WWYD: refinish hardwood and take a vacancy or put in laminate?

Question

What would you do: refinish hardwood and take a vacancy or put in laminate?

The properties I manage locally have nice, dark hardwood floors.

After a few years or wear and tear, they are going to need to be refinished.  We have only done this at our personal residence and we used a commercial grade poly, but couldn't move furniture on it for weeks.

Our apartments rent for $1300 - $1600 per month and we have never had a vacancy, we always show and rent it while occupied and have the new tenants move in the day after the other tenants leave.  So if we refinish the hardwood we would have to have a vacancy in each unit to do so.

My solution is to install the Allure resistance vinyl planks.  We have these in our out of state rentals and they durable and look nice IMO.

The advantage to doing this is they are a peel and stick installation (over a plastic underlayment) and can be easily cut to size.  So we could have a crew come after the tenant moves and work through the night to have them done before the next day when the new tenant moves in.

We wouldn't need to take a vacancy and they have a 25 year warranty and are more durable for tenants.  My husband thinks the don't look nice and it would deter the high quality tenants we attract because we don't have hardwood.

What would you do?

Take a $1300 - $1600 vacancy every 5 years to keep the hardwood?

OR

Install the vinyl planks and risk turning off tenants?

Brie Schmidt · Answer

@Colleen F. - How long was the wait before furniture could be moved onto it?

Account Closed -  yea, all of our tenants have dogs.  I will have to look into refinishing options in more detail.  They are overall in good condition, but are just getting worn

Account Closed · Answer

I would agree with the other commentators.  Keep the hardwood even if there is some maintenance associated with them.  If the tenants in your area are expecting nice floors,  and your unit has laminate in it, they may not stay as long because it doesn't "feel" as nice - which would result in turnover costs anyway.

Going a step further, since you are going to be in the unit refinishing the floors anyway, is there anything else you could do to justify the higher end of your rent range? I'm just thinking that the nicer the unit, the longer they stay, and the more they'll probably pay.

Account Closed · Answer

The hardwood is beautiful! The dark color is awesome and current and it will be forgiving if you can do touch up the scratches and do recoats of poly as the poly is worn...without doing a complete strip.  At your rent level....keep attracting the best possible tenants.  If you were talking $700/ month....I may say differently....mainly because the wear level would be more risky with lower end.

Julie Kern · Answer

Hey, Chuck W. what brand of laminate and where are you finding it? And what is the thickness?  Thanks!

Bryan N. · Answer

Doesn't pertain to the question but, I always use lighter color floors to help minimize the wear look.

Ken P. · Answer

I'd stay with the hardwood floors.  We definitely get more than 4 years before they require refinishing or even screen and coating.  One thing we give to our tenants as part of a welcome package is wood floor cleaner, so they know what to buy, and a big package of floor protector felt pads for their furniture.

As mentioned by others, we have tenants move in 48 hours or later after the final coat.

Richard C. · Answer

If you do periodic, and even seemingly too-frequent, screen and recoats, you will never have to do a full refinish.  In theory, at least.

We have moved furniture on within 48 hours.  If you do this in a RI winter, when it is very dry and the space is heated, I wouldn't expect any issues.  Don't try to cheap out and reduce the heat below whatever the poly manufacturer recommends, though.  I'm not sure, but I think the ideal temp range is something like more than 60 to no more than 80.

Colleen F. · Answer

This was a full strip and redo  and he did 3 coats of poly so I think it was a 4-7 days from start to finish. No stain. Water base he can sand and apply after the dust settles, it would be quicker but I don't like it.  If the floors were in better shape we would not have had to sand all the way down, he would have done a light sand and recoat.

Furniture they moved in right after  maybe a day or so later although we could have waited longer per the floor guy.  They always recommend waiting but I haven't had an issue and the redo held up well even for the student renters.   After 4 years though it seems pretty quick. I had a new wood floor put in about 8 years ago with student renters and there are a couple of scratches and maybe now it could use a recoat but not desperately. In my husbands opinion I am the only one that would notice but it is natural finish not dark.

Roman Pak · Answer

IMO, I think hardwood is the best way to go when you have pets in the house. The cheaper softer vinyl will get destroyed much faster, and as others have mentioned a clear coat of poly will be cheaper than a full resurface and finish.