Whether you’re in the process of building your dream rental unit, making some renovations, or changing floor types for repair and maintenance, knowing what the best flooring for rental property is can make a huge difference in your decision. With that, let’s explore the most common types of flooring used in rental properties and which is really worth the cost.
Key Takeaways
- Luxury vinyl plank floors offer the best balance of cost, durability, and style, making them the best flooring for rental property.
- Flooring isn’t just about aesthetics, it’s about long-term value and cost effectiveness to maximize costs for a rental income business.
- The choice for the best flooring for rental property depends on factors like tenant type, maintenance expectations, and the property’s overall design.
Luxury Vinyl Plank (LVP) – #1 Choice for Rentals
Let’s start with what most residential property management companies consider the top choice for rental properties, which is luxury vinyl plank or LVP. Made with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) material, vinyl flooring has long been a popular choice for flooring. However, luxury vinyl flooring is a huge step up from your normal vinyl floors.
How? The main difference between ordinary vinyl and LVP is that the latter is engineered and enhanced to be more durable. Luxury vinyl planks are designed to closely imitate the aesthetic and feel of hardwood and ceramic flooring, but at a relatively cheaper cost. This, therefore, makes luxury vinyl planks a cost-efficient flooring option that is durable enough to handle heavy foot traffic while maintaining its aesthetic appeal.
However, aside from design benefits, luxury vinyl planks have their own installation benefits. First, compared to floor types like tiles, hardwood, and carpet, LVPs come with the popular “tongue and groove” design, allowing you to simply slide and attach each plank to the next. They are also a lot lighter, making them a lot easier to move around than ceramic tiles or hardwood flooring.
On top of these, did we mention that luxury vinyl planks are generally more water-resistant than other floor types? Since LVPs are made with PVC (a type of plastic material), they won’t seep water like carpet or hardwood floors.
Laminate Flooring
Primarily known as one of the cheapest flooring options available in the market, laminate is a popular choice among landlords because of its budget-friendly price and relative durability. Not just that, but laminate floors are also often designed to mimic the look of hardwood flooring, making them a viable alternative.
The matter where laminates typically have trouble is their durability. Made with layers of synthetic material with a fiberboard backing, laminate floors are not as durable as the engineered LVP, sturdy hardwood, or hard-rock ceramic tiles. On top of this, laminate flooring is not water-resistant, making it susceptible to moisture damage and requiring more frequent proper repair and maintenance.
Tile (Ceramic or Porcelain)
One of the most used flooring materials, tile is highly popular because of its durability, wear resistance, and cost-efficiency. This type of flooring is most suited for the bathroom and kitchen because of its highly moisture-resistant ceramic clay or specialized porcelain materials. On top of this, tiles are a lot easier to clean. For example, stains and spills won’t stick to tile material, compared to the equally popular carpet floors.
However, the downside is that tiles are much harder to install. They are heavy and prone to chips and cracks when moved around. Additionally, installing tiles is a tedious process best left to a professional, unless you want to risk cracking and breaking them due to improper craftsmanship.
Carpet
Now, let’s talk about carpet floors. Carpet is often a popular choice, but only in select rooms like the bedroom and living room. Because of its thick wool-like material, carpet flooring is great for dampening noise in the room.
Aside from this, carpet flooring can handle heavy foot traffic and requires minimal maintenance. Just a bit of vacuuming or steam-cleaning can make carpet floors look brand-new. Not to mention that you have a lot of carpet material variants to choose from – from the more affordable olefin to the more luxurious wool.
But did you know that carpet flooring in rental properties needs replacement every few years? It’s not exactly a requirement (unless damaged beyond normal wear and tear), but it’s a common and best practice in the industry that landlords and property managers follow. You can look at it as a way to gauge the carpet’s durability and overall lifespan.
Hardwood or Engineered Wood
If you’re looking for a timeless flooring option that most tenants pine for, then it’s safe to say that the best flooring for rental property is wood. Whether it’s hardwood or engineered wood, you can expect this type of flooring to look sophisticated, thus the timelessness.
But more than mere aesthetics, wood flooring is proven to be durable and reliable. That is why you’ll often find them in older houses in good condition (as long as it wasn’t water-damaged or infested by termites). Even when times pass, hardwood floors are easy to restore. Just sand them, and your hardwood floors have a new lease on life.
However, by today’s standards, wood flooring is a lot more expensive, especially when compared to alternatives like luxury vinyl planks. On top of that, moisture and termites put wood flooring at high risk of rotting from mold and structural damage.
Sealed Concrete
Lastly, sealed concrete is an up-and-coming flooring option that more and more landlords are starting to discover. Compared to other flooring types that require installation, sealed concrete is something that you apply to the bare cement flooring to seal its porous surface and make it resistant to moisture, oil, chemicals, and others.
Generally, sealed concrete uses acrylic or epoxy as the prospective overlay. However, new variations (polyurethane and penetrating sealers) are used to enhance the moisture resistance of sealed concrete floors.
The best thing about sealed concrete floors? Its durability. It’s solid, durable, and resistant to common flooring problems, like scratches, peeling, moisture, stains, warping, and the like. Not to mention that sealed concrete floors are low maintenance. However, a sealed-concrete style of flooring may not work for all rental property designs. Typically, sealed concrete works for modern apartments, loft units, and industrial-style rentals.
Take Your Rental Property to the Next Level With BMG
Your choice of flooring can drastically change how your rental property looks and feels. LVPs are modern, hardwood is timeless, and sealed concrete exudes an industrial atmosphere. But more than the design and aesthetics, you also need to look closely and account for durability, maintenance, and costs. But at the end of the day, as a landlord, the best flooring for rental property is the one that fits within your budget while also meeting tenant demands, applicable property requirements, and requests.
Need help with property maintenance? We at Bay Property Management are ready to help. Before you search for rental management companies near me, check out our wide array of property management services – from market to tenant screening to property repair and maintenance, periodic inspections, and more. Interested? Wait no longer and contact us today!
