Carpet removal cost: local adder vs. national standalone
| Item | Cost | Typical | Source & scope |
|---|---|---|---|
| Old carpet removal & disposal, added to an Amarillo carpet-installation quote | ~$4 / sq yd | About $0.44/sq ft — roughly $444 on a 1,000 sq ft carpet job | Amarillo-specific sourceHomeyou, Amarillo-specific carpet installation page, July 2026 |
| Carpet removal labor (stretched-in / glued-down) | $0.70–$1.60 / sq ft | Glued-down carpet $0.75–$1.80/sq ft; about $140–$320 for a 200 sq ft room | National average — no Amarillo or Texas figure foundHomeGuide carpet removal cost guide, February 2026 |
| Haul-away and disposal, if billed separately | $0.45–$0.60 / sq ft | Often quoted as a flat $50–$100 per job | National average — no Amarillo or Texas figure foundHomeGuide carpet removal cost guide, February 2026 |
| Tack-strip removal, when strips cannot be reused | $0.40–$0.50 / linear ft | Perimeter of the room, not its area — a 12×14 room is ~52 linear ft | National average — no Amarillo or Texas figure foundHomeGuide carpet removal cost guide, February 2026 |
Read the scope column carefully. The first row is the only Amarillo-scoped figure found: a local carpet-installation source's adder for pulling and hauling the old carpet when new carpet is going in — about $44 per 100 sq ft once the per-yard figure is converted. The other three rows are national and describe removal as its own job; they are shown so a standalone quote has something to be compared against, and labeled so nobody mistakes them for local data. An Amarillo standalone figure replaces them the quarter one is found.
A 200 sq ft bedroom, worked both ways
| Scenario | Basis | Removal & disposal | Plus new floor |
|---|---|---|---|
| New carpet going in, same crew | Amarillo adder, ~$4 / sq yd | about $89 | $716–$1,118 for mid-grade carpet with pad |
| Standalone tear-out (hard floor going in, or a separate crew) | National, $0.70–$1.60 / sq ft + $0.45–$0.60 / sq ft | $230–$440, plus tack strips at $0.40–$0.50 / linear ft if removed | Whatever goes in next — see the cost guide |
| Do it yourself | Your Saturday | Disposal fees and a truck; tools are a utility knife, pry bar, pliers, gloves, and a dust mask | — |
What removal actually involves
- Clear the room and remove doors that swing over the carpet if they'll be in the way.
- Cut the carpet into strips about three feet wide with a utility knife, working from a corner, and roll each strip tightly. Rolled strips are how it leaves the house — whole-room rolls don't fit through doors.
- Pull the pad. On a wood subfloor it's stapled every few inches; on a slab it's usually glued in spots and comes up in pieces, leaving residue.
- Deal with the tack strips. Reuse them if new carpet is going in and they're sound; pry them out if a hard floor is next. On a slab they're set with concrete nails or adhesive and can chip the concrete coming out.
- Scrape and sweep the slab — pad glue, staples, and grit all telegraph through LVP and interfere with tile mortar.
- Dispose. Carpet and pad are bulky; confirm what the City of Amarillo's curbside or bulk-pickup rules accept, or plan a trip to the landfill. This is the part most homeowners underestimate.
Reading the bare slab
Most Amarillo homes sit on a slab-on-ground foundation, and carpet is the floor covering most likely to have been hiding what that slab does. The City of Amarillo's foundation manual describes many local slabs on expansive clays with "increased potential for movement." Once the pad is up, look for:
| What you see | What it usually means | Before the next floor |
|---|---|---|
| Dark staining where the pad was; pad crumbly or damp underneath | Moisture has been moving up through the slab | Moisture test (ASTM F2170 or F1869); pick a floor that suits the result |
| White powdery bloom (efflorescence) | Same — mineral salts left by evaporating water | Moisture test; clean the slab; mitigation coating if it fails |
| Musty smell that doesn't leave with the carpet | Moisture, and possibly microbial growth in the pad residue | Test, clean, and let the slab air before covering it |
| A crack running in a line across the room | The slab has cracked and may have moved | Crack-isolation membrane under tile; floating floor over it; a foundation look if it's wide or offset |
| Humps or dips you can feel | Out of flat — carpet forgave it; LVP and tile won't | Self-leveler, priced as a line item |
| Clean, dry, flat concrete | The good outcome | Test anyway — it's cheap, and the new floor's warranty may require it |
The slab foundation guide covers the tests and what each material needs; the signs page covers what the old carpet was probably already telling you.
Hiring it out
Removal is low-risk work, but it's still work on your property by a crew: Texas has no state flooring license, so ask for proof of general liability insurance and check Better Business Bureau standing as with any installer. If tear-out exposes slab damage that needs repair before the new floor, that repair is where the City of Amarillo — Building Safety Division (806-378-3041) may come in. The carpet installation page covers what goes in next if it's carpet; the cost guide covers everything else.
Methodology
Amarillo-specific per-square-foot ranges (hardwood installation and refinishing, LVP/vinyl, laminate, carpet, tile) are compiled from a September 2026 Amarillo-market pull; the refinishing figure comes from a dozen Amarillo quotes (AMA-004). Where no Amarillo-specific figure exists — the slab vapor barrier (a Texas statewide figure), the top of the tile range, and old-flooring removal (labeled national proxies) — the range is labeled by scope rather than filled with an invented local number. Ranges are materials + labor for a typical installation and do not include subfloor repair, furniture moving, or old-flooring removal/disposal unless stated. Rechecked quarterly.
Verified 2026-09-05. The Amarillo removal figure is Homeyou, Amarillo-specific carpet installation page, July 2026, published per square yard and converted at 9 sq ft per yard; national figures are HomeGuide carpet removal cost guide, February 2026. Room totals are rounded. Texas does not require a state contractor license for flooring installation, refinishing, or repair — it is not a TDLR-regulated trade (TX-002). That puts more of the vetting burden on you: ask any company for proof of general liability insurance, check their standing with the Better Business Bureau, and — for work that touches the subfloor or slab — confirm whether the job needs a City of Amarillo permit before work starts. The City of Amarillo does not issue contractor ID numbers, so a company citing a "city license number" for flooring work is a vetting red flag, not a credential (AMA-001). Verify permit requirements yourself with the City of Amarillo Building Safety Division at 806-378-3041.