The cost to raise a sunken living room is $12,000 on average, but it can cost between $5,000 and $25,000, depending on project size and specifics and materials.
Sunken living rooms (also known as “recessed living areas”) hit the height of their popularity in the 1960s and 1970s. However, they’re losing favor among modern homeowners due to the potentially dated look and the increased risk of injury due to trips and falls. You can remove that risk by raising your living room up to floor level. The cost to rasie a sunken living room ranges from $5,000 to $25,000 or more depending on the size of the room and how you go about the remodel. Explore the various cost factors to raising a sunken living room in this expert guide.
The final price tag to raise a sunken living room depends on several factors, including size, the height differential, and what kind of flooring you choose.
Your living room’s footprint measurement will directly affect the price for raising the floor level. The larger your living room’s square footage, the more materials required and the longer it will take to complete the work, thus increasing the total cost for materials and labor.
Assuming a living room size of 400 square feet, it would cost approximately $2,400 to fill in and raise an existing sunken floor six inches. You can expect to pay about $6 per square foot to remove the step, excluding the cost of finishing and flooring. Changes in the height differential would equate to an equivalent change in price.
Keep in mind that this per-square-foot price only includes pouring new concrete to create a new base at the standard height. You can expect to double or triple that price to add finished flooring on top of the new concrete.
Simply put, how much you’d like to raise your sunken living room will also affect the total price. If the height differential exceeds six inches, you’ll likely need to pay for additional concrete and other materials to account for the increased height.
For example, an 8-inch drop from your main level to the recessed living room would cost closer to $8 per square foot, excluding the cost of finishing the area and adding flooring.
In addition to the materials required to build your raised subflooring, you’ll also need to buy sufficient materials to finish your new floor surface. Hardwood flooring options range from $6 to $22 per square foot, while linoleum flooring is more affordable, costing between $3 and $7 per square foot.
| Flooring Type | Cost Per Square Foot |
|---|---|
| Carpet | $4–$11 |
| Engineered wood | $4–$16 |
| Hardwood | $6–$22 |
| Laminate | $3–$10 |
| Polished concrete | $2–$8 |
| Stone | $6–$20 |
| Tile | $6–$20 |
| Vinyl/Linoleum | $3–$7 |
There are flooring options available at nearly every price range, so your decision depends on your budget and the kind of look you’d like to achieve. You might limit your flooring options if you try to match your new floor to your existing floor.
The cost to raise a sunken living room depends on the remodeling methods used. In general, you’ll need to fill in the subflooring, possibly add ventilation and concrete fill, add or move electrical outlets, top off with finished flooring, repaint the walls, and add trim.
Filling in the existing space with a new plywood subfloor will typically cost about $1.50 per square foot for the materials. The average cost of high-end materials ranges from $2 to $7 per square foot. These costs do not include labor, which averages around $150 to $250 total, depending on your location and the contractor. This might be higher if you use a standalone subflooring contractor rather than a contractor who you hire for the entire project.
You can expect to pay approximately $800 to $1,200 to move the components of your heating system. For example, you might need to move supply vents for your HVAC system to sit above the new floor, or you might need to reroute the baseboard lines to the new floor level.
Your cost will range between $4 and $8 per square foot for the first three to four inches of concrete fill. Each additional inch of thickness will cost about $0.40 to $0.60 per square foot to reach the height you want to achieve. These prices represent the contractor’s ability to park a concrete mixer close enough to the living room to make it easy to pour the concrete. Otherwise, you can expect to pay an additional $250 to $500 to hire a concrete contractor to use a concrete pumper.
Once the floor is raised to a uniform, level surface, you’ll still need to pay to install your flooring of choice. The price for new flooring will depend on the type you choose and the amount required to provide full coverage for your living room—typical costs per square foot range from $3 to $22, but you might pay more for high-end options or custom designs.
Raising a sunken living room includes numerous tasks that are best handled by a remodeling contractor. If you plan to do the work yourself, you’ll save on labor costs, but you’ll still need to cover the cost of materials, tools, equipment, and hired-hand assistance. On average, you can expect the average total to drop from $12,000 to around $6,000 if you do the work yourself.
The tasks required to complete this project involve some high-level carpentry skills and experience. It also requires several specialized tools. If you don’t have those tools on hand, you’ll need to buy or rent them, adding to your total expenses and erasing some of the savings you’d enjoy from tackling the work on your own.
Even if you do plan on tackling some of the work yourself, it’s always better—and often required by your local building department—to have a licensed professional complete any work related to your plumbing, electrical, or HVAC system.
The table below includes some average prices for the tools you’ll need to do the DIYable components of the job:
| Tool | Average Cost |
|---|---|
| Circular saw | $200 |
| Compressor | $100 |
| Concrete mixer | $500 (rented for 1 week) |
| Crowbar | $20 |
| Framing nailer | $175 |
| Nails | $20 |
| Trowel | $7 |
Your home’s flooring is crucial to both your safety and the home’s value, especially in high-traffic areas such as your living room. Anything less than an expert result can make your home unattractive to future buyers. That’s why it’s generally better to hire an experienced and licensed home remodeling contractor to tackle this job. That way, you’ll enjoy the benefit of their expertise and skills, as well as the protection offered by their insurance coverage.
The cost to raise a sunken living room can get relatively high, but if you have room in your budget, it’s a good idea to have the same contractor complete other construction projects at the same time. Doing so is likely to reduce labor costs. Below are some of the common add-on projects homeowners choose when raising their sunken living rooms.
Cost to add a fireplace: $2,500
Cost to remodel the basement: $22,000
Cost to build a new home addition: $50,000
Cost to build a bump-out: $18,200
It might pain you to see an average cost of $12,000 to raise that sunken living room in your home, but there are some things you can do to help keep the total cost down. Use the following tips to make your price a little more palatable.
Choose more affordable finishing materials. Finishing your new living room floor will usually be the most expensive component of the job, but you can keep your total down by choosing more affordable flooring and trim options. For example, installing carpet or linoleum can halve your flooring costs over going with hardwood.
Pay a professional to tackle the major components. Raising your sunken living room yourself can save you $6,000 or more, but any mistakes can cost significantly more to fix. Hire a professional to get the job done correctly the first time around.
Do some of the work yourself. While hiring a pro is a better option for pouring the concrete and moving utilities, you can save some money on labor costs by doing the finishing work yourself, like installing flooring and trim.
Consider leaving your living room as-is. Another option you might want to consider is foregoing the project altogether. Sunken living rooms are falling out of style, but there are still some upsides to consider.
Raising a sunken living room requires help from a professional contractor. The expert will remove existing flooring and trim, reroute utility lines with respect to the new floor level, pour concrete to fill the recessed space, and then let the concrete cure. After the foundation is raised up, the contractor will install the new utility lines, repaint the walls, if necessary, and finish the area with flooring and trim.
Selecting the right general contractor to tackle a job like raising a sunken living room can feel like an overwhelming prospect. Follow these tips to find, vet, and hire the best local contractor for your project:
Get recommendations from neighbors and friends who might be able to suggest contractors they’ve used.
Request written quotes to help set your budget and expectations.
Verify your contractor’s credentials to ensure a professional and legal finished product.
Read the contractor’s proposed contract to make sure you agree to all terms, including the project timeline, cost, and materials.
Keep copies of all relevant documentation.
Many homeowners view sunken living rooms as an outdated architectural feature, as they were prevalent in 1960s and 1970s styles of homes, but have since fallen out of favor. Some homeowners still enjoy the coziness of a sunken living room, but most find it to be an obsolete feature. It’s possible to fill in a sunken living room, but the cost typically tops $10,000.
