Carpet Replacement Cost

Why is carpet priced per square yard, and how do I compare it to square feet?

It's a holdover from how carpet is manufactured and rolled — the industry has long sold and quoted it by the square yard, while contractors and other flooring are usually discussed in square feet, which causes a lot of confusion. The conversion is simple: one square yard equals nine square feet, so to turn a per-square-yard price into per-square-foot, divide by 9. A carpet advertised at $45 per square yard is $5 per square foot; $27 a yard is $3 a foot. Going the other way, multiply square feet by 9 for the yard price. To estimate how much you need, take your room's square footage and divide by 9 to get square yards. This calculator shows the total both ways precisely so the store's yardage quote and the installer's square-foot quote line up and you're not comparing apples to oranges.

How much extra carpet should I buy for waste?

Plan on roughly 5–15% over your room's actual square footage, and sometimes more for complex layouts. The reason is that carpet comes in fixed roll widths — most commonly 12 feet, with some 15-foot rolls — so unless your room divides neatly into those widths, there's trim waste along the edges, and any room wider than the roll needs seams with extra material for pattern matching and overlap. Hallways, L-shaped rooms, stairs, and rooms with lots of doorways or closets waste more; a simple rectangular room close to 12 feet wide wastes the least. Professionals automatically factor this into their measurements and pricing, so a contractor quote already accounts for it. But if you're buying carpet yourself to have installed, add the waste margin — running short mid-install means a second cut from a different dye lot, which can be visibly mismatched.

Should I remove the old carpet myself to save money?

You can, and it's one of the easier DIY savings on a carpet job — removal runs about $1–$2 per square foot when a pro does it, so pulling it yourself on a 400-square-foot room could save a few hundred dollars. Tack-strip (stretched-in) carpet is the manageable case: pull a corner, roll and cut it into carryable sections, pull up the pad, and either leave the tack strips for the installer or pry them out, then haul it all off. Budget for disposal — old carpet is bulky and heavy, and dumps often charge by weight, so factor a trailer trip or dumpster. The job gets much harder with glued-down carpet (common in basements and on stairs), which requires scraping and sometimes a floor scraper or heat, and can take hours per room. If your carpet is glued down, or you're not up for the dust and labor, it's often worth leaving removal to the installer. In the calculator, turn removal off to see the demolition-free price.

Why do stairs cost so much to carpet?

Because carpeting stairs is slow, precise handwork compared with rolling carpet across a flat floor. Each step has a tread (the flat part) and a riser (the vertical part), and the carpet has to be measured, cut, and fitted to wrap both, then tucked tight into the crease and secured — often with a knee kicker and staples or tack strips on every single step. That's why stairs are billed per step rather than by area: a dozen steps can take as long as a whole room. Cost per step rises with the install style and stair shape. A 'waterfall' install (carpet draped straight down) is quicker and cheaper than a 'cap-and-band' or 'French cap' upholstered look that wraps each step tightly. Box steps (with an exposed rounded or square end), open-sided staircases, winders, and curved or spiral stairs all take extra time and material. So the per-step figure here is a baseline for a standard straight staircase — get a specific quote if yours is fancier.

What's the difference between the carpet grades, and which should I pick?

The grades mostly track fiber, density, and construction, which drive both price and how long the carpet looks good. Basic (builder-grade) carpet is usually low-pile polyester or basic berber/loop — inexpensive and fine for rentals, closets, guest rooms, and low-traffic spaces, but it mats and wears faster. Standard mid-range is typically a nylon or quality polyester plush or frieze with a decent pad — the sweet spot most homeowners choose for bedrooms and living areas, balancing comfort, durability, and cost. Premium covers high-end plush, patterned, and wool carpets: denser, more resilient, softer underfoot, and longer-lasting (wool can go 20–30 years), at the highest price. Two tips: match the grade to the traffic (spend up in stairs and family rooms, save in bedrooms), and don't skimp on the pad — a good pad is a small part of the cost but strongly affects how the carpet feels and how long it lasts. Standard grade is the safe default if you're unsure.