Does New Flooring Increase Your Home’s Value? (What You Should Know)

Does new flooring increase home value? The short answer is yes, but it’s essential to consider more than a few key elements before making the investment. In this blog, we’ll break down the best types of flooring for boosting your home’s value, how to attract potential buyers, and how to ultimately increase your home’s resale potential.

What Factors Influence Home Value?

Whether you’re looking to sell your home soon or simply renovating it for yourself, knowing all the different factors that influence home value will help you make a wise investment. 

Location, Location, Location

You’ve heard it before, but that’s because it’s true. Where your home is located, both in the region of the country, and your own local neighborhood or area, will play a big role in your home’s value. For example, Hawaii is the state with the highest housing costs, with homes costing around $840,000, on average, whereas homes in Pennsylvania typically cost around $300,000, on average. However, since Pennsylvania includes major urban areas in addition to rural towns, these numbers vary exceedingly based on region. 

Your home’s value will also depend on the location of your home within your city or county. Is your home located in or near a popular neighborhood? Is it close to restaurants, cultural attractions, and public transportation? You’ll also want to assess the location of your home within a neighborhood. Do you have a beautiful view from your living room or live on a quiet street? All of these factors play a role in the value of your home.

Curb Appeal (Inside and Out)

When you hear “curb appeal,” you probably picture the outside of a home, but curb appeal is just as much about the inside as it is the outside. After all, how your home looks sets the tone for a buyer’s first impression, and first impressions go a long way when it comes to your home’s value. To spruce up your home’s curb appeal, consider refreshing your landscaping, updating your light fixtures and switches, and renovating your flooring (which we cover in more detail later in this blog). 

Hot Stoves and Cool Showers

Although modern bathrooms and kitchens play into your home’s curb appeal, they deserve their own section because of how important they are to a home’s value. Bathroom and kitchen renovations are often costly and time-consuming, so having these updates already done is often a buyer’s dream.

Mind the (Floor) Plan

The square footage of your home is going to play a role in your home’s value, but so is the layout of your home. Open floor plans are popular with Pittsburgh homebuyers, but even more popular are homes with flexible spaces. Think of a finished basement or closed porch, which gives people more space to entertain or work from home.

The Hidden Heroes

The way your home looks isn’t the only thing that factors into your home’s value. “Hidden” factors include your home’s level of energy efficiency (modern windows, doors, and HVAC systems), smart home features (security systems, voice-activated lighting), and the age of major systems (plumbing, electrical wiring, etc.) and your roof construction. 

At the end of the day, your home’s value comes down to a mix of location, layout, updates, and yes, flooring. Upgrading your floors is one of the smartest, most cost-effective ways to increase your home’s appeal and potential resale value. Let’s take a closer look at why flooring matters so much.

How Much Value Does New Flooring Add to a Home?

The level of value new flooring adds to a home depends on the condition of your current flooring, the type of flooring you install, whether the flooring matches the style of your home, and its practicality for the area you live in.

If your current flooring is old, damaged, or cheaply constructed and in need of a major refresh, new flooring will increase the home’s value. However, if your floors only need a minor refresh (for example, a few scuffs on otherwise beautiful hardwood floors), the value new flooring will add is limited because the existing flooring is already contributing much to the value.

You’ll also want to consider the style of your home when investing in new flooring. Is the woodwork in your home intricate? A minimalist flooring design, instead of busy patterns, will highlight the character these details are already bringing to your home. Is the existing paint and cabinets dark? Balance them out with a lighter flooring color. If your home is older but has a well-kept, antique charm, contemporary styles of flooring will probably not be a good candidate as they will likely clash with the existing look and feel of the home. However, new hardwood floors with a vintage style will complement the existing beauty of the home while providing a needed refresh. 

The practicality of your flooring is another factor to consider. Does your front door open into hardwood flooring? In Pittsburgh, that might not be practical for the frequent rainy spring or snowy winter days. You may want to consider luxury vinyl tile flooring, or ceramic tile for your entryway. 

The right flooring upgrade can do more than freshen up a room – it can boost your home’s value and wow potential buyers. Just be sure to choose a style that matches your home’s personality and stands up to your local weather.

What Flooring Adds the Most Value to a Home?

Hardwood

Whether it’s solid or engineered, hardwood flooring is one of the top flooring upgrades to add the most value to a home. Why? Because hardwood flooring can last up to 30 years and have the ability to be refinished over, rather than needing to be replaced.

Engineered hardwood flooring can be sanded and refinished once or twice before needing to be replaced, extending their life beyond the typical 30 years. Solid hardwood, however, can be sanded and refinished multiple times, meaning your investment can remain in your home for as long as 100 years.

Although hardwood flooring is one of the more expensive flooring options, choosing your flooring from the best hardwood flooring brands means the benefits often outweigh your initial investment. At Floor Concepts, we are also proud to offer interest-free project financing options to help manage some of the financial burden involved with larger flooring projects.  

Vinyl

Vinyl flooring, or Luxury Vinyl Plank (LVP), is a popular choice for adding value to a home because of its durability and longevity. It does have a lower resale value than hardwood, but high-quality LVP increases a home’s value more than less expensive flooring does, and especially more than leaving existing flooring that badly needs to be replaced.

While there are both LVP flooring pros and cons to consider, the pros often outweigh the cons. LVP is versatile as it can mimic the look of wood, stone, or tile flooring, and the wear layer protects this design from stains and scratches. It’s also waterproof and easy to clean, which may be higher selling points for homes where the weather is often snowy or rainy.

Laminate

Laminate flooring is a popular choice for budget-friendly renovations that can increase your home’s value. Although it can’t be refinished or repaired, it’s durable and easy to maintain. Because of this, you can often find laminate flooring in kitchens. The clear wear layer protects your floor from stains and scratches, and like LVP, laminate can be designed to look like hardwood or tile, as well as a number of other styles, colors, and patterns.

Carpet

New carpet can increase a home’s value, but it’s important to think about trends when investing in carpet. In older homes, you often used to find carpet in every room of the house, including bathrooms! For many reasons, this is no longer practical for most homeowners, so make sure to think about the practicality of carpet before investing. For example, you may want to consider whether carpet or hardwood in your living room is better. If your doorway opens into the living room, carpet may not be the best option, but if you’re looking for a type of flooring that helps your living room feel cozy, carpet may be the route to go. 

Does Removing Carpet Increase Home Value?

Removing carpet doesn’t necessarily mean your home’s value will increase. Not only the carpet style, but also its current state will play a large role in this assessment. It doesn’t matter how high-end the carpet was when it was installed if it has had dirt tracked over it for the past few decades! If you’ve recently invested in flooring from a top carpet brand, then your carpet, left as is, may not only be something you will be fine with leaving in the house, but could actually act as a positive selling point for your home. Carpets from top brands are high-quality and are often durable in quality, timeless in style, and sustainable in practice.

Choosing the right flooring can truly make a difference in both the look and value of your home. Whether you opt for the timeless appeal of hardwood, the practicality of LVP, or the budget-friendly benefits of laminate, each option offers unique advantages. 

Should I Replace My Flooring if I’m Trying to Sell My Home?

New flooring can increase your home’s value, but it’s important to consider all of these wildly impactful factors, including the state and quality of the existing flooring, as well as the other elements of your home, before taking the step to invest in new flooring in a home you are planning to leave. If you do choose to invest in new flooring, you may also want to consider some of the top flooring trends currently, as well as which flooring will best suit the current style of your home. (I.e. don’t put bold, modernist tile in your Victorian mansion). 

Knowing the current trends can help catch the eye of current buyers, but it’s best to balance trends with practicality and timeless features. Aesthetics are a large part of selling a home, but people will also want to know that their floors will stand up to their lifestyle and emerging home trends for years to come. 

So, does new flooring increase home value? Absolutely! From hardwood to carpet, upgrading your flooring can make a significant impact on both the look and resale value of your home. The key is choosing the right style that complements your home. Ready to give your floors a makeover? Reach out to our experts for a free consultation and let us help you pick the perfect flooring for your space.

Floor Concepts provides local flooring solutions to greater Pittsburgh, PA and the North Hills, free in-home measurements and estimates, and worry-free installations. Book your free in-home measurement now or get in touch with our flooring experts today!