Laminate Flooring?

[Josh L.]

I just put down vinyl planks that's supposed to look like wood downstairs, but now I'm considering if I should replace the carpet for the upstairs with laminate. 

I knew I was going to have to replace the carpet and I thought I was going to replace it with carpet. But, I have an applicant who says he'll take the place if I replace the carpet with something that looks like wood instead of carpet. Doing vinyl downstairs was expensive, and it would be too much to install vinyl upstairs too so that leaves laminate as the only other choice I don't r-carpet it. 

But, I've got several concerns about going with laminate, especially if I put in upstairs:

1) Will it look weird to use vinyl downstairs and then laminate upstairs and for the stairs?

2) Would you try to match the laminate and vinyl or choose laminate that looks different. I already realized that I made a error with how the vinyl looks, and I'm afraid I'd be compounding the mistake if I tried to pick a laminate that looks like the vinyl. ( The lesson is never select something on how it looks in the Internet when you only have a few minutes.)

3) Will it be too noisy to put laminate upstairs and stairs?

4) Should I be concerned about water on laminate in the bedrooms? I chose vinyl over laminate downstairs because I thought vinyl would be more durable because it wouldn't warp with contact to water.

But, it seems like I'd need to be more concerned about water upstairs because after people washing, they'd walk from the attached bathrooms to the bedrooms without their feet being completely dry.

5) Should I be concerned that the installer couldn't tell me what the AC rating was for the laminate? I was looking for something with AC-3 or AC-4 durability rating.

This installer was recommended by another landlord, and the installer's native language isn't English so maybe something got lost in translation. But, he just scratched it with a penny to show it didn't scratch. 

I'm assuming they're Chinese-made laminate, but shouldn't they have a AC rating?

[Walker Seid]

Some people don't like it. I just bought a house that has laminate. It looks cheap if you look close but it is durable and you can install it easily. I don't think it is too bad. You could do bamboo. It is also cheap. 

[Danny Dang]

Hello, I only have  one 4 plex. Up stairs is all carpet(3 bedroom) 2 bathroom up stairs are all tiled. Downstairs is completely tiled. I did the same thing I also to decided to pull out the carpet to upstair. Which I didn't think about the stairs! That can get $$$! I ask Liquid Liquidators what is the good price for stairs. He told me "it can start at $85 PER step" OMG! So be ready to spend some cash on that. Since this is my first rental. Homedepot has some laminate on sale "traffic master" for .58 cent per sf. Here's what is look like now.

  

[Jane A.]

You could have carpet on stairs. Recently I installed laminate looking like wood and it looks clean and beautiful :))) installers should be skilled. If you want to keep carpet upstairs and it is normal - you would better find tenant who will like carpet :)))

[Ahmed Porter]

on the lam floor on the sample it will have ll the info as far as the warranty, laminates have made a big improvement over the years they have the look as of wood and the durability of not being able to scratch on alot of them. The pergo is a good brand . most of the steps if they are stain grade you can stain them to match the flooring if not get the same material and the nosing and install it to match. The carpet is the cheap fix but long term its going to be the laminate floors for you. Try lumber liqudators for your install they rates are close to most GC prices and the warranty is great.I would not change just because of one client .

[Derek DeGuire]

We have started replacing worn carpet with laminate wood in all units.  If you shop it you can find deals.  Long term most cost effective flooring and you can replace individual planks if they get damaged. I would still carpet the stairs.