kurtmarin's Profile

Rental buildings use parquet tile floors because it is the cheapest possible wood floor you can install and it's easy to patch; the materials are a few dollars a square foot vs. $10-$20 for a typical hardwood strip flooring. The hardwood strip can be sanded down and refinished a few times, the parquet must be pulled up and replaced. Ask any broker, the strip hardwood is a feature that will add value as long as you don't go crazy on very expensive flooring. Avoid engineered wood flooring or laminate, especially if you are going to sublease; the engineered wood flooring can't generally be sanded and refinished. The laminate floor is literally that, plastic laminate, it can't be refinished or touched up (think scratchy old kitchen counters). Lots of people are turned off by parquet tile floors, personally, I think they look cheap. If you have old "true" parquet floors, that are hardwood pieces hand-laid, often with borders and intricate patterns, you should probably save that and have it sanded, restored and refinished - they were highly labor intensive, and quite valuable.