I rented a house with polished floor boards years ago and it was a condition of my lease ( I had a three year lease) upon exiting the that entire floor would be stripped and repolished. Just food for thought.
as someone that has been in rentals pretty much their entire life, if you go the carpet, go the darker colours with flecks lol! our landlord in the last place put in this really awful plain blue/grey colour and it showed EVERYTHING. dirt, hair, stains etc. the house NEVER looked clean. much better when you have flecks as it can last across a number of long term leases too (some stains never come out with cleaning but arent worth replacing the whole shebang iykwim). also i know from our experience that we have turned down a lease on a place because it had cream brand new carpet, there was no way that we were going to risk it considering we had a young baby and a dog and 2 cats LOL!
floorboards are really nice and attractive, but like you mentioned a bit cold and also noisy.
that said, if i was in the market to rent i would choose a house with floorboards over carpet just for my own satisfaction of being able to keep it cleaner and avoid allergy problems with my family. but seriously, the rental market here in melbs at least is so hot that there certainly would be no issue in renting it out with carpet lol!
From a renter's point of view, I was going to say floor boards, but after reading the other responses I agree, go with the carpet.
The only reason I was going to say floor boards is because all of the rentals I've been in have had cheap carpet in a light carpet, and let me tell you it's very, very hard to keep clean not bein stain resistant and also a light colour.
So go for the carpet but definitely in a dark colour!
as lovely as floor boards are, i'd be nervous having them when renting because they're the sort of thing that could potentially cause dispute at the end of a lease...we have some floor board type of thing (sorry, not well versed in flooring! ) & i'm already thinking that when we move out, how do we agree what is normal wear & tear etc. carpet is easier.
Well, we are renting at the moment and we have carpet in the house.... and it's disgusting. I think it *used to be* beige... but not quite sure now . Apparently the carpet was just put in about a year before me moved in - but by the time we moved in it was all dirty and yucky and worn out . The landlord even got it steam cleaned for us but that was still not enough... the stains stayed. So you *might* be lucky to get people in that look after the carpet, or you might get PIGS that ruin it within the first year. Then you have to replace the carpet throughout the house. Worth thinking about. When we were still renting in germany, all the flats had laminate flooring thoughout (I think in Australia they call it floating floors??) and that was THE BEST!! It was easy to keep clean, NEVER scatched (and I lived with two rowdy boys, a dog and a cat) and was not actually that cold, because they put insulation under the boards (for noise reduction and to keep warmth in).
Like I said, if you have 'clean' people living in your house, carpet shouldn't be a problem, but you never know...
Sorry, didn't mean to confuse you further! Hope you'll now what to do soon
Floor boards gets scratched so easily, if they have children who are playful (or even adults who arnt careful) then jumping onto a lounge the wrong way can make the lounge slide and cause scratches to the boards and thats just an everyday example, not to mention the damage that can be caused when moving in. If they havent had boards before they may bot relise to put a mat etc under the furniture before sliding leaving marks and scratches. They also dont have the give that carpet does, so unless the floor is 100% level furniture can wobble when walked past, again walking on its own = hello scratches. Unless you have a double brick home, really good insulation or only a small area wood then I would carpet it otherwise heat becomes a factor. Either now or later you would need good qulality window dressings to help with the heat factor if you go wood and dont have the insulation to keep the warmth too. Also wood doesnt have the same grip that carpet does so little ones are more prone to slip over on it, bowls smash when dropped etc, all potentially damaging to your home. Carpet is more allergenic, but it is only a rental so will you really be worrying about their allergies? lol. Just some more food for thought
Floating floor boards are something to think about. DH insists that if we ever build a house we will have bamboo floors. Don't stain or scratch.
Carpet in the bedrooms though.
We have slate & carpet here. Honestly, the first question I asked when offered this house was the colour & condition of the carpet. It is light, I don't like that, but old. The owners were considering replacing it & I asked them not too. We've already said if we ever bought the place, both walls & floors would be darker colours.
I do love my slate floors though. They are freezing cold, but are so easy to keep clean (or they look clean anyway).
We try to clean our carpets every 6 to 12 months anyway, no matter how long we live in a place. We hate it being dirty (if I owned the vax it'd be done more often!) I'm sure you could make it a condition of the lease to have a long term tennant clean them every 12 months & they are to be cleaned on moving out anyway.
I can't wait to get mum's vax into action this weekend! Carpets, lounges & matresses here we come, lol!
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) & i'm already thinking that when we move out, how do we agree what is normal wear & tear etc. carpet is easier.
. Apparently the carpet was just put in about a year before me moved in - but by the time we moved in it was all dirty and yucky and worn out
. The landlord even got it steam cleaned for us but that was still not enough... the stains stayed. So you *might* be lucky to get people in that look after the carpet, or you might get PIGS that ruin it within the first year. Then you have to replace the carpet throughout the house. Worth thinking about. When we were still renting in germany, all the flats had laminate flooring thoughout (I think in Australia they call it floating floors??) and that was THE BEST!! It was easy to keep clean, NEVER scatched (and I lived with two rowdy boys, a dog and a cat) and was not actually that cold, because they put insulation under the boards (for noise reduction and to keep warmth in).
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