Regularly replacing the carpet in your Wake Forest rental home is essential, but not many landlords find it enjoyable. Have you contemplated removing the carpet from your rental property once and for all? More landlords are now choosing hard-surface flooring instead of wall-to-wall carpeting in their rental properties. If this idea sounds too extreme, here are some reasons why removing the carpet entirely benefits landlords and tenants.
Carpets may harbor dirt and odor
One of the hardest things about having carpet in a rental home is ensuring it stays clean. You might clean the carpets professionally between tenants, but they may not maintain them while living there. When tenants stay for several years, those carpets might accumulate dirt and grime for years.
Carpet fibers are well known for trapping bad odors, particularly when not cleaned regularly and thoroughly. Even if tenants clean the carpet, they likely avoid the cost of hiring someone or the time required to do it themselves.
On the contrary, hard-surface flooring like laminate or tile is easy to clean. These floors can be scrubbed to shine in a few minutes and as often as tenants wish, ensuring no unpleasant stains or smells. Compared to carpet, hard-surface flooring is far more sanitary for children and individuals with respiratory or health issues.
Avoid soaked carpets in case of a flood
Another reason to get rid of carpets is the trouble of cleaning them after water leaks and floods. Even a minor plumbing issue can cause major flooding, and wet carpets can become a significant problem in a rental house.
Soaked carpets must be pulled up, and the subflooring, pad, and carpeting need to be dried thoroughly to prevent mold. If drying the carpet is not possible, it must be replaced. If you fail to address a flooding situation promptly and correctly, you could risk your residents’ health and face serious liability.
Most hard-surface flooring, aside from natural hardwood, is much easier to deal with in a flood. Properly installed laminate and vinyl are highly water-resistant and can be dried efficiently. This means avoiding expensive restoration services or floor replacement, just some focused clean-up.
Hardwood floors have a longer lifespan
It’s no surprise that carpets have to be replaced every five years. Some landlords attempt to prolong that to seven years or longer—often to their detriment. Most tenants don’t like living on old, worn, or stained carpets. If the carpet is not replaced regularly, tenants may consider moving out.
Old carpets are unsightly and often pose a danger. As carpets age, tacks can protrude and injure those walking on them. Cheap carpeting, particularly, doesn’t last more than a few years in rental properties.
Hard-surface flooring, however, lasts much longer. Though there are ways a tenant could damage a hard-surface floor, most tile or laminate flooring lasts ten to twenty years or more. Laminate flooring is about the same cost as carpet but requires less frequent replacement, making it a better choice for rentals.
Ditch the outdated look of carpets
Finally, wall-to-wall carpeting can give a rental property an outdated look. In newer homes, carpet is often kept to a minimum, perhaps only in bedrooms or not at all.
To give your rental a contemporary look, consider replacing carpet with attractive laminate or tile flooring in the main areas. Unlike carpet, which tenants can’t change, hard-surface flooring allows tenants to add rugs or décor to customize the space while maintaining cleanliness and durability.
Modern laminate tile is available in various sizes, colors, and patterns, including wood-look tiles that can upgrade your rental without the cost and hassle of natural hardwood.
Explore the advantages of hard-surface flooring for rental properties. Contact Real Property Management Raleigh at 919-481-0008 or online for cost-saving tips on creating appealing, long-lasting interiors that tenants will love. Our property managers in Wake Forest are experts in reducing maintenance costs without sacrificing tenant appeal.
Originally Published on May 7, 2021
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