Flooring has a massive impact on the general appearance of a home and can be an expensive thing to replace if it is not kept in good condition. Sellers are advised to pay careful attention to them to ensure that the home sells for full value.
READ: 4 beginner-friendly DIY home improvement ideas
Before listing your home, Regional Director and CEO of RE/MAX of Southern Africa, Adrian Goslett advises all homeowners to ensure that whatever flooring they have installed is in its best possible condition. “Excessive wear and tear on the flooring will drive buyers away. Focusing on getting your flooring looking its best before listing the house is an important step towards selling for full value,” he recommends.
Goslett shares some tips on how to ensure that the home’s flooring is in top condition before it hits the market.
1. Critically evaluate all carpets:
Depending on where it is, the carpets in the house may or may not function. If the carpet is in the bathroom, then it is probably better to rip them out and replace it with tiles. It is also advisable to have all carpets professionally cleaned before listing the home.
2. Repair hardwood floors:
Restoring hardwood floors properly can significantly raise a home's value. But, for those who intend to sell, entirely refinishing the hardwood flooring could be a costly undertaking. Work with a real estate agent to find out if this is something that will add enough value to make it worthwhile, rather than taking on this type of expense straight away.
READ: 4 floor trends to modernise your home
TheSpruce offers tips on how to care for your hardwood floors:
Treating your hardwood flooring with the proper care it deserves is the first step to maintaining it and keeping it beautiful for decades to come. Learn how to protect hardwood floors with these simple and inexpensive tips.
- Avoid or limit cleaning your floor with water
- Clean up pooled water immediately
- Keep the floor clean by sweeping and mopping it
- Do not over-sand your flooring
- Lay down mats and runners
- Choose the right cleaning products
- Use furniture protectors on legs
If you clean your hardwood with liquids, mist lightly with a cleaner formulated specifically for hardwood floors. Even steam-cleaning hardwood can be damaging. Sweep mops and cleaning products, praised for being gentle on laminates and hardwood, need to also be monitored.
In kitchens, lay down mats in front of the kitchen sink and dishwasher to capture spills, as well as to provide a comfortable surface for standing. Shoe racks and small mats just inside doorways encourage people to leave their footwear and mess at the door.
Beware:
Never use harsh chemicals, such as chlorine bleach, ammonia, undiluted vinegar, or pine oil, because they can seriously damage floor finishes.
3. Replace broken tiles:
If you have any tiles left from when the original tiling was done, replace any cracked or broken tiles. Otherwise, consider retiling the entire area with tiles that might be easier to find and replace if needed. If there is a spare box after the tiling is done, leave it behind for the new buyer so they can replace any future cracked tiles if needed.
Identifying what needs to be updated or replaced in the home can be challenging for homeowners who have become sentimentally attached to the property. “Buyers will not view the home the same way as the sellers do and are likely to be far more critical of flaws than the owner might be,” says Goslett.
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