I had carpet in two of my rentals.

The first one was my former primary residence. The carpet was a bit old when we moved there in 2006, and we talked about replacing it--- but it was a lot of effort and expense for something that still had a lot of life left in it. We stayed there for five years, and there was no change in the carpet between when we arrived and when we left.

Then it became a rental. That was the house that taught me "people can have a middle-class income but not a middle-class lifestyle." Each group of people would leave it in rough shape. Bubble gum in the carpet, juice stains spilled on it, a few oops spots from who-spray-paints-a-styrofoam-solar-system-indoors... Yeah. We'd clean it up. Razor blades would bring up the gum and spray paint. A good carpet shampooer with Dawn dish soap would bring up the stains from food, drink, and traffic. It wouldn't be perfect, but we'd say, "If the carpet's too far gone for it to rent, we'll replace it. If it rents anyways-- we'll look at replacing it at the next turnover."

We did that a few times, until unauthorized dogs ("we're just keeping them for my mom while she's in the hospital") finally finished off the destruction. We pulled the carpet out, and replaced it with Allure this past January. It had lasted almost-eight years with tenants. If the carpet had been brand new when we turned it into a rental, it still would have lasted about eight years. As it was, the carpet was in place for about 13 years while we had the property; plus the house had been vacant for another 3 years after the former owner died; and the carpet had probably been in place another 10-12 years before that. So, almost-30-year-old carpet... it was a good run.

We had another place come with carpet as well. It had been a house owned by the local RTO guy who had too many expenditures and not enough income. He lost everything. It got foreclosed on by the bank. He was a very cheap person-- not thrifty, he was cheap-- so I don't know if the carpet was part of his renovation or if it was older. Either way, it was in place since at least 2009 (at the time of foreclosure), and most likely before then, although it was in good shape when we got it in 2011.

That house was on a bad block, and taught me the difference between "poor" and "trashy poor." It survived a lot, but eventually, there were just too many cigarette burns in it. We tore everything out about two years ago, so it lasted about 8 years with lower-grade tenants as well.

Now I have no carpet in any of my rentals. When I don't have the original hardwoods, I've put in Allure. Occasionally, people find a way to damage that as well--- but it wears far, far better, and I use a busy pattern (primarily Country Pine) to give it a longer life. I'm about four years in with the experiment, and am very pleased.

If it had been carpet-- I'd expect to replace it every eight years, if I was renting to the fast-food-and-factories crowd. Even so, I'm still considering installing it in a second floor, for the noise-dampening qualities.

I'd expect white-collar office workers to be far less abusive.

My places are class C units mostly. If they have carpet, it stays until it is done. Then removed.

I like just painting the plywood or chipboard subfloor. Let the tenant supply their own carpet of they want some. They can get remnants cheap or they often find used carpet and use that.

No carpet here - in rentals or my home. It's dirty - it hides allergens, for those who are sensitive. Have you ever seen the huge amount of dirt under a carpet when it is removed? Even when it was regularly vacuumed and cleaned. It's just impossible to keep it truly clean.

And tenants do too much damage - stains, tears, general filth, animals peeing and scratching. Then they complain to the landlord that the Landlord should come clean it (my socks are dirty)

Hard flooring is popular- you see it in all the decoration magazines & HGTV, with area rugs.

It looks good, is easy to clean, non-allergenic, and durable.

I'm becoming more of a fan of sheet vinyl - everywhere. Since I put it in my daughter's reno. She tends to spill stuff & has contributed to the damage on my own laminate, so decided to do sheet vinyl for lack of seams. Plus it is cheaper than good carpet or LTV - and looks GOOD. I had pros lay down high-quality sheet vinyl that really looks like wood. It is beautiful, and comfortable underfoot, waterproof, and I expect it to be durable.

My electrician had been there a while when he dropped a tool, and exclaimed "what kind of floor is this?" Because it didn't sound like wood. He had thought it was real wood - it looks that good.

Sheet vinyl has come a long way!

I have carpet in a couple of places. A second floor that would be noisy it it were not carpeted, especially the stairs that run next to the living room of the other unit. The downstairs has it in the living room because it has little insulation under the flooring on a slab and it is cold in the winter. In another house it is just cut to fit with no pad, so I can easily replace it between tenants if needed.

My own house has carpets because it is soft and warm, but I am thinking about replacing it with a hard floor, maybe cork, in a room that has become more utilitarian. But I still want something a bit soft and warm in the winter. Maybe someday I will get to radiant heat under the floors. yea, right. Of course, I vacuum and shampoo regularly.

Sheet vinyl is amazing these days. If I don't have a lot of cut arounds. I do use in the rental. Even with some cut arounds, it is so much more flexible that it doesn't crack trying to fit. I also like the stick tiles, they too have come a long way. I have learned to not get the beveled edge and to do a running bond pattern so 4 corners do not meet. Vinyl planks also work. I have laminate in my kitchen which I love, but would not put it in my rentals. Hard wood floors where they already are, and even painted plywood in a couple of places where it is accepted.

Carpet in bedrooms only. Laminate, vinyl plank, or tile every where else.

Carpet SSSUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKS!

Any questions? ;-)

Pet pet, pet dander, fur, bugs, dust, ground in dirt, Kool Aid stains, odors, tears, snags, "worn pathway" look.... need we go much further?

My tenants who moved out this summer and left a lot of stuff: they had a new puppy (with permission). They had also left an area rug. I rolled up that rug and it was covered with puppy pee stains. A quick mop of the hard surface flooring underneath took care of the pet pee problem in just a couple of minutes.

You can't tell that there was ever a dog in that house.

I love sheet vinyl flooring because it is the easiest flooring of any to clean. A quick wet mop and it looks new.

However, every rental that I've ever owned has ended up with long cuts in the floor in the kitchen. I don't know what the tenants are doing to cut the floor, but it is a common activity with tenants.

Also, one house ended up with hundreds of tiny holes in front of the refrigerator. It looked like someone was wearing spiked shoes in the house, except the holes were too small. I don't know what the tenant did to cause that, either, but the flooring had to be rep[lace.

I've had very good luck with Allure. It holds up and looks good. It's very easy to patch if the tenants damage it, although I've never had any tenant damage to Allure.

I was putting pine plank flooring into my rentals. The 1 X 12's costing about $1 a square foot.

Several days of labor to sand and straighten and bevel.

Roofing felt underlayment, face nail, seal with oil based verathane.

Occasional scratches just make the floor look more rustic and scratches can be sealed if needed.

The tenants loved the floors.

I'm with DJ & Oregon Woodsmoke, I like rolled vinyl floor covering for class C. We've used the office grade carpet in a few, it lasts well, but looks cheap. We usually buy a block tile design, or a wood plank look if vinyl. It cleans up easily, but does tear when they move furniture, but even so a good grade at Lowes amounts to about 200.00 a room.

Michael,

Some quick replies:

#1 it’s high maintenance. My costs have gone waay down.

#2 get with the times. Prospects DO NOT want carpet. Just ask any carpet dealer. Due to lower demand Lowes just reduced their carpet dept.

#3 why install anything that will only last a few years, or could be easily ruined with a single spill. And courts often depreciate it so you could walk out with nothing for ruined carpet.

Carpet Free has made my life easier and more profitable.

PS

Before a few of us made the shift to NO CARPET IN RENTALS Indid a study here on the forum. In a 30 day period there were 31 posts about carpet problems.

Ya don’t have to be a rocket scientist to realize carpet = problems, so het rid of carpet.

Very on topic. As a contractor who had many landlords as clients I leaned a trick or two down the road. One important discover was about leaving "CARPETING" on a Second Story Apartment.

When a tenant moved out of a upper unit, instead of just changing the carpet and padding, one long term landlady did the following:

1) Vacuum up the old carpeting and check for smells.

2) Have new carpet installed over the existing "carpet and padding". This is done by cutting away the old carpet from the walls to the other side of the tack stripping so the new carpet could be attached to the current tack strip.

This method cuts down on costs since the old carpet and padding doesn't have be removed and there in no new padding.

I conducted a sound transmission experiment with a radio and sound meter -- also with people walking upstairs. I compared this is a 1 lay carpet apartment, a 2 layer carpet apartment and a 3 layer carpet apartment. I had purchased a 8 unit apartment building from this landlady back in 1998.

The results were amazing. Cheep sound proofing. The tenants below these units with carpet over carpet never complained about upstairs noise.

No carpet is certainly best - provide hard surfacing (here's a vote for Allure), and let the tenants bring in an area rug.

Michael,

Here’s a method I use for decision making:

*I only take advice from happy, wealthy landlords.*

For you, here, several happy, wealthy LLs with hundreds of units have said NO CARPET.

Amazingly some LLs will still buy carpet even after ripping out 2 year old ruined carpet.

We only use carpet in emergencies: very fast turnover needed. Otherwise, nothing but vinyl floors.

I started with glue tab Allure, but have moved to the luxury click lock Smart Core planks.

No carpet. Just the cost of having to pay for cleaning at the very least for cleaning between tenants adds up quickly. And is a PITA.

Put vinyl wood planks in our laundry rooms in 2014 to see how they stood up and was super happy.

In Nor-cal the installed price of wood-look laminate planks dropped close to the cost of installed carpet last year and thus, no more carpets for us. On turnover if the exisiting carpets ( we only do in the bedrooms ) is still good - we clean and leave in. But if the UV lights show animals piddled all over or the damages to the carpet are a detriment to showing the unit well, we address that with the deposit disposition and in goes the laminate planks. Some of the faux stone looks are really amazingly noice too, even having "grout lines" designed into them.

I took all the carpet out of my rentals and put in tile. Too tired of replacing carpet. Tile is waterproof, lasts forever, and if the tenant wants carpet they can buy their own area rug.

ALLURE....ONLY ALLURE

Pat,

You brought up ANOTHER reason for no carpet - the classic DEPRECIATION or NORMAL WEAR AND TEAR argument at moveout and in courts.

I've never had anyone claim DEPRECIATION on a hardwood, tile, Allure...

And the carpet in MY home is 20 years old and still looks fine after 3 kids, 3 dogs, and Youth Group tromping thru.

SO if your 5 year old carpet is still in great condition, many judges will give you nothing if the res ruins it.

BRAD