Recommended Carpets for rental property?

Hi Sandra,

Excellent question as I have heard Mark recommend a certain type of carpet hundreds of times, but I can never remember the name.

Mark is now on a family holiday in Russia, but I have his response below:

Felt backed bleach cleanable polypropylene in a cappuccino colour with a good underlay. Matches everything, not expensive, easy to clean and very hard wearing. Comfortable to the foot and also warm when fitted with decent underlay. Also available in all good carpet retailers but they tend not to recommend them due to low profit margins and the fact they last and look good for a VERY long time.

I am not sure if the colour makes any difference to a good quality work top, but readers may have more experience to answer.

laminate floors, always, a no brainer.

Reply to the comment left by "Alan Loughlin" at "29/12/2014 - 11:34":

laminate not a good idea in flats as noisy (and often banned by leases for that reason). we go for a dark coloured carpet as hides dirt and stains better! the quality of the carpet depends on the type/value of the rental.

I used “Big Hit Eagle Tawny 700" last time and it seem to be well liked. It is also bleach cleanable, cheap, and does not show many marks.

Joe Bloggs beat me to it - a definite 'brainer' - laminate looks fine for a short time, noisy and unless a very good quality looks rubbish very quickly. Tenants also have a propensity to have leaks and drop things that people in their 'owned' home don't do with such regularity and laminate will be ruined and a big job to replace. I have a number of studios in one block and always asked 'does it have wooden floors' - no it doesn't and it would be very unlikely to be real wood so I tell them this and also tell them that they wouldn't want the person upstairs to have wooden floors (they mean laminate I guess), and they understand. In my studios I use 'Sark' from Carpetright in grey or silver (it's not silver, has grey and beige and a blue in it and is a very good colour doesn't show stains easily) it's not a blank colour so the mottling covers a multitude of sins and amazingly you can also clean it - we had always ripped out and replaced until we tried cleaning it after one tenancy. Better quality flats fortunately came with good hard floors, but I would always use a what is probably called a cappuccino colour in bedrooms, but with a pile and mottling effect - loops unloop quite easily and go fuzzy. Don't over spend on floor, they will look new for a very short time - they are for walking on.

As for kitchen gloss looks good but unless you have a good clean tenant they don't look glossy for a tenancy and I wouldn't do a white worktop - tea and coffee/redwine/vinegar etc stains, and whilst you can clean it out or bleach it it takes off the protective surface, and it will pretty rubbish after a short time, if you have white units go for a dark colour contrast.

It all comes with experience, the type of property/type of tenant and the budget - I know someone will disagree with me, but I built this system up over years and this works for me.

I must admit I never use a high gloss finish for kitchen units, as they tend to look cheap and nasty in a very short time. I would always recommend a dark round edge wood effect melamine worktop as they tend not to chip or stain. A careless tenant may ruin any worktop with a hot pan, though I found a tiled worktop worked well in my own home for 20+ years. Could be rather expensive for a tenanted property, with high labour cost of grouting and timber edging.

this is not my experience, have had these apartments since 2008 and they have been rented constantly, the laminate floors still look like new, we actually live in one and find it far superior to carpet, and much easier to clean, but you are right, it does need to be a good quality one.

If you use laminate, get at least a AC4 Water Resistant and remember that the floor must be very flat or it will be hard to install well.

Also use a laminate joint sealant.

I think getting the floor coverings right is very difficult. I develop Victorian properties which rarely have a hallway, therefore the front room takes quite a hammering from footfall, pushchairs etc. I have put a good quality mottled dark brown acrylic carpet down, over a good underlay. It looks great and seems indestructible. It's in everyone's interest to have the carpet out live the tenant (and their dogs). I am motivated to return all the deposit. Renting isn't cheap anymore and it's a struggle for tenants when they need to move. Laminate is a disaster waiting to happen. It gets so grubby and damages if furniture is moved around. Polyflor or Karndean is great for a bathroom, tho Lino can look fantastic but can tear. Both need to be laid over plywood, so the plumbing needs to be really well planned. All these floors do lift up if needed, and of course the plywood will unscrew !

With regards to work top, I go for a light, mottled colour. I no longer buy the cheap howden/magnet stuff. Partly because it chips badly, and partly as it comes in 3m lengths. The more expensive type comes in 2 and 4m lengths. You'd be surprised how often it works out cheaper, buying the expensive one !!! Matt every time, with a dark coloured mastic and dark tile grout. Really.