The first thing most people notice when buying a house is the floor. If you are selling your house, you may want give your floors a makeover to entice buyers and possibly raise your home’s value. If you have carpet and it needs replacing, you may want to see what options there are for other flooring. Hardwood is a heavily sought out type of flooring for prospective home buyers, but it is not cheap. If this is the case for you, there are more affordable alternatives to installing new hardwood flooring.
Refinish Your Floors
If you already have hardwood flooring, but it’s seen better days, refinishing your floors is definitely a great solution. Floor sanders are available to rent at your local hardware store. If you choose to refinish the floors yourself, be sure to sand evenly across the whole surface, because once you go too deep, there is no going back. After sanding the floor, do an extremely detailed cleaning of the floor to remove any dust before applying the polyurethane.
Paint Your Floor
If your floor is full of deep gouges and other imperfections, painting your floor may be easier, cheaper, and improve its appearance. There is a lot of room for customizing with designs and color patterns.
Vinyl Flooring
For areas that are subjected to moisture like, bathrooms, mudrooms, and kitchen areas, it may be wise to add vinyl flooring. It is easy to apply, clean, and affordable. You can get creative with alternating color tiles or just keep it all one color. The prep time is minimal and if done well, it will last a long time.
Plywood Flooring
This seems to be all the rage in the DIY community and for good reason. There are a couple different ways to do this. Some homeowners choose to cut the plywood into slats that resemble country-style slats (about 8” - 12”), or in other cases, people cut the boards into squares. After you glue and nail the boards down, finish it with polyurethane or paint.
Taking the time to upgrade your floor will make a huge impact on your house whether you are looking to sell it or if you plan on living there for a long time to come.
