Old Tile Under St. Louis Carpet May Be Asbestos. Lift a Corner Before You Pay.
Revised October 29, 2026
How much does it cost to floor 1000 sq ft fully installed?
For 1,000 square feet installed, HomeAdvisor’s cost data puts vinyl at $2,000 to $14,000, laminate at $3,000 to $13,000, carpet at $3,500 to $11,000, hardwood at $6,000 to $25,000 and tile at $15,000 to $20,000 or more. Those prices include ripping up and hauling away the old floor, but not subflooring, underlayment, baseboards or trim.
Keep reading ↓Your thumbnail catches the edge of a cold, hard square under the carpet, and that is the moment a St. Louis flooring budget can change. You’ve pried the carpet back in the bedroom closet of a south city brick two-family, the tack strip bites your knuckle, the old pad crumbles in your fingers, and under all of it the floor is one of two things: narrow strips of wood with a dull gray sheen, or hard, cold squares of old vinyl tile with a crust of glue along the seams.
That one touch, before any showroom or sample board, decides which flooring bill you’re about to get.
Wood means you might be shopping for the wrong job. HomeAdvisor’s cost data puts refinishing at about $3 to $8 a square foot, while most new installs fall between $3 and $22. Squares mean stop. The EPA lists vinyl floor tiles, the backing on vinyl sheet flooring and the adhesives among the places asbestos may be found, and it tells homeowners not to sand or try to level asbestos flooring.
Here is the part the national price guides never mention, and it splits right at the city line. Missouri’s own asbestos rule exempts a single residential structure with four or fewer dwelling units, which on paper covers that two-family and most four-families too. The city doesn’t stop there. In the City of St. Louis, asbestos abatement projects of more than 10 square feet of asbestos-containing material fall under Ordinance 71332, and the Health Department’s Air Pollution Control Program lists a $100 fee for an asbestos abatement notification. That is not much floor. Demolition, renovation and abatement projects in the city must be reported on the STL City Permits website. I could not confirm whether the city ordinance carries the state’s small-building exemption, so call the program at (314) 657-1479 before the first square comes up with a flat bar. Or do what the EPA suggests: when asbestos flooring needs replacing, put the new floor covering over it if you can.
How much does it cost to floor 1000 sq ft fully installed?
For 1,000 square feet installed, HomeAdvisor’s cost data puts vinyl at $2,000 to $14,000, laminate at $3,000 to $13,000, carpet at $3,500 to $11,000, hardwood at $6,000 to $25,000 and tile at $15,000 to $20,000 or more. Those prices include ripping up and hauling away the old floor, but not subflooring, underlayment, baseboards or trim.
Read those ranges the way you’d read a contractor’s face when he steps on the soft spot by the bathroom door. The low end is a flat, square room with nothing hiding underneath. The high end is everything else. Labor is the bigger half of the money: HomeAdvisor says to plan on putting roughly 60% of the total toward the flooring pro, with materials covering the rest. That is why two quotes for the same plank can land thousands apart, and why the cheapest one usually just hasn’t looked under your carpet yet.
What the wood under your carpet is worth
In a south city bungalow, run your palm across a strip of old oak once the carpet is gone and you can feel every tack hole and the gritty line where the pad glue dried. It looks tired. It usually isn’t finished. Solid hardwood can take several refinishings over its life, while engineered planks reach their limit after one or two, according to HomeAdvisor.
The money gap is wide. Refinishing averages $1,892, with most projects between $1,107 and $2,681. Installing new hardwood averages $5 to $15 a square foot. On a 1,000-square-foot main floor, that is roughly $3,000 to $8,000 to sand and finish what you already own against $5,000 to $15,000 to start over, before anyone touches a subfloor.
A board or two will be shot, maybe by a radiator that leaked or a dog that never made it outside. Replacing a floorboard runs $6 to $12 a square foot, which is pocket change next to a tear-out. If you’re still deciding between wood, laminate and vinyl once you know what’s down there, our guide to hardwood, laminate, or vinyl in St. Louis homes picks up right there.
The basement floor starts with the water, not the plank
Go down the basement steps of a St. Louis brick house after a hard rain and put your hand flat on the bare slab. If it feels cool and faintly damp, that slab is telling you what it will do to whatever you lay on it. Luxury vinyl plank is the usual answer down there, and a vapor barrier under any floating floor on a slab is cheap insurance against the musty smell that shows up a year later.
For vinyl, HomeAdvisor puts materials at $2 to $7 a square foot on most jobs, with labor adding another $3 to $10. Wear layer and plank rigidity drive most of the spread. A thin, floppy plank telegraphs every bump in an old slab, and you feel it underfoot every time you walk to the laundry.
If the lower level has ever taken water, fix that first. Our St. Louis basement waterproofing guide covers the drainage and grading side, and the order of operations is simple: water first, then floor.
The lines that quietly grow a flooring quote
The plank price is the number everyone shops. The prep is the number that decides whether you stay on budget, and in an older house it starts the minute the crew pulls up the first row and goes quiet.
Somebody always asks where the couch goes while the floors cure. Here’s what a storage unit costs in St. Louis.
Ask for each of these as its own line, with a dollar figure beside it, so you can lay three bids side by side on the kitchen table:
- What is not in the per-foot price. HomeAdvisor’s installed prices include tear-out and disposal of the old floor, but not subflooring, underlayment, baseboards or trim.
- Prep and furniture moving. HomeAdvisor says to account for $150 to $300 for extra prep and moving furniture.
- Carpet removal before a refinish. Carpet removal averages $120 to $720, plus $75 to $150 to haul it away.
- Board repair. Hardwood floor repairs run $200 to $600.
- Stairs. Refinishing stairs and railings runs $4.50 to $8 a square foot.
- Old-house edges. Radiator feet, framed floor registers, pocket door tracks and shoe molding someone caulked to the floor all eat finish-carpentry hours. Ask how they were counted.
Tile, carpet and the rooms that get wet
Tile is the cold, solid floor you feel through your socks on a January morning, and it is priced like it. Tile installation can run from $3 to $30 a square foot, according to HomeAdvisor, and it still earns its place in baths, entries and mudrooms. Substrate prep drives a big share of the bill in an older house, so read our guide to choosing a tile installer in St. Louis before you sign.
Carpet is still the softest, quietest way to cover a bedroom. Builder-grade olefin and polyester cost less than wool, and the pad underneath is where cheap bids cut corners you won’t feel until the second winter.
Holding a big-box quote up
How much does Home Depot charge to install a floor?
I could not find a per-square-foot installation rate Home Depot publishes, so measure its quote against the market. HomeAdvisor puts most installs at $3 to $22 a square foot, with labor taking roughly 60% of the total; material quality and room size move it most.
When the old tile stays where it is
There is a quieter way through the asbestos question, and it costs less than abatement. Leave the old squares down, sealed under a new floor, and nobody breathes what is in them. The EPA says that when asbestos flooring needs replacing, new floor covering should go over it if possible, and that you should not sand it, scrape it or try to level it.
That points you toward floors that float. HomeAdvisor calls the biggest advantage of laminate the fact that it can be installed over existing floors, and installed laminate runs $1.70 to $17 a square foot. Underlayment is necessary for vinyl, laminate and carpet, and it costs $0.50 to $5.40 a square foot to install. If the subfloor itself has gone soft, the kind of give you feel through your shoe near a toilet or an old radiator, subfloor replacement runs $3 to $10 a square foot. On an old tile floor, that work is exactly what disturbs the tile, so it is the moment to have the material tested first.
Ask every bidder the same plain question while you stand in the room together: are you going over the old floor, or taking it out? The answer changes the price, the dust and, inside the city, possibly the paperwork.
What one room costs, and how fast it goes in
Most homeowners don’t floor a whole house at once. They do the living room first, the one where the carpet has a path worn from the couch to the kitchen. For a typical 320-square-foot living room, HomeAdvisor says to expect about $4,000, with a budget pick as low as $960 and a high-end makeover at $7,000 or more.
The install itself is faster than the shopping. A straightforward 200-square-foot room of laminate can wrap up in roughly three hours once the boards have acclimated for at least three days, while stone or ceramic tile stretches into a full day. Clear the room yourself if you can: pros usually charge $60 to $120 an hour to move furniture, and a packed room turns into a line on the bill.
How to read a flooring quote before you sign
A quote you can compare names the product and its wear layer or thickness, splits labor from material, says who hauls the old floor, sets a subfloor repair allowance, and spells out what happens if they open the floor and find more. If one bid is far lower than the other two, look for what it left out. On an old house, the low bid is usually the crew that skipped the subfloor conversation.
Lift the carpet, then line up three bids
Know what is under your carpet before anyone prices it. Then compare refinishers and installers in the St Louis Near Me Directory flooring category and ask each one for the same scope, line by line.
If you’re the floor sander, the installer or the one-truck crew who can read a century subfloor by feel, the homeowners on this page have a tape measure in one hand and a phone in the other. Get your company in front of those customers.
Frequently asked questions
Is it cheaper to refinish hardwood floors or replace them?
Refinishing is cheaper in nearly every case. HomeAdvisor puts refinishing at $3 to $8 a square foot against an average of $5 to $15 a square foot to install new hardwood. Replacement starts to make sense with severe water damage, warping or board separation.
How much does it cost to refinish 1000 square feet of hardwood floors?
At $3 to $8 a square foot, 1,000 square feet comes to roughly $3,000 to $8,000. Dustless equipment adds an average of $2 a square foot, and bigger jobs often get a lower per-foot rate.
Can I stay in my house while floors are refinished?
Many people do, but plan to live around a sealed-off room. Even dustless sanding is not dust-free. Water-based topcoats take two to four hours to dry, while oil-based topcoats take up to 10 hours, so the finish you pick sets how long you tiptoe around it.
How much does a contractor charge to install LVP?
HomeAdvisor puts vinyl labor at $3 to $10 a square foot, with materials adding $2 to $7 on most jobs. Add a vapor barrier over a basement slab and leveling if the floor is wavy.
What are the downsides of luxury vinyl plank flooring?
Vinyl can gouge more easily than harder flooring materials, according to HomeAdvisor, and a thin plank shows every hump in an old subfloor. There is no sanding it back like oak; when the wear layer is gone, you replace it.
Is it cheaper to do tile or hardwood floors?
Per 1,000 square feet, HomeAdvisor puts tile at $15,000 to $20,000 or more and hardwood at $6,000 to $25,000, so hardwood usually starts cheaper. Tile wins in rooms that get wet.
Can old floor tile under carpet contain asbestos?
Yes. The EPA lists vinyl floor tiles, the backing on vinyl sheet flooring and the adhesives among the places asbestos may be found. Do not sand or level it. In the City of St. Louis, abatement of more than 10 square feet falls under Ordinance 71332; call Air Pollution Control at (314) 657-1479 first.
More reading for the weekend you lose to this project:
- Hardwood, laminate or vinyl in St. Louis homes
- Escaping the finish smell for a day? Troy’s restaurant lineup
Written by a dedicated team of St. Louis locals who live, work, and play right here in the St. Louis metro. Founder Lane Forman and team are committed to building the region’s most trusted directory by verifying listings and connecting local businesses with loyal customers across Missouri and Illinois.