Whole-House Flooring Replacement Cost in Ontario (2026)

Replacing the flooring across an 800–1,000 sq ft main floor typically lands around $6,850 all-in, with a realistic project range of $3,700–$12,600 depending on material — so a full two-storey home with 1,800–2,200 sq ft of floor area generally runs $8,000–$25,000+ as of 2026. The spread is almost entirely material choice: luxury vinyl plank at $4–$9 per square foot installed sits at the low end, solid hardwood at $8–$15 at the high end, and tile in kitchens and bathrooms adds labour-heavy square footage on top.

Two notes before comparing quotes. First, most Ontario contractor quotes exclude 13% HST — confirm which side of the tax you are looking at. Second, Toronto proper prices about 10–20% above the provincial average, while Mississauga and Brampton typically come in 5–10% under Toronto rates. Our Toronto flooring cost guide breaks the numbers down further by material and room.

Installed, supply-and-install pricing across the GTA in 2026:

• Solid hardwood: $8–$15/sq ft (materials $5–$12, labour $3–$6)
• Engineered hardwood: roughly $7–$13/sq ft, overlapping solid depending on wear layer and plank width
• Luxury vinyl plank: $4–$9/sq ft
• Tile: $8–$15/sq ft labour for standard formats, $12–$22 for large-format, plus material

On 1,500 sq ft, that is the difference between roughly $6,000 in LVP and $22,000 in solid hardwood — same house, same week of work. There is also a cheaper path many homeowners forget: if the existing floors are hardwood, refinishing runs $4–$9/sq ft, roughly half the cost of replacement, and original oak strip in older Toronto and Hamilton homes usually has plenty of life left in it. We install hardwood throughout the GTA and will tell you honestly when refinishing is the smarter spend.

Doing the whole house in one project is meaningfully cheaper per square foot. Mobilization, delivery, disposal bins and setup get paid once; bulk material orders price better; and the crew works continuously instead of remobilizing three times. Single-room jobs carry fixed costs that do not shrink with the room.

Phasing still makes sense in two situations. If cash flow dictates, do connected spaces together — the main floor as one phase, bedrooms as another — so you never end up with a visible seam or mismatched dye lots in a doorway. And if part of the house is getting renovated later, do not floor it now; a future kitchen renovation will beat up a new floor, which is why flooring goes in near the end of any larger renovation sequence.

One warning from experience: matching a discontinued plank three years later is nearly impossible. If you phase, buy all the material at once and store the later phases flat, indoors.

The staircase is the line item that catches people. Stairs cannot simply be wrapped in the new flooring — they need matching treads, risers and nosings, priced per step:

• Refinishing existing treads and railings: $50–$125 per step — roughly $600–$1,625 for a typical 13-step flight
• Recapping with new oak treads and risers: from $185 per step ($225 for pie steps), with typical projects from $4,900

Transitions are the other quiet add-on. Every doorway between materials needs a transition strip, height differences need reducers, and doors often need trimming to clear a thicker floor. Baseboards either come off and go back on or get replaced — replacement usually looks better and costs more. None of these are optional, so a complete quote should list old-floor removal and disposal, subfloor repair, baseboards, transitions and door trimming as explicit lines. If a quote is suspiciously low, one of those lines is missing; our answer on whether old flooring has to come out explains what proper prep involves.

A whole-house flooring replacement is disruptive in a specific, manageable way: every room gets emptied at some point. The crew leapfrogs — furniture from bedroom one moves into bedroom two, and so on — but plan for two to five working days per floor of the house, plus acclimatization time. Hardwood and some engineered products need days on site at normal indoor humidity before installation, which matters in Ontario where humid summers and bone-dry heated winters swing indoor moisture widely. Skipping acclimatization is the classic cause of gapping the first winter, a failure we unpack in why hardwood floors cup and gap.

Best timing: while you are away, or before you move in — an empty house cuts both cost and schedule. Site-finished hardwood adds sanding dust and finish cure days; prefinished boards and click-together products are walkable the same day.

Appliances deserve their own plan. The fridge and stove come out for kitchen flooring, washers and dryers for laundry areas, and anything gas-connected needs a licensed disconnect and reconnect. Ask whether furniture and appliance moving is in the quote or on you — it varies between contractors, and it is a miserable surprise on day one.

Consistent flooring through the main living areas is one of the changes buyers register the moment they walk in — it makes a chopped-up 1980s or 1990s floor plan read as one coherent space, and it photographs well in listings. Replacing a patchwork of dated broadloom, worn laminate and vinyl sheet with one continuous floor is firmly on the list of renovations that increase home value.

Our decision guidance: replace everything at once if you are within a few years of selling, if the existing floors are a mixed patchwork, or if you have just bought and the house is empty. Phase it if budget is tight — main floor first, since it carries the daily traffic and the first impression. And if solid oak is hiding under that broadloom, refinish before you replace. We handle flooring projects across the GTA from single floors to full homes, with projects starting at $5,000 — call (416) 995-7855 for a free itemized quote.