LESLIE: Pam in Missouri needs some help fixing up I guess some damaged left by tenants at a rental property. What happened?
PAM: Well, I believe they were part animals. I’m not real sure. (Leslie and Pam chuckle)
TOM: OK.
PAM: We have got like a huge hole in the hall; I mean where the boarding is just gone. And the end of the living room, everything is gone; you know, you can see where the carpet is bowed and if you try to step on it, I’m afraid we’ll go right through. So what is the most economical way that we can get the floors fixed up? That’s what we’re going to start with.
LESLIE: And you say you’ve got carpeting currently in the living room and the rest is hardwood?
PAM: It’s the laminate stuff.
TOM: Oh, it’s laminate; it’s not hardwood.
LESLIE: OK.
TOM: Oh, OK. Alright.
PAM: Yeah, yeah. So it’s going to all have to come up and be redone.
TOM: Well, look. I mean if you’ve got to replace it, there’s no cheap way to replace it. You want to put in a good-quality product so it stands up. I can give you a little bit of background information on how to choose the right product.
First of all, when you have tenants, carpeting, if you can avoid it, you know –
LESLIE: Especially in a light color. Bad idea.
TOM: – yeah – is a really good idea. Laminate floor is probably a good choice but if you buy a cheap laminate floor, it’s not going to stand up to moisture or abrasion resistance. The finishes on them are aluminum oxide base, which is really tough; that’s the same thing that sandpaper is made out of. And so if you buy a commercial-grade laminate floor, you’re going to have the best durability and the best resistance to anything a tenant can sort of dish out. It also happens to be a lot easier to install them today because it used to be you had to glue them together; now they all lock together and they float on top of whatever floor is there, so there’s no attachment to the floor.
LESLIE: You’d have to remove the carpeting and go over the sub-floor, but everywhere else you could probably go right on top.
TOM: Exactly.
PAM: Right. Right. OK.
TOM: And the prices are coming down, too; so I think laminate, in your situation, is probably the best choice.
LESLIE: With the commercial finish.
TOM: Yeah. And then if you – if they want to put throw rugs over it and area rugs over it, they can do that and they’re not going to hurt it.
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