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justin_lanman69

Flooring - Honey Oak Wood

Justin Lanman
last year

I have honey oak wood floors from the 90s throughout the living room and kitchen. They will be staying for now, I pulled up old carpet in the bedrooms and need help with what will match well.

My 1-2 year goal is to make this a rental, so I want something attractive but durable.

I’ve included some pics of some pieces of LVP next to the the wood. Considering tile and LVP but open to suggestions.

Comments (13)

  • millworkman
    last year

    No fake wood next to real wood.

  • PRO
    Patricia Colwell Consulting
    last year

    I agree get unfinished wood same type of oak and have it stained to match as close as possible it is okay for bedrooms to have a bit different floor just not fake next to real.You do realize renters as a rule do not take care of stuff so be really picky about who you rent to we have rented out our homes 2 x and neither was a good experience.

  • Justin Lanman
    Original Author
    last year

    Yea I don’t like the fake wood next to real wood, looks tacky.

    Thoughts right now are tile, luxury vinyl tile, or potentially biting the bullet for wood, but wood is obviously the most costly and would like to avoid if possible.

    What are y’all’s thoughts on tile in bedrooms?

  • User
    last year

    I would do wood to match, but if this is going to be a rental, I might would just put carpet back in the bedrooms. They will wreck your wood floors. They will wreck carpet too but that is a less painful fix

  • User
    last year

    Have had two rentals with wood floors and they were destroyed by renters. I don’t even know how they managed it

  • kandrewspa
    last year

    Having LVP next to real wood is having fake next to real. I vote for carpet again in a medium tone. Even people who generally like wood floors like carpet in bedrooms. Tile would only be appropriate if you live in a hot climate where this is frequently seen.

  • Justin Lanman
    Original Author
    last year

    Noted on the carpet. How often do you think I would need to change with renters? Annually?

    For tile, I do live in FL so it stays hot.

  • bry911
    last year
    last modified: last year

    I have 30 years or so in the rental property game. In rentals LVP is more desirable than hardwood and I mean that renters will pay more rent for LVP than hardwood. They value the ease of LVP and they expect to damage hardwood in good shape and therefore know you are keeping a sizable portion of their deposit. This is the opposite of a typical homeowner or buyer.

    If you are concerned about real and faux wood next to each other, you would likely be better off installing LVP over the hardwood than installing more hardwood.

    ---

    Renters generally care for property differently than owners. There is no way to reliably find the renters who are going to care for your property. I have had college kids leave a property immaculate then rented to a surgeon who trashed it.

    I would put LVP (even if it is faux beside real) before hardwood, tile, or carpet. It is likely to have the highest return in rental property.

    ETA: I wouldn't put tile or tile look in bedrooms while having hardwood in other areas personally.

  • Justin Lanman
    Original Author
    last year

    That’s great insight, appreciate it

  • User
    last year

    Depends. I don’t replace until I have a vacancy. I will never replace carpet while a tenant is in the home. If they stain it or rip it, it is on them. Of course, they will never call you and tell you they ruined the carpet, so usually you don’t see the damage until they move out. I have I have had renters stay several years, and I replaced after they moved out. I have had some who only stayed six months, and a good cleaning was all it needed.

  • User
    last year

    I just realized the pics of LVP you provided. Warm mid to light toned floors are coming back in, so unless you got a steal on the price, I would not purchase gray lvp or super dark brown lvp. Dark shows every dust bunny and every scratch, and gray is limiting. I can tell you think your wood floor is sooo 90s, but it is a beautiful neutral floor, and hides imperfections well.

  • Justin Lanman
    Original Author
    last year

    lol yes they’re def screaming 90s. I don’t mind them for now, but just want something that flows well next to them.

    I’d def wait until they moved out, but if I’m looking at that expense every time someone moves out it might be worth it to invest in something that will withstand, yea?

  • bry911
    last year
    last modified: last year

    In my experience carpet is the worst flooring option for rental property.

    My (probably unpopular) 2 cents... One of my big goals when renting a property is to minimize the costs between renters. So I want to minimize the amount of time a property is vacant and I want to minimize the money I have to spend before renting it again. Buying pad and carpet plus scheduling installation between renters can cost me a lot of money over the life of a property.

    If I were picking "the best" flooring for a rental property, I would choose a gray click-lock LVP flooring with a lot of character and transitions at doorways. Gray floors hide more defects than any other flooring color, scratches, dings, and small holes tend to disappear in gray floors more than other colors, flooring character will also help hide any problems. I prefer click-lock with transitions because I always buy extra flooring to replace damaged pieces. Having click-lock and transitions allows me to pull up smaller portions of a room to get to, and replace, damaged pieces. Since moving to floating floors, I don't remember having to replace an entire floor unless I was updating the property.

    Even though gray is the probably best color for rental property flooring, I wouldn't rush to put gray in a property, because I do believe it is a fad that is on the way out, but I would still look out for character in the floor (something like a hickory could hide a lot of sins).

    This is not to say that carpet is a bad idea in any particular situation, if I needed to get a property rented and carpet was the best option to get it turned around, I would certainly consider it. However, I would fully expect to replace it soon.