Читать книгу Landlording in Canada - Michael Drouillard - Страница 15

Avoid low-grade laminate flooring because the seams puff up easily when liquids are spilled on the floor, causing permanent damage.

Try vinyl tile, as opposed to vinyl sheet. Replacing damaged vinyl tile is easy. Ceramic tile is excellent as well.

Do you own a suite or apartment? Be aware of potential sound transfer issues. Your strata or condominium corporation may regulate the type of floor coverings you may install in your apartment.

Tenants don’t want to live on 20-year-old carpeting. Aim to replace wall-to-wall carpeting every 10-12 years. Try an economical commercial-residential hybrid (with the emphasis on residential). Try for $1.50 per square foot.

You can save significant money by removing the old carpet yourself. It’ll be easier to handle if you use a box cutter blade to cut it into four-foot wide strips before you roll it up and take it away. Consider reusing the old underlay, but if it’s full of pet urine stains or other stains that smell, forget it. Always use a professional installer to lay carpet. Never lay carpet without underlay.

You can have 900 square feet of carpet replaced for $2,500, $5,000, $7,000 or more. Never mind the carpet salespeople who recommend the carpeting with the 25 year warranty. Ask professional carpet installers what they’d install in their own home. You may be surprised how many would choose the $2,500 package first.

In my opinion, installing expensive carpet, even if it is advertised as long lasting, is too risky. When I started out landlording, my odds of choosing bad tenants were unacceptably high. I remember the pain I felt when my new “bad” tenants spilled a jar of indigo ink on the brand new carpet. Twenty-five-year warranty or not, no carpet could withstand that kind of abuse.