How much should I spend on floors?

[Conor C]

Hi. Can I have some opinions on the following. I have a standard run of the mill three bed semi. I have had it for sometime and it needs some TLC, so I intend cleaning it up (painting, new floors, bit of tiling etc) so it looks good for sale. I am not sure what to do with the floors. The old carpet was finished so its gone in the skip.

I could put down a cheap click laminate that is at least clean and if the buyer wants to rip it up there is not too much of a loss.
Or should I go for a bit of quality that looks better but costs me more?

[Katherine1105]

Personally, I would go for a middle of the road wool/polypropolyene mix twist carpet in quite a neutral but practical colour (£10-£15 a sq metre), something like a sage green perhaps or a darker colour that coordinates with many colour schemes, not really in fashion but not out of fashion if that makes sense. There is a current trend for chocolate coloured things but in terms of longevity it, like the laminate floor will be out of fashion in a couple of years. If you go for something which is not as cheap as possible it might work in your favour as the buyer will then think that this is not a cost which they have to bear in the foreseeable future. I would also steer away from the current trend for light beige carpets, really not very practical and if you have a 3 bedroomed place, that is a family sized building and children and beige carpets, not a good recipe.

I suppose if the floorboards are in good condition (not butchered by plumbers and electricians over the years) they might sand up, although it depends how much time you have on your hands to do this. It may be more cost effective to put carpet in some rooms and keep the floorboards in others then it does not look as if you have 'skimped'. The problem with doing something to your house which is visibly 'new' but obviously 'the cheaper option' is that potential buyers may inadvertently think that you have 'cut corners' in places where they cannot see (well I would anyway).

I was heartened to see that carpets I put down in houses we owned over 10 years ago are still down and still looking great (looked at the current sales details on line!). The carpets I chose may not have been to everyone's taste but they were good quality, one of the reasons I'm sure the people we sold to kept them. Hope this helps.