Sacramento Demolition & Prep

Clean tear-out.
Substrate ready.

Tile, hardwood, LVP, and carpet removed cleanly. Substrate inspected, leveled, prepped for install. Citadel Spaces handles every step before the new floor arrives, built around the realities of Sacramento construction.

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99%

Dust captured

1–7

Days on-site

0

Surprise fees

25

Cities served

What We Tear Out

The four kinds of old floor we handle.

Old flooring removal is dusty, heavy, and often surprising. Sacramento homes hide water damage, asbestos-era underlayments, and substrate issues under the surface. Our crews handle the whole removal end to end.

Tear-Out 01

Tile & Stone

Ceramic, porcelain, marble, and natural-stone removal. Thinset chipped down to substrate, mortar bed evaluated, substrate leveled for the new install.

Tear-Out 02

Hardwood & LVP

Glue-down, nail-down, and floating hardwood and LVP pulled cleanly. Staples and adhesive residue removed, substrate scraped flat.

Tear-Out 03

Carpet & Pad

Carpet, pad, and tack-strip removal. Subfloor inspected for water staining, soft spots, or pet damage before the next layer goes down.

Tear-Out 04

Subfloor Prep

Self-leveling underlayment, plywood patching, plank replacement, moisture barriers. Substrate handed off flat, dry, ready.

Substrate Science

What’s under the floor matters more.

Most failed installs aren’t about the new flooring, they’re about substrate the GC or DIYer skipped. Sacramento construction has three common substrate types, and each one prep’s differently. Here’s how we evaluate them.

— Substrate I.

Concrete slab

Found in most Sacramento single-story homes built post-1960. Critical to test for moisture, alkalinity, and flatness before any flooring goes down. Self-leveling underlayment is often required.

Test forMoisture · pH

Common fixSelf-leveler

Cost$2–$4 /sq ft

— Substrate II.

Plywood subfloor

Standard for two-story Sacramento homes and most additions. Soft spots, deflection, or joist gaps reveal themselves during tear-out and must be addressed before install, otherwise the new floor mirrors the failure.

Test forDeflection · Rot

Common fixPlywood patch

Cost$3–$8 /sq ft

— Substrate III.

Underlayment-over

Common in older Sacramento homes with original tile or vinyl set over plywood or planks. Asbestos-era flooring (pre-1985) must be tested first. Often the source of the surprise that derails a remodel timeline.

Test forAsbestos · Lead

Common fixAbate & re-prep

CostQuoted separately

Dust Control · Disposal · Asbestos

Operations that respect your home.

Demolition is where most flooring projects go wrong, surprises, dust, damage to surrounding work. Our process eliminates the surprises.

HEPA air scrubbers running through every demo project, start to finish
Plastic sheeting at every door, HVAC returns taped off
Tile chipping uses dust shrouds on the chisels
Debris bagged and hauled off-site daily, no overnight piles
Dump fees, transfer-station charges, HOA compliance all included
Asbestos-era flooring (pre-1985) pre-tested and referred to licensed abatement

Service Area

Demolition across five regions.

Citadel Spaces handles flooring demolition across the greater Sacramento region. Five regional pods cover 25 cities, disposal, dump fees, HOA debris-removal compliance handled as part of the quoted scope.

Sacramento Core

SacramentoEast SacramentoMidtownLand ParkCurtis ParkOak ParkTahoe Park

7 cities

North Sacramento

North SacramentoNatomasPocketWest Sacramento

4 cities

South County

Elk Grove

1 cities

East County

CarmichaelCitrus HeightsFair OaksFolsom

4 cities

Placer & Foothills

RosevilleRocklinLincolnLoomisGranite BayAuburnCameron ParkEl Dorado HillsDavis

9 cities

Featured Tear-Out · Folsom

3,000 sq ft.
7 working days.

A 3,000 sq ft tile and carpet removal across a Folsom custom build. Substrate leveled with self-leveler, moisture-tested, and handed off to the install crew in seven working days.

Discuss Your Project

Common Questions

Demolition & Prep FAQ

Tear-out questions get specific, dust, asbestos, disposal, timing. Here’s how our Sacramento crew answers the ones we hear most.

Talk to a Specialist

How do you control dust during tile or hardwood tear-out?+

Every demo job runs HEPA air scrubbers from start to finish, plastic-sheets adjacent rooms, and tapes HVAC returns. Tile chipping uses dust shrouds on the chisels. Adjacent furniture is covered. Daily cleanup keeps the home livable.

What if my old flooring contains asbestos?+

Common in Sacramento homes built before 1985, particularly 9x9 tile and certain vinyl sheet flooring. We don’t handle asbestos abatement directly, but we identify the risk during the pre-demo walk and connect you with licensed Sacramento abatement contractors when needed.

How is the debris disposed of?+

We haul all debris off-site at the end of each work day. Dump fees, transfer-station charges, and HOA debris-removal compliance are included in the quoted scope. No dumpster sitting on your driveway for a week.

How fast can a typical Sacramento tear-out be completed?+

A single-room tear-out usually completes in 1–2 days. Whole-floor tear-outs run 3–7 days depending on the material (tile takes longest, carpet fastest). We confirm during the pre-demo walk.

What does substrate prep cost?+

Basic leveling and patching is typically $1.50–$3/sq ft. Self-leveling underlayment over a problem substrate adds $2–$4/sq ft. Plywood patching for joist-level issues is quoted individually. Always a fixed price before work begins.

Will the tear-out damage my baseboards or trim?+

Done right, no. We work tight to the baseboard and protect trim with painter’s tape. If your new floor is going in at a different height (common with LVP-over-tile situations), we discuss baseboard removal as part of the scope.

Can you do the tear-out only, or only the install?+

Either, or both. We frequently handle tear-out for general contractors and design-build firms in the Sacramento area who do their own install, and vice versa. Pricing is straightforward both ways.