Tenet proofing floors

[Eric Bilderback]

Do you guys suggestions on what to use for floors?  I am remodeling my units on turnover and am putting down new floors.  I put down pergo on the last place.  It was 1.39 a foot including the pad or whatever underneath.  I am kind of wishing I went with the 2.00 a foot stuff.  It is supposedly water proof, lifetime guarantee, etc.  These are for small 1 bd room apts. renting for hopefully $700 after the remodel a $100 increase.  

Yesterday I went to look at a move out and I saw that a tenet had put a couple of dings in another wood   floor.  I am concerned that this will happen to the new floors.  

Thank you for any advice,

[Stone Teran]

Tenant.

It all depends on the class of tenant and subfloor material.  I'm more likely to use wood or some kind of cheaper flooring with give on an upstairs apt with subfloors that give and tile on a 1st floor apt with concrete subfloor that is rock solid.  I'm more likely to use wood and carpet with better tenants and tile/cheap stuff in the worst neighborhoods.

I'm not a fan of the Pergo type flooring that everyone here seems to love.

[Keith Lewis]

LVT is the way to go. Styles are available in wood plank look, stone look with grout(that self seals in 24 hours), floating click locks that are super water resistant( of course the tile is waterproof it's vinyl...seams are the issue) there's even one click lock that you can grout. Here's the Keys: nothing under a 3mm thick product, if you can afford 4mm or better do it. Wear layer should be 12 mils ( for those of you that don't know a mil is the thickness of a piece of paper) but 20 + is actually commercially rated. Also make sure you have a scratch resistant FINISH, Aluminium Oxide, Ceramic bead etc. If you are gluing it down I recommend using an acrylic adhesive which has more strength. Good Luck

[Michele Fischer]

We do low income rentals, and we use the cheap stuff.  We've been able to successfully replace a few planks in high traffic areas.  Different people have different luck, but even the water proof material has not held up to our tenants.  Don't expect anything to be completely tenant proof and just experiment to see what works for you.  You could give a housewarming gifts of sliders to put under their furniture in hopes of stopping the evidence we see of dragging furniture around.

[Michele Fischer]

Also, the guarantees you see advertised normally don't apply to rental units.

[Jeff B.]

I always went with rugs - - easily replaced and price competitive to Pergo