Luxury Vinyl Plank or Refinished Hardwood Floors?

[Jason Zeiner]

I have just begun on my first property renovation and my initial plan was to install LVP in the entire first floor and install new carpet on the stairs and second floor. That was until I pulled up a corner of the carpet to discover hardwood floors underneath. It seems like the entire house may have hardwood floors and now I have to decide if I want to refinish them instead.

Looking up rates for refinishing hardwood floors appears to be between $3.50-$5 per square foot where LVP starts at around ~$2.80 per square foot. The tradeoff is the refinishing rates are for someone else to do the job where the LVP numbers are materials only and I would install it myself.

The strategy for this property is to rehab then rent it out. So I'm not going to for maximum re-sale value like I would if it were a flip. Since this is a rental would you rather have the durability of LVP or is hardwood good enough? Those with hardwood floors, have you noticed any issues with your tenants damaging them, especially with pets?