Floors
Carpet removal cost
A thousand square feet of ordinary stretched-in carpet is about $880 to pull and haul away with a crew — $0.88 a square foot — and $2,730 if it is glued down, because scraping the adhesive off the floor is the job. A single room is the crew's minimum, $280; stairs are $10 a step; the roll weighs 700 lb and the dump charges by the pound. This prices it by what holds the carpet down, shows the installer's bundled line for the same work, and what a Saturday and a utility knife would cost instead.
Written and edited by Pablo Ruiz Quintero
Last reviewed 2026-09-23 · Nothing you type leaves your browser
Carpet removal cost calculator
What holds it down, and how much of it
Stretched carpet comes up in strips; glued carpet comes up in fistfuls and leaves the glue. The roll weighs about half a pound a square foot, and the dump charges by the pound.
Cut into strips, pulled off the tack strip, rolled and taped.
About 700 lb of roll.
None.
For the furniture, and the crew's rhythm.
Everything to the middle and back.
Loaded in the crew's trailer and tipped at the transfer station on their account.
A crew of two, by the square foot.
Used only to pick a regional labour rate. It stays in your browser.
1,000 sq ft of stretched-in over pad
$880
$1 per sq ft · 700 lb of roll · a flooring installer would put it on the quote at about $750
The tack strip is the hours
The middle of a room comes up in strips in minutes. The hours are the edges: the pad stapled every six inches, and the tack strip pried up nail by nail. Glued carpet on the same area would be $2,730 — the difference is the adhesive.
Before the crew comes
Lift a corner.
Hardwood under old carpet is common in houses built before 1970, and a floor that only needs refinishing changes what this removal is for. Pet stains that soaked through the pad are the other thing to find now — the subfloor is sealed before any new floor goes down, not after.
700 lb of roll, three ways out
| The crew hauls it away | $880 all in |
| A dumpster for the week | $1,180 all in |
| My own trips to the dump | $829 all in |
Same carpet, same crew. The dumpster only wins when there is a whole house and other rubbish.
One floor, four carpets
The same area held down each way, and what a flooring installer would charge for the removal on the quote.
What the crew charges for
- Pulling 1,000 sq ft of stretched-in over pad
Cut into strips, pulled off the tack strip, rolled and taped. The pad is stapled every six inches and comes up in pieces; the tack strip is pried up with a bar. Fast in the middle, slow at the edges.$600 - Furniture, 4 rooms
Everything out or to the middle, and back. Empty rooms are the cheap ones.$180 - 700 lb to the dump — the crew hauls it away
Loaded in the crew's trailer and tipped at the transfer station on their account. Priced by weight with a minimum.$100
What it costs
National average. 1,000 sq ft of stretched-in over pad carpet, furnished, the crew hauls it away. Not included: subfloor repairs or sealing, new tack strip if carpet is going back, or asbestos testing on pre-1980 sheet flooring found underneath.
What goes down next is on the carpet page — where the installer’s removal line lives — or the flooring page; hardwood found underneath is on the refinishing page.
Worth knowing
- Cut into strips, pulled off the tack strip, rolled and taped. The pad is stapled every six inches and comes up in pieces; the tack strip is pried up with a bar. Fast in the middle, slow at the edges. $600 of the work here.
- 1,000 sq ft of stretched-in over pad carpet is about 700 lb of roll — 3 trailer loads — and the transfer station charges by the pound. Loaded in the crew's trailer and tipped at the transfer station on their account. Priced by weight with a minimum. $100 here.
- A flooring installer would put this removal on the quote at about $750 — $0.75 a square foot, bundled with the new floor. If new flooring is going in, that line is usually the cheaper way to have the old carpet gone; a separate crew makes sense when the floor underneath is staying.
- 4 furnished rooms: everything out or to the middle and back, $180 here. Beds apart, wardrobes emptied — the crew moves furniture, not what is in it.
- Look under a corner before the crew comes. Hardwood under old carpet is common in houses built before 1970, and a floor that only needs refinishing changes what the removal is for. Subfloor stains under the pad are the other thing to find now: a pet stain that soaked through needs sealing before any new floor goes down.
On this page — 4 sections
What holds it down decides the hours
The short version
- 1,000 sq ft stretched-in: $880. Glue-down: $2,730. The glue is the difference.
- 700 lb of roll, and the dump charges by the pound.
- A single room is the minimum: $280 for 150 sq ft.
- The installer’s line is $0.75 a square foot. Not free; bundled.
Stretched-in carpet — the ordinary kind, over a pad, hooked on tack strip round the edge — comes up in strips a yard wide with a utility knife and pliers. The middle of a room is minutes; the hours are the edges, where the pad is stapled every six inches and the tack strip is pried up nail by nail. Glued carpet is another job: it tears up in fistfuls in an hour, and the adhesive stays on the floor, and nothing that goes down next will bond to it. Scraping the glue is half the job and the reason the same thousand square feet is $2,730 instead of $880.
| Stretched-in over pad | Glue-down | |
|---|---|---|
| Comes up as | Strips, on the tack strip | Fistfuls, leaving the glue |
| Per square foot, labour | $0.6 | $1.7 + $0.75 scraping |
| 1,000 sq ft, furnished, hauled | $880 | $2,730 |
| Crew hours | 14.2 | 47.8 |
| Yourself | $94, 19 h | $175, 52 h |
MaterialsEstimator, Carpet removal price survey · checked 2026-09-23
What the roll weighs decides the dump
Carpet is about half a pound a square foot and the pad a fifth, so a thousand square feet is seven hundred pounds of roll — two or three trailer loads — and the transfer station charges by the pound, when it takes carpet at all. The crew hauls it for a fee by weight with a minimum; a dumpster is a flat week and only wins with a whole house and other rubbish going in; your own trips are the cheapest and the most Saturdays.
weight = area × 0.7 lb (carpet + pad) + stairs × 4 lb
- 0.5 lb/sq ft
- the carpet
- 0.2 lb/sq ft
- the pad
- 4 lb a step
- the strip, pad and strip on a stair
Worked through — 1,000 sq ft × 0.7 = 700 lb: $100 hauled by the crew, $49 in your own trips at the transfer station's rate, or a $400 dumpster.
700 lb
1,000 sq ft, with pad
3 trailer loads
$100
Hauled by the crew
By weight, with a minimum
$750
The installer's line
$0.75 a square foot, bundled
$280
One room
The crew's minimum
Carpet and Rug Institute / Carpet America Recovery Effort, Carpet weights, installation methods and end-of-life disposal · checked 2026-09-23
Lift a corner first
Before anyone is booked, a corner comes up in a closet. Pad and tack strip: stretched-in, the easy job. No pad and it tears: glued, the other job. And underneath — in houses built before 1970, often enough to check — hardwood, which changes what the removal is for: a floor that only needs sanding and finishing is on its own page and it is cheaper than most new floors. The other things a corner shows are pet stains that soaked through the pad, sealed with a shellac primer before any new floor, and old sheet vinyl on a pre-1980 house, which is left alone and tested.
Before the crew comes
- A corner up in a closet: stretched or glued, and what is underneath.
- Rooms measured, stairs counted by the step.
- Furniture out, or the crew's furniture line on the quote. Wardrobes emptied either way.
- Where the roll is going, decided: the crew's trailer, a dumpster, or the car.
- Tack strip to stay or go — stays only if carpet is going back.
- The subfloor plan: stains sealed, soft spots patched, before anything new goes down.
- Pre-1980 sheet flooring under the carpet: not touched until tested.
What goes wrong
01Pricing glue-down as carpet removal
The carpet is the easy half; the adhesive on the floor is $750 of scraping on 1,000 sq ft, and nothing bonds over it.
Instead — Price it as $2,730, with the scraping as a line, and rent the floor scraper if it is yours to do.
02Leaving the tack strip and staples under a new hard floor
Every nail and staple telegraphs through vinyl and wood, and the tack strip is a ridge round the room.
Instead — Every strip, every nail, every staple — the last hour of the job.
03Paying a crew for one room
The minimum is $180 and a room is $90 of work.
Instead — A Saturday and a utility knife, or every carpeted room on the same visit.
04A dumpster for a bedroom
$400 for a week, against $100 hauled or $49 in the car.
Instead — A dumpster when there is a whole house and other rubbish; otherwise the trailer or the car.
05New flooring over a pet stain
The stain soaked into the subfloor, and the smell comes through the new floor in the first humid week.
Instead — A shellac or oil primer over every stain before anything goes down — now, with the carpet up.
06Not lifting a corner
Hardwood under old carpet is common in older houses, and a refinish is cheaper than most new floors.
Instead — A corner in a closet before anything is booked or bought.
07Pulling up old sheet vinyl found under the carpet
On a pre-1980 house it may be asbestos, and dry-scraping it is the one thing not to do.
Instead — Leave it, test it, and go over it or have it abated.
08Rolling it without cutting it
A whole room of carpet weighs a hundred pounds and does not fit through the door.
Instead — Strips a yard wide, rolled tight and taped, one person each.
- 01Lift a cornerPull the carpet off the tack strip in a closet. Pad underneath and strip at the edge: stretched-in. No pad and it tears: glued. Hardwood under it: a different plan.
- 02Measure the roomsLength by width, every carpeted room and hall, plus the stairs counted by the step.
- 03Weigh the roll in your headAbout 0.7 lb a square foot with the pad. A thousand square feet is 700 lb, and the dump charges by the pound.
- 04Decide who hauls itThe crew, a dumpster, or your own trips. The dumpster only wins with a whole house and other rubbish.
- 05Compare with the installer's lineIf new flooring is going in, the installer's removal line is about $0.75 a square foot. A separate crew makes sense when the floor underneath is staying.
- 06Look at the subfloor before anything goes downStains sealed, soft spots patched, and the tack strip out unless carpet is going back.
The carpet page prices the new carpet by the square yard, with the installer’s removal line where it belongs — beside the new floor, so the two can be compared.
What goes down next- Tack strip
- The thin wood strip with angled pins nailed round the edge of a room that stretched carpet hooks onto. Pried up nail by nail, and it takes skin.
- Stretched-in
- Carpet stretched over a separate pad and hooked onto tack strip. The ordinary residential installation, and the easy removal.
- Glue-down
- Carpet glued directly to the floor with no pad — commercial, basements, some bedrooms. It tears in fistfuls and the adhesive stays on the floor.
- Double-stick
- A pad glued to the floor and the carpet glued to the pad. Two layers of adhesive, and the removal people regret.
- Pad
- The foam or rubber cushion under stretched carpet, stapled every six inches. Comes up in pieces; the staples are a hundred per room.
- Adhesive scraping
- Removing old carpet glue from the floor, by hand or floor scraper, until the next floor will bond. Half the glue-down job.
- Transfer station
- The local dump. Most charge for carpet by the pound; some will not take it.
- Trailer load
- About 300 lb of rolled carpet, the unit a crew's haul-away is counted in.
- Installer's line
- The 'removal and disposal' item on a flooring quote, about $0.75 a square foot. The same work, bundled.
- Subfloor
- The plywood or slab under the pad. What the removal reveals — stains, soft spots, or hardwood nobody knew was there.
- Crew minimum
- What a removal crew charges to turn up, about $180. A single room's worth of work.
- Pet stain sealing
- A shellac or oil-based primer over subfloor a pet stain soaked into, before any new floor. Without it, the smell comes through the new floor.
Common questions
- How much does carpet removal cost?
- About $880 for 1,000 sq ft of ordinary stretched-in carpet in a furnished house, pulled by a crew and hauled to the dump — $0.88 a square foot all in. A single 150 sq ft room is about $280, because the crew's minimum is the price. Glue-down carpet on the same 1,000 sq ft is about $2,730, and the difference is scraping the adhesive off the floor.
- How much does carpet removal cost per square foot?
- About $0.88 a square foot for stretched-in carpet with disposal, $0.7 in empty rooms, $2.73 for glue-down and $3.13 for double-stick. Stairs are by the step — $10 each — and a flooring installer's 'removal and disposal' line for the same work is about $0.75 a square foot, bundled with the new floor.
- Is carpet removal free with new carpet?
- No; it is a line on the quote, about $0.75 a square foot — $750 on 1,000 sq ft — sometimes called 'removal and disposal' and sometimes folded into the installation price. It is the same work, and if new flooring is going in it is usually the cheaper way to have the old carpet gone, because the crew is already there. A separate removal makes sense when the floor underneath is staying, or when the carpet has to come out weeks before the new floor.
- Why does glue-down carpet cost so much more to remove?
- Because the carpet is the easy half. It tears up in fistfuls; the adhesive stays on the slab, and nothing — tile, vinyl, wood — will bond over old carpet glue. Scraping it is $750 on 1,000 sq ft here, by hand or with a rented floor scraper, and on a slab it is sometimes quicker to grind. Double-stick — pad glued down, carpet glued to the pad — is worse still: $3,130 against $880 for stretched carpet.
- How much does carpet weigh?
- About half a pound a square foot for the carpet and a fifth for the pad — 700 lb for 1,000 sq ft, or 3 trailer loads. Carpet tiles are heavier, at nearly a pound a square foot, because the backing is bitumen. The transfer station charges by the pound, which is why the disposal is its own line: $100 hauled by the crew, $49 in your own trips, or a $400 dumpster.
- Can I remove carpet myself?
- Yes — it is the most doable demolition in the house: about 19 hours for 1,000 sq ft and $94 of tools and dump fees. Cut it into strips a yard wide, roll and tape each, pull the pad, then the staples with a flat pry bar — a hundred a room — and the tack strip nail by nail. Gloves; the tack strip takes skin. Glue-down is another matter: 52 hours with a rented scraper, and a punishment without one.
- How much does it cost to remove carpet from stairs?
- About $10 a step — $140 for a fourteen-step flight, $1,020 with the 1,000 sq ft house. Each step is a strip of carpet, a pad, tack strip on the tread and the riser, and staples in every corner: the slowest carpet in the house per square foot, and the sharpest.
- What is under the carpet?
- Plywood or a slab, usually; hardwood, often, in houses built before 1970 — which is why a corner is lifted before anything is decided, because a floor that only needs refinishing changes the whole job. Also pet stains that soaked through the pad, which are sealed with a shellac primer before any new floor, and soft spots that are patched. On pre-1980 houses, old sheet vinyl under the carpet may be an asbestos question, and it is left alone and tested.
- Do I need to remove the tack strip?
- If new carpet is going down, no — the installer reuses it if it is sound. If anything else is going down, yes: every strip and every nail, and the staples from the pad, or the new floor telegraphs them. It is the last hour of a removal and the one people skip.
- How long does carpet removal take?
- A crew of two clears a bedroom in an hour and its tack strip in another; 1,000 sq ft of stretched carpet is about 7 hours of a two-person crew. Glue-down is 24 hours for the same area, most of it scraping. Yourself, about 19 hours for the stretched carpet, spread over a weekend.
- Can carpet be recycled?
- The pad, often — foam pad is rebonded into new pad, and some transfer stations take it separately for nothing. The carpet itself rarely: a few regions have collection under the CARE programme, and everywhere else it is landfill by the pound. Ask the transfer station before loading the car.
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About the author
Pablo Ruiz Quintero — Editor
Editor of MaterialsEstimator. Decides which documents count as a source, what every default value is, and where the line sits between what the reader parses and what the engines compute.
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