Hamilton, ONTear-out only jobsBundled to the city's rules
Carpet Removal and Disposal in Hamilton, ON
Pulling up an old floor is a job on its own, and Hamilton Carpet Installers does it as one: carpet, underpad, staples and tack strip lifted and cleared throughout Hamilton, Ontario.
Underpad, staples and tack strip out, not just the carpet
Cut and rolled into bundles the city will take
Floor swept ready for whatever comes next
Book a tear-out
Rooms, rough square footage, and whether stairs are involved.
Or call (289) 204-6246
What Hamilton's waste rules mean for your old floor
Rolled and tied to 1.2 metres
The city collects carpeting, underpad and linoleum at the curb only when it is rolled and tied in bundles no longer than 1.2 metres, or four feet.
90 kg and eight items
Bulk garbage rules cap each item at 90 kilograms and collect a maximum of eight items per booking, so a whole-house tear-out is more bundles than one booking allows.
Renovation debris is refused
Construction material sits on the city's cannot-take list for bulk collection, so debris from a flooring job cannot simply go out at the curb with the bundles.
Settle this before the tear-out starts
Settled before we start
The Carpet and Rug Institute tells homeowners to agree who removes and disposes of the old carpet and cushion, and to check local recycling options, before the work begins.
Our Process
How a tear-out day runs
1
Clear and protect
Furniture out or shifted room to room, doorways and stair treads protected, and a path to the door kept clear for the bundles.
2
Cut and roll
The carpet is cut into strips on the floor and rolled as it comes up, which keeps the dust down and makes bundles that fit the collection limits.
3
Underpad, staples and tack strip
The underpad comes up with its staples, and the tack strip is levered off the perimeter unless it is sound enough to reuse.
4
Load, sweep and check the subfloor
Everything goes out, the floor is swept and we tell you what we found underneath – loose boards, squeaks, old adhesive or damp.
What's underneath
We tell you what the old floor was hiding
The carpet is cut into strips and rolled as it comes up, which keeps the dust down and turns the old floor into bundles that fit the city’s collection limits. The underpad comes up with its staples, and the tack strip is levered off the perimeter unless it is sound enough to reuse.
Once everything is out and the floor is swept, we point to what is actually underneath – loose boards, squeaks, old adhesive or damp – so you are deciding on the next floor with the subfloor in view, not guessing at it.
Removal looks like the simple half of a flooring job and rarely is. We work slowly enough to notice what a house has been hiding under its broadloom for decades, and to keep the old floor moving through the city's rules rather than piling up at the curb.
Carpet removal questions
Can I just put the old carpet out at the curb?
Some of it. Hamilton takes carpeting, underpad and linoleum only in rolled and tied bundles under 1.2 metres, with each item below 90 kilograms and no more than eight items per booking. A full house makes more bundles than that.
What does carpet removal cost on its own?
Tear-out and haul-away generally runs $0.70 to $1.50 per square foot. A 2026 job in this region removed 500 square feet for $500, which is the middle of that band. Stairs and glued-down floors sit at the top of it.
Do you take up the underpad and tack strip as well?
Yes. Leaving old underpad down is how a new floor ends up with lumps and old odours. Tack strip is levered off and replaced unless it is straight, dry and firmly fixed.
What is usually under the carpet in an older Hamilton house?
Often plank subfloor rather than plywood, with board gaps, a great many staples and sometimes hardwood worth refinishing. We photograph whatever is down there and tell you before anything else is decided.
Do you remove carpet without installing new flooring?
Yes. Removal is a standalone booking, whether the room is going to hardwood, vinyl plank, tile or back to bare subfloor for someone else to finish.
What the city's rules mean in practice
Fine for one room, not for a whole house
One bedroom's worth of carpet fits the city's rolled-and-tied limits. A whole floor makes more bundles than the eight-items-per-booking cap allows.
We haul it instead of stacking your curb
Rather than stacking a month of collections at your curb, we cut and roll as we go and take the bundles away ourselves.
Settling the quote and the disposal together
It's a named line in the quote
Removal, bundling, loading and disposal are named lines in the quote, not folded into installation.
Keep-or-remove choices go in writing
If you would rather keep the old underpad or have the tack strip left in place, that is agreed in writing too.
$0.70-$1.50/sq ftTear-out and haul-away, before HST
$500Recent 500 sq ft removal invoiced in this region
What makes an older Hamilton tear-out slower
Heavy, well-fastened carpet
Old broadloom is heavy, its underpad is stapled down every few inches, and the tack strip around the perimeter is nailed into whatever the house was built on.
Plank subfloor, not plywood
Board gaps swallow staples, nails split dry planks, and hardwood worth saving turns up under old broadloom more often than people expect.
Stairs take longer per square foot
Older homes here have steep, narrow and winding flights, and stripping carpet, underpad and staples off them takes longer per square foot than clearing a whole bedroom.
Price the tear-out and the haul-away together
Tell us the rooms and the rough square footage, and we will come back with one figure for both.
