Hardwood Flooring - Rehab Recommendations for Long Term Stability

[Andy Peck]

Hey BP,

I'm looking to close on a 3-plex (3 flat) in Chicago in the beginning of December and doing an FHA full 203k rehab of the property.

One of the items we are upgrading for long term buy and hold stability is the flooring since the area can demand higher quality rents. The house is outdated and currently has laminate so were tearing that out and we looking at either doing Oak or Pine flooring.

My General Contractor mentioned cutting costs on the project since we are doing all 3 units with hardwood and using Pine instead of Oak and then sealing it to make it stronger for long term durability.

Has anyone here gone with Pine versus Oak for flooring and had good long term stability with tenants wear and tear? I'm trying to see what the opportunity cost is to save on the flooring now versus potentially having to redo/reseal it every time tenants move out.

Any advice on proper sealing or Poly to ensure the Pine lasts through wear and tear so I don't have to re-seal it every time I have a new tenant move in? I understand it is a softer wood than Oak, but seeing if we can save on the rehab costs but open to recommendation from what other investors have run into with this.

Open to any other recommendations on procedure or wood to use for this situation.

Thanks!

[Dante Pirouz]

We try to refurbish and keep hardwood floors (HW) when we find it in the house (usually under crappy, stinky carpet) by refinishing it. Tenants love it and I use extra thick coats of dark stain if there is a lot of discoloration and damage and always double or triple up on the coats of varnish so that it can withstand a beating. At that point it is virtually waterproof so even with pets it holds up really well. Laminate is great and we do use it in kitchens and bathrooms and when the HW is non existent but it is more expensive per square foot (tends to cost us about $1.70/sf when we install ourselves but can be much more) than HW refinishing. We always do HW refinishing in-house so the cost is only renting the sander and the stain if needed and varnish maybe $200 in total for a whole house/unit vs. $1500-$2000. Hope that helps!