Flooring Replacement Costs: How to Estimate the Budget for Your Next Floor

As you can see, the price range to install replacement home flooring is very wide and depends on several factors,  including the material you choose, the square footage of floor to be covered and DIY vs professional installation. In this article Home Flooring Pros give you step by step instructions to estimate your floor replacement costs before you buy flooring or speak to local installers.

There are five steps to getting an approximate idea of how much a new floor will cost. They will help you form a rough estimate of the replacement cost for a new floor.

At the same time as calculating a rough estimate for yourself, we recommend getting a free quote from a trustworthy professional installer as a comparison guide.

STEP 1: DETERMINE THE TOTAL SQUARE FOOTAGE REQUIRED 

Since all types of flooring are sold by the square foot or square yard, knowing the size of the area you want to cover is the first step. You’ll need a tape measure to determine the square footage. If you have a blueprint that shows dimensions, it will save you from having to make the measurements.

Measure rooms one at a time. It’s easiest to measure rectangles, so if you have an “L-shaped” room, divide it into 2 rectangles and measure them separately. The length of the rectangle multiplied by the width equals the square footage. For example, a room, or section of a room, that is 20 feet long and 12 feet wide produces this formula: 20 x 12 = 240 square feet. If the flooring you are purchasing is sold by the yard, divide the square feet by 9. So, 240 square feet / 9 = 26.667 square yards.

Add up the square footage from all the rooms or room sections. That number will be the total square footage being covered.

STEP 2: ADD 5% FOR WASTE

Trimming the flooring will produce waste. Most manufacturers recommend 5% for waste. If you’re installing the floor yourself and don’t have experience, you might consider adding 10% for waste. So, if the total square feet to be covered is 1,200, multiple by 1.05 for 5% waste and 1.10 for 10% waste.

1,200 x 1.05 = 1,260

1,200 x 1.10 = 1,320

See the installation guides on this site to learn more about installing all the most popular types of flooring.

STEP 3: KNOW THE PRICE PER SQUARE FOOR FOR THE FLOORING 

As you shop for flooring, make notes on the price of the materials. The most common types of flooring material include carpeting, vinyl, linoleum, natural stone flooring, solid hardwood, engineered stone flooring and laminate flooring. They range in cost from less than $2 per square foot for cheap vinyl, ceramic tile and carpet to over $8 per square foot for hardwood and natural stone flooring.

The individual flooring price guides on this site give complete price ranges for each type of flooring.

Related Reading: Best Time to Buy Flooring

STEP 4: KNOW THE PRICE OF INSTALLATION 

You’ve got to get floor replacement estimates from local flooring contractors to find out the price of installation per square foot. The cheapest flooring to install is carpet and laminate. Vinyl and wood flooring are in the middle. Ceramic tile, stone and concrete are the most costly.

Get several estimates to find the lowest prices in your area. If you use an estimate service, the contractors are pre-screened and their bids are usual very competitive because they know you are getting more than one.

STEP 5: PUT IT ALL TOGETHER

Multiply material cost and installation cost by the square footage and add them together.

For example, let’s say you’re going to hire home flooring pros to install your new carpet rather than installing it yourself. Here’s how this looks when you’ve got 1,200 square feet to cover:

• 1,200 x 1.05 = 1,260 square feet of material needed.
• Average price of carpet per square foot: $4.50
• 1,260 square feet of carpet x $4.50 = $5,670 for material
• Installation of 1,200 square feet x $1.50 per square foot = $1,800 for installation.
• Material plus installation, or $5,670 + $1,800 = $7,470

In our illustration, to cover 1,200 square feet with average carpet at average installation costs, you’d pay $7,470. If the flooring installer is going to remove old flooring and dispose of it, there may be additional costs for those services.

FLOORING COSTS FAQs

Q: Why can’t I just use a flooring cost estimator?
A: There are a number of websites that offer a flooring estimator and they are a good place to start your research, but they will only give you a rough ballpark estimate. Following the steps above will give you a much more precise estimate, researching the exact cost of the flooring you intend to buy is a particularly important step.

Q: How much does it cost to remove old flooring?
A: According to HomeWyse it will cost you between $1.25 and $3.00 per sq.ft. to remove old flooring depending on the type flooring of flooring material. Pulling up a laminate floor is much easier and less tile consuming than removing floor tile. This price does not include disposal costs at your local dump.

FLOORING REPLACEMENT COSTS FROME LEADING ONLINE RESOURCES:

FIXR – $1,500 – $8,000 average project cost

Angi – $1,500 to $4,460 average for 500 sq/ft

HomeAdvisor – $1,518 – $4,703 average project cost

HomeGuide – $1,660–$4,620 average for 330 sq/ft

Did you recently replace the flooring in your home? Share your project details below.

COST COMPARISON REPORTS:

Carpet Vs Vinyl Plank Cost

About the Author: Jamie Sandford

Jamie Sandford is the Owner and Chief Editor of Home Flooring Pros (find out more). After 12 years’ experience in screen and stage set construction, followed by a further 15 years working in the home renovation/remodeling business, he now writes and curates online home improvement advice.

“Buying and installing home flooring should be a fairly straightforward process, but often it isn’t. After more than 15 years experience in home flooring and remodeling, I started Home Flooring Pros in 2013 to help homeowners navigate the often-over complicated process of choosing, buying and installing a home floor. The aim is to save you time and money by helping you to make better floor buying decisions.”