InstaBidsHow long does a carpet last?
For dwelling unit floors, Fannie Mae's Estimated Useful Life Tables give Carpet 7 years in the Multifamily / Coop column: a multifamily property-condition-assessment planning life, not a measured life (table version 10/14, read 2026-10-24, national, multifamily, n not published by the source).
Source: Fannie Mae multifamily EUL table, read 24 October 2026. Updated 2026-10-27
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In our own counts, n is the number of surveyed households behind a share and SE is its standard error, a measure of sampling error, in percentage points.
How long it lasts, by source
For property managers, landlords and HOA boards
In “DWELLING UNIT FLOORS”, Fannie Mae assigns “Carpet” 7 years under “Multifamily / Coop” (table version 10/14, read 2026-10-24, national, multifamily, n not published by the source). The figure is a multifamily property-condition-assessment planning life, not a measured life. Its introduction describes the table entries as “standardized average estimated useful life” values that “are not intended to replace the professional judgment of the PCA Consultant in determining the Effective Age and Remaining Useful Life of the systems and components at the Property.” It then specifies the factors: “The PCA Consultant should consider preventive maintenance practices, as well as environment, geographic, resident, and other factors when determining Effective Age and Remaining Useful Life of the systems and components of a multifamily Property.”
- Carpet has the shortest floor entry in both columns of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) table within “Interiors-Dwelling Units”. The row “Carpet” gives Family 6 years and Elderly 10 years (Numbering by ASTM 2018-08 Outline, no issue date, read 2026-10-24, national, multifamily, n not published by the source). These are capital-planning figures for multifamily properties, not a measured life. The other floor labels in “Finished walls, ceilings, floors” are “Floor tile, ceramic, natural stone”, “Concrete/Masonry/Terrazzo”, “Hardwood floor (3/4" strip or parquet)”, “Wood floor, laminated/veneered” and “Resilient tile or sheet floor (vinyl, linoleum)”. The captured rows do not define the Family and Elderly column headings. The ordering compares those floor components in the planning table. It does not compare the condition of carpets and other floors already installed in a dwelling.
- For common spaces, HUD prints a separate row, “Carpet - Common”, under “Interiors-Common Areas”: 6 years in the Family column and 10 years in Elderly (Numbering by ASTM 2018-08 Outline, no issue date, read 2026-10-24, national, multifamily, n not published by the source). The common-area row is a multifamily capital-planning entry, not a measured life of carpet at a particular property.
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Sources for the figures on this page
- Fannie Mae, Form 4099.F, Instructions for Performing a Multifamily Property Condition Assessment (Version 2.0), Appendix F, Estimated Useful Life Tables (10/14), read 24 October 2026. (c) 2014 Fannie Mae; one figure cited with attribution.
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, CNA e-Tool Estimated Useful Life Table, read 24 October 2026. U.S. government work, public domain.