lasts ONE tenant or maybe TWO at most. And, it’s harder to rent the second time around when the carpet is already stained in ways that can’t be cleaned. I’m all about wood or tile floors now in rentals! Not to mention, in my recent experience as a leasing agent, rentals with wood floors rent VERY quickly. And, talk about low maintenance!