Carpet vs Hardwood... what would you do??

Question

The living room and 2 small bedrooms are currently hardwood, the old 1.5" stuff that needs to be refinished really bad. I'm trying to decide if I want to refinish the floors in the living room AND both bedrooms or just the living room and go get a carpet remnant and have someone put that in the bedrooms.

Personally, I would want carpet in a bedroom, but what do I know? What would you guys do??

Danny Day · Answer

Yes, that was with filling, full sanding, stain, clear coat, and shoe mold. It was a great deal, I found my guy off craigslist.. he knocked out about 1,400 sq ft in 2.5 days. I was happy with it. I'd post pics but my work has tinypic.com blocked.

Joel Owens · Answer

Eric you can get a nice rug for each bedroom with a pad underneath it for around 70 bucks.

Steve Babiak · Answer

Absolutely wood floors for a resale.

Aaron Smith · Answer

@Eric L. Thanks for the topic.  Ok so the overwhelming response for rentals was to refinish the hardwood floors.  If it was a resale, would you guys do the same or would you guys get carpet?

Eric L. · Answer

Got it. Thanks everyone for the input. I'm just going to bite the bullet and re-do the hardwoods. Convinced my partner too after showing him this post!

Good to know about the prices. I think I am going to try and crank it out myself, but if/when things go horribly wrong I'll know what to expect to pay to have it done right!

Randal McLeaird · Answer

refinish. i had a $30k house i bought with carpet down and flees all over the place. ripped up the carpet to find some damaged hard wood and just bit the bullet and refinished it. the whole house looks amazing and I found a guy to do it for a really good price. It definitely does help that I'm in SA because I got it done for much less than everyone else is quoting but I would've paid more because basic carpet is going to cost me $2/sqft installed anyway. I paid about $1/sqft to have it refinished and it's a rental so I wasn't concerned with having it done up to a $300k house standard. It rented almost immediately. People like hard wood and you'll love the durability compared to replacing the carpet all the time when your tenants destroy it.

Joe Delia · Answer

Thats the advantage of a southwest labor force.  Drives labor costs down.

Joe Delia · Answer

Is that a full sand with a stain and clear coats?  If so, that is an unbelievable price.

To answer to OP, refinish the hardwoods.  No brainer, lasts longer, can take a better beating.  Carpet, even in MN, is a bad choice in rentals, IMO.

Mike V. · Answer

I always refinish the hardwood if its there.  I pay $1.90/sq ft for three sandings and two layers of poly (minor repairs included). I've paid as low as $1.50 but the result showed it.  That price will also get a decent carpet that will need to be replaced in a 4 or 5 years.  Hardwood holds up so much better and allows the buyer/ tenant the option of putting down a rug if they want the warmth.

Dick M. · Answer

Seems like a no brainer, nothing beats a real hardwood floor, refinishing  should last many years...

Carpet vs Hardwood... what would you do??

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