What price do you get on various flooring types per sq ft?

Question

Hello everyone,

I'm just starting my third renovation project. I've worked through most of the details, but I'm wrestling with flooring. I've read all the posts about which type of flooring and why. But I was just wondering what price per square foot you normally get quoted for various flooring types. I would want the price including labor and materials.

1) Carpet

2) Laminate

3) Vinyl planks

4) Refinish hardwood floors

5) Ceramic tile

I'm trying to find a nice middle ground between price and durability.

Mike

Mike H. · Answer

1) Carpet. $2 sq/ft including material and labor. I go with lowes or home depot and their $75 whole home install. I get the $1.30/sq ft carpet. Then you pay the $.45/sq ft for padding (padding is always required) and the install.Ends up being $2/sq ft installed.

2) Laminate.  Labor is $2/sq ft. Material depends. I usually get the lowes gunstock that runs about $2.25 that has the underlayment attached. So $4.25/sq ft material and labor.

3) Vinyl planks. Same $2/sq ft for labor. Plus whatever material runs. From what I've seen is roughly the same $2 to $3.  I tried this stuff in one house and wasn't that keen on it.

4) Refinish hardwood floors.

5) Ceramic tile.  Labor for tile only - $2/sq ft. Material $2 to $2.50/sq ft for tile. But the big thing is the durock. I get dinged another $2/sq ft for labor to install durock and $2/sq for the materials.  So I end up at roughly $8/sq ft total for tile unless I'm installing it in a basement or the bottom level of a trilevel.For me, I typically install tile in the bathrooms and kitchen. In the bathrooms because its such a small space anyway its not really that much extra. In the kitchen, because the water. And then I do carpet everywhere else.   If I have to replace carpet in a bedroom at a later time, then I do the laminate. I don't want to mess with matching carpet and I hate when different rooms have different carpet. But laminate is considered an upgrade so it looks ok if one of the rooms has laminate and the others have carpet.

Jassem A. · Answer

It can vary a lot.  Carpet can be under $1/sqft total but it will not hold up well with some tenants.  For laminate/engineered/vinyl install you can probably find $1/sqft labor plus materials.  Refinishing hardwood and tile might be 2-4/sqft labor plus the cost of the tile or the cost of the polyurethane/stain/sandpaper.

I usually do flooring myself and go with laminate because it's cheap (.39-.89/sqft), fast and easy to install, looks nice, and is durable.  I get primed pine shoe molding from home depot for 0.23/lf or white mdf base molding for 0.57/lf.

To install you need a floor kit, hammer, and table saw.  For the trim, you will need a miter saw, and will probably want a compressor and finish nailer.  You will also want an undercut saw or sawzaw with long blade for cutting door jambs.

Roy N. · Answer

If you are laying tile over plywood, or any subfloor other than concrete, you want to first make certain your subfloor is stable - no vertical deflection - and then use an uncoupling membrane (ditra, protegga, old-fashioned felt & wire {if you have the skill, but the newer membrane products are better}, etc) to absorb any remaining movement in your subfloor.

Bianca Torsarkissian · Answer

As a contractor I believe underlayment is very important under laminated flooring (unless the flooring has integrated underlayment)  as it helps minimize the moist penetration and overall help with the squeaking of the floor. Also if you are choosing laminated flooring try to purchase a 8mm at least. Installation should not cost more that $1.00 to $1.25 per square foot.

Michael Wentzel · Answer

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to say thanks for the input. Your prices let me know that I'm in the right ball park with what I am paying. It looks like I'm going laminate throughout the entire house of the rehab we're working on now. It is compromise between durability and price at this moment. It will be the first time we've done that. So we'll see how it looks and how it holds up.

Mike

Troy Sheets · Answer

Tile over plywood isn't a great idea, it invariably cracks the grout if you're lucky and worse yet, it can crack the tile too. IMHO, there's no call to put tile over plywood in any situation. Backerboard always over wood in my experience.

Jassem A. · Answer

I think it's worth mentioning that you can put tile over plywood but it might not hold up as well and I would use polymer-modified thinset instead of regular thinset

I also skip underlayment on laminates that don't have underpad attached because I don't see much added value in the underlayment

Roy N. · Answer

Depends on how long you want it to last.   When I tile a floor, I expect 20+ years of life from it.  If your subfloor and underlayment are not properly prepared, it'll be obvious within a decade.

Bianca Torsarkissian · Answer

I believe on delivering a good product to my clients and buyers therefore underlayment and hardibacker are a must for me.  I don't cut corners on escential things that in the future is going to hurt my buyer by having to repair or replace the flooring. I build reputation to the point that when my agents are going to list my houses, just by mentioning that company name the buyers know that is a good solid renovation.

Michael Wentzel · Answer

@Bianca Torsarkissian , @Roy N. , @Jassem A. Thanks for the advice on thickness and underlay for the laminate flooring. I'm going to meet with my contractor today and I'll ask him about both.

Mike

What price do you get on various flooring types per sq ft?

Most Popular Reply