Flooring Installationin Highland, CA
Flooring installation in Highland needs no building permit for the covering itself, because the City's exempt list names carpeting and tiling, but a moved drain, circuit or wall does. About 54 percent of homes were built from 1980 through 2009 and 44 percent before 1980, so test old tile adhesive for asbestos and read the slab for moisture first.
Highland is a young city on an old townsite, and its floors show both. The General Plan's Land Use Element says residents voted in November 1987 to make Highland San Bernardino County's eighteenth city, after reacting to San Bernardino's eastward growth. The Census Bureau's 2020 to 2024 estimates count 16,795 homes, and 3,789 of them, the city's largest decade at 22.6 percent, were built in the 1980s, so most floors here are first or second generation tract flooring, with an older minority around the Palm Avenue townsite.
MDG Builders (CSLB #1040337) is a general contractor based in Tarzana. On a Highland job we write the scope, put the permit questions to the Building & Safety Division and run the calendar, while licensed flooring and tile subcontractors do the laying. The flooring page covers materials, the Highland overview lists our other trades in the city, and the same property may need concrete work in Highland or a deck in Highland.
What Highland's Building & Safety Division, South Coast AQMD and state law say about flooring work
Where flooring permits come from in Highland: City of Highland Building & Safety Division.
- Flooring: carpeting and tiling are listed as permit-exempt finish work in Highland and the pages read give no flooring-specific permit rule; South Coast AQMD Rule 1113 defines floor coatings to include opaque coatings and clear coatings applied to concrete flooring (the VOC limit for that category could not be read reliably from the PDF table and is not stated).
- Older homes and floors: ACS 2020 to 2024 puts 43.8 percent of Highland's units before 1980 and 22.2 percent before 1960, and the City's demolition policy treats asbestos and lead as live issues (Policy 305 requires an asbestos and lead survey before demolition) while SCAQMD Rule 1403 governs asbestos disturbance in renovation and demolition.
Sources for these rules
What is under the floors of a Highland tract home built in the 1980s or 1990s?
Mostly the first floor it ever had, or the second. The Census table counts 3,789 homes from the 1980s and 2,849 from the 1990s, so 8,992 of Highland's 16,795 homes, about 53.5 percent, date from 1980 through 2009. The Land Use Element ties the east side's growth to East Highlands Ranch, a planned community built through the 1980s, which puts a typical floor there between 25 and 45 years old.
Age shows up at the seams, not on the surface. Builder-grade carpet and its pad have usually flattened, grout lines in entries and kitchens have cracked or stained, and laminate swells along dishwasher and sink walls. A flooring installer should lift a corner in each room and look at the subfloor or slab edge before any material is chosen. We found no source saying how many Highland tract homes sit on slabs and how many on raised floors, so the answer comes from your own house, not a city average.
Write down what you find. A proposal for these homes should say what happens to the old pad and tack strip, who levels dips in the slab or patches a subfloor, and whether baseboards are reset or replaced. Heat belongs in the choice too, because NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals for Redlands, the nearest full station about 5.5 miles south-southwest, show about 104 days a year at or above 90 F, so ask how an adhesive or a floating floor behaves beside a sunny slider.
Does Highland's December 2010 debris flood change how a slab is tested for moisture?
It does not change the test, but it is a reason to run one. A mud and debris flood engulfed several Highland neighborhoods on December 22, 2010, and CAL FIRE's unit blog put the damage above 21 million dollars, reported no deaths or injuries and said more than 150,000 sandbags were filled. The Safety Element places the main 100-year flood risk in the southern part of East Highlands, just south of Greenspot Road, and the General Plan names City Creek and Plunge Creek in the southern city.
Rain arrives in a short season. The Redlands normals give 12.87 inches a year, 9.77 of them from December through March, and the City's plan check page designs for 2 inches of rainfall per hour. A slab that read dry in September can read differently after a wet February, so ask the installer to log the date and spot of every reading. In-slab humidity probes and calcium chloride kits are the usual tests, and the plank, vinyl or adhesive maker sets the pass mark.
Two more lines belong in the file. Policy 270 requires a special inspection permit after a flood, fire, earthquake or wind event, so ask the counter whether one was ever opened on a house that took damage. We also did not read a FEMA flood zone or a Seven Oaks Dam inundation map for Highland, so we state none, and the City or your lender can tell you the zone for your lot.
Is there asbestos under old flooring in a Highland home, and what does South Coast AQMD require?
Possibly, in the older third of the city. The Census table puts 7,358 Highland homes, 43.8 percent, before 1980, and 3,722 of them, 22.2 percent, before 1960. Vinyl tile, sheet goods and the black mastic under them from those decades can contain asbestos, nobody can identify it by eye, and a lab sample belongs before any scraping or sanding.
The air district sets the rules for what follows. Highland sits inside the South Coast Air Quality Management District, whose Rule 1403, amended October 5, 2007, covers notification, work practices and cleanup when renovation or demolition disturbs asbestos-containing material. The City's Policy 305 shows how seriously Highland treats the subject, since a demolition permit needs an asbestos and lead survey of each structure and a Rule 1403 notice at least 10 days ahead. A floor swap is not a demolition, but the policy shows which questions the City expects answered.
Paint and coatings ride along. EPA's RRP rule covers paid work that disturbs paint in homes built before 1978, and the Census table cannot split 1978 from 1979, so we print no count. Rule 1113 lists clear and opaque coatings on concrete floors as a defined category, but its limit could not be read reliably in the PDF we opened, so we state no VOC number and suggest asking for the product data sheet before any sealer or epoxy goes on a slab.
Can you refinish or replace the old floors in Highland's Historic Village District?
Often, with one review step to check first. Only 713 Highland homes, 4.2 percent, date from 1939 or earlier. The oldest cluster around the townsite surveyed in 1891 and recorded in 1893, where the Historic Village District follows Palm Avenue and Base Line, and the zoning code protects it as the Village Residential district. East Highland Village keeps small 5,000 square foot lots from the citrus-laborer era.
The code text we read does not mention interior floors. Municipal Code 16.32.070, in GoCodebook's third-party mirror, requires a certificate of appropriateness from the Historic and Cultural Preservation Board for alterations, additions, demolition or relocation of designated resources and properties in historic districts, and 16.32.120 says ordinary maintenance that does not change design, material or external appearance is not blocked. A gut remodel that opens walls and floors should ask Planning where maintenance ends and alteration begins.
Compare before tearing out. A plank floor with enough wood above the nails takes another sanding, and Angi's Los Angeles flooring page of July 8, 2026 lists refinishing at $4 to $8 per square foot against $12 to $22 for new solid hardwood installed. The 3,009 homes from the 1940s and 1950s, 17.9 percent of the total, are where a raised wood floor over a crawl space is likeliest, so check the foundation vents and joists before ordering anything.
Are you refinishing a floor in one of Highland's 5,845 rental homes?
Many owners here are. The 2020 to 2024 estimates count 5,845 renter-occupied units out of 16,265 occupied, or 35.9 percent, and Municipal Code 15.52 ties each residential rental's City business license certificate to an owner self-certification checklist and a City inspection.
The inspection the code describes is photographed from the public right of way within two weeks, with written notice of violations inside 15 working days and 30 days to correct them, so it looks at the outside of the property. We found no interior flooring checklist. Pick floors for the next tenant anyway: water-resistant vinyl plank or tile suits kitchens and baths where leaks happen, and the proposal should price thresholds, transitions and subfloor patches as separate lines.
An occupied building needs a schedule. Municipal Code 15.48.020 bars construction activity before 7:00 am or after 7:00 pm Monday through Saturday and on City or federal holidays, and its definition reaches deliveries and flatwork as well as saws. Give tenants those hours in writing and photograph every room before and after. About 5.7 percent of Highland's homes are mobile homes, whose floors sit on a light frame, so a plan from a tract house does not carry over.
Do you need a permit to replace flooring in Highland, and how long does the paperwork take?
Not for the covering itself. The City's Permit Exceptions page lists painting, papering, tiling, carpeting, cabinets, countertops and similar finish work as exempt, but it requires a permit when a project removes or replaces sinks or electrical items or involves drywall, and the Permits page adds that exempt work must still meet every technical code. A moved drain, a new circuit for radiant heat or a repaired joist is its own permit question.
The process runs mostly online. The iWorQ portal for Building & Safety and Fire Prevention takes applications at any hour, staff check completeness in 1 to 3 business days, and inspections run Monday through Thursday in morning and afternoon blocks, with morning-only slots on alternate Fridays. Under Municipal Code 15.04.030(B), as read in GoCodebook's mirror, a residential permit lapses if work does not start within 365 days or sits suspended for 180 days between inspections, so a job that grows into permit work and then waits on a slab test needs an inspection booked in that window.
Unpermitted work is where floors come up. The City's As-Built Structures bulletin of January 2018 asks for Planning clearance, three plan sets and exposed framing, wiring and plumbing for inspection, which it says can mean removing flooring and wall or ceiling coverings, so a room built without a permit can cost the floor laid over it. Call the counter at 909-864-6861 extension 232, the number on the City's current page, because older handouts print two others.
What does a flooring contractor charge in Highland, and who needs which license?
We found no Highland price study, so these figures borrow Angi's Los Angeles flooring page of July 8, 2026, and they carry medium to low confidence because the page shows no method. It gives $3 to $9 per square foot for labor, $10 to $18 installed for engineered hardwood and $12 to $22 for solid hardwood. At those rates 1,000 square feet costs $10,000 to $18,000 in engineered wood or $12,000 to $22,000 in solid, and a 2,000 square foot house costs about double before stairs. Angi's September 15, 2026 laminate page prices removing an old floor at $455 to $685 per 200 square feet, and federal wage data show a $33.48 mean hourly wage for Los Angeles area floor layers in May 2025, so Inland Empire bids may differ.
A fair Highland bid breaks out tear-out and haul-off, lab and moisture tests, slab or subfloor repair, stairs and trim as separate lines. Business and Professions Code 7159.5 limits the deposit on a home improvement contract to the lesser of $1,000 or 10 percent of the contract price.
Two license classes cover most of the work. CSLB's C-15 class covers preparing a surface and installing carpet, resilient flooring and wood floors, and ceramic tile falls under C-54. A homeowner may request every subcontractor's license number and proof of insurance before work begins, and our license check guide shows how to read a CSLB record.
Flooring photos from Highland and nearby communities
Plank samples, moisture tests, tile and finished rooms from Highland and the communities around it, shown at the steps where the decisions get made. Tap any photo to enlarge it.
What flooring costs around Highland
Dollar figures on this page are Los Angeles planning ranges from our flooring page, not a Highland bid, so ask for tear-out, lab tests, moisture readings and subfloor repair as their own proposal lines. To compare inland neighbors, read flooring in San Bernardino, flooring in Fontana and flooring in Rialto, with flooring in Los Angeles as the big-city benchmark. Our flooring cost guide weighs refinishing against replacement, and the subcontractor guide explains who lays each layer.
| What it covers | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Installation labor only | $3 to $9 per sq ft |
| Solid hardwood, installed | $12 to $22 per sq ft |
| Engineered hardwood, installed | $10 to $18 per sq ft |
| Refinishing existing hardwood | $4 to $8 per sq ft |
| Laminate, whole project | $2,000 to $5,500 |
| Hardwood, whole project | $3,153 to $8,496 |
| Removing the old floor | $455 to $685 per 200 sq ft |
| Tile | No sourced Los Angeles range |
Highland flooring questions, answered
Do I need a permit to replace flooring in Highland?
No, not for the covering itself, because the City's Permit Exceptions page lists tiling, carpeting and similar finish work as exempt. A permit is required when the job removes or replaces sinks or electrical items or involves drywall, so a moved drain or radiant heat is a separate question. Call the Building & Safety counter with the full scope.
How much does it cost to have flooring professionally installed?
Installer labor is $3 to $9 per square foot on the Angi Los Angeles flooring page updated July 8, 2026, which also lists engineered hardwood at $10 to $18 installed and solid hardwood at $12 to $22. We found no Highland study, so treat these as medium to low confidence and expect demolition, leveling and stairs as separate lines.
How much does it cost to install 1000 sq. ft of hardwood flooring?
Using Angi's Los Angeles per-foot rates, a 1,000 square foot room of solid hardwood lands at $12,000 to $22,000 installed, and engineered hardwood at $10,000 to $18,000. Those are Los Angeles ranges, not a Highland bid, and the old floor's removal, subfloor repair and any stairs change the total.
How much to refloor a 2000 sq. ft house?
On the same Angi Los Angeles rates, 2,000 square feet runs about $20,000 to $36,000 in engineered hardwood and $24,000 to $44,000 in solid hardwood, before stairs and prep. Vinyl plank and tile price differently, and a Highland house from the 1980s may also need a moisture test and old adhesive checked.
Can you put flooring over concrete?
Yes, once the slab has been tested and prepared. What counts as dry comes from the flooring maker's own moisture limit, and the installer measures it with in-slab humidity probes or a calcium chloride kit before any patching or leveling. In a Highland house built before 1980, old tile adhesive on the slab may also need a lab test.
Why does moisture come through a concrete floor?
Water vapor rises from the soil under the slab, and irrigation, roof runoff and wet winters keep that soil damp. Highland gets most of its roughly 13 inches of rain from December through March, and the December 2010 debris flood is a reminder of how much water moves through the area, so a dry September reading proves little.
Is there asbestos in old floor tile in Highland homes built before 1980?
Possibly, and nobody can tell by looking. Old vinyl tile, sheet flooring and the black adhesive under them are the usual suspects, and the Census Bureau counts 7,358 Highland homes built before 1980. A lab sample should come back before anyone sands or scrapes, and the proposal should name who removes and pays for a layer that tests positive.
Can I refinish hardwood floors in a Historic Village District house?
Often, when the wear layer can take another sanding, and the code text we read does not mention interior floors. Municipal Code 16.32 requires a certificate of appropriateness for alterations to designated resources, so a large remodel in the Village Residential district should ask Planning first. Refinishing runs $4 to $8 per square foot on Angi's Los Angeles page.
What hours can a flooring crew work in Highland?
Monday through Saturday from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm, and not on City or federal holidays, under Municipal Code 15.48.020 as read in GoCodebook's third-party mirror. The definition covers deliveries and flatwork as well as saws, and the Building Official can approve other hours in advance. Confirm the rule with the City before scheduling an early drop.
What license does a flooring contractor need in Highland?
The installer needs a current state license, which is usually C-15 for carpet, resilient flooring and wood floors, or C-54 for ceramic and stone tile. The City's permit portal asks a contractor's declaration to be signed by the licensee or a person listed on the CSLB license. Check the number on the CSLB site and ask each subcontractor for a license and insurance certificate.
Tell us the year the house was built, the rooms and what is under the floor now
Say whether it is a 1980s tract home, a Village District house, a rental or a mobile home, which rooms you want done and what covers the floor today. The asbestos sample, the slab reading and any permit question can all start at our first visit.