Removal and disposal
The old floor comes out, and it leaves the same day.
We take up the old floor rather than lay the new one over it, because the subfloor underneath determines how the new floor ages, and the only time fixing it is cheap is when it is exposed. Carpet, tile, hardwood, vinyl, subfloor, baseboard and door casing all come out, and they go out in the truck the day they come up. It does not sit in your garage, and it is not a line item on the quote.
This page is what removal involves, what we usually find underneath in Burlington and Hamilton houses, and the one situation where the right move is to stop.
What comes out
Everything down to a surface we can work on.
Carpet and underpad
Plus the hundreds of staples
- Carpet, pad, tack strip and every staple
- The residential carpet standard says carpet should not be installed over existing carpet absent the manufacturer's say-so, so it comes up[1]
- Then the subfloor is visible, which is the point
Hardwood and laminate
Nailed, glued or floating
- Floating floors come apart; nailed floors come up in boards; glued floors are the slow ones
- Old adhesive ground off a slab, low dust
- Original hardwood in good condition gets a second look before it is condemned, see refinishing
Tile and vinyl
The two that hide surprises
- Ceramic tile and its mortar bed or backer
- Sheet vinyl and vinyl tile, and the layers under them
- Older sheet vinyl and tile can be an asbestos question, and that changes the order of work, see below
Baseboard, casing and subfloor
Refitted or replaced
- Baseboard and door casing off cleanly so they can go back on, painted or stained to match
- Subfloor panels that are soft, delaminated or beyond levelling come out and are replaced, as part of subfloor prep
- Furniture moved out and back as part of the job
What is underneath
What we usually find, and the one thing that stops the job.
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Under carpet in an older house
Usually plywood or plank subfloor, tack strip around the perimeter, hundreds of staples, and sometimes a layer of older flooring nobody mentioned. On stairs it is often construction-grade treads and risers that were never meant to be seen. Occasionally there is original hardwood in good enough shape to sand and refinish, which is the cheapest good outcome available and worth checking for before you buy anything.
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Under a floor that squeaked
A subfloor that was only nailed. The guidelines call for subfloor panels to be glued and nailed to the framing to minimise squeaks, and for a subfloor that cannot be brought to tolerance to be replaced or given a second layer.[2] With the floor up, screwing it down is a morning. With the new floor over it, it is a squeak forever.
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Under old sheet vinyl or 9-inch tiles: stop and test
Health Canada lists floor and ceiling tiles among the older building materials that may contain asbestos, and its advice is direct: hire a professional to test for asbestos before renovating or remodelling, and if a professional finds asbestos, hire a qualified asbestos removal specialist to remove it safely.[3] We are flooring installers, not an abatement contractor. If your house dates from before the 1980s and has old resilient tile or sheet vinyl and its black adhesive under the current floor, testing happens before removal does, and we will say so at the estimate rather than break it up and find out later. It is the one part of a removal that can move the schedule, and it is the right reason to.
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Under a floor in a century home
Plank subfloors, uneven joists and additions that settled at different rates. Two of the reviews on the home page describe exactly this: a century home with two additions that had settled unevenly, and a fifty-plus-year-old house with what the customer called a myriad of hidden challenges. Removal is when those become visible and fixable. The Hamilton page has the census figure for how many houses in the city predate 1960, because it changes what a removal day looks like.
Sources
- The Carpet and Rug Institute, CRI 105 Standard for Installation of Residential Carpet, 2019 edition, section 5, carpet over carpet.
- National Wood Flooring Association, Wood Flooring Installation Guidelines, revised 2025. Glue-and-nail to minimise squeaks, and the remedy where a subfloor cannot meet tolerance.
- Health Canada, Health risks of asbestos, page dated 10 February 2023. Older building materials that may contain asbestos, and what to do before renovating.
Sources last read
Next step
Ask what the other quote does with the old floor.
Here it is included, and it is gone the same day. The estimate is free and happens at the house.
- Phone
- 289-689-4242
- referralflooring@gmail.com
- Disposal
- Same day, included.
- Area
- Burlington, Hamilton, Oakville, Grimsby and the wider Golden Horseshoe.