Replacing the carpet in your Raleigh rental home every few years is a crucial expense, but really, not too many rental property owners enjoy it. Rather, have you ever thought of disposing of the carpet in your rental for good? Increasingly, rental property owners are making a decision to leave out the wall-to-wall carpeting and installing hard-surface flooring in their properties instead. If this appears a bit too far out there, maybe you can take a minute to think of a few reasons why taking out the carpet entirely makes perfect sense for Raleigh rental property owners and their tenants.
Reason #1: Cleanliness
Classified among the toughest parts of having carpet in a rental home is keeping it clean. Although you may have the carpets professionally cleaned between each tenant, the tenants may not accomplish it themselves. If your tenants have stayed for various years (or more), that could mean that those carpets have been gathering dirt and filth for years. Carpet fibers are really known for absorbing stinks, which is specifically accurate if the carpet isn’t being cleaned properly and regularly. Although your tenant may have the carpet cleaned, they possibly don’t want the expense of hiring someone to do it or the time it takes to do it themselves.
But, on the other hand, hard-surface flooring, such as laminate or tile, is easy to clean. These kinds of flooring can be cleaned and scrubbed to shine in a couple of minutes and as frequently as the tenant desires to make certain that there are no unpleasant stains or smells. In contrast with carpet, hard-surface flooring is also so much more sanitary for young children and individuals with respiratory or other health issues.
Reason #2: Flooding
Another valid reason you may take into account giving up carpet for good is the problem of properly cleaning up carpets that get soaked because of water leaks and floods. Even one small plumbing issue can induce major flooding inside a rental house, and whenever carpets are wet, they can become a grave issue. Soaked carpets must be pulled up, and the subflooring, pad, and carpeting dried out swiftly and fully to steer clear of dangerous mold from growing underneath. If drying the carpet isn’t possible, it will have to be replaced. If you don’t look after a flooding situation promptly and correctly, you could put your residents’ health at risk and open yourself up to too much serious liability.
The majority of hard-surface flooring (other than real hardwood) is a whole lot easier to tend to in a flooding situation. As long as it has been properly installed, various sorts of laminate and vinyl are very water-resistant and can be dried out rather efficiently. This denotes that there will be no need for expensive restoration services or flooring replacement, just some focused clean-up.
Reason #3: Longevity
It’s no mystery that the carpet needs to be replaced every five years or so. Several landlords will seek to stretch that out to seven years or even longer – usually to their loss. Residents never like living on top of old, threadbare, or even stained carpets and will usually leave a rental if the carpet isn’t replaced as frequently as they would like. Old carpeting looks awful and is, in many cases, hazardous too. As carpet ages, carpet tack can start to emerge from underneath and harm people walking on it. A cheap carpet, particularly, doesn’t last more than a couple of years under rental property conditions.
Hard-surface flooring, however, is proven to have far better longevity. Even though there is a possibility that a tenant could, in all likelihood, damage a hard-surface floor, the majority of tile or laminate flooring should be able to last you for at least ten to twenty years or more. Laminate flooring costs about the same as carpet, but by reason that it does not need to be replaced as often, it can be a far better choice for rental properties.
Reason #4: Modern Look
One last note, wall-to-wall carpeting can, in some cases, make a rental property’s interior look outdated. Newer homes nowadays often keep carpet to a minimum, possibly only in the bedrooms or not at all. To give your rental a more modern look, think of putting some good laminate flooring or tile instead of carpet in the main living areas. As opposed to carpet, which a tenant cannot change, hard-surface flooring allows tenants to add rugs or a few more décor items to customize the area without compromising on cleanliness or longevity. Modern laminate tile comes in a wide range of sizes, colors, and patterns, including wood-look tiles that can contribute an upgraded feel to your rental without the price tag and hassle of real hardwood.
With a whole lot of advantages of hard-surface flooring, it’s not difficult to see why several rental property owners are choosing to leave carpet behind for good! Would you like more information about how to design beautiful and charming as well as really durable rental home interiors that tenants will favor while saving you money? Try to give Real Property Management Excellence a call at 919-827-1107. Our team of Raleigh property managers works with rental property owners like you to lower your maintenance and repairs costs without making your rental any less pleasing for tenants.
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