Questions
Direct answers.
These are the questions that customers ask most frequently. The answers are the same answers that we give on the telephone. If your question is not here, call us and ask it.
Dust and life in the house
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Can I stay in my house during the work?
- Yes, and almost all of our customers do. We close the work area and hold it at a lower air pressure than the rooms around it. Each tool collects the dust at the point of contact, not after the dust is in the air. We do the work in stages. You always keep a route through the house and one bathroom that operates.
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Is the work fully free of dust?
- Almost. No system is perfect. Our system collects approximately 99% of the dust at the tool. In practice, you will not clean dust off your furniture for weeks after the job. The air stays clean while we work.
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Is silica dust dangerous?
- Silica is one type of dust that floor removal makes. Long exposure to silica dust can damage the lungs. This is one reason why people choose dust-free removal. Our system collects approximately 99% of the dust at the tool, before it goes into the air.
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What do you do about my air ducts and my furniture?
- We seal the air vents in the work area before the work starts. We also protect the route that the crew uses through the house. We tell you which items to move and which items we move.
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I have children and pets. Is this a problem?
- No. The containment is what makes a house with children or animals possible to work in. Tell us your situation when we give the price. We then plan the stages around it.
Price and payment
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How much does floor removal cost?
- We give a price for each square foot. The price depends on the material. Ceramic tile on thinset is the lowest price. Travertine or slate in a deep mortar bed is the highest, because the material is heavier and there is more mortar to grind. Tell us the area and the material for a correct number.
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Can you give me a price on the telephone?
- Yes, for most jobs. Tell us the area in square feet and the material, and we give you a price during the call. If your job is unusual, or if you want us to measure the area, we come to the house.
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Are there hidden fees?
- No. Service work has no sales tax in Arizona. We do not add fees for travel, for the dump or for fuel. Waste removal is part of the price on each job.
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How do I pay?
- We send the invoice by text message or email as a link. You can sign it and pay from the link. We take card, cash, check or Venmo.
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Do you charge for an estimate?
- No. Estimates are free, on the telephone and in your house.
The work and the schedule
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How long will my job take?
- A usual job takes 1 to 3 days. The area controls the time. One room takes approximately 1 day. A full house of 3,000 square feet or more takes 2 to 3 days. Deep mortar beds and natural stone take more time than ceramic tile on thinset.
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Do you also remove the thinset?
- Yes, and the price includes it. It is not an extra item. If we remove the tile but leave the thinset, no person can install a new floor on the slab.
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Which floor materials do you remove?
- Ceramic and porcelain tile, travertine, slate, flagstone, linoleum, sheet vinyl, LVP, LVT, carpet, pad, glue-down wood and nail-down wood. We also remove the thinset, mortar bed, mastic or adhesive below any of them.
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Do you do more than floor removal?
- Yes. We remove kitchens and bathrooms. We also remove cabinets, counters, drywall, framing, interior walls that are not structural, and ceiling insulation. We do small commercial demolition. If it must come out before the new work starts, we remove it.
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Do you remove the debris?
- Yes, always, on each job, and the price includes it. You do not need a container and there is no separate fee for the dump.
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Can you remove a wall that holds a load?
- Not without an engineer and usually a permit. We tell you when we think that this is the condition. We do interior demolition that is not structural.
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What if my old floor contains asbestos?
- Sheet floors from before 1985 can contain asbestos in the backing or in the glue. If your floor is that old, get a test before any person disturbs it. Asbestos removal needs a special license and we do not do that work. We tell you this instead of a guess.
Work with us
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Which areas do you serve?
- Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert, Scottsdale, Queen Creek, San Tan Valley and Gold Canyon are our primary areas. We work in all of the Phoenix Valley and we do not add a travel fee. We also travel north to Flagstaff and south to Tucson when the job is sufficiently large.
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Do you work with contractors and flooring stores?
- Most of our work comes that way. General contractors, flooring stores and installers give the removal work to us. They use our price for each square foot in their own price. They then get a slab that is ready on their installation date.
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Do you have insurance?
- Yes. Ask us and we send a certificate of insurance (COI) before the job starts. Contractors can be the certificate holder, and we list them as an additional insured.
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How long has your crew done this work?
- Kodiak has been in business on its own since 2015, but our crew started before that. Many of them learned this work from the people who invented these dust-free systems. Since then, we improved the tools, and we make some of them ourselves.
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How far in advance must I book?
- It changes with the season. Call and ask. We tell you the true condition of the schedule. We do not promise a date that we cannot keep.
One telephone call is usually sufficient.
Tell us the area in square feet and the material on the floor. We give you a price during the call. If you want us to measure the area, a visit takes 20 to 30 minutes.