Rental Property Flooring in Rexburg, ID

Between BYU-Idaho approved student housing, duplexes, and multi-family buildings, a lot of the floors in this valley belong to someone other than the person walking on them. Showcase Interiors has been supplying and installing flooring in Rexburg since 1975, and we have worked with residential, commercial, and multi-family customers that entire time. Come see what we keep in stock at our location in Rexburg, ID, or have us come out and measure the unit for free.

What Is the Best Flooring for a Rental Property?

For most rental units in our area, the combination that survives best for the money is waterproof luxury vinyl plank through the entry, kitchen, living room, and hallway, with carpet in the bedrooms. Vinyl plank takes the water, the dirt, and the higher traffic that normally turn into deposit arguments with tenants. Carpet keeps the bedrooms quiet and warm without the cost of running hard surfaces through the whole unit.

Buying flooring for a rental is a different job from buying it for yourself. You are not choosing what you love, you are choosing what still looks acceptable after four tenants. Here are some tips on what works best:

• Wear layer thickness: the wear layer is the clear coat on top and it is the single spec that decides how long the floor looks new. Ask for the mil thickness rather than the overall plank thickness. A thicker board with a thin wear layer will scuff or have the image fade faster than a thinner board with a thicker wear layer.
• A rigid waterproof core: flood resistant in case a dishwasher or hot water heater lets go in unit 4. This helps prevent the damage spreading to lower floors or units next door.
• Click-lock or Glue Down planks you can swap: on a floating click and glue down floor, an installer can often pull back to a gouged board and put a new one in. If you had sheet vinyl or carpet, you have to rip out the entire area or have an ugly patch put in.
• A mid-tone, wood-look hard surface with a real grain feel: very dark and very light floors show every crumb, scuff, and footprint. Mid-tone wood looks hide day-to-day wear, which means fewer complaints and less cleaning between tenants.
• A product you can buy again: ask whether the item is a running line before you floor a whole building in it. Matching a discontinued plank two years from now is how a one-room repair turns into a whole-unit replacement. That said, we have no control over when a manufacturer discontinues a product, so it is also wise to purchase a few extra boxes for any repairs that may be needed down the road.

Best Carpet for a Rental Property

Rental carpet fails two ways: it mats flat in the traffic lanes, and it stains. This can happen as a combination of carpet construction, fiber type, and cleaning methods. Most manufacturers recommend getting new carpets hot steam extracted every 12-18 months as part of regular maintenance to help them last longer.

• Solution-dyed fiber: the color is part of the fiber instead of “painted” onto it, so a bleach-based cleaner takes the stain out without taking the color with it. This is the single biggest upgrade you can make on a rental carpet.
• Density, not face weight: bend a sample backward. If the backing shows through easily, that carpet will likely show traffic more quickly. Dense, tightly packed tufts stand up to traffic.
• Twist rate: a higher twist helps the carpet “bounce back” over a longer period of time.
• Low pile height: a short, tight cut pile or level loop keeps its look. Long, loose, soft, plush carpet feels great in a showroom, but can look tired in a rental within a year.
• Do not cheap out on the pad: the pad is what the carpet lands on every time somebody walks. A thin or less dense pad shortens the life of a good carpet, and before you know it, your carpet has zero support.
• Carpet tile for traffic and problem areas: in a shared entry, a basement that has flooded before, or a high-traffic common area, carpet tile lets you replace the damaged square feet instead of the room.

Flooring for BYU-Idaho Student Housing and Multi-Family Buildings

Approved single-student housing is its own problem. You have more people per unit than a normal apartment, more furniture moving in and out, and a calendar that decides when work can happen instead of you deciding. BYU-Idaho's 7 week break is usually the best time to plan for new flooring being installed. Spring and Winter breaks can sometimes be a good time as well.

A few things that make a difference at building scale:

• Standardize the product across the building. One plank, one carpet, one pad, everywhere. It makes repairs trivial, it makes reordering trivial, and it usually improves what we can do on price.
• Buy attic stock up front. A few extra boxes stored on site turn a damaged bedroom into an afternoon instead of a purchase order.
• Book the turn before the semester ends, not after. Every landlord in Rexburg wants the same few weeks. The ones who got measured in advance get them.
• Use hard surface anywhere water gets carried. Entries, kitchens, laundry, and the path between them.
• Carpet tile in the common areas. Stairwells, lobbies, and shared laundry rooms take more abuse than any apartment, and tile lets you replace the two feet that failed.

Planning the Install Between Semesters

The turn itself is a scheduling exercise more than a flooring one. This is the order that works:

• Measure early. We will come to the property and measure it at no charge, and the measurement does not expire. Get it done while the unit is still occupied. We only need to measure one of each type of layout if there are multiple of the same.
• Choose while there is still time to change your mind. Take samples back to the unit and look at them in that light, next to that cabinet color.
• Order with the calendar in mind. Some items are on our floor and some are a special order. We will tell you which is which before you commit, so the schedule is built on real dates.
• Book the install. Tell us the day the unit clears and we will build backward from it.

What Rental Property Flooring Costs

Two 900 square foot apartments in the same building can quote differently because of what is under the old floor, how many transitions there are, and whether anything has to come out first. Rather than guess, here is what actually moves the number:

• Material grade. The gap between a builder-grade plank and one with a heavy wear layer is real, and on a rental it usually pays for itself in the second tenant.
• Tear-out and haul-away. Pulling old carpet, tack strip, and pad and disposing of it is labor, and getting rid of it is an extra charge.
• Subfloor prep. Floating floors need a flat subfloor. If yours is not flat, leveling is a line item, and skipping it is how a click floor starts to separate. Proper floor prep helps a glue down floor not to have gaps also.
• Transitions, trim, and stairs. Stairs can be one of the most labor-intensive sections in any unit.
• Furniture and appliances: Rooms should be emptied prior to the Installers’ arrival. Showcase Interiors does not contract to move furniture as part of its services. If the customer is unable to move their items, Showcase Interiors can attempt to refer customers to local moving companies that can assist. Plumbing, gas, and electrical features and appliances must be turned off and/or removed before the Installer arrives, including but not limited to toilets, stoves, refrigerators, dishwashers, washers & dryers, etc.

Why Rexburg Landlords Work With Showcase Interiors

Showcase opened in October 1975 and has been here through everything since, including the Teton Dam flood the following June. Today the store is run by Patrick and Anna Bjornn, and the team behind the counter has more than 100 years of flooring experience between them. We know our customers personally, help them keep track of the flooring they have bought over the years, and help them stay within their budgeted flooring allowances year to year. That matters on a rental because we have already seen how the product you are considering ages in a building like yours.

• We stock many products and order them. Four warehouses of inventory behind a fully loaded showroom.
• Expert installers and Measuring. Many of our installers have over decades of experience and our Sales Professionals that come out to measure your project know exactly what to look for so there are no surprises or things missed on the estimate.
• We already work at building scale. Residential, commercial, and multi-family, since 1975.
• Blinds too. If you are turning a unit anyway, our window covering specialist Janet can quote window treatments at the same time.
• Local co-op buying power. As part of the Flooring America co-op we buy like a national chain and answer the phone like the neighbours we are. It also gives us stronger warranties than most of our competitors.

Get a Free Measure for Your Rental Property

Tell us how many units, where they are, and when they clear. We will come out, measure, and put a real number in front of you.

Book the free measure and we will get it on the calendar.