Cost to change carpet to tile or other flooring (countertops, how much)

[55degrees]

Hello! I’m considering buying a home and have been unconsciously ignoring the homes with carpeting since I don’t want carpet in my home. Obviously that eliminates a lot of great homes. So I was wondering a what a general ballpark price would be to replace carpeting with another common flooring type in the upstairs floor (lm guessing that would be like 800 sqft). I know the answers would differ a lot between real wood and other flooring but I think for upstairs, probably laminate or wood would be more realistic. Are we talking $10k or much less? I know there are estimates online but I don’t know how much that really reflects the final price.

[chris_ut]

Less then 10k, more like half that assuming your sizing is correct.

[cheryjohns]

Never eliminate a house on items that can be easily changed. Flooring (unless you plan on changing flooring for 4000 sf, etc.), counters and paint are so much easier to change and for less than you imagine. Floor plan, lot size, location in general, and location within the subdivision in specific (not backing up to a busy street, for example) are more important.

Get your measurements and go to Lumber Liquidators to see approximations on what it would cost - depending on your preferences.

[Texascrude]

You can get good tile installed for less than $5 per square foot, and laminate would be even less.

[55degrees]

Thanks, everyone! I will check out the liquidators website!

[SK115]

My contractor told me to use Homewyse. He says the values on there are realistic. You put in the amount of sqft, the type of flooring, etc. and it gives you a ballpark price.

Also, I believe that tile has a much higher labor cost than hardwoods/laminate/vinyl. Especially if you are putting tile over a plywood subfloor, as opposed to slab. Which would likely be the case if you are talking about an upstairs.

[descovy]

Unless you’re looking for something specific or high end, you could do wood or tile for $5-$6 sq ft... rip out and install. We used EZ floors. Our budget was $5/sq ft and pretty much had our choice of the store.

Please don’t reject a house over the flooring. That is pretty much the easiest thing to change out. You can’t change neighborhoods and it’s s a a lot of trouble to fix a bad floor plan. Let those be your guide. Not flooring, paint, countertops, etc...

[Lbjen]

I wouldn’t do tile upstairs.

[55degrees]

Thanks everyone for the estimate suggestions. I agree tile isn’t a good choice upstairs (some of the places I’m looking at have carpet downstairs, too, so tile may be good there)

[SK115]

Originally Posted by 55degrees

Thanks everyone for the estimate suggestions. I agree tile isn’t a good choice upstairs (some of the places I’m looking at have carpet downstairs, too, so tile may be good there)

The wood look tile is really popular at the moment. It comes in both porcelain and ceramic. It's worth looking into, but only if the subfloor is cement. If running tile over a plywood subfloor, you would need to lay down backerboard, and that would get pricey between the labor and materials.